Month: September 2016

Dandelion Dead by Chrystle Fiedler – Blog Tour and Gift Card Giveaway

~ Erika K ~ 7 Comments

dandelion-dead

Dandelion Dead by Chrystle Fiedler

A Natural Remedies Mystery – #4

Synopsis:

In a spicy cozy mystery filled with herbal remedies readers will love, a sustainable winery becomes the backdrop for murder! Fortunately, solving crimes comes naturally to charmingly unconventional naturopath and amateur sleuth Willow McQuade, as she looks for clues that will reveal a killer’s true essence.

 

I jumped in at the middle again – this is book #4 in the series, but the first one that I read. Although some characters did share a history, I had no problem figuring out who was who, or how they related to each other, so you don’t have to have read the earlier books to enjoy this one.

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Caffeinated Reading for National Coffee Day!

~ Erika K ~ 6 Comments

Image result for free coffee imagesHere in the US, September 29th has been designated as National Coffee Day, and that sounds to me like reason to celebrate. You may be able to score a free or discounted cup of joe at your favorite coffee shop, and what’s better to go with it than a nice coffee-themed book…. (fewer calories than a nice chocolate-themed donut! 🙂 )

 

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Review – A Palette for Murder by Vanessa A. Ryan

~ Erika K ~ 2 Comments

A Palette for MurderSynopsis: Lana Davis arrives in New Mexico from Los Angeles, planning to look up a former boyfriend and take in some sightseeing. But this all-expense-paid trip is not a vacation. She’s here to find Antonio Chavez, last seen in Santa Fe. He’s the missing beneficiary of a large life insurance policy her company issued. The heat is on because a disgruntled heir insists he should receive the proceeds instead. However bogus his claim is, the public relations nightmare he causes for her company is real. If Lana doesn’t find Antonio, her job is on the line.

Lana’s search for Antonio brings her into the inner circle of a powerful art gallery in Santa Fe, owned by the daughter of a wealthy family. Although Lana’s knowledge of art is limited to the one art history class she took in college, she soon discovers that when art and greed collide, the result is deadly. Her knack for finding dead bodies makes the police nervous–and finding herself a target for murder is more than she signed up for.

Genre: Cozy Mystery
My rating – *** (3 stars)

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Guest Post from Author Rodney Page

~ Erika K ~ 1 Comment

Hello everyone. Please join me in welcoming Rodney Page, author of recent release “The Fourth Partner” (available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble), to The Book’s the Thing.

The Fourth PartnerAll Detective Leroy Meriwether wants is to coast to retirement and restore his ’65 GTO, but Billy Howell will change all that.

Howell, a well-liked local business owner, disappeared in 1991, the presumed victim of a boating accident. When his skeleton is discovered in a shallow grave on Saint Simons Island, Leroy’s considerable but underutilized talents are put to the test.

Initially, the cold case investigation goes nowhere. But the hardheaded and persistent detective is soon bedeviled by a ‘high class’ problem: too many suspects…Howell’s wife, his estranged teenage son, his bookie, his clients and the shadowy ringleaders of a nineties drug-smuggling operation.

Leroy gets closer to the truth and runs afoul of his boss. Trumped-up sexual harassment charges lead to his suspension, but Leroy continues to pursue the investigation at his own peril. 

The murderer is determined his twenty-five year-old secrets must never be discovered.

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Interview with E.M. Thomas – Author of The Bulls of War

~ Erika K ~ 1 Comment

Please join me in welcoming E.M. Thomas to The Book’s the Thing. E.M. is the author of The Bulls of War, and has stopped by for a chat.

bow-cover-6 For love. For war. For honor. For vengeance.

Spanning vistas from majestic mountains, pristine lakes, and barren plains in the north to sweltering deserts, raging seas, and rain-soaked shrublands in the south,The Bulls of War is the first book of E.M. Thomas’s epic Chronicles of the Andervold Thrones.

Follow this sweeping tale of an empire on the precipice of war with its hated rival, a fragile truce teetering on the edge of a sword. Watch as tens of thousands of troops stand at the ready, only an order away from battles on a scale unseen in centuries. Beware as some factions within the Imperial capital fight to keep the peace, while others shirk no scheme, murder, or terror in their quest to trigger war – a war some fear could rend their divided empire apart.

It is in the midst of this dangerous game of brinksmanship that Generals Tyghus and Kyrus soon find themselves. Against a backdrop of deceit and suspicion, of blood and tears, of power and glory, their friendship is put to the ultimate test as they struggle to save their country, themselves, and those they love – all while battling their own tortured pasts.

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Death Among the Doilies – Blog Tour and Giveaway (ENDED)

~ Erika K ~ 9 Comments

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Synopsis: For thirty-something blogger Cora Chevalier, small-town Indigo Gap, North Carolina, seems like the perfect place to reinvent her life. Shedding a stressful past as a counselor for a women’s shelter, Cora is pouring all her talents—and most of her savings—into a craft retreat business, with help from close pal and resident potter Jane Starr. Between transforming her Victorian estate into a crafter’s paradise and babysitting Jane’s daughter, the new entrepreneur has no time for distractions. Especially rumors about the murder of a local school librarian . . .

But when Jane’s fingerprints match those found at the grisly crime scene, Cora not only worries about her friend, but her own reputation. With angry townsfolk eager for justice and both Jane’s innocence and the retreat at risk, she must rely on her creative chops to unlace the truth behind the beloved librarian’s disturbing demise. Because if the killer’s patterns aren’t pinned, Cora’s handiwork could end up in stitches . . .

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A Free “After the Funeral” Podcast, and a New Poirot Novel!

~ Erika K ~ 6 Comments

 

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Listen to After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

A Free Serialization of the Complete Audiobook in Eight Parts

Presented by Sophie Hannah

Throughout the serialization, Sophie informs listeners on the crucial distinction between the truly impossible and the deeply unlikely, points out the magic of a very personal motive, and explains her belief that “the best stories are the ones that would only ever happen once.”

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Hercule Poirot is called on to investigate the murder of a brother and sister, in this classic Agatha Christie mystery now available in an updated edition with a foreword Sophie Hannah.

“He was murdered, wasn’t he?”

When Cora Lansquenet is savagely murdered, the extraordinary remark she had made the previous day at her brother Richard’s funeral suddenly takes on a chilling significance. At the reading of Richard’s will, Cora was clearly heard to say, “It’s been hushed up very nicely, hasn’t it. But he was murdered, wasn’t he?”

Did Cora’s accusation a dark truth that sealed her own fate? Or are the siblings’ deaths just tragic coincidences?

Desperate to know the truth, the Lansquenet’s solicitor turns to Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery. For even after the funeral, death isn’t finished yet .

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