FREE Mystery Ebook All This Weekend!

To celebrate the launch of the second book in my Flora Lively series, I’m offering the first in the series, Murder at the Maples, FREE all this weekend! The sun is shining, what better way to spend the day than sitting in the garden with a glass of wine and a great cozy mystery … (Okay, in the UK we can’t guarantee the sun is going to keep shining, but reading indoors curled up by the fire is almost as much fun.)

This free promotion means, of course, that you can buy both books – Murder at the Maples & A Date With Death for your Kindle for only £1.99/$2.99. Here’s a bit more about the first in the Flora Lively series:

Meet feisty new amateur sleuth Flora Lively in the first of her cozy mystery adventures …

When twenty-nine-year-old Flora Lively loses both of her parents and inherits the family business, she tries hard to make a success of her father’s dream – even at the expense of her own dreams. Burdened with Marshall, her father’s handpicked American manager, Flora finds solace in her friendship with Joy, an elderly client she helped move into the Maples, the local retirement community.

But when strange and dangerous things begin to happen at the Maples, Flora finds herself plunged headfirst into a web of betrayal, intrigue and deceit. Convinced a murderer is preying on helpless residents, Flora is forced to conduct a private murder investigation. But can she solve the puzzle in time, or will the murderer strike again?

I love this series – but then I’m pretty biased! But I do really enjoy writing about Flora, and I’m eager to get going with the new book: ‘The Sign of Seven’. If you enjoy these books and you live in Shropshire or nearby, come and see me at BookShrop, Whitchurch on Saturday 27th June at 11:00 where I’ll be signing copies of A Date With Death and chatting to readers about the series.

In the meantime, please do share news of this offer with your friends and social networks – the more readers Flora meets, the happier I am 🙂

Paperbacks Are On Their Way – In Time for Independent Bookshop Week

I’ve just approved the proofs and ordered copies of A Date With Death in paperback, and I’m very excited! Yesterday I had a meeting with the lovely owner of my local independent book shop, Dinah, and we’ve got all the details of the launch event/signing nailed down – and now the books are on their way 🙂

The paperback will be officially launched at BookShrop, Whitchurch on Saturday 27th June at 11:00, and if anyone lives within driving distance it would be so fantastic to see you on the day. The event for A Date With Death comes at the end of Independent Bookshop Week, and it feels great to be supporting my local bookshop this way – and they, of course, are supporting me in turn. I want to ask now that anyone who is considering buying a copy of A Date With Death does so through their own local bookshop, and not from Amazon. I don’t have anything against Amazon – why would I? – but the big A will hardly notice the lack of the sales of a few paperback books, while your local bookshop will really appreciate you going inside, or phoning up, to order or buy a book. My books are available for bookshops to order from Gardners or Bertrams, all you need to do is quote the ISBN: 9780957309449 And if you can make it to BookShrop on Saturday 27th June, you’ll get £2 off the retail price, paying only £5.99 for a signed copy 🙂

If you’re not sure where your local indie bookshop is, there is a handy widget here. Yesterday I was really lucky to get invited along to a meeting of the Shropshire Independent Booksellers, and let me tell you it was a real eye-opener – an opportunity not many authors, let alone indie authors, get. I’m planning a special post for Independent Bookshop Week all about how authors can get their books stocked in local bookstores, and how you can work with bookshops to make the reciprocal arrangement a really successful one. More about that later in the month.

For now I’m going to be counting down the days until my parcel of brand new books arrives! Shall I video it like I usually do? It’s always quite nerve-wracking opening a box of books for the first time, especially when you’ve only proofed them online!

Make Time For … A Date With Death

Crack open the Champagne, get your ereaders at the ready, because today is launch day for the long-awaited second book in the Flora Lively series! A Date With Death is now live and available, so before I start waffling on about how excited I am, here is the link to the book:

 

Don’t you just love that cover? It positively screams Buy Me 😉 Here is a little bit more about the story …

Flora Lively is thrilled to land a job on a glamorous film set with her old friend Celeste. Marshall is less than happy, but then he always likes to have something to grumble about … When a member of the Spanish film crew is brutally murdered and the priceless Infanta Tiara stolen, DI Jack Harding’s finger of suspicion falls on everyone at Hanley Manor – even Flora. Someone on the estate is a murderer, but who?

When an arrest is made, Flora is forced to investigate the murder herself after learning that the chief suspect is someone far too close to home. Plunged deep into a puzzling mystery, with no idea who she can and cannot trust, Flora must keep one eye over her shoulder at all times. Because the murderer is about to strike again …

Here is that link again. The ebook is only £1.99, and if you haven’t read the first in the series yet (what have you been waiting for?) here is the link to Murder at the Maples too.

I am massively excited about this launch, not least of all because I finished A Date With Death ages ago and have been waiting to get all the MA stuff out of the way before releasing it! It was a huge amount of fun to write, I LOVE Flora’s character – she just comes more and more alive for me the more time I spend with her. And I have big plans for the next book, ‘The Sign of Seven’. Poor Flora won’t know what’s hit her.

You just know I’m going to be checking my stats every couple of minutes today, and all weekend, to see if anyone’s bought a copy! Launch time is exciting, but also totally nerve-wracking!

Those of you who’ve been following the blog for a while might be surprised at how low-key this launch seems. What, no fanfare and merchandise and weeks-long build-up? No Facebook Event, with competitions and prizes? Well, no. Not this time. This time it’s just me and my book, and all those lovely readers who have been emailing me for months now asking when A Date With Death will be released. And here it is 🙂

I blogged about big launches here last year, after the fabulously fun launch of Cupid’s Way. Part of the joy of being indie is being able to experiment with different approaches, different strategies, and this time around I’m going to go back to the model I used way back in 2012 when I launched Can’t Live Without. Ebook, then paperback later on. Build up a buzz slowly, reader by reader, blog by blog. That said, do feel free to share, share, share the news! In fact, I’m counting on you to do just that 😉 So, here’s to Flora and her latest adventure. Is it too early for Champers?

Mystery November Book Tour – Day One!

Today is the first day of the Mystery November Book Tour, hosted by the lovely Rosie Amber. 30 authors in 30 days, and 30 very different types of mystery. Today is Flora Lively’s turn to shine – head over to Rosie’s blog to read my interview and check out the rest of the tour stops.

 

I’m going to be out of action for a couple of days, but I’ll be back very soon catching up with the tour stops and finding some great new reads. You can tweet about the tour with the #MysteryNovember hashtag to connect with other mystery authors, and please share details of the tour on your social networks. Right – in the spirit of Mystery November, here’s a little question for you: Who is your favourite sleuth, and why?

My answer: Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote – because she’s calm and kind but she’s got a mind like a steel trap.