Wiggle Rooms

Have you ever visited a hidden away place so beautiful that it made you nervous, scared almost? Have you ever seen a place that sat peacefully amidst an ancient forest so full of intrigue that only the most restless of minds would dare approach? Well, D.A. Winstead saw it and knew he’d write about it one day. Darkness comes fast and early in such places–and tends to stay longer than it should. Even the old churches, quaint hotels, shops, pubs and cafes, schools, playgrounds, and the stately old beach homes seem old and dark, as if something creepy lurks behind every wall. And it gets much darker after sunset, as shadowy figures from the forests stalk the night. D. A. Winstead walked these streets on a cold October night and wondered how many restless souls resided in this ancient Latvian town they call Jūrmala. He picked the most haunted-looking of all the homes and that first night started writing Wiggle Rooms.

Just days before a major Ministerial Summit between Russian and Latvian leaders is to begin in Riga, Ted Schwen is back to find answers, settle old scores, and take his son’s remains back to Atlanta. Toby had been taken and murdered ten years ago when Ted was the U.S. Ambassador to Latvia. Ted knows those at fault will never talk and those responsible for finding the truth will never truly search for it. He is back in Riga to find answers, and his constant companion–his dead son Toby–is there to assist…in spirit. Ted teams up with an officer from the American Embassy in Riga, Jules Bailey–a young woman with an old soul, an open mind and heart, and a gift handed down from generations past. Jules uses her gift with a similarly-gifted woman, a mother who lost her son to the same monsters. The women must help Ted find answers hidden deep within the walls of a forbidding old house on the shores of the Baltic Sea. But it’s neither the house nor the sea they have to worry about; the ancient woods nearby reek of death, old pagan ways, and a demon named Biiel. At the end of the day, after the sun sets and the moon rises high in the sky, we’re free to search for those haunting secrets from the past. We’re free to find things that should never be talked about. But don’t be surprised when you find that what you looked for was already there, clawing to wiggle its way out. In simple old lore terms, when this happens, just turn and run as fast as possible…before it’s too late.

International suspense and mystery writer D. A. Winstead is a former senior government official at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC. Focusing in economic and security development policy, he traveled extensively during his twenty-two years of civil service . . . mostly in post-conflict nations in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Currently enjoying a slower life in Atlanta, Georgia, he writes fiction based on his travels and embellished by his experiences and cultures, old lore, superstitions, and religious fervor. Wiggle Rooms: A Tale of a Fallen Anchorite is the author’s third fiction. The Seventh Priest: Offering Day is set in Khartoum, Sudan where he lived briefly. It was released in 2011. Southern Crosses: An Africa Ghost Story is set in Kimberley, South Africa. It was released in 2012.