Inklings // September 2025

Hello, friends!

Today's post is brought to you by Heidi's Inklings!

(Haha, I feel like someone talking about a sponsorship but I am not paid to blog in any way.)

How it works:

1. At any time during the month, on your own blog post a scene from a book or film that matches the prompt, including a link back to Heidi's blog in your post.

2. Make sure to come back and leave a link to your entry in the box on that month's post: Heidi's post for September 2025.

To add to my ongoing list of my entries, today's post is filling this month's prompt:

A forest scene in book or film

This is the perfect prompt for fall which comes with beautiful changing colors!

It gets under my skin when I haven't done a book example for a couple of months. It was only back in May that I featured a scene from a book, but I try to alternate books and movies. This month it's a book's turn!

To fill this prompt I'm going to use the opening scene of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - by Stuart Turton. There are no spoilers because this is just what it's like to pick up the book and start reading!

I forget everything between footsteps.

"Anna!" I finish shouting, snapping my mouth shut in surprise.

My mind has gone blank. I don't know who Anna is or why I'm calling her name. I don't even know how I got here. I'm standing in a forest, shielding my eyes from the spitting rain. My heart's thumping, I reek of sweat, and my legs are shaking. I must have been running, but I can't remember why.

"How did--" I'm cut short by the sight of my own hands. They're bony, ugly. A stranger's hands. I don't recognize them at all.

Feeling the first touch of panic, I try to recall something about myself: a family member, my address, age...anything,  but nothing's coming. I do't even have a name. Every memory I had a few seconds ago is gone.

My throat tightens, breaths coming loud and fast. The forest is spinning, black spots inking my sight.

Be calm.

"I can't breathe," I gasp, blood roaring in my ears as I sink to the ground, my fingers digging into the dirt.

You can breathe; you just need to calm down.

There's comfort in this inner voice, cold authority.

Close your eyes. Listen to the forest. Collect yourself.

Obeying the voice, I squeeze my eyes shut, but all I can hear is my own panicked wheezing. For the longest time it crushes every other sound, but slowly, ever so slowly, I work a hole in my fear, allowing other noises to break through. Raindrops are tapping the leaves, branches rustling overhead. There's a stream away to my right and crows in the trees, their wings cracking the air as they take flight. Something's scurrying in the undergrowth, the thump of rabbit feet passing near enough to touch. One by one, I knit these new memories together until I've got five minutes of past to wrap myself in. It's enough to stanch the panic, at least for now.

ACK, I love the mystery of it all. Fall is just the ideal time to read and watch mysteries, so some I'd recommend are Knives Out (2019), Nancy Drew (2007), The Illusionist (2006), And Then There Were None - by Agatha Christie, Moriarty - by Anthony Horowitz, and of course, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - by Stuart Turton!

What are some of your favorite mysteries perfect for fall? Has anyone else read The 7 1/2 Deaths? Any recommendations for books with numbers in the title?

Enjoy the lovely trees and "forests" where you all live!

Chloe the MovieCritic