Thursday 30 November 2017

MURDER AT THE MILL BY MB SHAW Book Review

MURDER AT THE MILL  (The Iris Grey Mysteries)
BY
M.B. SHAW


Genre:  Crime Fiction/Cosy Mystery
Publisher:  Orion (Trapeze)
Publication Date:  30 Nov 2017


Amazon UK:  www.amazon.co.uk
Amazon US:   www.amazon.com
Book Depository:   www.bookdepository.com



A picture hides a thousand lies . . . And only Iris Grey can uncover the truth
Iris Grey arrives at Mill Cottage in a picture-perfect Hampshire village, looking to escape from her crumbling marriage. She is drawn to the neighbouring Wetherby family, and is commissioned to paint a portrait of Dominic Wetherby, a celebrated crime writer.
At the Wetherby's Christmas Eve party, the mulled wine is in full flow - but so too are tensions and rivalries among the guests. On Christmas Day, the youngest member of the Wetherby family, Lorcan, finds a body in the water. A tragic accident? Or a deadly crime?
With the snow falling, Iris enters a world of village gossip, romantic intrigue, buried secrets and murder.


*******************************

Murder at the Mill is the first in a new series to feature portrait painter and amateur sleuth Iris Grey, and if the rest of the books are as good as this I'll definitely be looking out for them!

The story starts on Christmas Day when a body is found, but we don't know who it is at first, the identity is kept a secret.  Next, we go back to two months earlier as the various characters are introduced and we get to know them, who they are, what they are and why they're at the Wetherby's exclusive Christmas Eve party.

Iris is having marital problems and she's glad to get away to the seclusion of Mill Cottage, where she starts painting the charismatic Dom Wetherby.

There are so many secrets bubbling beneath the Wetherby family's glamorous surface, there are resentments and jealousies.

Iris thinks the local police are useless and is determined to find the killer, especially as they arrest the wrong suspects, and she wants to find justice for the victim.

I liked Iris, she's kind and likes wearing bright, shiny colourful clothes!

There are surprises and twists, with richly drawn characters, in a beautiful setting, a slow moving but compelling story, I enjoyed it immensely.


MEET THE AUTHOR


M.B Shaw is the pen-name of New York Times bestselling writer Tilly Bagshawe. A teenage single mother at 17, Tilly won a place at Cambridge University and took her baby daughter with her. She went on to enjoy a successful career in the City before becoming a writer. 
As a journalist, Tilly contributed regularly to the Sunday Times, Daily Mail, and Evening Standard, before turning her hand to novels. 
Tilly's first book, ADORED, was a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic, becoming an instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. 
She now divides her time between the UK and America, writing her own books and the new series of Sidney Sheldon novels. 

For more information, please visit www.tillybagshawe.com


Source:  I received a kindle copy of Murder at the Mill from Net Galley


KILLER HOLIDAY BY AMY KORMAN Blog Tour, Extract & Giveaway

Killer Holiday

by Amy Korman

on Tour October 23 - November 30, 2017


Synopsis:

Killer Holiday by Amy Korman
Kristin Clark and her offbeat crew of Bryn Mawr socialites are ready for a fun and festive winter holiday—one that involves sipping martinis by a crackling yule log, hot guys beneath the mistletoe, and Gucci under the Christmas tree. But this year, Old Saint Nick has something more dangerous in store. A stranger dressed in a Santa suit has Kristin’s friends on his naughty list. First, Sophie’s favorite handbag is blasted by a bullet. Then, Father Christmas shatters her brother Chip’s car window with a golf club and leaves a threatening note demanding fifty grand. Both are convinced it has to be a mistake. But when Chip goes missing, the stakes become deadly. Eula Morris is also back in town for the holidays, more bossy and boastful than ever after winning a mega-jackpot in the lottery. She’s returned from a luxury cruise around the world with a handsome new boyfriend (who looks oddly familiar…) and a Samsonite suitcase filled with gold bars. When the suitcase is snatched, Eula implores Kristin and the team to track it down. Where is Chip? Why is a vengeful Santa targeting the gang? Who stole Eula’s suitcase? And how are these events linked? The WASPs and Kristen’s basset hound Waffles are on the case—before this white Christmas turns even darker…

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery
Published by: Witness Impulse
Publication Date: October 24th 2017 by Witness Impulse
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 0062431366 (ISBN13: 9780062431363)
Series: A Killer WASPs Mystery, #4
Purchase Links: Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  | Goodreads 

Read an excerpt:

Chapter One

Bootsie McElvoy burst through the front door of The Striped Awning, a bag of ice in her right hand and the biggest bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon I’ve ever seen in her left. She dug into her L.L. Bean tote for a bottle of red wine, a shaker of nutmeg, and a bag of fun-size candy canes, all of which she deposited next to a display of 1940s barware near the front of my antiques store.
“Kristin, it’s December fifteenth, which means it’s time for you to start offering shoppers a specialty cocktail the minute they set foot inside your store,” Bootsie told me. “I’m going to mix up a batch of the Delaney family Christmas drink, the Bourbon Blitzen, which never fails to produce a White Christmas vibe. One sip and you’ll feel like you’re singing and dancing with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye at a snowy Vermont inn. This should double your sales totals for the month.”
“Thanks!” I said gratefully, since Bootsie’s family’s boozy drinks are known throughout our village of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, for their potency and tendency to produce unwise purchases.
“The drinks sound good, but you’re also going to need about four thousand more of these pinecones, triple the greenery, and eight hundred additional strands of lights,” Joe Delafield informed me; he’d arrived twenty minutes earlier to help me decorate my store for the Christmas rush.
To lure in passing foot traffic, I’d brought in armloads of holly and spruce branches from my backyard (cost: free, thankfully), spray-painted pinecones silver (the paint was only $5.28 at the hardware store), and added some cheerful-looking blinking white lights. This would probably bring tons of holiday shoppers through my front door!
Joe paused, eyeing the room with his signature critical stare. “The effect I’m going for is that a bunch of HGTV-crazed elves with subscriptions to Veranda magazine snuck in and decorated for four straight days. Gerda, we’re going to need the blinking lights to stop blinking, pronto. Pull the plug, please.”
Joe’s assistant for the day was the eponymous owner of Gerda’s Bust Your Ass Gym, which is housed inside the beauty salon across the street. Since Gerda stands a lofty six feet tall in flats (or sneakers, which is her usual footwear, since fancy shoes aren’t her style), she’d agreed to hang ornaments, bringing her signature grim attitude to the proceedings.
“Cute idea,” Bootsie observed, casting a dubious stare at my front window, which was filled with antique silver-plated candlesticks, flatware, and wineglasses. “Is that your holiday inventory?”
“Nobody going to want that stuff,” said Gerda, who moved here from her native Austria a few years back. Gerda, who’s incredibly muscular and brings in sell-out crowds at her Pilates classes, isn’t the most tactful person in the world. “People want, like, scarves and Fitbits and iPhones.”
I sighed, knowing Gerda was right. Those were the gifts on most holiday wish lists.
“Luckily, I’ve solved all your problems,” Bootsie told me. “I ran into Eddie from the Pub this morning, and he needs a place to hold some late-night poker tournaments this month, so I brokered a deal for The Striped Awning. You’ll be hosting twice-weekly games from 10 p.m. till 1 a.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays till Valentine’s Day.”
“What!” I erupted, alarmed by this idea. “First of all, that doesn’t sound legal.”
“It’s fine,” she told me, waving away my concerns. “I mean, it’s not like it will be a professional betting operation. Eddie’s limiting each night to ten players and three hours. Some cards, a few drinks, a few small wagers. What could go wrong?”
“A lot!” I said. “They’ll blow cigar smoke and drop Dorito crumbs everywhere. Not to mention get arrested for operating a casino without a license. A lot could go wrong!”
“You worry too much,” Bootsie informed me dismissively. “Plus, he’ll pay you two hundred dollars a night.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came out. Bootsie knew she had me—there’s no way I can refuse an extra four hundred dollars a week, even if it puts me on the wrong side of the state gaming commission.
Just then, though, the front door was thrown open by one Sophie Shields, a tiny blonde who at the moment was looking slightly wild-eyed.
“Ya won’t believe what just happened!” shrieked Sophie. “The Colketts were helping me put up curtains in my new dining room, since Joe here never finished decorating my place—and the curtains are orange silk, by the way, they’re totally Elle Decor meets a J. Lo red-carpet gown. So Tim and Tom Colkett were talking paint colors when I heard a horn honking, so I opened the front door, thinking it was the delivery boy from the Hoagie House. I figured I’d go out and pay the driver, when boom!
“A guy dressed as Santa leaned out of the driver’s seat of a black SUV that had pulled right up in my driveway and aimed a gun at me and the Colketts!” The Colketts are the town’s leading landscape designers, who’ve lately turned their talents to party planning and interior design.
“Then the guy yelled, ‘Hey, Sophie, this one’s from your ex, Barclay!’ and shot my favorite handbag!” Sophie finished. “I was reaching into it to pay for the hoagies, thank goodness, so it acted as a protective shield. Also, I think maybe this Santa guy doesn’t have great aim.”
We all stared at her for a moment.
“Are you sure, Sophie?” said Bootsie finally. “Because this sounds like BS.”
“Yeah, Sophie, maybe you been hitting the wine bottle today,” seconded Gerda. “I know the Colketts are day drinkers. Maybe you been guzzling alcohol, too.”
“It’s true!” Sophie bleated. “Just look at this Ferragamo satchel! If it hadn’t had gold hardware to block the trajectory of the bullet, me and the Colketts would have been toast!”
***
Excerpt from Killer Holiday by Amy Korman. Copyright © 2017 by Amy Korman. Reproduced with permission from Witness Impulse. All rights reserved.

  Amy Korman

Author Bio:

Amy Korman is a former senior editor and staff writer for Philadelphia Magazine, and author of Frommer’s Guide to Philadelphia. She has written for Town & Country, House Beautiful, Men’s Health, and Cosmopolitan. Killer WASPS is her first novel.

Catch Up With Ms. Korman On: amykorman.com , Goodreads , Twitter , & Facebook !

 

Tour Participants:

Visit the other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!  

Giveaway:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Amy Korman and Witness Impulse. There will be 3 winners of one (1) eBook copy of KILLER PUNCH by Amy Korman. The giveaway begins on October 23 and runs through December 3, 2017.
a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Get More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours

 

Wednesday 29 November 2017

COVER REVEAL FOR HUMMUS AND HOMICIDE BY TINA KASHIAN (Cozy Mystery)

HUMMUS AND HOMICIDE
BY
TINA KASHIAN

 NOVEMBER 29



When Lucy Berberian quits her Philadelphia law firm and heads home to Ocean Crest, she knows what she’s getting—the scent of funnel cake, the sight of the wooden roller coaster, and the tastes of her family’s Mediterranean restaurant. But murder wasn’t on the menu . . . 

Things are slow in the off-season in this Jersey Shore town, but Lucy doesn’t mind. She doesn’t even mind waitressing at the Kebab Kitchen. Her parents have put in a new hummus bar, with every flavor from lemon to roasted red pepper. It’s fun to see their calico cat again, and to catch up with her old BFF, who’s married to a cop now.
She could do without Heather Banks, though. The Gucci-toting ex-cheerleader is still as nasty as she was back in high school . . . and unfortunately, she’s just taken over as the local health inspector. Just minutes after eating at the Kebab Kitchen—where she’s tallied up a whole list of bogus violations—she falls down dead in the street. Word on the grapevine is it’s homicide, and Lucy’s the number one suspect . . .

Recipes included!

Ready…..


                     

Set…..


                       

Reveal!!

                     

Coming February 27, 2018 from Kensington Books!!

You can pre-order your copy today!!

Amazon B&N kobo Google Play INDIEBOUND 





Sunday 26 November 2017

HEART NOTE BY CASSANDRA O'LEARY Blog Tour, Guest Post & Giveaway

I am delighted to be bringing you a fabulous guest post by author Cassandra O'Leary on being a 'Spritzer Chick'.  Her new book Heart Note was published on 6th November 2017 and you can enter the giveaway to win one of five e-copies!



Genre:  Romantic Comedy/Holiday Romance
Publication Date:  6 Nov 2017
1st Novella in a new series - standalone
Estimated Page Count:  100



Universal Link - https://www.books2read.com/HeartNote



Love is like a fine perfume. The top note draws you in, an instant attraction, but the Heart Note is the true essence. Like true love – a great perfume should be a woman’s perfect match.

At least, that’s what perfume counter manager, Lily Lucas, tells her customers in one of Australia’s largest department stores. 

It’s almost Christmas, the store is bedecked with baubles and Lily has about eleventy billion gifts to wrap and sell. She and her team of spritzer chicks are glamorous, professional and hoping they don’t have to wear the hideous red onesies and reindeer antlers the store manager has in mind.

The high point of Lily’s work life is Christos Cyriakos, ex-cop, security guard, possible Greek god. He's a mystery box she’d love to unwrap. But can she trust him?

All Lily wants for Christmas is to kiss Christos (and more), catch a band of thieves running amok in the store, and live happily ever after. Is that too much to wish for?







My Not-So-Perfect Life as a Shop Girl
True Story: Once I was a Spritzer Chick
Back in the day, when I was a university student in the 1990s, I worked in various perfume promotions gigs in many department stores. It’s true – I was a spritzer chick, and my own work life was the inspiration for my new romcom novella, Heart Note. The title refers to the layers of a perfume, the heart note being the essential essence.
My job back then included working in the largest stores in Australia – Myer and David Jones department stores at Chadstone shopping centre (actually the largest indoor mall in the southern hemisphere) and the grand old stores in the centre of Melbourne’s CBD.
When I first started work on the Fine Fragrances counter there was a major campaign running in store. It was the launch of Calvin Klein’s Eternity perfume, with a famous ad featuring model Kate Moss. It played on an almost continuous loop on the store’s video monitors. The weird tune, ya-da-da-di-di, is embedded in my brain to this day!
I thought I’d blog about the best and worst parts of the job for this guest post.
The Best
The best thing about working with perfumes and particularly in promotions, was that you’d get a whole lot of free samples. I collected so many mini bottles of Eternity and Opium perfumes that I was still giving them to friends and wearing the perfumes a couple of years after I stopped working for the perfume companies.
It was also fun learning about perfume, from the ingredients – top notes, middle or heart notes, and base notes – to the fancy descriptions of the essence and theme. I remember one perfume was sold as the fragrance Grace Kelly wore on her wedding day. I only discovered later the perfume was released several years after Kelly’s marriage!
The Worst
Without doubt, the worst thing about the job was standing and walking all day long in high heels which were a part of the official uniform. Talking to some of the older store staff who’d done the job for years, it caused problems beyond tired feet at the end of the day. They suffered from extreme varicose veins and even blood clots – one woman warned me to get out of the job while I still had good legs and before I needed surgery.
When I first started, I spritzed perfume almost all day, walking the floor every day, for an entire Christmas season and into the summer. I must have spritzed thousands of customers and sold hundreds, if not thousands of gift sets.
After a long shift, I went home exhausted after standing and walking in high heels. We wore all pencil skirts or black dresses and always had well-groomed hair held back with black satin ribbons. Black pantyhose/stockings were standard.
The Pretty Cool
Once I met and served a handsome movie star in store. I won’t mention his name, but at the time he was an Aussie actor who was in a few indie films and making a name for himself. Now he’s quite well-known in Hollywood.
I’ll admit to having a little crush on him even back when he was shopping in store, choosing a perfume for his girlfriend. He really wanted to choose something she’d like and he was a perfect gentleman.
I’m Over It…
Some days I was over it, like when I had to deal with extra rude customers and staff. I was passed over for lucrative extra shifts or additional learning opportunities because a certain manager said no. Some managers took bitchiness to the extreme. Lack of empathy from (mostly) women managers was hard to take.
I had one manager in particular who seemed to be in a rage that some of us were studying at university. She hadn’t had the opportunity, so she’d call us names like ‘smarty pants’ and get aggravated about us taking study leave (even though we were entitled to it under store policy).
Back to the future!

Now I’m writing about being a ‘spritzer chick’ I realise how much I learned on the job. From getting along with people from all walks of life, to understanding the value of a dollar when you’re working for a low hourly wage. I hope readers will enjoy my foray into the world of the perfume counter in my Spritzer Chicks series of novellas.

Thank you so much, Cassandra, for a brilliant insight into the perfume world! I'd love to know who the handsome film star is though!


MEET THE AUTHOR
**Winner of the We Heart New Talent contest, HarperCollins UK. Nominated for BEST NEW AUTHOR in the 2016 AusRom Today Reader's Choice Awards for excellence in Australian romance fiction.**

Cassandra O’Leary is a romance and women’s fiction author, communications specialist, avid reader, film and TV fangirl and admirer of pretty, shiny things. 

In 2015, Cassandra won the We Heart New Talent contest run by Avon Books/HarperCollins UK. Her debut romantic comedy novel, Girl on a Plane, was published in July 2016. Cassandra was also a 2015 finalist in the Lone Star writing contest, Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America, and a 2014 finalist in the First Kiss contest, Romance Writers of Australia.

Cassandra is a mother of two gorgeous, high-energy mini ninjas and wife to a spunky superhero. Living in Melbourne, Australia, she’s also travelled the world. If you want to send her to Italy or Spain on any food or wine tasting ‘research’ trips, that would be splendiferous. You’ll find Cassandra online, drinking coffee and possibly buying shoes. Oh, yes. And writing.



Social Media Links
Twitter – @cass_oleary



Giveaway – Win 5 x E-copies of Heart Note by Cassandra O’Leary (Open Internationally)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Friday 24 November 2017

CHRISTMAS SECRETS IN SNOWFLAKE COVE BY EMILY HARVALE Book Review, Blog Tour

I am delighted to be sharing my review of Christmas Secrets in Snowflake Cove today during the 3 Day Blog Blitz!



Genre:  Light Hearted Romance / Rom Com
Publication Date:  Nov 2017
1st Book in a new series - standalone
Estimated Page Count:  250



Amazon UK:   www.amazon.co.uk
Amazon US:   www.amazon.com
Book Depository:   www.bookdepository.com


Christmas is a time for family and friends, miracles and magic, falling snow and roaring fires, fun, laughter and festive feasts. In Snowflake Cove, it’s also a time for secrets to be revealed…

Evie Starr is hoping for more than a sprinkling of magic this Christmas. The family-run Snowflake Inn is virtually empty and the Starr’s financial future isn’t looking bright. But Evie’s gran, Jessie has a secret that might help.

Enigmatic, Zachary Thorn is every woman’s dream. He’s also ex-SAS, so his secrets are classified. The Christmas Special of his feel-good, TV show is set in Michaelmas Bay – until a phone call means he’s spending Christmas in nearby Snowflake Cove.

Evie’s best friend, Juniper thinks boyfriend Darren has a secret. Evie knows he does. And Evie’s niece, Raven is hiding feelings for Juniper’s brother – who has a secret crush of his own.
But the biggest secret in Snowflake Cove is the identity of Raven’s dad.

With snow falling thick and fast and secrets being revealed one after another, will everyone be snuggling up by the fire on Christmas Eve, or are some secrets best kept hidden…?




Grab yourself a plate of delicious hot mince pies and a glass of mulled wine and settle down in your comfiest armchair and I guarantee you won't want to move until you've discovered the secrets in Snowflake Cove.

I absolutely loved it!

Four hundred year old Snowflake Inn sits on Snowflake Isle which is connected to the mainland by an old wooden bridge. Evie Starr's family own the Inn but they have money worries this Christmas. Evie's dad is optimistic and thinks everything will be all right, though Evie doesn't know how.

There are so many secrets this Christmas ....... from gorgeous TV star Zachary Thorn, filming his Christmas Special nearby, with his mysterious past ....... to Evie's moody 15 year old niece who would rather be anywhere else but Snowflake Cove but who also wonders just who her father really is.

I enjoyed being with the Starr family, 34 year old Evie is such a worrier with an over-active imagination, her mum cooks delicious shortbread and sausage rolls in the cosy kitchen, gran is a little bit cantankerous and how does she know Zachary Thorn's grandfather? Another secret in the Cove!

Oh so many secrets in this lovely feel good story with lots of easy to like characters, set in a romantic cove, with snow falling and lots of delicious food to savour, this is a warm and wonderful winter read.

Just don't expect to leave your armchair!



MEET THE AUTHOR


Having lived and worked in London for several years, Emily returned to her home town of Hastings where she now spends her days writing... and chatting on social media. Emily is a Member of the SoA, a PAN member of the RWA and a Pro Member of ALLi. She's an Amazon bestseller and a Kindle All Star. Emily loves writing and her stories are sure to bring a smile to your face and a warmth to your heart.

Emily says, "I write about friendship, family and falling in love. I believe in happing endings." When she isn't writing, she can be found enjoying the stunning East Sussex coast and countryside, or in a wine bar with friends, discussing life, love and the latest TV shows. Chocolate cake is often eaten. She dislikes housework almost as much as she dislikes anchovies - and will do anything to avoid both.







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