Guests & Gryphons

Meet Attie Nichols, a middle-aged single accountant whose life has never been easy. Now she's ready for a change, but how much can she handle? Midlife Undercover. Regular citizen by day, and monster hunter by night. Attie thought she was past being surprised. After all, she'd faced monsters, survived impossible odds, and carved out a life that finally felt like her own. Then she found herself standing in a cemetery, burying the parents who had never truly wanted her—and learning that some deaths raise more questions than they answer. As Attie digs through paperwork, grief, and unfinished business, she uncovers threads that pull her back toward a past she never understood. What begins as a final act of obligation turns into something far more dangerous. Old protections surface, ancient guardians stir, and truths long hidden refuse to stay buried. Attie is forced to confront secrets about who she is, why she was protected, and what was set in motion long before she ever picked up a weapon. With danger closing in and loyalties tested, Attie faces her hardest choice yet: cling to the life she's built, or step into a future shaped by forces beyond her control. Either way, there will be consequences—and walking away won't spare anyone. Guests & Gryphons is the third and final book in the Midlife Undercover series—urban fantasy meets paranormal women's fiction, with wit, grit, and a heroine who learns that midlife is when you stop pretending to be normal. I should've known that the adoptive parents hadn't paid for my college. "And the 401k?" I asked. The gryphon nodded. "That was Suri too." The gryphon stepped down and opened the tomb. I had planned to back away, not wanting to see Suri's corpse, but she was as beautiful in death as she had been in life. More than that, there was an entire room inside filled with weapons, knowledge, and gold. I had a choice to make. Would I return to a foreign realm for a fresh start with a family I'd never known, or would I remain here with the family I'd made and the home I'd built? No matter what conclusion I reached, someone would be hurt. I could accept a lot of things. That I was from another world? I didn't even blink. That I now had money? Cool. Whatever. It was just another tool. That I deserved to be loved? I struggled with that...both from these mystery parents and from Gunner. That I was free to live the life I wanted? I'd just have to figure out what that was first...or die trying.