BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--12 SLAYS OF CHRISTMAS MYSTERY BOX SET TO SUPPORT NO-KILL SHELTERS

Colleen Mooney joins us today to talk about a very special project she’s involved in with a group of fellow authors. Learn more about the project and the various giveaways the authors are offering at their website. 

I met Abby Vandiver in a Twitter group, and the next thing I know I’m working with these wonderful mystery writers, and we are doing a Christmas Box set called the 12 Slays of Christmas and donating all proceeds to Non-Kill Animals Shelters. Now, since Harvey hit Houston and Irma hit Florida, there is a greater need than ever.  We hope to sell enough copies so that we can help both areas.

The collection is available for preorder now on Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and ITunes for only $.99.  After the December 5^th release the price increase to $4.99.

The lineup of authors and stories include:

1.Abby L. Vandiver, Baby Its Cold Outside

It's a family affair. Cousins, Brigitt and San finally start their dream business - an event planning company! And what better time to open then at Christmas. But it looks as if the only event they may be hosting is a murder investigation after a body is found in their basement.

2. Judith Lucci, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

Faced with the recent death of her husband Medical Examiner Kinsey Zee and her black lab Solomon investigate a death by bear mauling on the Massanutten Mountain only to learn her holiday wouldn't be so bad after all.

3. Amy Vansant, Stollen Time

When a Pineapple Port resident is found face-down in her Christmas fruit stollen, Charlotte knows this case won't be cake. Was it an accident? The ungrateful granddaughter? Or the person who baked the stollen?

4. Colleen Mooney, Death by Rum Balls

Guests to a neighborhood Christmas party all have something to hide and the hostess has been spreading everything except good will. When a couple are discovered poisoned right before everyone sits down for dinner, all the guests are suspects and have reasons they want the hostess to pay.

5. Amy Reade, The Worst Noel

It's Black Friday, and Lilly Carlsen finds a body who's been strangled with a strand of pearls from her inventory on her biggest shopping day of the year. Lilly is a single mom with two teenagers, has a sister with Juniper Junction's finest and her mother is showing signs of dementia, but her life gets more complicated when her ex-husband shows up out of the clear, thin mountain air.

6.Nell Goddin, The Case of the Curious Biscuit

PI Molly Sutton expected Christmas in Castillac to be quaint and charming. But apparently murder doesn't take vacations...

7. Colleen Helme, Devil in A Black Suit

Ramos’ job as the right-hand man to a mobster used to be easy until Shelby, a mind-reading soccer mom, joined the organization. With all the trouble she gets into, he’s constantly putting his life on the line to save her. But this time, it could be a deal with a deadly enemy that gets him killed.

8. Larissa Reinhart, May Your Days Be Cherry and Albright

In this Rashomon-style Christmas mystery, while Cherry Tucker suffers from flu-induced visions of murder, Maize Albright’s on the hunt for a missing granddaughter whose criminal stockings have long been filled with coal. 

9. Kim Hunt Harris, Frankincense, Gold, and Murder

Salem is celebrating Christmas in true Trailertopian style, but her festivities take a downturn when she finds a murdered neighbor. It won’t be a jolly Christmas if her snooping for the killer leads to her becoming the next victim.

10. Cindy Bell, Christmas Chocolates and Crimes

Ally and Charlotte expected the holidays to be filled with chocolates and good times. What they didn’t expect is to be solving murders and crimes.

 

11.Summer Prescott, Home for the Holidays

When a down-and-out young veteran finds himself homeless for the holidays, he lands a job as a mall Santa, and finds himself in a situation much tighter than a chimney. Will the magic of Christmas come to his aid in time?

12. Kathleen Dionne, Murder at the Holiday Bazaar

Travel chef, Stevie Elliott, comes home to Quapaw, Mississippi, to help with the annual Holiday Bazaar by making her famous Southern Fried Chicken. But this joyous festival suddenly sours when Pastor Oliver is found dead in his office with one of Stevie’s half-eaten chicken legs in his hand.

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THIS WEEK'S BOOK WINNER

Thanks to all who stopped by this week and special thanks to our guest author Larissa Reinhart who offered an advance reading copy of Portrait of a Dead Guy to one of our readers. The winner is Acemommy. Please email your mailing addresses to me at anastasiapollack@gmail.com so I can pass it along to Larissa.

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY - GUEST AUTHOR LARISSA REINHART

Our Book Club Friday guest today is award-winning author Larissa Reinhart. Larissa considers herself lucky to have taught English in Japan, escaped a ferocious monkey in Thailand, studied archaeology in Egypt, and survived teaching high school history in the US. She loves small town characters with big attitudes, particularly sassy women with a penchant for trouble. When she’s not writing about southern fried chicken, she writes about Asian fried chicken at her blog about life as an ex-expat. Learn more about Larissa at her website. 

Larissa is offering an advance reading copy of Portrait of a Dead Guy to one of our readers who posts a comment to the blog. Don't forget to check back on Sunday to learn if you're the winner. -- AP

Do Good Girls Love Bad Boys? Uh, Yeah

The other night, while watching an episode of Girls, my husband turned to me with a look of such concern and disgust, I immediately clicked out of Pinterest and focused on my distraught betrothed.

“Why,” he sputtered, “do nice girls think they like bad guys?”

I refrained from delivering some smart-mouth remark, but instead of returning to pinning other people’s pictures, I gave his question a moment’s thought. The Good Girl-Bad Boy axiom is older than the reclaimed hills we live on. Drooling over bad boys isn’t just a rebellious need to overthrow our Electra complexes. It’s more to do with the Alpha male so inherent in bad boys. Which is why, as writers and readers, we love our fictional bad boys. They’re swimming with Alpha pheromones, and we can dip our toes in their testosterone without actually getting wet. Theoretically.

I decided to distill some classic bad boys into three camps. The Troublemaker. The Brooder. And the Unknown Quantity.

We all knew a troublemaker in school, didn’t we? Some of us even tried dating them in high school. These were the guys that made mischief, but could sweet talk their way out of it or were clever enough to never get caught. Think Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind. A smooth talking Charlestonian, Rhett had no problem selling guns and butter to the north. He got by on his good looks and charisma and could even charm the pants (or giant hoop skirt) off a wily schemer like Scarlett O’Hara.

In my mystery Portrait of a Dead Guy, my artist heroine, Cherry Tucker, finds trouble with three bad boys. She has recently annulled a Vegas wedding with Todd, who appears to be a nice guy, albeit not the sharpest hammer in the sack. However, Cherry suspects Todd may be using a dumb blonde act to lower her prickly defenses. He has a gift of inserting himself in Cherry’s life before she realizes what’s happening. Todd is my troublemaker. An amateur poker player and faux-leather pants wearing drummer, he’s got a few aces up his sleeve that tips him into troublemaker territory.

I picture Rochester from Jane Eyre as the classic brooder. Brooders like to play hot and cold with a gal’s heart. Not because they can’t fall in love, but because they have mysterious pasts they must never reveal. Like a crazy Jamaican wife locked in the attic. Don’t we just love the strong and silent brooder? They keep us wondering what they’re thinking and feeling, setting our little over-analyzing hearts on fire.

In Portrait of a Dead Guy, Cherry’s old college flame, Luke Harper, has secrets he keeps buried beneath a dry sense of humor. Brooder may as well be tattooed to his forehead beneath his unruly dark curls. Testosterone wriggles out his pores. His tight jeans could cause flash fires. He’s a man of little words, smoky eyes, and deep dimples. His motives are suspicious and his lips are dangerous...

And then there’s the Unknown Quantity. Is he actually dangerous or just loves to walk on the wild side? Ranger from the Stephanie Plum One For the Money series comes to my mind. The man is dangerous and sexy as the dickens. He’s not one to settle down, but seems to like having Stephanie around, whether in his bed or fighting bad guys. Like the brooder, we’re never certain of his feelings and like the troublemaker, he enjoys getting her into sticky situations. However, the brooder and the troublemaker eventually will reveal their intentions (or lack thereof), whereas the unknown quantity... well, maybe he’ll never be Mr. Mom, but he sure is a lot of fun.

The number three bad boy in Cherry’s life is the mysterious Mr. Max, hailing from an unidentified ex-Eastern Bloc country. He struggles with English, but happily finds our streets paved with gold. Besides running a den of illegal gambling, Mr. Max knows French, art, and Civil War history. He’s a man of exceptional taste with a ruthlessness simmering beneath his robust frame. Is he toying with Cherry to throw her off the trail of his illicit pursuits or is he entertaining other feelings for the scrappy artist?

Who are your favorite fictional bad boys? Do they fall into one of the three categories of The Troublemaker, The Brooder, or The Unknown Quantity? Or do you have a category of your own?

Thanks for joining us today, Larissa! Readers, weigh in on bad boys or anything else for a chance to win an advance reading copy of Portrait of a Dead Guy. -- AP