A Look Into “The Third Eye of Leah Leeds”
By
Christopher Carrolli
In the third book of my series, The Paranormal Investigator, Leah Leeds returns to Cedar Manor for the first time in sixteen years. If you’ve read “Pipeline,” you may remember that Leah detailed the story of her childhood in Cedar Manor to the book’s main character, Tracy Kimball. It had always been my intention for that brief snippet of Leah’s history to become the basis of a future installment in the series, one that not only told the story of the house on Cedar Drive, but of Leah’s psychic gift known as third eye. And so on November 27, Melange Books released “The Third Eye of Leah Leeds: The Paranormal Investigator—Book Three.”
Throughout the series, I have tried to incorporate some larger and overall esoteric point in each book. In “Pipeline,” I saw that point as dealing with the final, fateful results when warnings go unheeded and time runs out, and the realization that time is a critical aspect of fate. In the second book, “The Listener,” I wanted to illustrate the light at the end of the tunnel that I believe ultimately exists, and the fact that everything that is hidden will eventually come to such light. So now I’ve arrived at the third book, which is about facing one’s demons, figuratively, and of course, literally.
What would any paranormal novel be without ghosts, poltergeists, and yes, demons? But keep in mind, Leah will not be entering the house alone; neither will the team for that matter. As with each new book, the time and the need for new characters arrive, and “Third Eye” is no different.
This time readers will meet Paul Leeds, Leah’s father, who remains adamant that his daughter not return to Cedar Manor—ever again. Paul remembers the family’s early history in the house through flashbacks, so I’ve written past episodes from not only Leah’s recollection, but from Paul’s as well. This brought out the child’s point of view, as well as the adult’s.
In “Pipeline,” it’s mentioned that in her teens, Leah had written and published a memoir for the society regarding her experiences in Cedar Manor. In “Third Eye,” the reader will get to read chapters from that memoir as each character is reading them. “Cedar Manor: The Leah Leeds Memoir,” or the book inside the book as it’s often called, is Leah’s fully detailed, first person account of the terrors she described earlier in the series. The memoir also tells of the Native-American seer that once diagnosed Leah as having an extremely powerful third eye at the age of five. Tahoe Manoa is the psychic paragon that re-enters Leah’s life to help her face down the dangers of Cedar Manor.
But the paranormal investigators also face a new antagonist in Cory Chase, a reporter from the local paper who’s been watching them from afar, keeping track of the odd, unusual circumstances that seem to follow them. He plots against the investigators, hoping to further his sinister agenda to gain a front page story.
And then of course, there’s the secondary story, the narrative that unfolds just underneath the main one, the one that everyone knows will lead to the next book. The events that take place in this book were foreshadowed in “The Listener,” as Leah began having visions and a recurring dream of the house. More foreshadowing occurs in “Third Eye.” Readers should pay attention to Brett and the circumstances surrounding him.
Book Four? Yes, but I won’t divulge the title just yet. I don’t want to spill any spoilers or overshadow “The Third Eye of Leah Leeds.”
Christopher Carrolli
November 15, 2013
“The Third Eye of Leah Leeds” is available for purchase now at www.melange-books.com