Hi lovelies! It gives me
great pleasure today to host Ginger Black and their new book, “Riverside Lane”! For other stops on their 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 $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Ginger
Black and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
Riverside Lane
by Ginger Black
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GENRE: Cozy Mystery
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BLURB:
After
arranging a house swap with a debonair antiques dealer, a darkly handsome
American named Luca Tempesta arrives in a quaint English village. Tempesta, who
claims to run a detective agency in Los Angeles, is supposedly on holiday – but
the inhabitants of the village are unconvinced.
Yet,
as they attempt to solve the mystery of the stranger in their midst, it
gradually transpires that there are more than enough secrets to go around in
the village itself, harboured by the local MP and his uptight, ambitious wife;
the has-been former game show host; the respectable couple with the jailbird
son; the hometown journalist, striving for a scoop that will rescue her from debt;
and so on. The place is revealed as a labyrinth of deception masquerading as a
picture-postcard hamlet; tension begins to mount in between the dinner parties
and evenings at the pub, and soon culminates in an unexpected death.
Behind
perfect privets and brightly painted front doors, the lives of Riverside Lane’s
residents slowly unravel. Tempesta, guarding his secrets with a vengeance, is
suddenly threatened with exposure by the elderly religious zealot Ivy
Midwinter, whose own past involved keeping professional confidences. When she
challenges him in church, she learns that Tempesta will stop at nothing to
protect his privacy ...
Set
against the exquisite backdrop of a gastronomic village by the Thames,
Riverside Lane is a tautly paced page-turner that also gently satirises middle-
class English manners: the upstanding denizens of the village watch and whisper
behind a mask of English hauteur, whilst their own fragile lives come undone.
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EXCERPT ONE:
A
dusky gauze veil lifted to reveal the soft pink light of dawn. The sun recast
the Earth in a glorious patchwork of fields, and a cacophony of birdsong
stirred the residents of Riverside Lane from their slumber. Cherry and magnolia
trees formed a guard of honour over the lane, which lay tranquil, deserted and
calm.
High
above, skimming the rose-coloured clouds, a British Airways jet descended over
the River Thames. Luca Tempesta checked his seatbelt and reached for his
cigarettes, curling his fingers around them with the zeal of a junkie. He
flipped the packet, prompting disapproving looks from a couple playing chess
beside him, and thought about his meeting with the Russian academic. He had felt
bound by reckless honour to visit his wife’s friend and mentor in Moscow,
despite the risk. The man had deserved to know what happened to Natasha, but it
gave Luca even more to hide.
The
scent of freshly ground coffee permeated the cabin, reminding the American of
his caffeine-addicted wife; he missed her clear, analytical mind and ability to
rationalise situations. He thought of her final moments, and her terror as the
net had closed in. She had paid the ultimate price for her loyalty. He
stretched his legs into the aisle, seeking a comfortable position for his tall
frame, and quashed a familiar feeling of dread that he knew served no purpose.
It was imperative that he maintain a cool head; he could not afford the luxury
of surrender. He turned his attention to a photo of Kingfisher House. Luca’s
agency partner, Maria, had found the place through a movie-industry fixer who
knew an Englishman in need of a roof over his head in California.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
Who Inspired Your Love for Books
~From Gaynor
Pengelly~
My
mother Jan, an avid reader, taught me a love of books from an early age. She
caught my imagination by setting the scene of the first part of a story, and
when I was hooked, left me to devour the rest of the book.
Reading
to children is well-known for releasing happy hormones and reducing
stress. I remember the peace and
tranquility of snuggling up as she conjured up images of colorful characters
and tales of derring-do. She taught me
the beauty of the English language, how to use the Thesaurus, and the value of
world power.
When
you’re a child, your imagination knows no bounds. Books transported me to new worlds and taught
me to see life from another person’s point of view. I learned important
life-skills such as right from wrong, tolerance, resilience and conquered my
fears of the unknown.
Growing
up, there were many pilgrimages to the birth places of famous writers - the
Bronte parsonage on the windswept Yorkshire moors, where my mother toyed with
the idea of naming my yet to be born brother, Heathcliff (Jeremy won out in the
end) and Mary Arden’s Farm, where we giggled at Shakespearean insults: ‘Thou
art a rank sheep biter’!
Then
there were maps and travel guides to read in the car, and the gift of a book to
enjoy on the journey home, which always sparked lively conversations. Watching
children travelling in cars today, I feel sad to see them locked away in their
technological bubbles, missing out on the pleasure of watching the world go by
and letting their imagination run riot.
Later,
working as a journalist at The Mail on Sunday, I met so many inspirational and
talented writers. They came from all walks of life – some were posh and
educated at the finest schools, others were brought up in poverty at the school
of hard knocks, but they shared a passion for books. Working with such a mix of
people, taught me that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, if
you have talent and enthusiasm for the written word – you’re a writer.
~From Julia Thum~
My
mother was a librarian and I used to love watching her cataloguing and
organising the books. Of course, this
also meant that I had an unlimited supply of reading myself and the right
person to recommend all the best books.
I really started writing aged nine when my father died, confiding my
thoughts to a secret diary that I hid from my mother so as not to upset her. I
got the diary bug and have kept one ever since, progressing to copious letter
writing, short stories and finally the first of many unfinished novels written
over twenty years ago. My
writing ambitions got more structure when I decided to try my hand at
children’s books. I
remember asking my eldest child, an avid reader and now 21, what were the
necessary components of her dream book. I still have the list. I
set about my first children’s
novel and haven’t looked back since,
writing one for each of my five children but never submitting any for
publication. And
then I met Gaynor!
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AUTHOR BIO:
Ginger Black is a
writing partnership between Gaynor Pengelly and Julia Thum.
~JULIA THUM~
Julia
left Somerset for London at 16. She founded & ran her own consumer P R
agency representing a range of international brands including Braun, Molton
Brown, Clairol & Kleenex. After selling the business she trained as a
psychotherapist specializing in eating disorders & hosted a phone-in show
on Radio Luxembourg.
Julia
writes bespoke literature & articles for private clients and visits
secondary schools & prisons representing two national charities in
providing emotional support to pupils & inmates. A keen kayaker and a
passionate cook, she lives in Bray-on-Thames with her husband Nicolas and their
four children.
~GAYNOR PENGELLY~
Gaynor
has worked as a national newspaper correspondent for more than twenty years,
interviewing everyone from the great and the good to extraordinary people in
ordinary lives. The rich variety of her subject matter and their circumstances
has given her a rare insight into human nature and the challenges many people
face.
Gaynor's
great loves include sitting in pavement cafes watching the world go by,
National Trust and English Heritage and hiking across the windswept Yorkshire
moors. She lives in Bray-on-Thames with her husband Jonathan and their son,
Freddie James.
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CONNECT WITH
GINGER BLACK:
Website:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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AMAZON BOOK BUY
LINKS:
Amazon Kindle:
Amazon Paperback:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Ginger Black will be awarding a $10 Amazon or
Barnes and Noble Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during
the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase 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.**
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.
