Release Day Launch ‘Molly Pepper and the Night Train’ by Courtney King Walker

Today I’m excited to participate in the Release Day
Launch of ‘Molly Pepper and the Night Train’ by Courtney King Walker. This book
is a middle grade mystery/adventure novel and is out NOW!!

Hidden somewhere in the fog of the San Francisco bay lies
Blue Rock Island, home to the bay area’s two best-kept secrets: Bell’s Bluff,
the old, abandoned prison on one side of the island, and the Night Train,
a mysterious train ride on the other. When twelve-year-old Molly Pepper
receives a secret invitation promising a night of magic and adventure aboard
the Night Train, she is skeptical. In her experience, most promises prove too
good to be true. The fact that she lost her mom is proof enough.

Still, Molly gives hope another chance. Together with her
loyal friend, Noah Wonderly, they sneak out of the house and follow a string of
clues leading to the Night Train. But when the train stops at Bell’s Bluff,
Molly discovers the real reason she was invited. There, she starts to
wonder if hope and magic not only fix broken promises; but make you believe in
them again.

For more information about this book please visit Goodreads and Amazon.

When she opened the mailbox on the first day of summer break,
Molly Pepper found three pieces of mail. The first two items did not seem all
that interesting: one, a Woman’s Day magazine; two, her final report card on
which she already knew mostly C’s would be hogging all the white space; and
three, a small, crème-colored envelope with her name on it.

That was the most interesting discovery. Molly could not recall
the last time she had ever received anything in the mail. Not only was the
crisp, smooth envelope addressed to her, but it also lacked both a return
address and a stamp. No
stamp meant somebody had sidestepped the

entire mail system altogether and placed this exact letter into
her mailbox, probably this very day.

Molly popped a cinnamon bear into her mouth and peered over her
shoulder for any chance that the owner of the envelope might still be watching
her. All she discovered behind her, however, was the sound of the distant ferry
whistling through the salty air, and the passing by of an old, white
convertible spewing a fume of exhaust in its wake. She coughed in protest, and
then ducked behind a lone, thick palm tree, in case she was mistaken. She
wasn’t going to take any chances. Who knew what might be out there, hiding in
the shadows, watching her every move?

For twenty-point-five seconds, Molly chewed on the remainder of
cinnamon goo in her mouth and held her position while surveying the
neighborhood for any sign of bedlam.

But, she hated to admit; everything appeared just as it should.

 Same as always.

With a sigh, Molly tucked her report card into her back pocket for
safekeeping and reemerged from behind the palm tree, doing her best to appear
carefree. But it was more difficult than she’d hoped, especially after her
detour  to the side of the house where
she deposited the Woman’s Day magazine into the recycle bin.

Secretly stashing unwanted mail had been her routine for the last
few months. She’d taken it upon herself to bury any rogue reminders of her
mother under a pile of crumpled newspapers before her dad ever had a chance to
see them. Molly figured it was better she deal with the mess of their new life
than him. Especially today, the first day of summer break that was supposed to be filled with the promise
of adventure…not reminders of broken promises.

The house was quiet when Molly stepped inside, except for
the sound of her dad’s daytime snores flooding the hallways like an occasional
blast of an off-tune trombone.

That sound this time of morning always put Molly in a
despondent mood because it meant change—an
unwanted, unrequested change she hadn’t yet grown used to. Secretly, she wished
her dad would learn how to sleep in silence. Then, she could live under the
ruse that her life remained the same as last summer when the world was still
the kind of place in which most people liked to stay put.

At the kitchen table, Molly pushed aside yesterday’s mail
to make room for the letter. Her
letter.

Now, the moment of truth. She hesitated before opening
it, trying to guess just what it could be…a note from a secret admirer? A party
invitation? Russian correspondence?

She sucked in a deep, audible breath. Then, on the count
of three she exhaled and popped open the pointed flap.

A thick, crème-colored note slipped out onto the table,
revealing a simple sentence printed in black ink, each line spaced evenly from
top to bottom.

IF ADVENTURE

IS YOUR DESIRE

GO TO

174 CANDLESTICK HILL

 AT NINE O’CLOCK
TONIGHT

NO SOONER

NO LATER

               Well. There wasn’t a question in Molly’s
mind about her desire for adventure. In fact, if anybody desired adventure more
than her, she would like to meet them face-to-face just to see what the real face of adventure looked like.
Because she was pretty sure the freckled face she met in the mirror each
morning silently begged for something more than this—more than entertaining
herself all summer long while her father worked two shifts at the police
department and slept it off the next morning.

Adventure was the easy
part.

The difficulty
about this whole message, if Molly chose to follow the card’s directions after
all (and she was definitely still debating the whole idea), was the
getting-to-the-top-of-Candlestick-Hill-without-passing-out part.

See, Candlestick Hill was the steepest hill in all of
California. In fact, if Blue Rock Island were situated a little closer to
Canada instead of in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, Candlestick Hill
would make the world’s best ski run. But, a thick blanket of fog was as close
to white the island ever got, making Candlestick Hill a nightmare instead of
the attraction it could be.

               Therefore,
a little skepticism about the mysterious message was in order. The more Molly
thought about it, the more she wondered if perhaps somebody was playing a joke
on her just to get her to climb the murderous hill for nothing.

Who would do
something like that?

Molly chewed on that thought along with

another cinnamon bear, and drummed her fingers along the
tabletop, trying to come up with a few criteria. First off, somebody with easy
access to her mailbox; secondly, somebody creative enough to make up the whole
idea in the first place; and lastly but most importantly, somebody who knew
Molly well enough to play on her longing for adventure.

Somebody probably like…

“What’s that?” asked a voice coming from a space right
behind her.

Molly coughed on her cinnamon bear and whirled around as
the beginning of a scream eked its way out of her throat. She stopped just
before it grew loud enough to wake her dad. “Noah!” Molly hit her next-door
neighbor on the arm. “Why are you sneaking up on me?”

“I’m not. You didn’t answer when I knocked, and I know
your dad’s rule about ringing the doorbell, so…”

“You could have warned me! I thought you were a burglar.”

Noah Wonderly rubbed his arm and pulled out a chair
beside Molly. “I’m sorry. But, I did
knock, you know.”

Molly slid the mysterious note across the table. “Do you
have any idea what this is?” she asked, getting right down to business.

She wanted to gauge Noah’s reaction, certain if he were
behind it, the truth would reveal itself immediately. He could never withhold
information without the whole truth bleeding out through his shifty brown eyes
and seesawing smile. Because of that, Noah was a terrible secret-keeper and an
even worse actor.

When they were kids, Noah was the lousiest performer in
the history of neighborhood plays, resulting in Molly having to play both Darth
Vader and Princess Leia (which didn’t
turn out so well). Even now, Molly could tell by the way Noah shifted his eyes
to the right whenever they made eye contact that he had a crush on her.

But, she was careful not to let on because she wasn’t
quite sure how she felt about him. Not yet.

Noah picked up the crème-colored note and studied both
sides of it very thoughtfully, as if taking a test. His eyes narrowed as he
mouthed the words of the message quietly to himself.

Molly couldn’t stand how long he took just to consider a
few words on a piece of paper, and immediately concluded that he was much too
serious to be part of any practical joke. She snatched the note back from him,
a little

relieved.

“Is it some kind of joke?” he asked, helping himself to
the bag of cinnamon bears lying open on the table. She allowed it.

 “I thought the
same thing,” she said, glad she wasn’t the only one to jump to conclusions.

“Who’s it from?”

“I don’t know. I found it in the mailbox.”

Noah glanced at the note. “Well, are you going to go up
there tonight?”

Molly thought for a minute, but still didn’t know what
her answer should be. She wanted to go. The promise of adventure had definitely
piqued her interest. But, at the same time, she felt this deep, lurking fear
building up inside her. What if she went all the way up there, only to be met
with…nothing?

“Not sure,” Molly said. “I have to think about it for a
little while. I’m trying to decide if it will even be worth the climb.”

“I don’t think you should go.”

She looked up, surprised. “Why not?”

“I just don’t trust it,” he said, revealing a bit of the
blood-red remains of his demolished cinnamon bear. “What if it really is a
joke?”

Molly sunk back into her chair, not sure what she should
do. She had hoped for a little more support from him than this.

Noah remained quiet, his mind searching for a solution, a
way to help Molly without her having to risk falling victim to some kind of
mischief. Noah Wonderly was that kind of friend—the kind to back you up when
you didn’t know where to go next, and the kind to offer up solutions to
problems that weren’t even his. Molly almost always felt happier when he was
around; he had his own way of making everything look brighter, even on a foggy
day. San Francisco had a lot of foggy days.

And he also usually
smelled like a clean laundry room.

Though, that didn’t mean Molly liked Noah, or anything.

“What about your dad? Would he drive you up and check it
out for you?” Noah asked, dropping his chin on his hands.

“Nope. He’ll be at work. Plus, policemen don’t approve of
this kind of correspondence.”

“You mean, like secret messages?”

“Yes. Secret messages. Not exactly a police-approved
activity. We’ll have to keep this one under wraps. Which means if my dad starts
asking questions, you’d better leave. He’ll be able to tell you’re hiding
something just by looking at

you.”

“What? No he won’t!” Noah jerked upright and ran his
hands through his dark hair, as if proving he was smooth and had skills.

Molly pointed a finger. “That look on your face right
now…guilty.”

“What are you talking about?” A hesitant smile spread
across Noah’s face, despite his every effort to tame it.

Molly laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Noah, laughing now, too, though
he wasn’t sure what he was even laughing about. But, that was the thing about
Molly, and the whole reason he liked her. Everything about Molly Pepper was
contagious, making it that much harder to be around her when she was sad.

Molly looked up at him. “If I decide to go, will you come
with me?”

Noah wasn’t sure about that. Did he want to go? Not
really—who wanted to climb Candlestick Hill ever?
Plus, he wasn’t very excited about chasing after an anonymous prankster. It
just seemed…stupid, and maybe even a little bit dangerous.

On the flipside, he never turned down an opportunity to
hang out with Molly, especially when it meant the chance to prove he was brave
and strong and all that other macho stuff girls liked. What guy wouldn’t want
that?

But, first, he thought he might as well ring in a favor
in exchange, and hoped Molly wouldn’t run away screaming at his request.
Especially when she found out there might be spiders involved. “Yes,” he said
with his shifty eyes. “But I need you to help me with something, first.”

Courtney King Walker grew up in the San Francisco Bay
Area building rocket ships and rafts out of cardboard, hoping to make it the
moon or at least Niagara Falls. But a trip across the border to Tijuana was as
exciting as it ever got, so she decided writing about adventure was the next
best thing. She now lives in the Rocky Mountains with her husband and four
children, and still dreams of flying to the moon. Her YA debut, ‘On The Fringe’,
was published in 2011 by Lands Atlantic Publishing.

For more information about Courtney Kind Walker and her
books please visit her website, Twitter and Goodreads.

a Rafflecopter giveaway This event was organized by Jen Halligan PR.