Guest Post

Guest Chick: Kathleen Donnelly & #Giveaway

Happy Wednesday, my friends! It’s Patricia, waving excitedly you. I’m so happy to welcome back friend of the blog Kathleen Donnelly. Kathleen’s next release, Deadly Revenge, hits the bookshelves July 28. (Mark your calendar! Save the date! Preorder today!) In honor of her visit with us–and her upcoming release–Kathleen’s offering a giveaway. (U.S. residents only, please.) Comment on the post and be entered to win the Romantic Suspense Box Set of the National Forest K-9 series, Books 1-3. And here, without further ado, is Kathleen’s wonderful post. You’ve got the spotlight, Kathleen!

Finding Inspiration in a Legendary Colorado Icon

The front entrance of The Stanley Hotel located in Estes Park, Colorado.

The Stanley Hotel. Some will know what I’m talking about. Others may not. As a native Coloradoan, all I usually have to say is, “You know. The Shining? Stephen King.” That brings a nod and a comment about the creepy twins.

I don’t know exactly when I fell in love with this historic hotel. It was before I knew about Stephen King and The Shining. Growing up, my family took day trips to Estes Park. The drive entailed a twisty canyon and just when you thought you couldn’t handle another curve, there was Estes Park. A different world. Magical to me. The mountains sat in all their majesty, sometimes shrouded by clouds and other times they displayed their snowcapped peaks. The town of Estes Park has a charm that’s hard to put into words. Off in the distance, I would see The Stanley Hotel nestled into the mountainside.

What a view!
Sunset at The Stanley Hotel
The Stanley Hotel at night.

It’s as if the ancient hotel would speak to me and whisper its secrets. Before 1983, The Stanley would close for the winter. In 1974, Stephen King and his wife, Tabitha, visited and stayed the night before the hotel shut down for the year. Between being some of the only guests and a nightmare about his son running down the halls, that trip inspired The Shining.

When I was in high school, a film crew arrived in Estes and began shooting the made-for-television version of King’s book. Stephen King was there making sure the remake was done right.

The Stephen King Room.
Is that a ghost?

But I didn’t care about the star-studded hoopla that came with Hollywood. I simply loved the old hotel. Fast forward another ten years and I was working K-9s in Estes Park. The route to my first stop always took me right by The Stanley. I always wondered, were there really ghosts? I wanted to be a guest there and explore.

A couple of years ago, my husband made my wish come true for my birthday complete with the ghost tour. Nothing will make you believe in the paranormal like The Stanley Hotel. As I started my draft of Deadly Revenge, the fifth book in the National Forest K-9 series, I thought it would be fun to weave in an old hotel based off The Stanley.

One of the original Stanley Steamers in the lobby of
The Stanley Hotel.
A carriage in a tunnel underneath The Stanley Hotel.

In Deadly Revenge, along with a missing teen, there’s a forest fire that forces evacuations including The Old Stone Lodge, aka The Stanley Hotel. I loved using the layout of The Stanley and thinking about what it would be like to clear a building like this with officers and a K-9. No, my book doesn’t have ghosts or freaky twins walking down the hall, but what I hope it does have is the spirit of the mountains embodied by this hotel.

Yes, The Stanley has always intrigued me and I’m ready to go back.

Readers, I’m curious. How many of you believe in ghosts and have you ever visited The Stanley Hotel? Post comment for a chance to win the Romantic Suspense Box Set of the National Forest K-9 series, Books 1-3.

About Author Kathleen Donnelly

Award-winning author Kathleen Donnelly is a retired K-9 handler. She continues to enjoy crafting realism into her fictional stories from her dog-handling experience. Her love of the mountains came from growing up in Colorado and exploring the wilderness. Kathleen hosts the podcast Sit.Stay.Read., a part of the Authors on the Air Global Network. She lives near the Colorado foothills with her husband and four-legged friends. Visit Kathleen’s website, kathleendonnelly.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter and find links to connect with her on social media.

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46 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Kathleen Donnelly & #Giveaway”

    1. Thanks for the warm welcome, Liz! I hope you get to visit The Stanley someday. It’s worth the trip. 🙂 Thanks reading and commenting. 🙂

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    1. Patricia, thank you for having me as a guest today! And if you ever get out to Colorado, let me know. I’d be happy to take you to The Stanley. 🙂

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    2. Thanks for reading the post today, Deborah! Definitely put The Stanley on your vacation list. It’s amazing. And it’s so close to Rocky Mountain National Park which is also amazing. Hope you get to visit someday! 🙂

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  6. I’ve never been to The Stanley Hotel but I’d love to go!! I definitely believe in ghosts and everything supernatural….and I love The Shining, both the book and the movie. I went to see The Shining in the movie theater with my best girlfriend right after it came out and being the brilliant actor that he is, Jack Nicholson scared the living daylights out of me! I’d only been married a few weeks at the time and I must admit I kept a very close eye on my new husband for awhile lol

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    2. Thanks so much for reading, Brenda! I love all things ghosts and I definitely believe too. I’ve never seen the original movie but Jack Nicholson is such a great actor! I bet it was spooky. 😊

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    3. Thanks so much for reading the post today, Brenda! I actually never saw the original Shining, but I bet Jack Nicholson was scary! Hope you get to visit The Stanley someday! 🤗

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      1. Sorry about the extra reply! It didn’t seem like my posts were going up, LOL! Maybe it was a ghost… 😉

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  7. I have seen the Stanley from the outside, but have never been inside it and yes, I do believe ghosts are a definite possibility. We used to go to Estes when I was a youngster, the doctor my mom worked for had a place up there. I loved watching the taffy pulling machine in the window of the taffy shop on Main Street. Now I think I need a return to Estes Park next time I am in the area and a stay at the Stanley. Congrats on the new release. I love Maya and Juniper!

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    2. Thanks so much for reading and posting today! I love the taffy store. 🙂 I love eating the taffy too, LOL! Estes is such a great town and unlike so many other mountain towns in Colorado, it hasn’t changed much. I hope you can visit soon!

      And thank you for reading the National Forest K-9 series. I’m so happy you enjoy it! That made my day! 🙂

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  8. Love the cover, Kathleeen. I’ve never been to the hotel and now I definitely want to go! I’m assuming the maze is not there and was created for the movie?

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    1. Thanks so much, Karen! It’s such a cool hotel. There’s actually a maze there! We didn’t go in it because we were up there in January and sitting by the fire places. 😉 But you can go through the maze if you come for a visit. Let me know if you come! It would be fun to meet up! 😉 We could look for Big Foot too!

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  9. I’m not a believer in ghosts, but I have to say that The Shining is the scariest movie I ever saw! Question: Do Stanley Steamers have a connection (other than the name) to the Stanley Hotel?

    Thanks so much for visiting the Chicks, Kathleen, and congrats on the release of Deadly Revenge–it sounds great!

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    1. Thanks so much, Leslie! I’m excited about the release of Deadly Revenge. 🙂

      And yes! The Stanley Hotel was built by Freelan Oscar Stanley and his wife Flora. There are several original Stanley Steamers on display in the hotel and they used to get them out every summer and run them. I don’t know if they still do that or not. But The Stanley has a lot of history attached to it. 🙂

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  10. Kathleen, if you’re talking about the TV version starring Steven Weber, I was working on WINGS when he made that! Which sure dates me, lol.

    I’m conflicted about ghosts. I believe there are things we don’t know out there. But I did a paranormal tour of Columbia State Historic Park in Sonora, CA as research for my third Golden Motel Mystery, ALL ABOARD FOR MURDER, and even when the tour leader pointed out a light on her gadget indicated paranormal activity, I was doubtful. Still, being in a 19th century hotel closed to the public for years sure felt spooky!

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    1. Hi Ellen! I am talking about the TV version with Steven Weber. He’s one of my favorite actors! 🙂 I didn’t realize you worked on WINGS. That was also one of my favorite shows. My husband and I still watch reruns when we want something fun. 🙂 Now I know why I love WINGS! 😉

      Yes, I am a believer, but I’ve had some really different experiences that couldn’t be explained any other way. Maybe another post down the road, I’ll share more. Your research sounds like so much fun! Whether there’s paranormal activity or not, visiting historical sites is always fun. 🙂

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  11. I’ve never been to The Stanley Hotel but have heard of it! I’m too chicken, so I’m not sure I would stay there. I have visited a few haunted places but have never seen anything–maybe I’m too oblivious?

    Congrats on Deadly Revenge, and I love those insider pics of the hotel, especially the tunnels!

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    1. Thanks so much for the congrats, Jennifer! I’m glad you enjoyed the pictures and The Stanley is a fun place to visit.

      There’s lots of great places to stay in Estes so you could always stay somewhere else and then do a tour of The Stanley. And I think ghosts like to visit when you least expect them. 🙂

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  12. Great pictures—I was so intrigued by the back story about how Stephen King was inspired to write THE SHINING. I love both your series, and I’m looking forward to the upcoming release of DEADLY REVENGE! Congratulations!

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    1. Thanks so much for the congrats, Marjorie! And thank you for reading my post! 🙂

      I admit, if The Stanley was unoccupied like the night Stephen King stayed, it would be a VERY spooky place. Jim Carrey also stayed there because parts of DUMB AND DUMBER were filmed there. He stayed in the most haunted room and our tour guide said around midnight, he came running downstairs and asked to be moved. He didn’t want to talk about what happened, but said he couldn’t stay there anymore. I don’t know if all that is true, but I do know that DUMB AND DUMBER was filmed there. LOL! 😉

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  13. While I don’t believe in ghosts, I have been in some places that felt creepy to me. I think it’s the mind at work.

    (No need to enter me in the giveaway.)

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    1. Thanks for reading and commenting, Mark! Yes, the imagination can definitely make places feel creepy. That and anything associated with Stephen King. 🙂

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  14. Great post! I’ve always loved The Shining, one of the best scary movies EVER! So when we were in Colorado in October a couple of years ago, we made a pilgrimage and we *may* have snuck upstairs to take the exact same picture of the door to Stephen King’s room. We also did a seance, which was fun, but I wish I’d taken the ghost tour, too! Also: Tunnels?!? I didn’t know there were tunnels!

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  15. Thanks so much for reading, Marla! As a kid, I may have snuck upstairs too, but I’m not admitting to anything! 😉 A seance!?! Oh! How fun! I want to do that now. 🙂

    And yes! The tunnels are between the hotel and the employee housing. I can’t remember when they were built, but the employee housing buildings, I think, were the original buildings on the property. The tunnels were built so that employees could go between their housing and the hotel without having to deal with the weather.

    I’m not sure the normal ghost tour takes you there, but since we were up there in January we were the only ones on the tour. I think our guide took us to some extra locations which was fun. 🙂

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  16. Kathleen, thanks for revisiting Chicks today–and huge congrats on DEADLY REVENGE! This is my 3rd attempt to comment, as the site keeps closing on me in the last sentence. (Coincidence? I think not.) I’ve never been to the Stanley, but the pictures remind me of some of the historic grand hotels we have here in NH. I read THE SHINING off my dad’s bookshelf as a teen–but I could only read outside, in broad daylight. (Yes, I do believe in ghosts, lol.) I rented an apartment in an old carriage house in Brooklyn for a year, which came with a very mischievous poltergeist. (The previous tenant warned, but the place was cheap.) Unlike Jim Carrey, I’ve talked about the experience plenty. But since my comments keep erasing, I’ll leave it at that!

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