Hi, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Charlotte Stuart and her new book, “Campaigning Can Be Deadly”! For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Charlotte and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!
Campaigning Can Be
Deadly
by Charlotte Stuart
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GENRE: Mystery, Female PI
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BLURB:
What begins as a prank ends in murder.
The campaign for the U.S. Congressional seat was referred to in the press as “Mr. Smith goes to Washington versus the carpetbagger.” The popular local candidate gets the majority of endorsements, but his opponent’s wealthy, out-of-state family is willing to do whatever it takes for him to win.
Penny-wise Investigations, a discount detective agency located in a mall, is hired to find out who is stealing the local candidate’s political signs. Two of their investigators, Cameron Chandler and Yuri Webster, not only catch the thieves in the act, they find a body next to a pile of stolen signs, proving that Campaigning Can Be Deadly.
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EXCERPT TWO:
Shortly after the evening news, it happened. An event that would change our lives.
A barking dog shattered the silence of early evening. It barked and barked, right outside our front door. Under normal circumstances I would have simply gone out to see what was happening. But for all we knew, it was a trap. What kind, I wasn’t sure. Jason and Mara both wanted to take a look. Then Mom came down to complain, and I finally got up the courage to see what the commotion was all about.
When I opened the door a crack, a black, moist nose tried to pry the door open more. The barking changed to whining.
“It’s a dog, Mom,” Jason said. “He wants in.”
That much was obvious, but why?
“Oh, just open the damn door,” Mom said. She grabbed the doorknob and a medium-sized black and white dog came bounding in and ran right into Jason’s outstretched arms. I was staring at Jason, trying to figure out what was happening, while he rubbed the dog’s head and buried his face in the dog’s neck fur. That’s why I didn’t notice the dark figure looming in our doorway until Mom said, “You might as well come in. The damage is done.”
When I saw Yuri standing there, all I could think of to say was, “You didn’t.”
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GUEST POST:
My Favorite Scene in Campaigning Can Be Deadly:
I’m going to take a few liberties with the “favorite scene” topic by showing how two different scenes capture what I think is the strength of my Discount Detective series.
Cameron Chandler is not only a PI, she’s a single mom. She and her two children live on the bottom floor of a carriage house with her mother on the top floor. It’s a good arrangement overall, but there are times when tempers fray and communication sinks to the level of a sitcom cliche. Still, the domestic scenes in the book show the softer side of Cameron and reveals a more realistic view of her life of a PI.
Here’s a short excerpt in which Cameron arrives home and has to cope with a minor family crisis:
“Anyone home?” I called as I
reached the top.
“In here, Mom,” Mara called
back. Her voice came from my mother’s compact kitchen. She and Mom were huddled
over a recipe on the counter, their long, chestnut colored hair blending
together in perfect harmony. Mara definitely had inherited her hair and eyes
from my mother, her height and disposition from me.
“New recipe?” I asked, almost
fearing the answer. I was hungry and wanted comfort food, not some gourmet meal
designed to look good on the plate.
“We’re making a truffle
risotto.”
That didn’t sound bad.
Although we’d never had one before that I could recall.
“With edamame and shitake
mushrooms.”
Hmmm. Not a Betty Crocker
recipe then. “Is Jason okay with this?” He hates mushrooms.
“He needs to expand his
palate,” Mara said, obviously quoting my mother.
Oh well, it sounded like
something I could get into, and there was plenty of peanut butter downstairs
for Jason. I went into the living room and found him reading the news on his
computer. He looked up and said, “You do know they’re putting mushrooms in our
food.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not going to eat it.”
“You can pick them out.”
“You can’t get the flavor
out.”
“I’ll ask Mom to set some
aside before putting in the mushrooms, okay?”
“Would you?” He looked so pathetic that I silently vowed to order a pizza just for him if he didn’t like the risotto.
In contrast, here’s an on-the-job scene that takes place in a mall parking lot:
Yuri turned toward me just as
a shot rang out. I raced to a nearby car and dropped down behind it as a second
shot split the air. Disoriented yet hyper-alert, my fight or flight response
couldn’t quite make up its mind what to do.
“Cameron, are you okay?” Yuri
yelled.
“Yes!”
“Stay down!” Did he think I
was going to stand up and make myself an easy target?
As I crouched behind a silver Ford, all I could hear was my own ragged breathing. There were no more gunshots, no one talking or yelling, no cars moving, no animals skittering, nothing. Just silence.
There are a number of instances in Campaigning Can Be Deadly when Cameron or someone she knows is threatened or finds themselves in a dangerous situation. But even though my main character is a PI and some bad guys are determined to get their candidate elected by any means necessary, the tone overall is lighthearted. The agency Cameron works for is filled with quirky colleagues and an owner with a mysterious past and a secret home address who has an antique Faberge ashtray on her desk that always contains one Russian cigarette that is never smoked. In addition, the mascot for the agency is a bear dressed in a Sherlock Holmes outfit. How bad can things get when there is a Sherlock Holmes bear guarding the agency?
My hope is that readers enjoy the complexity of the plot as well as the humor and family warmth in the storyline.
Since I write from my office on Vashon, I’ve included a few pictures taken to show the beauty of the view from my island home. I happen to like birds and sunsets, but I’ve thrown in one early morning scene.
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AUTHOR BIO:
In a world filled with uncertainty and too little chocolate, Charlotte Stuart has a passion for writing lighthearted mysteries with a pinch of adventure and a dollop of humor. Her first discount detective mystery, Survival Can Be Deadly, was a Foreward INDIES finalist. Why me? Chimeras, Conundrums and Dead Goldfish was a semi-finalist for the Chanticleer Murder and Mayhem contest before it was published. She began her career in academia with a PhD in communications. Then, she and her husband decided to build a commercial boat and go fishing for salmon in Alaska. Currently she is the VP for Puget Sound Sisters in Crime and lives and writes on Vashon Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound. She spends time each day entertained by herons, seals, eagles and other wildlife.
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CONNECT WITH CHARLOTTE:
Website:
http://www.charlottestuart.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.stuart.mysterywriter
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/quirkymysteries
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/clzstuart
BookBub Author Page:
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/charlotte-stuart
BookBub Book Page:
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19305587.Charlotte_Stuart
Goodreads Book Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51074737-campaigning-can-be-deadly
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
The Book Depository Paperback:
https://www.bookdepository.com/Campaigning-Can-Be-Deadly-Charlotte-Stuart/9781940442327
IndieBound Paperback:
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781940442327
Kobo eBook:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/campaigning-can-be-deadly
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Charlotte will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
Charlotte ~ Good morning! Welcome to FAB! It is so great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. ~ Thanks for sending those beautiful pictures of your workspace view!! It looks very inspiring and enchanting!! I'm not a morning person, but I sure would love to wake up to that sunrise :)
Thank you, Ally, for hosting this spotlight of my mystery. Glad you enjoyed the pictures. Wish I could look at the view and write at the same time...but I've been forced to place my computer with a view of an office wall.
DeleteGreat photos, thanks for sharing them!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book.
ReplyDeletethis sounds like a fun book to read
ReplyDeleteYour favorite scene makes me want to read this book, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDelete