Guest Post: “Double Trouble: Fat Cats and Musicians” by Kaye George

It is not Monday, but Kaye George is here! Instead of a review, she is talking about her new books coming out this month. So, please welcome back Kaye George as she talks about her own works today…

“Double Trouble: Fat Cats and Musicians” by Kaye George

I find myself in the unenviable position of having two novels released on top of each other. How to manage this? By guest blogging, of course! Thank you, Kevin for giving me space today.

First of all, how did I get into this predicament? That’s easy, by having different publishers, each with its own schedule. The Fat Cat books come out approximately every nine months, the Cressa Carraway Musical mysteries have a little over 2 years between them. (Because I was writing the 3 Fat Cat books!)

Secondly, I like to write in different mystery sub-genres. That’s why I have all these publishers. Berkley Prime Crime has been publishing the Fat Cat cozies. Barking Rain Press puts out the more traditional Carraway mysteries. Untreed Reads handles the unconventional Neanderthal People of the Wind series (which has a book coming out June 13th). And I self-publish my Imogene Duckworthy humor series because I like to.

FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE is the third in that series and the release date is April 5th. The first two books have been national best sellers for Barnes & Noble and BookScan. Here’s a bit about it.

Quincy the butterscotch tabby has a talent for sniffing out sweets—and uncovering crimes—in this Fat Cat mystery from the national bestselling author of Fat Cat Spreads Out.

When former classmate Rich “Dickie” Byrd throws a high school reunion to gather support for his mayoral campaign, it drums up some not so sweet memories for dessert shop proprietor Chase Oliver and her friend Julie Larson. Julie would rather not reconnect with Ron North, the creepy kid who had a crush on her back in the day. His social graces haven’t exactly improved with age, but is he creepy enough to kill?

The next day, Chase is in the park testing a new cat harness for Quincy—who quickly proves he cannot be leashed. But when his escape leads Chase to Ron’s body, the police wonder who else got away. Now, with Julie suspected, Chase must prove her innocence before the real killer plans another fatal reunion.

REQUIEM IN RED, the second Carraway mystery, releases exactly a week later, April 12th. The first one was selected as a Silver Falchion Finalist at Killer Nashville, so they’ve both won some awards.  I hope this blurb gives you an idea of how different these books are.

Aspiring conductor and amateur sleuth Cressa Carraway returns for a second installment of music and murder in this fast-paced mystery from author Kaye George.

Fresh out of grad school, Cressa lands her dream job as conductor of a fledgling ensemble in Minnesota that aspires to grow into a major orchestra. Leaving her psychic friend Neek, boyfriend Daryl, and DePaul University behind, she quickly starts to wonder what she’s gotten herself into.

Cressa’s new friendship with the first chair violinist of the ensemble, Maddy Streete, gives her an opportunity to sing in a dysfunctional church choir, but also leads to an organist gig in the church across the street. While playing the organ helps supplement her meager conducting salary, it places her in empty churches more often than she’d like, forcing her to deal with homeless vagrants, drug paraphernalia—and corpses.

As she tries to make sense out of everything, Cressa digs deeper into the lives of her fellow musicians and newfound friends to uncover swirling currents of hatred, old wounds, bitter resentments—and unexpected information about the suspicious deaths of her own musician parents so many years ago.

Can Cressa sort out the clues before she becomes the next victim?

I do get a kick out of the blurb and one reviewer calling the church choir dysfunctional. Okay, I did make this one a little more chaotic than any I’ve been in, but they all consist of humans, who bring their foibles and flaws to church choir, just like they bring them everywhere they go.

But do you get the sense that this is not a cozy? That this is a bit darker book? I hope so!

So, except for here, I’m promoting these two in different ways.

I have an agent and a big press with a publicist for the Fat Cat books and they are promoting by sending lots of review copies to cozy reviewers. I wrote some guest blogs that will be posted in places suggested by them. I’m doing giveaways on cozy reader sites. I gave away ARCs and copies for review. Books-A-Million is letting me do a signing on April 24th in Knoxville. If I were still in Texas, there would be several Barnes & Noble stores that would let me sign there also, but the one store we have here doesn’t do that.

Barking Rain does a great job helping out also. They also produced ARCs for me to give away for review. Also, they are offering a 50% discount on this book if you merely sign up for a preview of the first one, EINE KLEINE MURDER. They post a playlist on their site, which I hope draws attention. I’m doing a Goodreads giveaway of the first book for the week before it releases, hoping to gain readers that way.

Wish me luck! And, if you feel like it, pick up one or both of these and give it a review somewhere.

Kaye George ©2016

Kaye George, national-bestselling and multiple-award-winning author, writes several mystery series: Imogene Duckworthy, Cressa Carraway (Barking Rain Press), People of the Wind (Untreed Reads), and, as Janet Cantrell, the Fat Cat cozy mysteries. (Berkley Prime Crime). Her short stories appear in anthologies, magazines, and her own collection, A Patchwork of Stories. She reviews for Suspense Magazine. She lives in Knoxville, TN. 

http://kayegeorge.com/

http://janetcantrell.com/