Peyton Reynolds

Peyton Grace Reynolds is the protagonist of The Broom Closet Mysteries series.

Childhood and Early Years
Peyton was an only child, born to Tom and Marilyn Reynolds. Her younger childhood was marred by the marital strife of her parents, who divorced when she was seven. After her parents' divorce, she never saw her father, who existed in her life only as a monthly child support check. Her mother never remarried.

Coinciding with her parents' separation and subsequent divorce, Peyton began seeing and talking to a neighbour girl who later turned out to be a ghost. The child was murdered, and with Peyton's help, her killer was located and brought to justice. Peyton grew up believing that this even was the catalyst for her parents' divorce, and that it was, in essence, her fault that her parents split up.

Her mother, a historian and author, took Peyton with her to Europe on several occasions during research trips. One such memorable trip involved the young Peyton encountering the headless ghost of Anne Boleyn.

Teen Years
By the time Peyton entered junior high, she was a social outcast amongst her peers for being "weird" and knowing too much about others. She stuck to herself for the most part, having no friends, until eighth grade when she met Maegan Willard, a recent transplant from Wisconsin and a practising Wiccan. The two girls quickly bonded, and Peyton was present when Maegan's mother, Bridget, passed away from cancer. She was able to convey a last message between mother and daughter.

Through high school, Peyton was the wallflower to Maegan's social butterfly. She dated little, and only went to Prom because Maegan's then-boyfriend's brother needed a date. With litte social life of her own, Peyton devoted her time to study and being her mother's personal assistant.

College, Rob Morris, and Marilyn's Illness
Peyton went to a local community college and studied business management. One of her elective classes was ballroom dance. It was there that she met Rob Morris. She began a tumultuous, on-and-off relationship with Morris that lasted several years. Morris was, as she later recounts, her first kiss, but he was an inattentive boyfriend and frequently broke up with Peyton to pursue other prospects.

It was during this time that her mother Marilyn grew ill. Shortly after Peyton's college graduation, the Reynolds family learned that Marilyn had breast cancer. It metasticized quickly, and despite the best efforts of cancer specialists, Marilyn died shortly after Peyton's twenty-fourth birthday. Her mother, however, stuck around as a ghost and has been haunting house and daughter ever since.

Pasted
Having broken up with Rob yet again, Peyton swears off dating and especially any contact with her ex. Six months later, not having heard from him at all, she's surprised to be contacted by the latest woman Rob left her for. The woman, Allison Menella, informs Peyton that Rob is missing and has been for four months. She leaves a necklace in Peyton's possession and flees; moments later, Peyton learns that Rob is actually dead, and is a ghost somehow attached to the aforementioned necklace. Unbeknownst to Peyton, Allison is murdered that same night by someone after the necklace.

Determined to figure out why Rob is attached to the necklace, Peyton tells Maegan of her ex's death. They're interrupted by the arrival their new co-worker, Milo Hennessy, with whom Peyton makes an instant connection. He, too, has psychic ability, and is someone Peyton can finally be herself around.

Milo tries to talk Peyton out of investigating Rob's death, and this leads to some strain in their budding relationship. Things only get worse when he reveals that he's only half human, and that his father is the god Lugh of Celtic mythology.

While sorting through her feelings and difficulties with Milo, Peyton goes on a single date with the detective investigating Allison's death. When the killer tracks Peyton down and kidnaps her, she realises that it's Milo she wants to be with, despite their differences.

Toasted
Six months after the events of Pasted, Peyton and Milo are in a monogamous relationship. They go to Ireland to visit his sister for her wedding. While they're there, Milo's twin, Muriel, asks Peyton to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, since Milo is obviously so attached to Peyton. It's Muriel's obvious hope that the pair will soon wed. Peyton agrees to be in the wedding party, but things get awkward when she realises that the Maid of Honour, Darcy Ahearn, is Milo's ex-lover. Darcy is cruel to Peyton, but Milo swears he has no interest in his ex, and professes his love for Peyton.

At the wedding, Peyton encounters a man who claims to be Milo and Muriel's cousin. He introduces himself as Brendan. Milo, however, says he doesn't have a cousin by that name. Neither think much of it, and they are quickly distracted by other events. One of Muriel's bridesmaids, Ciara Murphy has been murdered, and her ghost appears to Peyton. Lugh, Milo's father, enlists Peyton to discover who killed Muriel's friend. Milo and Peyton reluctantly take on the case, though they have little to go on.

After discovering the body of a murdered florist, Peyton herself is kidnapped and held prisoner for three days inside a tomb in the middle of a peat bog by none other than Brendan, who turns out to be a Fomorian and Lugh's uncle. He wants revenge because Lugh killed his father, Balor of the Evil Eye. Peyton manages to escape, but becomes lost while wandering around County Sligo, and is rescued by Milo and Lugh. They treat Peyton's wounds and take her back to Dublin.

After Muriel and Quinn return from their honeymoon in France, they all attend the funeral of Ciara Murphy, whose ghost has been haunting Peyton since she was kidnapped by Brendan. With Ciara's help, Peyton is able to track down Brendan's accomplice, though the man is killed when Ciara's ghost pushes him under a bus.

Lugh unofficially hires Peyton to do future work for him, which she agrees to mostly for the money, and she and Milo head back to the States.

Abilities
Peyton is a precognitive clairvoyant with mediumistic abilities, which means that she has visions of future events. She is unable to control these visions, and sometimes isn't sure they're a vision of the future until the event actually comes to pass. She is also a clairvoyant, able to read information from things or from people that she otherwise wouldn't be able to know. She is also able to, at times, have visions of events as they're happening, such as when her acquantaince, Lillian Maxwell, is murdered. Finally, she is able to both see and communicate with the dead, frequently as if they're just as real and present as the living people around her.