Welcome
to my stop on the Virtual Book Tour, presented by Goddess Fish Promotions, for Happy Homicides 5: The Purr-fect Crime by
Joanna Campbell Slan, Linda Gordon
Hengerer, LouLou Harrington, Neil Plakcy, Teresa Trent, Terry Ambrose, Amy
Vansant, Randy Rawls, Christina Freeburn, Wendy Sand Eckel, and Karen Cantwell. Please leave a comment or question for the
authors to let them know you stopped by.
You may enter their tour wide giveaway, where one (1) randomly chosen
commenter will be awarded a $50 Etsy GC, by filling out the Rafflecopter form
below. You may visit all of the stops on
the tour by clicking on the banner above.
The more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning. Good Luck!
Happy Homicides 5
AUTHOR Bios and Links:
"Why Cats Are Purrfect for Cozy Mysteries" by Karen CantwellThe answer is simple: Cats are purrfect for cozy mysteries because cats are cool and so are cozy mysteries!But, even though statistics show that cats are the second most popular pet in the U.S. (fresh water fish are #1), there are those who disagree with me and do not think cats are cool. I suppose these crazy people are entitled to their opinion, but let me go ahead, then, and pose another, more scientifically-based theory.First, a little about cozy mysteries: a cozy mystery is a subgenre of crime fiction in which violence and gore are downplayed. The crime (usually a murder) and eventual detection take place in a small town or community. The cozy mystery book, then, is a comfortable, fun escape for the reader to follow the ups-and-downs, ins-and-outs of the main character sleuthing the crime, ferreting out the killer.This all very interesting, some of you are saying, but what does any of this have to do with cats?Here is my theory about the cat and cozy mystery connection: it literally is the purr that makes cats purrfect for cozy mysteries. A cat’s purr, like a good cozy mystery, can be calming. Studies show that cats do a better job of relieving stress and lowering blood pressure than other pets. In fact, a 10-year study at the University of Minnesota Stroke Center found that cat owners were 40 percent less likely to have heart attacks than non-cat owners — and purring might play a role in that.Purring is an auditory stimulus that people correlate with peacefulness and calmness. We actually relax when we interact with out cats and it’s all because of their gentle purr.I speculate that cozy mystery authors, knowing their readers are looking for a relaxing and calming escape, either consciously or subconsciously, write cats into their stories. Of course, in the case of Happy Homicides 5: The Purrr-fect Crime, there was no subconscious about it. We knew exactly what we were doing!
Let me add, that I also stand by my original statement: cats are cool and so are cozy mysteries.
Cozy Mystery Anthology
Publisher: Spot On Publishing, a Division of Luminary,
LLC
Release
Date: May 12, 2017
Length:
258 Pages
ASIN:
B06ZYT15DS
About the book:
The
purr-fect way to meet your new favorite author! This collection of traditional
mysteries will be like catnip for feline-friendly readers. It’s paw-sitively
the best Mother’s Day gift ever. Plus, you can email us to get a FREE Bonus
File with recipes and holiday craft ideas. You’ll enjoy stories by these
bestselling and award-winning authors: Joanna Campbell Slan, Linda Gordon
Hengerer, David Bishop, LouLou Harrington, Neil Plakcy, Teresa Trent, Terry Ambrose,
Amy Vansant, Randy Rawls, Christina Freeburn, Wendy Sand Eckel, and Karen
Cantwell. For more information, go to www.HappyHomicides.com
EXCERPTTHE NAMING OF CATS: A Rosalie Hart Mystery by Wendy Sand Eckel*Editor’s Note: The quaint little town of Cardigan on Maryland’s Eastern Shore seemed like the perfect spot for Rosalie Hart to open the Day Lily Café. A flat stretch of land between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, the Eastern Shore is home to crusty watermen, dug-in farmers, and people who are fiercely proud to call it home. Rosalie has enough on her plate running the restaurant. But when her Maine Coon uncovers a mystery, the cat has been let out of the bag.Chapter 1“Your cat is up to something,” Tyler said as he walked into my kitchen. I set a steaming cup of coffee next to him and watched as he scrubbed his hands under the faucet.“I think Sweeney Todd is happy to be outside.” I lifted my coffee mug and blew over the surface to cool it. “This is the first day it hasn’t rained in over a week.”He dried his hands and turned to face me. “Thanks for the joe.”Tyler Wells leased the farmland of my new home, Barclay Meadow. It wasn’t really my choice to move here. Three years ago, when my dear Aunt Charlotte bequeathed me this two-hundred-year-old house and the vast land surrounding it, I was happily immersed in my married life in Chevy Chase. But all that changed when my husband of over twenty years pronounced his love for a much younger and blonder version of me.The sun streamed through the windows, warming the honey wood floors. Tyler and I had fallen into the habit of sharing a cup of coffee every morning before we started our days. I checked the clock. I would be leaving soon to go to the restaurant I recently opened, the Day Lily Café, currently serving breakfast and lunch five days a week in the sleepy little town of Cardigan.Tyler brushed his sandy blond hair off his forehead. “Sweeney is digging pretty close to the vegetable gardens. You might want to stop him.”“I’m on it.” I set my coffee down and headed outside.My shoes squeaked on the grass as I rounded the house. A dense mist rose from the Cardigan River at the end of the sloping lawn. It was a beautiful spring morning on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.I spotted Sweeney by an old Sycamore tree. Its trunk was gnarled and twisted looking like something out of Sleepy Hollow. He was digging furiously at the ground with his front paws.My adopted Maine Coon cat was originally named Sweetie Pie. But on the first day I brought him home, he slaughtered four goldfinches in under an hour. That’s when Tyler suggested the name change. At the precise moment I started to disagree, Sweeney dropped a fifth lifeless bird on my peep-toe pump.I knelt down next to him. He had dug so deep almost all nineteen pounds of him were immersed in the hole.“Hey, what are you . . .” He swiped one paw with a particularly vigorous motion and a clump of dirt launched onto my black skirt. “Sweeney, for goodness sake.” He stopped digging and let out a long, guttural mmrrrow. He pushed back out of the hole and eyed me intently. My stomach tightened with dread. “What have you found, baby?”
AUTHOR Bios and Links:
The authors
are supplying a bonus gift for readers. They
can receive it by sending an email to HH4Bonus@joannaslan.com
Happy
Homicides 5: The Purr-fect Crime authors include Joanna Campbell Slan, Linda
Gordon Hengerer, David Bishop, LouLou Harrington, Neil Plakcy, Teresa Trent,
Terry Ambrose, Amy Vansant, Randy Rawls, Christina Freeburn, Wendy Sand Eckel,
and Karen Cantwell. For more information, go to www.HappyHomicides.com or visit us
at http://www.facebook.com/happyhomicides To read a free sample, get your copy
of Happy Homicides 2: Crimes of the Heart here: http://bit.ly/2HHCrime
Joanna
Campbell Slan:
RT
Reviews has called Joanna Campbell Slan “one of mystery’s rising stars,” and
it’s easy to see why. She’s the award-winning and national bestselling author
of three mystery series. Her first series, the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery series,
was an Agatha Award Finalist, and features ace scrapbooker Kiki Lowenstein.
Previous to writing fiction, Joanna penned seven scrapbooking technique books
and wrote for Creating Keepsakes, Memory Makers, and PaperKuts. She has taught
scrapbooking online, on cruises, and in Europe, as well as here in the US.
Linda
Gordon Hengerer
Linda
was a football widow during her first marriage, and she wrote American Football
Basics (original title Football Basics) because she thought more women would
enjoy football if they understood it. She is also interested in food and wine,
and has written an easy guide to food and wine pairings.
New
Jersey native turned Florida resident, Linda moved to Vero Beach in 1996. She
writes the Beach Tea Shop Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in an area
suspiciously like Vero Beach.
LouLou
Harrington
Writer,
traveler, and nature enthusiast Loulou Harrington is the author of the Myrtle
Grove Garden Club mystery series. Originally a native of northwest Arkansas,
Loulou now resides in the Tulsa area and spends frequent weekends wandering
among the lakes and foothills of northeastern Oklahoma, the setting of her cozy
series and an area she hopes her readers will enjoy as much as she does.
Beginning
her career as a romance novelist, she published nine contemporary romances with
Harlequin, writing as Ada Steward, before succumbing to the lure of her first
love: the mystery novel.
First
discovering Nancy Drew as a child and continuing with Miss Marple and Travis
McGee as an adult, Loulou learned to appreciate the puzzle and suspense of the
mystery combined with the familiar characters and settings of the recurring
series. So while she still believes that into each life a little romance should
fall, she has come to the opinion that it should trip over at least one dead
body along the way.
Neil
Plakcy
Neil
Plakcy is the author of the Mahu Investigations, mysteries which take place in
Hawaii. They are: Mahu, Mahu Surfer, Mahu Fire, Mahu Vice, Mahu Blood, Mahu
Men, Zero Break, Natural Predators and Children of Noah.
His
M/M romance novels are GayLife.com, Mi Amor, Love on Site, Love on the Web,
Love on Stage, Love on the Pitch, and the Have Body, Will Guard series: Three
Wrong Turns in the Desert, Dancing with the Tide, Teach Me Tonight, Olives for
the Stranger, The Noblest Vengeance and Finding Freddie Venus.
He
has also written the golden retriever mysteries In Dog We Trust, The Kingdom of
Dog, Dog Helps Those, Dog Bless You, Whom Dog Hath Joined and Dog Have Mercy.
He
is co-editor of Paws & Reflect: A Special Bond Between Man and Dog (Alyson
Books, 2006) and editor of many gay erotica anthologies. A journalist, book
reviewer and college professor, he is also a frequent contributor to gay
anthologies.
Teresa
Trent
Teresa
Trent writes cozy mysteries that take place in small towns in Texas. She was
born in Chattanooga, Tennessee but with her father in the military, didn't stay
for long. She's lived all over, but likes to call three states her favorite
homes. Colorado, Illinois and of course, Texas.
Being a fan of the Andy Griffith Show and Murder She Wrote she loves
creating quirky small towns and colorful characters. She decided to feature a
character with Down syndrome in the Pecan Bayou series because after giving
birth to her own son with DS, she discovered there were very few people like
him in the world of cozy mysteries. If you're wondering which book to start
with in the Pecan Bayou Series, start with #1 A Dash of Murder. Many of
Teresa's mysteries occur before or during a holiday and A Dash of Murder is her
Halloween book.
Terry
Ambrose
Terry
Ambrose started out skip tracing and collecting money from deadbeats and
quickly learned that liars come from all walks of life. He never actually stole
a car, but sometimes hired big guys with tow trucks and a penchant for working
in the dark when “negotiations” failed.
A
resident of Southern California, he loves spending time in Hawaii, especially
on the Garden Island of Kauai, where he invents lies for others to read. His
years of chasing deadbeats taught him many valuable life lessons
including—always keep your car in the garage.
Amy
Vansant
Amy
specializes in fun, comedic reads about accident prone, easily distracted women
with questionable taste in men. So, autobiographies, mostly.
Amy
is the former East Coast Editor of SURFER Magazine but the urge to drive up and
down the coast interviewing surfers has long since left her. Currently, she is
a nerd and Labradoodle mommy who works at home with her goofy husband.
She
loves interacting with fans when the dog isn't laying on top of her, so stop by
her blog or Twitter and say hi!
Randy
Rawls
I'm
Randy Rawls, author of mysteries and thrillers. I grew up in northeastern North
Carolina, then did a career in the Army. I've been an avid reader all my life
and have tried to incorporate what I learned from the best into my writing.
While I live in South Florida, my heart resides in Texas. I'd love to hear from
you at RandyRawls@att.net.
Christina
Freeburn
Reading
has been a part of Christina's life since she can remember and soon developed
into a love of writing.
Read
about her writing process, her hobbies, and the heroines she believes are a
self-rescue princess at her blog The Self-Rescue Princess.
Wendy
Sand Eckel
Degrees
in criminology and social work, followed by years of clinical practice, helped
WENDY SAND ECKEL explore her fascination with how relationships impact
motivation, desire, and inhibition. Combined with her passion for words and
meaning, writing mystery is a dream realized. She lives in Maryland where she
enjoys family and friends, two cats, and living near the Chesapeake Bay.
Karen
Cantwell
Karen's
novel, Take the Monkeys and Run was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Amazon
Breakthrough Novel Award Contest (under the original title of Monkeys in My
Trees)and has gone on to be a Kindle bestseller on Amazon. She has written
three more books in the Barbara Marr Murder Mystery Series: Citizen Insane,
Silenced by the Yams, and Saturday Night Cleaver.
When
she's not writing, Karen loves gardening and spending time with her family. She
is currently working on the release of Keep Me Ghosted, the first book in the
new Sophie Rhodes Ghostly Romance Series, as well as beginning the draft of
Kiss Me, Tate, part of the upcoming Barbara Marr spin-off, Love in Rustic Woods
Series.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the otur and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteI will read anything that even has the word CAT in it. I shelter elderly cats, so sometimes I read them to sleep.
ReplyDeleteI'm behind one these. Read the first two. This sounds Purrfect! Cats are the perfect creatures for cozies. They are a mystery unto themselves.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and thank you so much for hosting. Love the comments, and I agree cats and cozies are the perfect fit.
ReplyDeleteI love cozy mystery's! Thank you
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing the news about Happy Homicides 5!
ReplyDelete