Hey, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host Meg Benjamin and her new book, “The Pepper Peach Murder,” here on FAB!! 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 $20 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Meg and to increase your chances of winning!!
Thanks for stopping by!! Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!
The Pepper Peach Murder
A Luscious Delights Mystery Series
Book One
by Meg Benjamin
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GENRE: Cozy Mystery
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BOOK BLURB:
Roxy Constantine is the jam queen of Shavano, Colorado, and she’s fine with it. Not that things couldn’t be better. Her social life is a bust, and she’s still recovering from a bad experience as a line cook in Denver. But things are looking up when she meets local chef Nate Robicheaux. Roxy would like to get closer to Nate, but she’s fending off the unwanted attentions of another local, Brett Holmes, who won’t take no for an answer. When Brett threatens to derail Roxy’s appearance on a national cooking show, the two have a very public fight. A few days later, Brett is found murdered in his restaurant kitchen, and suddenly Roxy’s a prime suspect. Now Roxy, Nate, and her other friends must find out the truth about Brett’s background and his murderer before the town of Shavano decides Roxy’s reign as jam queen is over for good.
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EXCERPT ONE:
It would be better for him to hear it from you than to discover it on his own.
Nate’s voice still echoed in my ears. For a moment, I wished I’d asked him to come with me. But I had to face this on my own. It was my disaster, after all.
I climbed up the stairs to the front door, pausing for a moment to check the directory on the wall inside. The chief’s office was on the first floor, right down the hall. Once I turned in that direction, there’d be no going back. I’d be committed to confessing.
I walked down the corridor, feeling like I was going to the executioner’s block.
There was a receptionist for the chief’s office along with the county attorney and the sheriff. I didn’t recognize her, which was just as well. This visit wasn’t something I wanted shared on social media.
She looked up expectantly. “Yes?”
“I need to see Chief Fowler.” I was amazed that my voice was steady.
“Do you have an appointment?”
I shook my head. “He’ll want to talk to me. Tell him it’s Roxy Constantine.”
The receptionist picked up her phone and dialed a number, turning away from me as she spoke.
Of course, I wasn’t absolutely sure Fowler would want to see me. Maybe he’d be too busy. Maybe he wasn’t interested. Maybe…
The receptionist glanced up at me. “Go on in. He’ll see you now.”
So much for hope. I opened the office door and stepped inside.
Fowler was sitting at his utilitarian, city-issued desk. He gazed up at me with that same unsmiling, inscrutable look he always seemed to wear. I wondered if he ever smiled. Probably not at people like me, people he suspected of murder.
I cleared my throat. “I have some things to tell you.”
He gestured to the chair in front of his desk. “Sit down, Ms. Constantine. I’ve been expecting you.”
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GUEST POST:
Overcoming Writing Obstacles: How Jam Became My Jam
For the past twelve or thirteen years, I’ve been writing romances, both contemporary and paranormal. But I also read a lot of mysteries—they’re some of my favorites. So when I wanted a break from my romance routine, I decided to try writing a mystery series. In fact, I decided to try a cozy mystery series.
Cozy mysteries have several typical features. First, they’re usually from the heroine’s point of view, and they’re usually written in first person. And the heroine usually has some kind of interesting occupation when she’s not solving crimes. I don’t exactly know how to characterize these occupations other than to say they’re frequently something many of us would like to do ourselves. There are a lot of innkeepers in picturesque small towns, for example. Bookstore owners show up frequently. There are bakers and caterers and crafters of all sorts.
Writing in first person from the heroine’s point of view wasn’t a problem for me, but the possible occupation for my heroine took some thinking. I like to cook, and I’ve written several romances where the heroine/hero is either a chef or chef adjacent (e.g., Don’t Forget Me, Hungry Heart, Love in the Morning, Wild Love) but for this series I wanted something different. So what could I have my heroine do? After a few false starts, I settled on jam.
Why jam, you might ask? Well, part of the reason comes from my hubs’ jam obsession. Whenever we go traveling, we check out the local souvenir stores, and my hubs usually buys a couple of jars of jam. Over the years, I’ve had a chance to taste a lot of homemade jam, much of it delectable. And I started to consider making some jam myself, although not seriously enough to actually do it. Or not seriously enough until Roxy Constantine and her Luscious Delights jam company entered my life.
Although I’ve been known to write about things I’ve never actually done (like raising chickens in Fearless Love), when it comes to cooking, I like to work from experience. That meant I needed to try making some jam myself so I could describe Roxy’s efforts realistically. And that meant—gleep—figuring out how to make jam at home. At first, I thought I’d need to buy a canning kettle and related paraphernalia, like a jar lifter. But after doing a little research, I decided to start out with refrigerator jam, which requires little more than a jam pot and some jars and lids.
Fortunately for me, my first effort was raspberry jam. It may be possible to ruin raspberry jam, but I think you’d have to work at it. All you need are raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice. And what you get is just…divine. It tasted so great, I wanted to do more. I tried blackberries and blueberries and strawberries, and then I switched to stone fruit and did apricots and peaches. They weren’t all winners (blueberry jam is meh), but they were all edible. And some were surprisingly tasty. And they filled up my freezer with half-pint jars of fresh fruit taste that definitely brightened a Colorado winter morning.
Finally, I decided to try making some pepper peach jam, Roxy’s specialty. The first go round tasted more like pickled peaches (and taught me to avoid jam recipes that involved vinegar), but then I got some super ripe local peaches and some bright red poblano peppers from my garden and, glory be, it was both gorgeous and delicious (I’m attaching a pic of a jar).
So lucky for me, I chose an occupation for my heroine that has endless possibilities and that’s made my summers a constant search for the best produce from the locals. I even made some wine jam this winter. And yes, it will show up in a later book.
So I hope you’ll like my jam-making detective. And more than that, if you like to cook, I hope you’ll give jam making a try yourself. Roxy and I both swear by it.
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AUTHOR BIO:
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Meg Benjamin is an award-winning author of romance. Meg’s Konigsburg series is set in the Texas Hill Country and her Salt Box and Brewing Love trilogies are set in the Colorado Rockies (all are available from Entangled Publishing). Her new cozy mystery series, Luscious Delights from Wild Rose Press, concerns a jam-making sleuth based in the mythical small town of Shavano, Colorado. Along with contemporary romance, Meg is also the author of the paranormal Ramos Family trilogy from Berkley InterMix and the Folk trilogy from Soul Mate. Meg’s books have won numerous awards, including an EPIC Award, a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers, the Beanpot Award from the New England Romance Writers, and the Award of Excellence from Colorado Romance Writers. Meg’s Web site is http://www.MegBenjamin.com. You can follow her on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/meg.benjamin1), Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/megbenjamin), Instagram (meg_benjamin) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/megbenj1). Meg loves to hear from readers—contact her at meg@megbenjamin.com.
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CONNECT WITH MEG:
Website:
Email:
meg@megbenjamin.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/meg.benjamin1
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/megbenj1
Pinterest:
http://www.pinterest.com/megbenjamin
Instagram:
http://www.instagram.com/meg_benjamin
BookBub Author Page:
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/meg-benjamin
BookBub Book Page:
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2869971.Meg_Benjamin
Goodreads Book Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75700564-the-pepper-peach-murder
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon US Kindle eBook:
Amazon US Paperback:
Amazon CA Kindle eBook:
https://www.amazon.ca/Pepper-Murder-Luscious-Delights-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0BKYJPN22
Amazon CA Paperback:
https://www.amazon.ca/Pepper-Murder-Luscious-Delights-Mystery/dp/1509246924
Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-pepper-peach-murder-meg-benjamin/1142562360?ean=2940186700838
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-pepper-peach-murder-meg-benjamin/1142562360?ean=9781509246922
Kobo US eBook:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-pepper-peach-murder
Kobo CA eBook:
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-pepper-peach-murder
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Meg will be awarding a $20 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) 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 fabulous community outreach projects and awesome giveaways on here**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the excerpt and look forward to reading the book.
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday! I hope that you have enjoyed your book tour as much as I have enjoyed reading about you and your work throughout this tour. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDelete