On Tour With Lethal Lily {+Giveaway}

It’s always a pleasure to have the husband and wife writing team of Jim and Joyce Lavene visit Thoughts in Progress. They join us today on their Great Escape Virtual Book Tour for LETHAL LILY, the latest release in their Peggy Lee Garden Mystery series.

As part of the tour, we have the opportunity to read a radio interview with Peggy Lee, the protagonist from LETHAL LILY. In addition, Jim and Joyce are offering an awesome giveaway. Please see the end of the post for the general details.

First, here’s a brief synopsis:

      Part-time garden shop owner/part-time forensic botanist, Peggy Lee is trying to discover if the death of Ann Fletcher 20 years ago was an accident – or foul play. In return, she hopes to receive more information about her first husband’s death.
      She knows John Lee was murdered, but questions have arisen as to why he was killed. She is working with a private detective who stumbles across his own feet, but her Internet friend, Nightflyer, says that Harry Fletcher has the answers.
      When Harry is murdered by convallatoxin, from the lily of the valley plant, Peggy begins to understand her role in everything. Now she has to stay alive long enough to prove her theories – and keep her son, Paul out of trouble too!

Now for the radio interview with Peggy Lee.

      “I’m with Dr. Margaret Lee, owner of The Potting Shed Garden Shop in Brevard Court today. Dr. Lee – affectionately known to her customers as Peggy, is a botanist with a specialty in botanical poisons who works part-time for the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office.”
      “Hi Mitchell! Thanks for having me here today. I love listening to your program every week. You do a very good job of covering the Charlotte gardening scene!”
      “Thanks, Dr. Lee.”
      “Please call me Peggy. Everyone does.”
      “Okay. Peggy. I’m interested in the work you’ve done on the case of the man killed by convallatoxin this past month. That must have been difficult.”
      “Yes. Any death by poison is difficult for the police. They aren’t prepared for it because it happens so rarely. Botanical poisons used for murder are even more rare. Usually a killer will use rat poison or Drano – whatever is handy.”
      “I see. How did you know what kind of poison was used?”
      “Well, I didn’t at first. It takes a great deal of work on the part of the medical examiner’s office to figure out how a person was poisoned, and then the police have to decide how and why it happened.”
      “But you were able to catch the killer, I understand. That’s a lot for a garden shop owner, don’t you think?”
      “I didn’t actually catch the killer, Mitchell. That was the police and the FBI working together. I was there at the last but only because the killer wanted me to be involved - a fan, I suppose you could say, of botanical poisons.”
      “That must have been frightening.”
      “It was. I hope never to got through anything like that again.”
      “We only have a moment left, Peggy. Can you tell our audience how to avoid being poisoned by plants?”
      “Certainly. Never grow anything if you haven’t researched its toxicity – indoors or out – and don’t eat plants if you aren’t sure what they are. Keep a list of the poisonous plants you do grow so if there is an accident, you can tell the doctor.”
      “Thanks for being here, Peggy. Good luck with your career, and your garden shop.”
      “Thank you, Mitchell!”

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Joyce and Jim Lavene write award-winning, bestselling mystery fiction as themselves, J.J. Cook, and Ellie Grant. They have written and published more than 70 novels for Harlequin, Berkley, Amazon, and Gallery Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. They live in rural North Carolina with their family.

For more on Jim and Joyce and their writing, visit these links:
www.joyceandjimlavene.com
www.peggyleegardenmysteries.com
www.facebook.com/joyceandjimlavene
http://amazon.com/author/jlavene
https://twitter.com/AuthorJLavene



You can also find out more during their blog tour by visiting these participating blogs:

May 5 – Back Porchervations - Review
May 6 – Our Wolves Den – Review
May 6 – Deal Sharing Aunt - Interview
May 7 – Brooke Blogs - Review
May 9 – readalot - Review
May 10 – Christa Reads and Writes - Review
May 11 – OFF
May 12 – Kelly P's Blog - Interview
May 13 – Shelley's Book Case - Review
May 14 – Queen of All She Reads - Review, Guest Post
May 15 – Kaisy Daisy's Corner - Review
May 16 – Traci Andrighetti's blog - Interview,
May 17 – Michele Lynn Seigfried's Blog - Review, Guest Post
May 18 – OFF
May 19 – Mochas, Mysteries and Meows - Guest Post
May 20 – Melina's Book Blog - Review
May 21 – Community Bookstop – Guest Post 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

This giveaway is for a Peggy Lee tote bag with print copies of A THYME TO DIE and LETHAL LILY. To enter, just click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions. The widget may take a few seconds to load, please be patient.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Do you enjoy stories that mix murder and plants together?

*This post contains affiliate links. a Rafflecopter giveaway