Shadows in Sussex by Emma Dakin - Book Tour - Reader Reviews - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hello, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Emma Dakin and her new book, “Shadows in Sussex,” 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 Emma and to increase your chances of winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

Shadows in Sussex

The British Book Tour Mysteries Series

Book Five

by Emma Dakin

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GENRE:   Cozy Mystery

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BOOK BLURB:

Claire Barclay and her band of tourists are full of enthusiasm for her trip to Sussex and Kent, the beautiful southeastern part of England. A tragic death of a young man the son of the guest house manager sends Claire into comforting mode and makes it more difficult for her provide a bright and care-free holiday. Laura was not surprised at her son’s death as he had been a drug user and she expected he had taken contaminated drugs, a common fate. But the police lab said otherwise. He was murdered. Claire’s fiancé, Detective Inspector Mark Evans, investigates, so Claire is involved and privy to much information. Too much. In spite of her busy life with demanding guests, she discovers the motive for the murder and finds herself in danger.

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READER REVIEWS:

Check out what readers are saying about Emma’s new book:

“A fun tour of Sussex with the extra treat for mystery lovers as Emma Dakin ties places to favorite books.”

~ Rhys Bowen (NYT bestselling author of the Molly Murphy and Royal Spyness series)

“If you are looking for a cozy crime novel that evokes a wonderful sense of place - look no further. Emma Dakin skilfully weaves a new mystery into a fascinating and informative tour of Southern England featuring heroine and literary tour guide, Claire Barclay, and a host of interesting characters.”

~ Julie Wassmer, Author of The Whitstable Pearl Mysteries

“This engaging story will appeal to traditional mystery-lovers who like their murders set against the authentic backdrop of quaint English villages.”

~ Clara Benson, USA Today bestselling author of the Angela Marchmont Mysteries

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EXCERPT TWO:

“My name is Mark Evans,” he said. “I'm a detective inspector with the Hampshire constabulary and I'm the fiancé of your tour guide, Claire.” He didn’t mention Reece, so he was here socially.

Susan was the first to respond. “My name is Susan and I'm at delighted to meet you. I'm a great mystery novel fan and I have met many detective inspectors in the pages of books. It’s a pleasure to meet a real English inspector. Please join us.”

“Bring a chair,” Heather said. “I would love to talk to you about the way English detective inspectors actually deal with a mystery.”

Mark smiled at me again and I could feel my heart expand. I knew he came to the café because I was having trouble with Richard and he wanted to help. I was sure I could handle Richard without any help as Heather was used to dealing with him and the three young women seem quite able to deflect and control him. But my heart warmed at the notion that Mark would come and see if he could be of use to me.

I was so distracted it took me a moment to realize that Andy Forsyth was with him.

“Please join us,” I said, then turned to the guests. “This is Detective Sergeant Andrew Forsythe. He's Mark’s teammate.”

“Hello, everyone,” Andy said. “We have eaten, but we love to join you for tea.”

Andy was dressed impeccably in pressed jeans and a blue, open-necked sports shirt. He wore a gold earring and the wedding band I’d watched his husband Bruce put on his finger. That had been quite the society wedding. Bruce comes from a wealthy and supportive family and they had hosted an elaborate reception.

Susan brought me back to the present.

“That would be wonderful.” Susan invited him by a gesture to sit beside her. “What's it like to be a sergeant in the Hampshire police force?”

He laughed. “It's pretty busy.”

“I was wondering if the police still give those warnings that I read about in novels.”

“Not quite the way you read them in the novels,” Andy said. “I read thrillers myself so I pay attention to police procedure. We do make a statement when we make an arrest, but not the one you commonly see in fiction.”

Mark was at the other end of the table and seemed to be having quite a lively conversation with Heather, Richard, Howard and Poppy.

I ordered some small fairy cakes and some chocolate and nuts to be passed around with coffee and tea. The guests stayed for some time chatting with each other and with Mark and Andy. The group was enjoying themselves but eventually prepared to leave. The older guests were returning to Rother Manor House. The three young ones told me they were going to visit a pub.

“Waterworks Pub is a nice one,” Andy advised. “It's just down the street on this block.”

“Sounds perfect,” Julie said. “We're not big drinkers. We just like the liveliness of the English pubs. At least we think we will.”

“You have my cell number,” I said. “Just call if you need help or for anything at all.”

“We’ll be fine,” Julie said. “Thank you for a delicious dinner.” Off they went, leaving Mark, Andy and me at the table.

“How do you like working with DS Flynn?” I asked.

“He’s a marvel,” Andy answered me. “Meticulous, conscientious. Digs for information.”

Mark leaned forward. “He’s so competent that if the Super gets wind of him, Andy will be recalled.”

That was a possibility. Superintendent Addison wasn’t one to waste personnel.

“What about DC Sandhu?”

They both grinned. I expect Jas Sandhu had that effect on most people.

“I can work with him,” Mark said. “He seems a good team player with Flynn.”

I could see that: one was methodical and one imaginative.

“Flynn put Jas onto tracing Reece’s movements on his last day. Once Travis has the info, he’ll put it on a chart for us.”

“We’re looking into a gang motivation. That’s my job,” Andy said. “I have an appointment with someone in the know later tonight.”

“Be careful,” I said.

“Shouldn’t be a problem.”

I don’t know why I urged Andy to be careful. He was always careful. It must be some kind of superstition that makes those of us who have no control over the situation offer a kind of blessing on the one in danger. My mum used to caution me to stay dry if it looked like rain. Of course, I’d try to stay dry. But cautioning me was her way of trying to protect me. It can be annoying.

“Do you still think Reece was murdered?” I asked into the silence created by our mutual concern about a gang contact.

“Looks like it. He would be unlikely to get hold of Nembutal. None of that drug is circulating in this area.”

“We aren’t positive, though,” Andy said. “All we can say is that he died of Nembutal poisoning and it is unlikely he gave it to himself.”

“He could have taken it by accident, thinking it was something else.”

“He could have, but we are going to treat this case as homicide until we can prove it isn’t, or until we run out of leads.”

Andy left us at the door of the café to walk back to the Rye Lodge Hotel while Mark escorted me to the Rother Manor House.

I invited him to my room where I plugged in the tea kettle and set out two cups and some biscuits—not that we needed any more to eat. While the room was small, it had a table and two chairs near the window.

For some reason we talked about birds. Mark had recently visited his Uncle Lionel and gone on a birding venture with him along the coastal walk of Cornwall. Mark was only mildly interested in birds, but enjoyed his uncle's enthusiasm. Like Lionel, I was keen on birds, so I listened to Mark’s descriptions, enjoying the sound of his voice.

We spent quite a few minutes saying goodbye, but he finally left me for the night. I heard the front door close but couldn’t watch him leave from my back garden window.

It was going to be a busy day tomorrow as I had to drive Richard and the older guests to Godinton House and deposit the three young women at the train station in Ashford. I checked that I had fresh supplies for their daily packs: chocolates, biscuits, hand sanitizers and tissues. I wished Mark could have stayed but I understood his need to be with Andy and available to the local constabulary. We were both working. We were used to being apart for weeks. Still, he wasn’t far away but I wished he was with me. I conjured up a picture of Gulliver. I expect he was cuddled up with Deirdre’s two dogs and was happy enough. I missed him as well.

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GUEST POST:

The Craziest Thing I’ve Done in the Name of Research

I have a list. It’s hard to choose the craziest, but if I must, I will.

No. 1. Sitting in an entomologist’s trailer at midnight, interviewing him on the subject of lepidoptera (moths) and bees and finding the information fascinating. It wasn’t the fact that I was in the middle of a forest, at the exact opposite side of the country from where I lived, and had not come to interview anyone that was the strangest thing. It was the fact that I found the behaviour of wasps, bees and moths intriguing. I sold a magazine article on it.

No. 2. This was the time I packed my thirteen-year-old son into my car and drove from Vancouver, BC to Winnipeg, Manitoba, stopping in towns and cities along the way, interviewing teens about why they had tried suicide. I had no idea why they would see suicide as a positive choice so decided to ask them. I put ads in local newspapers (before FB) and met them in fast food restaurants. They told me what was important and I wrote three books giving their opinions a voice. It was humbling and instructive. They were amazingly brave. The process of research in fast food restaurants, in my car, in parks and on the beach was a little crazy.

No. 3. I went to Arctic Bay on Baffin Island which is 1000 miles above the Arctic Circle to find material for a young adult novel. I didn’t write the novel. I got sidetracked because the people there told me how difficult it was to get information about health care. That seemed so unjust I couldn’t tolerate it. So I wrote My Body: Women Speak Out About Their Health Care (Plenum New York). I lived there with an Inuit family for a week and listened to their concerns, as well as tried to learn some of their language. They were kind about my mistakes.

No. 4. There was the time I was travelling through the Yorkshire moors in England with a group of nine and asked to detour so I could see Ralph’s Cross, a site I wanted to put in Perils in Yorkshire. Once there I enlisted the help of my friends to look for a place where a murder would be easy to commit. They spread out over the moors and yelled at me to check out their favourite sites. We were of great interest to a busload of tourists from Japan.

No. 5. In Penzance, in Cornwall, I wanted to go to the Minack Theatre which was ten miles from my B & B as research for Crime in Cornwall. No problem. There was a bus to it. But it was Thursday and there was no bus back. Apparently, there is never a bus back on Thursdays. (It’s Cornwall. They do things their own way.) I went anyway and found a generous soul who gave me a ride after the performance to the bus depot in Penzance. From there I walked to my B & B and only needed two people to point me in the right direction. “But skip along smartly, me lover, because the tide’s comin’ in and the street’s under water at high tide” I skipped.

It seems to me that researching books is one great adventure.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Emma Dakin writes a series of mysteries set in Britain. Her protagonist is a tour guide who takes different characters in each book to the sites of mystery novels in the countryside. She appreciates the elegant, people and humor of each area. But in that idyllic country, Claire stumbles on murder. Author Emma Dakin has five books so far in this series with the latest release September 12th 2023. An historical mystery set in Vancouver in 1886 is due out soon. She won a prestigious 2022 Lieutenant Governor’s Community History Award for her non-fiction account of life in the 60s.

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CONNECT WITH EMMA:

Website:

https://emmadakinauthor.com

Email:

emma@emmadakinauthor.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MarionCrookAuthor

X:

https://twitter.com/author_mcrook

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19313206.Emma_Dakin

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/137169578-shadows-in-sussex

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3My2B2k

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3MxFNzR

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3snKV2C

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Shadows-Sussex-Emma-Dakin-ebook/dp/B0C35L6ZGR

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Shadows-Sussex-Emma-Dakin/dp/168492202X

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Emma 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.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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