Coffin Hop 2014 and Last Request Contest

As promised in Coffin Hop post #1, here's the announcement and details for a contest running through the end of November. Last Request: A Victorian Gothic contains an allusion to a well-known 19th-century American female writer and one of her short stories. The prize is a $20 Amazon gift card. The winner will be selected from the entries that correctly name the writer and her story.

Here are some clues to help you.

1. The writer in question is best known for a story she wrote about wallpaper, but that's not the story I referenced.
2. The writer's last name and the word from her story's title appear in the same sentence in Last Request, only a few words apart.
3. The clue word is the name of a living thing. Don't let its variant spellings trip you up.

Read Last Request to find the answers. Good luck. At under twelve thousand words, Last Request is a quick and fun read. Buy it, borrow it (it's part of Kindle Unlimited). Come back here to enter the contest. Here's the blurb:

“For the love of God, cut off my head.” The last request in Uncle Silas's will shocks everyone speechless, everyone except his favorite niece, Anna. More than death itself, the claustrophobic Silas fears a premature burial. Will her elders carry out his request? Anna is certain they will not. It's up to her to do the right thing, even if it is a bit grisly. Armed with butcher knife and candle, Anna heads for the crypt underneath the church in the dead of night. All does not go according to Anna's careful planning.

Step inside a dark story in the tradition of the penny dreadful, at times humorous and horrifying, but don't close the door behind you. Someone might lock you in.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In Coffin Hop news, congratulations to Julianne and Lori, winners of my giveaway for Give Me Your Teeth: A Fae Tale. Thanks to everyone who entered the raffle. That was the best participation I've ever seen in a raffle, a sure sign of the strength of Coffin Hop. And thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog during the hop. Your comments and visits are much appreciated. There's still time to visit more stops on the hop, check out the other participants below.

Happy Halloween and don't eat your candy all at once.