BOOK TOUR
I'm so excited to be a stop on the
blog tour for author
Allison Brook
on her release of
DEATH OVERDUE
Book 1 in the Haunted Library Mysteies
Carrie Singleton is just about done with Clover Ridge, Connecticut until she's offered a job as the head of programs and events at the spooky local library, complete with its own librarian ghost. Her first major event is a program presented by a retired homicide detective, Al Buckley, who claims he knows who murdered Laura Foster, a much-loved part-time library aide who was bludgeoned to death fifteen years earlier. As he invites members of the audience to share stories about Laura, he suddenly keels over and dies.
The medical examiner reveals that poison is what did him in and Carrie feels responsible for having surged forward with the program despite pushback from her director. Driven by guilt, Carrie’s determined to discover who murdered the detective, convinced it’s the same man who killed Laura all those years ago. Luckily for Carrie, she has a friendly, knowledgeable ghost by her side. But as she questions the shadows surrounding Laura's case, disturbing secrets come to light and with each step Carrie takes, she gets closer to ending up like Al.
Now it's due or die for Carrie in Death Overdue the delightful first in a new cozy series by Allison Brook.
The medical examiner reveals that poison is what did him in and Carrie feels responsible for having surged forward with the program despite pushback from her director. Driven by guilt, Carrie’s determined to discover who murdered the detective, convinced it’s the same man who killed Laura all those years ago. Luckily for Carrie, she has a friendly, knowledgeable ghost by her side. But as she questions the shadows surrounding Laura's case, disturbing secrets come to light and with each step Carrie takes, she gets closer to ending up like Al.
Now it's due or die for Carrie in Death Overdue the delightful first in a new cozy series by Allison Brook.
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*****!!!GIVEAWAY!!!*****
Winners will be chosen after October 20
at the end of the tour
One lucky reader will win a print copy of
DEATH OVERDUE
DEATH OVERDUE
Enter using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post.
This giveaway is through Great Escape Book Tours, not Lisa Ks Book Reviews.
AN INTERVIEW WITH ALLISON
LKBR: Allison, thank you for being here today!
AB: I’m happy to be here
with you, Lisa.
LKBR: Please
tell us a bit about your book/series.
AB: DEATH
OVERDUE is the first book in my Haunted Library Mystery series. My sleuth, 29-year-old
Carrie Singleton, is offered the position of Head of Programs and Events at the
library where she’s working. She’s about to turn it down and leave town as
planned when a voice advises her not to be a fool, and to tell the director
she’ll think it over. Her advisor, it
turns out, is the ghost of a library aide. Carrie takes the position, which
doesn’t please Dorothy, the reference librarian, who saw the job as hers.
Dorothy hides a film Carrie’s about to show and pulls other nasty tricks to try
to make Carrie look bad. But Carrie’s wise to Dorothy and gives better than she
got. Carrie has her first big event—a program with a retired police detective
who claims he now knows who murdered a woman fifteen years earlier and will
reveal it in a book he’s writing. While the detective is—well, to find out what
happens, you’ll have to read DEATH OVERDUE.
Family,
friendship, romance, a ghost, a library cat, and a murderer are featured in
DEATH OVERDUE.
LKBR: How
did you come up with the concept for this series?
AB: I
was at an outdoor drumming program at my library when the head of community
services presented the drummer to us, the audience. I thought gee, a librarian
in charge of events and programs gets to do a variety of activities. Wouldn’t
she make a wonderful sleuth! The library is like a small village. In fact, it’s
often the center of village life. There are people who are regulars, like the
librarians and aides, and the people who come in randomly—the library patrons
and program presenters. The programs can be as diverse as a discussion of
current events or a cooking presentation. The perfect setting for murder and intrigue!
LKBR: Do
you have a favorite character in your book/series?
AB: I’m
very fond of Carrie, who’s spunky and fun. I respect her for overcoming her
rather dysfunctional childhood. And of course I adore Smoky Joe, the library
cat, who lives with Carrie.
LKBR: Is
there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? Love,
action, death, etc?
AB: Perhaps action, if it were to be a chase through a factory or warehouse
with several people shooting at one another.
LKBR: In your writing, have you ever used experiences based on someone you
know, or events in your own life?
AB: I think real-life events creep into our work, and while I don’t use any
event or experience that actually happened to me or to someone I know, it may have
given me the idea to do something similar in a book.
LKBR: When you’re in the process of writing/creating a book, do you use a computer, typewriter, dictate, or use pen to paper?
LKBR: When you’re in the process of writing/creating a book, do you use a computer, typewriter, dictate, or use pen to paper?
AB: I
use a computer. I might jot down ideas as they occur in a notebook while I’m
not sitting at my computer.
LKBR: Do
you have any writing quirks or rituals that you do before, during, and/or after
writing a new book?
AB: No
writing quirks, but believe it or not, it’s difficult for me to sit down and
start writing. I find I do my best writing and most of my writing in the late
afternoon, early evening. The Daily Procrastinator. But I do get my books
finished, and that’s the result I’m after.
LKBR: Who/What inspired you to write your
first book?
AB: The
idea came to me in a dream. A woman is being chased by two men on a beach. They
tell her that her husband is a gambler and owes their boss a good deal of
money. This scene is still vivid to me after all these years. I did write a
romantic suspense with this as the opening scene (minus the beach). The
book—Come Home to Death—has never been published though one of my publishers
has had it for some time.
LKBR: What was one of the most surprising
thing(s) you learned when trying to get your first book published?
AB:
My first book—a YA—came out in the
mid-eighties when publishing was very different. No email, no computer. I
remember in those days everything took much longer.
LKBR: What
book are you reading?
AB: I
read a few books at one time. I’m reading Ellen Byron’s Plantation Shudders and
Visions of Love by James and Joyce Lavene.
LKBR: Do
you have any advice for aspiring cozy writers?
AB: Read
several cozy authors to thoroughly understand the genre, but develop your own
voice. Make sure your characters are appealing and well-developed. Your
characters, not the plot, are what readers will remember. Your characters will
draw readers to the next book in your series.
LKBR: Where
can readers go to learn more about you and your books?
LKBR: Thank
you so much for letting us get to know you better, Allison!
AB: It’s
my pleasure to be here.
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MY REVIEW
A
delightful new para-cozy ghost mystery.
I
love it when a book hooks me right from the first page. I can never explain how
after only a few sentences, I know I’m reading a book I will thoroughly enjoy,
but it does happen. Author Allison Brook has whatever that something is that
grabs me.
Para-cozies
haven’t always been my favorite picks in the cozy mystery genre. But, I have
found myself enjoying the ones with ghosts. DEATH OVERDUE is just such a book. If
you don’t like para-cozies, or have wanted to try one out, this is a good book
to read. Very quickly into the book, resident library ghost, Evelyn, felt more
alive to me than dead. I found myself wanting more of her when she wasn’t
around.
There
are two murders in this book. A cold case, and a very new case that takes place
in the story. Protagonist, Carrie Singleton feels responsible for the second
death, and that pushes her to search for the truth in both cases, which may
very well be connected.
DEATH
OVERDUE was fast paced, fun read.
It never had any of those scenes that drag on for far too long. The mystery
elements were very well done, and kept me guessing throughout the book. And I
really enjoyed the humorous moments.
All in all, a great
start to a new series, DEATH OVERDUE was a long overdue pleasure to this
reader. I’m looking forward to the next book in the next installment!
ABOUT ALISON
Allison Brook is the pseudonym for Marilyn Levinson, who writes mysteries, romantic suspense and novels for kids. She lives on Long Island and enjoys traveling, reading, watching foreign films, doing Sudoku and dining out. She especially loves to visit with her grandchildren on FaceTime.
Tour Participants
October 14 – Babs Book Bistro – REVIEW
October 14 – Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers – SPOTLIGHT
October 14 – A Blue Million Books – INTERVIEW
October 14 – Island Confidential – GUEST POST
October 15 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
October 15 – Laura's Interests - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 15 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 15 – A Holland Reads – REVIEW
October 16 – The Bookwyrm's Hoard - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 16 – Valerie's Musings - REVIEW, INTERVIEW
October 16 – The Ninja Librarian – REVIEW
October 16 – Moonlight Rendezvous - REVIEW, GUEST POST
October 17 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
October 17 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – INTERVIEW
October 17 – Mochas, Mysteries and Meows - REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 17 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, INTERVIEW
October 18 – Texas Book-aholic – REVIEW
October 18 – Varietats – REVIEW, GUEST POST
October 18 – Socrates' Book Reviews – REVIEW
October 18 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 18 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW
October 19 – Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 19 – Bea's Book Nook – REVIEW
October 19 – The Book's the Thing – REVIEW
October 20 – Back Porchervations – REVIEW
October 20 – Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf – REVIEW
October 20 – A Cozy Experience – REVIEW
October 20 – That's What She's Reading – GUEST POST
GOOD LUCK!
As always, please leave a comment and
let me know what you think!
Follow my blog by
clicking on the link in the
upper right hand corner of this page.
A ghost, a library cat and a murderer, sounds like my kind of book. Can't wait to read.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your great post Lisa. I can't wait to read this one.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa, for the interview and review of Death Overdue. I've already got this one on my wish list because it sounds like it would be a fun read.
ReplyDeleteExcellent interview, and I loved the library-related graphics. The book sounds absolutely wonderful and, of course, I'm partial to libraries and library cats. The idea of a library ghost is a fun addition, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this review - I'm putting this book on my wish list - looks fabulous!!
ReplyDeleteGreat interview! I love my library, this looks like a fun read! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa for featuring Death Overdue on your blog and for your review and interview.. The picture of the ghost in the library from Ghostbusters reminds me of my favorite line from Dan Ackroyd's character when they were in the book stacks: "Listen, do you smell something?"
ReplyDeleteLove the cover. Thanks for the chance.
ReplyDeleteim2early4u(at)gmail(dot)com
this book sounds so very much up my alley. Would love the chance to read it
ReplyDelete