Sunday, June 25, 2017

REVIEW: THE CASE OF THE INVISIBLE SOULS : A Jarvis Mann Short Story by R Weir

For a change of pace, here's to R Weir's latest in the Jarvis Mann series:

***THE CASE OF THE INVISIBLE SOULS SYNOPSIS***
With Christmas a few weeks away and happy these last few months had been quiet, Jarvis Mann decides to take on an interesting case. A homeless veteran knocks on his door with a story of how several of his homeless companions have been bribed and taxied away never to return. Taking pause to the man’s story at first, Jarvis digs deeper learning of plans to clear out the homeless. When the man is attacked, and seriously injured, Jarvis goes undercover, learning more about life on the streets than he ever knew, becoming one of the Invisible Souls in search of an answer.


Check out the other Jarvis Mann Detective Stories:

Dead Man Code: A Jarvis Mann Detective Novel #5
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LY8JZND

Blood Brothers: A Jarvis Mann Detective Novel #4
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019S6AQXW

Twice As Fatal: A Jarvis Mann Detective Novel #3
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XTNTHWW

Tracking A Shadow: A Jarvis Mann Detective Novel #2
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MQHVKJA

The Case of the Missing Bubble Gum Card: A Jarvis Mann Short Story #1
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JGEZNSU



REVIEW:

This is a well-written depiction of the vulnerability and struggles of the homeless, the back story for many of them. Parker seeks out Jarvis when his friends are being lured away from their shared space for some unknown job and never return - they just disappear. Jarvis does a little investigating and breaks a nose or two. He goes undercover to find the motive and uses the system to help them. A short read with a big message.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Book Tour: STORMY WEATHER by Glen Ebisch

From Multi-Published Mystery Author
Glen Ebisch
A mysterious death involving a meteorologist...
Can she weather the storm brewing in the horizon?
Stormy Weather
STORMY WEATHER
Glen Ebisch
Genre:†Mystery
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Publication Date: January, 2017
A dead meteorologist leads to stormy weather.
When the body of Travis Lambert, senior meteorologist, is found buried in a shallow grave next to the house of Stormy McCloud, junior meteorologist, things look bad.
The station hires Chance Malone to investigate the murder, but her situation doesn't improve. Malone is attractive, charming, and funny, all qualities that her past experience with men has led her to avoid. It doesn't help that Stormy has little interest in religion, while Malone is the unusual detective that keeps a Bible in his desk drawer instead of a bottle of scotch.
When Stormy's estranged mother appears on the scene, things become even more complicated. As they discover more about the dark secrets of Travis's life, Stormy is forced to reconsider her view of men, her mother, and her future.
Author Glen Ebisch's mystery suspense crime novel, Stormy Weather is a first-rate thriller. I found a solid story-line, well-written, with well-developed characters, and plot lines which will hold the readers interest.
- verasbookreviewsandstuff, Amazon Reviewer
This book has quite a bit of mystery of where you reveal each piece a layer at a time. You learn one thing about the victim from his co-workers and then you dig a little deeper and you learn something else.
- Seraphia, Amazon Reviewer

Purchase Links

Available now for $4.99 only. Grab your copy today.

Giveaway

WIN
Stormy Weather Giveaway Graphic
Prizes up for grabs:
$10 Amazon Gift Card
5 copies of Stormy Weather (US - Print, International - eBook)
Contest runs from June 19 - 28, 2017.

About†Glen Ebisch

Glen Ebisch
Glen Ebisch taught philosophy in college for over twenty-five years and has been writing mysteries for almost as long. He has been fortunate enough to have over twenty published. He lives with his wife in western Massachusetts and now focuses full time on writing, exercise, and travel.
Official website:http://www.glenebisch.com
Connect with Glen Ebisch†on social media:

Book Tour Schedule

Stormy Weather Tour Graphic
Follow the book tour from June 19 - 24, 2017.
Discover more features, excerpts, reviews, interviews, fun facts and other extras on the tour.
To check the latest tour schedule, visit the Stormy Weather Book Page at Book Unleashed.

In partnership with
Book Unleashed Logo

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Book Blast: CRIME OF PASSION FRUIT (A Bakeshop Mystery) by Ellie Alexander


Cozy Mystery

6th in Series
St. Martin’s Paperbacks (June 27, 2017)
Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1250088079
E-Book ASIN: B01MRU56AS
Synopsis

Torte―everybody’s favorite small-town family bakeshop―is headed for the high seas, where murder is about to make a splash. . .
Jules Capshaw is trying to keep her cool as Torte gets set to make its transformation from quaint, local confectionary café to royal pastry palace. Meanwhile, Jules’s estranged husband Carlos is making a desperate plea for her to come aboard his cruise ship and dazzle everyone with her signature sweets. She may be skeptical about returning to her former nautical life with Carlos but Jules can’t resist an all-expense-paid trip, either. If only she knew that a dead body would find its way onto the itinerary. . .

“A warm and inviting atmosphere, friendly and likable main characters, and a nasty murder mystery to solve!” ―Fresh Fiction

Now, instead of enjoying tropical drinks on deck between whipping up batches of sea-salted chocolates and flambéing fresh pineapple slices in the kitchen, Jules is plunged into dangerous waters. Her investigation leaves her with more questions than answers: Why can’t anyone on board identify the young woman? And how can she help Carlos keep passengers at ease with a killer in their midst? Jules feels like she’s ready to jump ship. Can she solve this case without getting in too deep?

“A perfect mix for fans of Jenn McKinlay, Leslie Budewitz, or Jessica Beck.”
―Library Journal


About The Author

Ellie Alexander is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time testing pastry recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses nearby. When she’s not coated in flour, you’ll find her outside exploring hiking trails and trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, June 16, 2017

Guest Post: BETTY JEAN CRAIGE Author of the Witherston Murder Mysteries


Post by Betty Jean Craige, author of Dam Witherston and other Witherston murder mysteries published by Black Opal Books


A critic called my first novel, Downstream: A Witherston Murder Mystery (2014), an "environmental mystery." I admitted that it was. I had originally titled it "We All Live Downstream," but Black Opal Books suggested that "Downstream" would be more suitable for a whodunnit, and I agreed. The mystery involves the pharmaceutical pollution of our rivers by a longevity drug named Senextra that keeps people alive and healthy for well over a hundred years, though with some unanticipated side effects.


My second mystery in the series, Fairfield's Auction (2016), involves the sale of artifacts from the Cherokee civilization that dominated the mountains of north Georgia and western North Carolina for a thousand years before our state and federal governments sent a majority of them west to Oklahoma on the 1938-39 Trail of Tears. The mystery features a chicken truck stranded in Witherston during a blizzard and the liberation of the hundreds of caged chickens. And an African Grey parrot named Doolittle, who unintentionally provides clues to the murderer's identification. And a Cherokee village. And murder.

My third mystery, Dam Witherston (2017), involves three interracial (white-Cherokee) rapes and murders, one in 2017 and the other two in 1977 and 1828, which DNA tests disclose.

What do all three "Witherston Murder Mysteries" have in common? Most obviously, the mysteries all take place in a fictive town named Witherston, Georgia, twenty miles north of Dahlonega. Witherston got its name from the long line of rich Withers who obtained their wealth in the 1928 Georgia Gold Rush and the 1932 Georgia Land Lottery. The mysteries all include the same eccentric characters. The mysteries all allow the reader to participate in the detection through an online newspaper and documents such as maps, deeds, letters, and DNA ancestry results, as well as the narration.

But the mysteries have something else in common: an ecological view of the world, that is, a vision of nature and culture as an interconnected whole. If we view the world as an interconnected whole we see that we (people and non-people) are all dependent on the well-being of each other, that what we folks do here affects what other folks (and animals and plants and ice and rivers) do elsewhere. In other words, there is no outside. So we should be kind to each other and to the land, for our own well being.

This conviction motivated my teaching and research for decades at the University of Georgia, and it motivates my writing in my retirement.
My close friends called my first novel "preachy." They also criticized me for naming the animals. Thanks to a group of distinguished biologists we understand now that all mammals and birds, and some other animals such as octopuses, have consciousness. (See 2012 "Declaration on Consciousness.") So I say that the animals we know deserve names. In Fairfield's Auction and Dam Witherston, I strove not to preach, but I still named the animals.

Dr. Betty Jean Craige is University Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia. She has lived in Athens, Georgia, since 1973. Her first non-academic book was Conversations with Cosmo: At Home with an African Grey Parrot (2010).

Dr. Betty Jean Craige has published books in the fields of Spanish poetry, modern literature, history of ideas, politics, ecology, and art. She is a scholar, a translator, a teacher, and a novelist. http://www.bettyjeancraige.com/

Buy links:
Dam Witherston AMAZON
Downstream AMAZON
Fairfield’s Auction AMAZON



Saturday, June 10, 2017

Showcase: DREAM A LITTLE DEATH : A Dreama Black Mystery by Susan Kandel

Dream A Little Death

by Susan Kandel

on Tour May 23 - June 23, 2017

Synopsis:

From critically acclaimed author Susan Kandel comes a charming new mystery featuring Dreama Black and a cast of zany LA-based characters.


The first time I set eyes on Miles McCoy, I worried he might try to eat me. He was the size and girth of a North American grizzly, with long, silver-tipped hair, a long silver-tipped beard, and small dark eyes that bore into me like I was a particularly fine specimen of Chinook salmon. It couldn't have helped that I'd used a honey scrub the morning we met. I should've known better. Not just about the scrub, but about a lot of things.
Like braving the freeway during rush hour.
Like thinking you can't get a ticket for parking at a broken meter.
Like racing up to his penthouse in gladiator sandals, and expecting not to twist an ankle.
Like watching his fiancée shoot herself, and assuming it was suicide, instead of murder.
Meet Dreama Black. A 28 year-old, third-generation groupie trying to figure out who she is after being publicly dumped by the rock god whose mega-hit, "Dreama, Little Dreama" made the name and the girl world-famous. Now Dreama supports herself by running custom-designed, themed tours of her hometown of L.A. When she is hired by a Raymond Chandler-obsessed rap producer to create a "L.A. noir" tour as his present to his soon-to-be bride, Dreama gets pulled into the middle of a possible murder, corrupt cops, and an unforgettable pair of femme fatales.

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Published by: Witness Impulse
Publication Date: May 23rd 2017
Number of Pages: 304
ISBN: 0062674994 (ISBN13: 9780062674999)
Series: A Dreama Black Mystery, 1
Purchase Links: Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  | Goodreads 

Read an excerpt:

Chapter 1
The first time I set eyes on Miles McCoy, I worried he might try to eat me. He was the size and girth of a North American grizzly bear, with long silver-tipped hair, a long silver-tipped beard, and small dark eyes that bore into me like I was a particularly fine specimen of Chinook salmon. It couldn’t have helped that I’d used a honey scrub the morning we met. I should’ve known better. Not just about the scrub, but about a lot of things.
Like braving the freeway during rush hour.
Like thinking you can’t get a ticket for parking at a broken meter.
Like racing up to his penthouse in Balenciaga gladiator sandals, and expecting not to twist an ankle.
Like watching his fiancée shoot herself, and assuming it was suicide, instead of murder.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, which is another thing I should know better about. Because if I’ve learned anything at all from my study of film noir (which got me into the whole sordid Miles McCoy mess to begin with), it is to tell the story in the precise order in which it happened.
The trouble started the day before, which was Valentine’s Day, a pagan holiday named after the Roman priest who defied Claudius II by marrying Christian couples. After being hauled off in shackles, the soft-hearted cleric was beaten with clubs, stoned, and when that didn’t finish him off, publicly beheaded. Makes you think.
It had poured rain for eight days running, which isn’t what you sign on for when you live in Los Angeles. But that morning, as I stepped outside for a run, the sun was blinding—so blinding, in fact, that I didn’t see the fragrant valentine my neighbor’s dog, Engelbart, had left on the stoop for me. Not that I minded spending the next twenty minutes cleaning the grooves of my running shoe with a chopstick. It was a beautiful day. The rollerbladers were cruising the Venice boardwalk. The scent of medical marijuana was wafting through the air. Engelbart’s gastrointestinal tract was sound.
An hour later, I hopped into my mint green 1975 Mercedes convertible, and made my way up Lincoln to the freeway. I was headed to Larchmont, an incongruous stretch of Main Street, USA, sandwiched between Hollywood and Koreatown. This was where studio executives’ wives and their private school daughters came for green juice, yoga pants, and the occasional wrench from the general store that had served Hancock Park since the 1930s. It was also where my mother and grandmother ran Cellar Door, known for its chia seed porridge and life-positive service. I helped out whenever my coffers were running low. Which was most of the time.
You are probably frowning right about now. Surely a young woman who owns a classic convertible—as well as Balenciaga gladiators—should not be perennially low on funds. But it’s true.
The car came from my grandmother, who received it as part of her third (fourth?) divorce settlement and gave it to me as a gift when I strong-armed my mother into rehab for the fourth (fifth?) time. The sandals I purchased online in a frenzy of self-loathing shortly after watching my ex-boyfriend the rock god serenading his current girlfriend the supermodel on an otherwise uneventful episode of Ellen. I’d tried to return the sandals, but one of the studs had fallen off, making them damaged goods. Like their owner. Not that I’m hard on myself. It’s just that my career—I take clients on custom-designed, private tours of my hometown of L.A.—wasn’t exactly thriving, which is why I was easy prey for the likes of Miles McCoy. But I’m getting ahead of myself again. Here comes the good part. The part where I’m driving like the wind and almost don’t notice the flashing lights in my mirror. I knew I should have fixed that taillight.
I pulled over, cut the motor, handed the cop my license and registration. He looked down, then did a double take. “Dreama Black?”
That would be me.
“The Dreama Black?” he continued. “As in ‘Dreama, Little Dreama’?”
Perhaps I should explain.
I am a twenty-eight-year-old, third-generation rock ’n’ roll groupie—or “muse,” as the women in my family like to put it.
My grandmother, a fine-boned blonde who never met a gossamer shawl or Victorian boot she didn’t like, spent the sixties sleeping her way through Laurel Canyon, winding up in a house on Rothdell Trail (a.k.a. “Love Street”) purchased for her by a certain lead singer of a certain iconic band whose name is the plural of the thing that hits you on the way out.
My mother, blessed with thick, dark tresses and a way with mousse, was consort to many of the pseudo-androgynous alpha males of American hair metal, her chief claim to fame an MTV video in which she writhed across the hood of a Porsche wearing a white leotard and black, thigh-high boots. She also bought Axl Rose his first kilt.
As for me, well, I was on my way to freshman orientation when this guy I’d been seeing, who’d played a couple of no-name clubs with some friends from summer camp, intercepted me at LAX, put his lips to my ear, and hummed the opening bars of a new song I’d apparently inspired. Instead of boarding the plane for Berkeley, I boarded the tour bus with Luke Cutt and the other skinny, pimply members of Rocket Science. Four world tours, three hit albums, two Grammys, and one breakup later, “Dreama, Little Dreama”—an emo pop anthem that went gold in seven days and has sold eleven million copies to date—had made me almost famous forever.
“Step out of the car, please.”
The cop removed his sunglasses. Peach fuzz. Straight out of the academy. “So.”
He wanted to get a picture with me.
“I’d love to get a picture with you,” he said.
I smoothed down my cut-offs and striped T-shirt, removed my red Ray-Bans, ran my fingers through my long, straight, freshly balayaged auburn hair. The cop put his arm around me, leaned in close, took a couple of snaps on his phone. Let me guess. He’d had a crush on me since tenth grade, when he saw me in a white tank and no bra on the cover of Rocket Science’s debut C.D., and now he was going to post the pictures on Instagram to show all his buddies.
“Awesome.” He gave me a brotherly punch on the arm. “No way is my wife going to believe this. She’s crazy about Luke Cutt. Hey, is he really dating that Victoria’s Secret Angel? She is smoking hot.”
At least I didn’t get the ticket.

Excerpt from Dream A Little Death by Susan Kandel. Copyright © 2017 by Susan Kandel. Reproduced with permission from HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

Author Bio:

An Agatha, Edgar, and SCIBA nominee, Susan Kandel is the author of the nationally best-selling and critically acclaimed Cece Caruso series, the most recent of which, Dial H for Hitchcock (Morrow), was named by NPR as one of the five best mysteries of the year. A Los Angeles native, she was trained as an art historian, taught at NYU and UCLA, and spent a decade as an art critic at the Los Angeles Times. When not writing, she volunteers as a court-appointed advocate for foster children, and loves to explore secret, forgotten, and kitschy L.A. She lives with her husband in West Hollywood.


Catch Up With Our Author On: Website, Goodreads, Twitter, & Facebook! 


Tour Participants:

5/23 Showcase Romance Under Fire
5/24 Guest post 
The Book Divas Read
5/24 Showcase Celticladys Review
5/25 Showcase  Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy;, Too!
5/26 Showcase Bookalicious Traveladdict
5/27 Review Book Reviews from an Avid Reader
5/28 Showcase Bound 2 Escape
5/30 Interview Deal Sharing Aunt

5/31 Showcase A Bookaholic Swede
6/01 Review Blogging with A
6/05 Interview Books Chatter
6/07 Interview CMash Reads
6/10 Showcase Christa Reads and Writes
6/12 Showcase Thoughts in Progress
6/13 Review BookLove
6/14 Showcase The Bookworm Lodge
6/15 Review Cheryls Book Nook

6/15 Showcase The Reading Frenzy
6/16 Guest post Jane Reads
6/17 Showcase Chill and Read
6/19 Review Jane Reads
6/20 Review Cozy Up With Kathy
6/21 Showcase The Pulp and Mystery Shelf
6/22 Review A Room Without Books is Empty
6/22 Review JBronder Book Reviews
6/23 Review just reviews

Here's Your Chance to WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Get More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours

 

Friday, June 9, 2017

Blog Tour: BEARLY DEPARTED (A Teddy Bear Mystery) by Meg Macy



Cozy Mystery
New Series
Kensington (May 30, 2017)
Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1496709639
E-Book ASIN: B01LJKQI7I
Synopsis


The Silver Bear Shop and Factory might be the cutest place around, but there’s nothing warm and fuzzy about murder ...

As manager of the family teddy bear shop and factory, thirty-one-year-old Sasha Silverman leads a charmed life. Well, except for the part about being a single divorcée with a ticking biological clock in small-town Silver Hollow. And that’s just kid’s stuff compared to Will Taylor, the sales rep who’s set on making drastic changes to the business her parents built from scratch—with or without Sasha’s approval ...

But before Will digs his claws in, someone pulls the stuffing out of his plan . . . and leaves his dead body inside the factory. Reeling from shock, Sasha’s hit with more bad news—police suspect her hot-tempered Uncle Ross may have murdered him. Sasha knows her uncle would never do such a thing, and she’s launching her own little investigation to expose the truth. As she tracks Will’s biggest rivals and enemies for clues, Sasha can’t get too comfy—or she’ll become the next plaything for a killer ...

Review

The family business started by Sasha and Maddie's father, and all the employees, are threatened by the actions of one person - and then he's dead and they're all suspects, especially Uncle Ross. The detective, while helpful, isn't working to clear Uncle Ross fast enough and Sasha decides to help him out - after all the business and production line are closed down so she has time on her hands. 

There are lots of twists and secrets revealed, not only about Will, but also Maddie's hopes for the future and tensions between Sasha and Maddie's parents. The Teddy Bear parade ends with the discovery of a second body and the pace quickens. The ending makes sense and Macy ties up loose ends nicely. 

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review as part of this blog tour. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

About the Author

Award-winning mystery author Meg Macy lives in Southeast Michigan, close to Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and Dexter — the area she chose for the setting of her new “Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear” cozy mystery series for Kensington. She is also one-half of the writing team of D.E. Ireland for the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery series; two books have been named Agatha Award finalists. Meg’s first published book, Double Crossing, won the 2012 Best First Novel Spur Award from Western Writers of America. She’s a graduate of Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction program. Meg loves reading mysteries, historicals, and other genre fiction, and also enjoys gardening, crafts, and watercolor painting.

Author Links


 www.megmacy.com Meg Macy – Teddy Bear Cozy Mysteries Meg Macy on Twitter

Purchase Links 

Amazon B&N Apple iTunes Kobo Google Play

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Blog Tour: THE CLOCK STRIKES NUN : A Giulia Driscoll Mystery Book #4 by Alice Loweecey


Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Henery Press (May 30, 2017)
Paperback: 268 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1635112153
E-BOOK – ASIN: B06XD1D3PW
SYNOPSIS:

When terrified Elaine Patrick knocks on Driscoll Investigations’ door and insists her house is haunted, Giulia Driscoll’s first response is “we don’t handle ghosts.” When Elaine’s housekeeper and crackpot filthy rich cousin descend on Giulia and demand she find out who’s trying to steal sweet, fragile Elaine’s family business out from under her, that’s a different story. They want DI to provide Tarot readings, ghost hunting sessions, and even an exorcism.

Ghost hunting? There are apps for that. Tarot readings? Experts in the skill are right across the street. Exorcisms? Having a priest for a brother-in-law comes in handy. Giulia plunges into a crash course in all things supernatural, convinced everything happening to Elaine is stagecraft.

Except when it isn’t. Giulia’s about to discover a new dimension to sleuthing, if she can survive attempted murder long enough to see through the web of lies around her client.


REVIEW:

Giulia's at it again when Elaine shows up and asks for ghost-busting help with the underlying theme that someone or someones at the fashion design company is doing this to her now that she has taken over as CEO, with hints that one of the three key players may be stealing from the company. Elaine's a design genius but also an agoraphobic who is so motivated to get to the bottom of odd happenings at the house that she has ventured to find Giulia. The housekeeper, Cissy, who has been with Elaine since her parents were killed shows up as well and implores Giulia to help, as does Elaine's husband, Pip.  

Giulia isn't exactly a believer of ghosts and definitely draws the line at ouija boards. She gets some help and is instructed to tune into her intuition. Between that and regular detective work she starts to get a sense of who might be behind the strange occurrences. An interesting ending to say the least.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review as part of this blog tour. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Baker of brownies and tormenter of characters, Alice Loweecey recently celebrated her thirtieth year outside the convent. She grew up watching Hammer horror films and Scooby-Doo mysteries, which explains a whole lot. When she’s not creating trouble for her sleuth Giulia Driscoll or inspiring nightmares as her alter-ego Kate Morgan, she can be found growing her own vegetables (in summer) and cooking with them (the rest of the year).

Website: aliceloweecey.net

Facebook: facebook.com/GiuliaDriscoll

Twitter: @AliceLoweecey

Goodreads: Alice Loweecey

a Rafflecopter giveaway