Book details
Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series
Journey Fiction (August 4, 2017)
Paperback: 302 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1946892027
E-Book ASIN: B0749K9NZX
Book description
Inspired by the famous Girl Detective, the members of the Olentangy Heights Girls' Detective Society, affectionately known as the Nosy Parkers, spent their formative years studying criminology, codes, and capers. Unfortunately, opportunities to put their unique skills to work were thin on the ground in the post-war boom of their little corner of suburbia and they eventually grew up to pursue more sensible careers. Until...Heather Munro’s youthful devotion to The Girl Detective led to a passion for digging around in history. Now pursuing her Master's Degree in Celtic Studies, Heather must balance exploring Edinburgh with her determination to excel in her all–male classes at the University. Unfortunately, on her first night working in the Archives room, she discovers the dead body of a visiting professor, the same would-be lothario she’d hoped never to see again.
As clues come to light, it’s clear someone hopes to frame Heather for the murder. Besides her quirky landlady, whom can she trust? How can she clear her name? The police and the American Consul have plenty of suspects, but only two seem to have both motive and opportunity: Heather and the quiet Scottish historian she longs to trust.
Meet the author - Debra E. Marvin
Debra E. Marvin tries not to run too far from real life but the imagination born out of being an only child has a powerful draw. Besides, the voices in her head tend to agree with all the sensible things she says. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Sisters in Crime, and serves on the board of Bridges Ministry in Seneca Falls, NY. She is published with WhiteFire Publishing, Forget Me Not Romances, and contracted with Journey Fiction, and a judge for the Grace Awards for many years. Debra works as a program assistant at Cornell University, and enjoys her family and grandchildren, obsessively buying fabric, watching British programming and traveling with her childhood friends.
My thoughts
This was a good book that I spent a weekend deep in reading. I liked that it was set in Scotland and that it had a strong female lead. I felt as if the author did a good job getting the time period right in this book from other things I have read about this era. I also thought she did a good job with the descriptions and the characters especially Heather was well developed. Heather had to be on her toes since she was the one to find the body. She went on quite the journey to find the real killer. I liked the little twists the author gave us. This is the second book in a series and although I have not read the first one I did not feel lost at all.
Guest post
The Girl Detective
While many of us automatically think of Nancy Drew, there were plenty of sleuthing heroines in the early part of the 20th century. Horatio Alger provided a model of stories providing young readers with a protagonist they could relate to. In his case, young boys learned through experience and lots of adverbs! But those tales became the catalyst for a number of youthful heroes and heroines written for youth.
Nancy Drew was the most famous of the girl heroines but there was also Vicki Barr, Trixie Belden, Ginny Gordon, Kay Tracey and Cherry Ames. Do you remember them?
Many of us fondly recall reading one book after another in these series. Why? Our heroines used their wits, had an interesting lifestyle full of adventure and—oh my—a touch of danger. They found a way to live by the rules yet outsmart the villain and they often did it on their own without having to hand over the decisions to their male counterparts, or getting a run in their hosiery. These mostly teenager heroines rarely dealt with murders and were kept busy by ‘misadventure’: stolen goods, missing persons, low-life villains. Thankfully there were charts, maps, old diaries and letters to help them along the way!
Have any of you gone back to read these stories? I did. While working on the plot and characters of The Case of the Clobbered Cad, I listened to a series of audiobooks read by the actress Laura Linney. My warm memories of Nancy Drew books were altered as I (now a grandmother) traveled along with Nancy!
Nancy had unlimited funds, very little in the way of rules, far too much good luck, and a father who might now be considered quite lax. Nancy wouldn’t have had much luck finding adventure if she wasn’t able to hop in her sports car and drive off to remote, touristy areas. She didn’t have to take time off of work, or check her debit card balance before paying for gas, or forget to charge her cell phone. Other than worrying her housekeeper, she only had to occasionally check in with a busy father who kindly admonished her to be careful!
The writing was predictable, full of clichés, and over the top. Just like Banana Splits, we ate it up! Nancy went from danger to danger with hardly a concern of being kidnapped (again) or barely missing death (again). And she had Ned Nickerson, her friend George, and those really cute skirt and sweater sets!
My publisher Jennifer Farey, author Lisa Richardson, and I talked quite a bit about how we could incorporate that world of girl detectives into stories for a modern audience. I hope you find The Nosy Parker Mysteries an entertaining read!
Giveaway
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
October 9 – Books,Dreams,Life – SPOTLIGHT
October 9 – View from the Birdhouse - SPOTLIGHT
October 10 – Laura's Interests - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 11 – The Ninja Librarian - REVIEW
October 12 – Reading Is My SuperPower - REVIEW
October 13 – Island Confidential - GUEST POST
October 13 – The Power of Words - REVIEW
October 14 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – INTERVIEW
October 15 – Cozy Up With Kathy – INTERVIEW
October 15 – StoreyBook Reviews - GUEST POST
October 16 – My Reading Journeys - REVIEW
October 17 – A Holland Reads - REVIEW* , GUEST POST
October 18 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews - REVIEW
October 18 – The Journey Back – INTERVIEW
October 19 – Celticlady's Reviews - SPOTLIGHT
October 20 – Jane Reads - REVIEW*, GUEST POST
October 21 - 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy, Too! - SPOTLIGHT
October 22 – Brooke Blogs - CHARACTER GUEST POST
Hi Angela. Thank you for hosting me as part of the Great Escapes Tour. I apologize for the delay but I've been traveling and my computer and the hotel internet did not get along! I appreciate your review and will be following your blog! Have a wonderful week, everyone!
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