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.
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