Chasing the Chupacabra: Magic and Monsters Run Amok on a Tropical Island in "Ye Gods! a Tale of Dogs and Demons" by Lynne M. Hinkey

Author Lynne M. Hinkey's latest novel, "Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons," is a story of magic and monsters run amok on a Caribbean island. Author Jack Halliman sails to Puerto Rico looking for a cure for writer's block but instead finds a dead body and becomes one of two suspects. The other is the chupacabra. Jack has to find out whoor whatis responsible for the killings before he ends up in jail. Again.

Hinkey, who currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina, is a "marine scientist by training, author by passion, and curmudgeon by nature." She first headed to the islands as a 19-year-old to attend the University of the Virgin Islands. She spent most of the next sixteen years in the Caribbean, where she gathered the stories and characters that populate her writing.

The chupacabra (Spanish for "goat-sucker") first came to Hinkey'sand the world'sattention when it appeared in Puerto Rico in the mid-90s. The monster has since been "sighted" all around Latin America, the southwestern US, Florida, and even Maryland. It has featured in shows like The X-Files, The Walking Dead, Animal Planet's Lost Tapes, and South Park.

Now, Hinkey's crime-caper, "a Scooby-Doo meets Murder, She Wrote mash-up," takes on the mythology surrounding the chupacabra with some new and hilarious twists.

"Ye Gods!" will be available on April 1 through the publisher, Casperian Books, as well as through most online booksellers. It will also be available in electronic formats beginning May 1.

The author is available for interviews, book readings and signings, and book club appearances locally, and via Skype, phone, or other online venues. Contact her at lynne.hinkey(at)gmail(dot)com.