THIRD BLOGIVERSARY WEEK: DAY FOUR! MURDER IN A BASKET: INTERVIEW, REVIEW, AND GIVEAWAY

 THIRD BLOGIVERSARY

 

For this year's BLOGIVERSARY I decided to highlight different  kinds of books/prizes each day of this week, and today I am highlighting a wonderful mystery in THREE ways: About MURDER IN A BASKET and the Author; An Interview with the Author of MURDER IN A BASKET; and My Review and Thoughts on MURDER IN A BASKET!

 
GIVEAWAY ENDED
MURDER IN A BASKET

An India Hayes Mystery

BY AMANDA FLOWER

ABOUT THE BOOK:

College librarian India Hayes thought the worst thing about the Stripling Founders’ Festival was her pink gingham pioneer dress until she discovered the body of a free-spirited basket weaver on the festival grounds. The basket weaver leaves behind an angry blacksmith husband, a confused adopted son, greedy siblings, a dysfunctional artists’ co-op, and a labradoodle with a two-million-dollar trust in his name. 

Despite the wrath of her college’s provost and protests by handsome police detective Rick Mains, India finds herself playing sleuth as well as foster-owner to the two-million-dollar dog. With her own eccentric family commenting from the sidelines and her Irish-centric landlady as volunteer sidekick, India must discover the truth before she has a permanent canine house guest or ends up the next victim in the basket weaver’s murder.

PRAISE FOR MURDER IN A BASKET:

"Fans of Donna Andrews’ humorous Meg Langslow mysteries will enjoy India and her quirky extended family." - Booklist

“In Flower’s delightful, clean-as-a-whistle second India Hayes mystery, India, the librarian at Ohio’s Martin College, intends to retrieve the items she left in her face-painting booth at the founders’ festival, but discovers more than she bargained for . . . The satisfying conclusion will leave cozy fans eager for India’s next adventure.”- Publishers Weekly

"More fun than a raucous game of Clue, Amanda Flower's clever new puzzler, Murder in a Basket, is a well-written, well-plotted joy. India Hayes is my kind of librarian. One of the best new cozy series going."
-Julia Spencer-Fleming, New York Times best-selling author of ONE WAS A SOLDIER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Amanda Flower writes the India Hayes Mystery Series. The first novel in the series, MAID OF MURDER, was nominated for an Agatha Award. The sequel, MURDER IN A BASKET, releases February 2012. First in a new series, A PLAIN DEATH, coming July 2012. 

To learn more visit Amanda online at http://www.amandaflower.com/.

You can also follow Amanda at https://www.facebook.com/authoramandaflower 

and http://twitter.com/aflowerwriter

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR AMANDA FLOWER:

1. Welcome back, and thank you for agreeing to an interview for BOOKIN‘ WITH BINGO. Is there any personal information you would like to start out with today?
Thank you for inviting me back to Bookin’ with Bingo. I enjoyed being here last time with my debut mystery, Maid of Murder, in 2010. Since the release of that novel, my writing life has completely changed. Maid of Murder was nominated for the Agatha Award for best first mystery novel, I signed with a stellar literary agent, and I have three mystery series in the works. It’s been an amazing year, and I’m truly blessed and so grateful to all my wonderful readers!

2.  Where did you get the inspiration or idea for this book?
My idea to write the book came from my experience of working in a living history museum when I was in college. When I worked there, I was a crafter and spent my days weaving Shaker-style baskets and telling visitors about Ohio history. Being an aspiring mystery writer, I was amazed how many dangerous items there were at the museum that could be used as weapons, including the heavy basket molds. I used a basket mold as the murder weapon in Murder in a Basket.

3. How did the title of your book come about?
The title of my first India Hayes Mystery is Maid of Murder, so I knew that I wanted the word “murder” in the title. I also I wanted the word “basket” because the victim in the story is an eccentric basket weaver. Knowing that I wanted those two words, I thought about how they could work in a title and in what order. When I had a couple of title candidates, I checked Amazon to make sure there wasn’t another book out there with the same title. As a result, Murder in a Basket was the winner.

4. Do you see yourself in your characters? Which characters are easiest or more difficult to write? 

I definitely see myself in my protagonist India Hayes. India is a college librarian; I’m a college librarian. She’s the daughter of a Presbyterian minister; I’m the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. However, India is much braver than I am. I won’t be out there trying to solve a murder. I’ll let the police do that.

5. What books would you say have made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out? What are you currently reading?
Currently, I am reading a lot of Amish history and fiction. Over the summer, my super agent sold two three-book Amish mysteries series for me. The first is the Appleseed Creek Mystery Series for B&H Publishing, which is an inspirational publisher. The first novel in that series is called A Plain Death and will be released in July 2012. The second is the Amish Quilt Mystery Series for New American Library. The first novel in that series Murder, Plain and Simple will be released late 2013. I will be writing under the pen name Isabella Alan for New American Library. I’m so excited to have three mystery series running at the same time. It’s much more than I ever expected when I was starting out.

6. What is something about you that you would want people to know about you that we probably don’t know?
Well, my Facebook Fans know this about me because I say it all the time on my Facebook Page, but I love to organize things. It must be the librarian in me. Many times, I will reward myself for a good writing day by cleaning out my closet. I know that sounds lame, but I think it’s fun. Like my characters, I’m quirky, so this is just one of my many quirks. When I post organizing projects on my FB page, my readers think it’s hysterical.

7. Do you own an eReader of any kind and how do you feel about their impact on books, as well as you as an author?
I love technology. I have a Kindle and an iPad. I love them both. I read more on the Kindle because it’s great use on the treadmill. I’m a little afraid to read my iPad on the treadmill. It might fall off and break. I’ve knocked the Kindle off a couple of times, and it survived.

I think ebooks are great. I find myself buying more and more of them. In fact for my own reading, I’m starting to read them more than print books. However, I love the fact my books are both in print and e-version. As an author, there is a particular satisfaction of holding your real print book in your hands. I think print and ebooks will run concurrently for years to come.

8. What is your advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?
My advice to any aspiring writer is to not give up. If your query isn’t getting agents’ attention, stop submitting it and rewrite it. If agents or editors give you feedback in your rejections, pay attention to it. You don’t have to do everything that they advise, but there might be something helpful in their comments. Most importantly, believe in yourself and your story and love what you’re writing. If you are forcing yourself to write something because you think it will sell, agents and editors will pick up on that. 

 

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
Author Amanda Flower returns with her second “India Hayes” mystery in MURDER IN A BASKET.  You do not have to have read the first book to enjoy MURDER IN A BASKET as Flower uses wonderful description and background to bring readers up to date on India. As a college librarian who is also trying to make it as an artist, India’s story starts off when she is reluctantly participating in the local Founder’s Day Festival. Running the face painting booth while dressed in her period pioneer costume, India, at least, does make friends with a nearby basket weaver, Tess, and one would think this would make for an enjoyable day after all. However, things don’t often go as normally as they should when India is involved. Upon returning to her booth to retrieve an item later on, India becomes involved in a murder mystery when she is the one to find that Tess is lying there dead!

Once the news gets out about the murder, there are naturally many sad , angry, and frightened people  Having been the one to find Tess, puts India at the top of the list of those people and yet, she is somehow talked into  becoming more involved by helping to find the killer. Far be it from India to say no to anyone or to listen to Detective Rick Mains, who also was in the first book. (Could Mains reappearance mean a long time relationship is in the works?) Although Mains warns India to not get involved any more than she is, she fails to heed his warning. You see, Tess Ross, married with an adopted son and a pet labradoodle is of interest to many, including the killer for sure. Along with India helping to find the killer, she also finds herself agreeing to care for the dog temporarily. An interesting labradoodle to say the least as the pup has a very wealthy trust fund, but then again, don’t they all? Would someone kill over that? With odd stories like this in the news daily, it isn‘t a leap to find India woven into every fiber of this "basket case".

While India, along with her pal Ina, try to figure out what could have happened to Tess, they keep coming up against road blocks. Tess’s sister, the head of the college, and Tess’s husband alone give India a hard enough time trying to piece things together. India has a good heart and if she listened to it when Detective Mains advised her to stay clear, she would have been better off. Her desire to help does not exactly match her ability. With Amanda Flower’s chapters having that little cliff hanger that begs you to read “just one more”, you find it hard to put this one down. Although it is a murder mystery, the characters, and author’s talent to immerse the reader in the story, make MURDER IN A BASKET an enjoyable and entertaining story. I see India Hayes on her way to being a very successful series, and would imagine many fans hope for the same. 

 GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO AMANDA FLOWER, I HAVE

ONE COPY OF THIS SOON TO BE RELEASED

INDIA HAYES MYSTERY, MURDER IN A BASKET,

TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY READER 

 
--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO 
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT YOU READ ABOVE ABOUT MURDER IN A BASKET  THAT MADE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS BOOK, AND DON'T FORGET YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG AND/OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK HERE AND LEAVE ME YOUR LINK

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING AT AMANDA FLOWER'S WEBSITE HERE

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY THAT YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU MAY COMMENT SEPARATELY TO RECEIVE EXTRA ENTRIES

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

6 PM, EST, JANUARY 21

    GOOD LUCK!