Wednesday, July 6, 2016

A Dark and Stormy Murder {+ Giveaway}


A DARK AND STORMY MURDER by Julia Buckley
◊ Series: A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery (Book 1)
◊ Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
◊ Genre: Cozy Murder Mystery
◊ Publisher: Berkley (July 5, 2016)
◊ Language: English
◊ ISBN-10: 0425282600
◊ ISBN-13: 978-0425282601

SYNOPSIS:

 An aspiring suspense novelist lands in the middle of a real crime, in the first in a captivating new series by the author of the Undercover Dish Mysteries.

          Lena London's literary dreams are coming true—as long as she can avoid any real-life villains...
          Camilla Graham’s bestselling suspense novels inspired Lena London to become a writer, so when she lands a job as Camilla’s new assistant, she can’t believe her luck. Not only will she help her idol craft an enchanting new mystery, she’ll get to live rent-free in Camilla’s gorgeous Victorian home in the quaint town of Blue Lake, Indiana.
          But Lena’s fortune soon changes for the worse. First, she lands in the center of small town gossip for befriending the local recluse. Then, she stumbles across one thing that a Camilla Graham novel is never without—a dead body, found on her new boss’s lakefront property.
          Now Lena must take a page out of one of Camilla’s books to hunt down clues in a real crime that seems to be connected to the novelist’s mysterious estate—before the killer writes them both out of the story for good...       


Author Julia Buckley addresses the dream of many readers and some writers – to be the assistant to their favorite author. The plot is fresh and intriguing with crafty new characters.

The small town setting will draw you in as the secondary characters add depth to the story. With a mystery in a mystery, readers will be pulled in as the story unfolds.

A DARK AND STORMY MURDER has a plausible cast of characters in a setting you’d want to visit (minus the murder of course). The story moves at a good pace with twists and turns to keep you guessing.

This is a fun start to a fascinating new series that promises to keep us on our toes as fantasies of our dreams play out.

A Dark and Stormy Murder by Julia Buckley, A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery (Book #1), Berkley, @2016, ISBN: 978-0425282601, Mass Market Paperback, 304 Pages

FTC Full Disclosure – A copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review. The thoughts are completely my own and given honestly and freely.

Thanks to the wonderful folks at Penguin/Random House, I have a print copy of A DARK AND STORMY MURDER by Julia Buckley to giveaway. The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. only and will end at 12 a.m. (EST) on Thursday, July 14.

To enter the giveaway, just click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions. The widget may take a few seconds to load so please be patient. A winner will be selected by the Rafflecopter widget and I’ll send an email with the subject line “Thoughts in Progress Giveaway.” The winner will have 72 hours to reply to the email or another winner will be selected. PLEASE be sure to check your spam folder from time to time after the giveaway ends to make sure the notification email doesn’t end up there. If you win and you’ve already won the book somewhere else or you just decided for whatever reason you don’t want to win (which is fine), once again PLEASE let me know.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope I’ve enticed you to check out this new series. If you could be an apprentice for any author, who would you work for?


19 comments:

  1. An apprentice for an author? I would join a very long queue to work with/for Neil Gaiman.

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  2. There are so many!!!! King, Koontz, Evanovich, Gabaldon, Mallery, Shalvis, Kenyon, Adrian......I could go on for days. If they started taking apps, I'd probably have to quit my job to have time to apply!

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  3. Like a story within a story.
    I'd hang with Terry Brooks. Or help Preston and Child. Those guys know how to write a book that reads like a movie.

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  4. I'd say James Patterson but I don't think I could keep up with him! LOL! I would love to assist a new author on their journey.

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  5. There are so many great authors I would hang out with, if they asked me to. This book is a great concept.

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  6. What a great premise for a novel, Mason! I really like it. It reminds me a bit of Lynda Wilcox's Verity Long series. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. I love the storyline. She's gone now, but I would've loved to work for Anne McCaffrey.

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  8. Sounds like a good book to read on a dark and stormy night, thank you for the chance to win a copy.

    wfnren at aol dot com

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  9. Sounds like a fun read—thanks for the chance to win a copy!

    skkorman AT bellsouth DOT net

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  10. Love that cover art -- it gave me a little chill because there's something about big old houses...

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  11. I have a lot so I would pick Connie Archer I love her soup lover's mystery series.
    Penney penneywATsbcglobal.net

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  12. A wonderful feature and giveaway. Thanks. An author whom I would enjoy working with would be Jacqueline Winspear.

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  13. How exciting that would be to work with any of my favourites. Most of them are gone now. Thanks for sharing this, Pamela. The cover, the synopsis, your review. I love the cover. I can see myself walking up the driveway.

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  14. An apprentice to an author, wow there are so many. Sorry I'll have to give a few, Laura Bradford, Jenn McKinlay, Duffy Brown, Krista Davis, oh I would love to apprentice with any of them and so many more. BTW love the cover!

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  15. I totally agree with Elephant's Child.

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  16. I love both the title and the cover. I also love starting out with the first book in a series. This sounds like a series I'm going to enjoy reading!

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  17. Looks like a great Cozy Mystery which I love Thanks for the chance to win

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  18. Sounds fantastic and you can't beat the first in a series, to get in on the ground floor! Thanks for the chance to win!

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  19. Thank you for the review and for hosting a giveaway!

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I'd love to hear your thoughts on today's post. Thanks for dropping by.