Murder at the Maples
by Joanne Phillips
Book Details
• Murder at the Maples (A Flora Lively Mystery: Book 1)
• Mirrorball Books (September 16, 2013)
• Genre: Cozy mystery
• Number of Pages: 274
Synopsis:
A tragic death. A reluctant sleuth. A childhood prank that went horribly wrong.
When Flora Lively inherits her father’s business, she’s totally out of her depth. Shakers Removals is in trouble, and manager Marshall isn’t helping one bit – the ex-pat American delights only in winding her up. But Flora has other things on her mind, like Joy: surrogate grandmother and resident of the Maples Retirement Village. When Joy’s pet pug has a brush with death, Flora is pulled into a series of bizarre incidents at the Maples, where fear is starting to take hold.
Could harmless old Mr. Felix really be the boy from Joy’s past, determined to exact his revenge, or is it Joy’s guilty mind playing tricks on her? And what about the Captain’s death? Accidents happen, even to the most careful people, but Flora’s not convinced the old man simply fell down the stairs … Playing detective seemed like a good idea at first, but before long Flora realises the stakes are far higher than either she or Joy imagined.
Full of warmth and humour, this gripping puzzle will appeal to fans of M. C. Beaton and Edie Clare.
About The Author
Joanne Phillips lives in Shropshire, England with her husband and young daughter. She’s the author of commercial women’s fiction Can’t Live Without and The Family Trap, and the Flora Lively series of cosy mysteries. Can’t Live Without was an Amazon top 100 bestseller in 2012 and her books regularly appear on category bestseller lists. Joanne blogs about writing and publishing atwww.joannephillips.co.uk
Author Links:
Website: http://www.joannephillips.co.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joannephillipsauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/joannegphillips
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2862086.Joanne_Phillips
Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joanne-Phillips/e/B0083UEG86/
Why I Turned To Cozies
(Guest post by the author)
I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said that the cozy mystery genre saved my sanity. I’ve always been a bit sensitive, and upsetting or gory themes in fiction were never my thing. Friends and family would screen films as suitable/unsuitable for ‘viewing by Jo’, and anything with too much violence was instantly rejected. But I got by, and most fiction was okay. I could always skip over any unpleasant parts.
Then I became a mom. My tolerances changed literally overnight. No longer could I watch episodes of House or Without A Trace; no longer could I read Jodi Picoult or Sophie Hannah books. I used to enjoy crime fiction and thrillers – Michael Connelly and John Grisham were among my favourites. But not anymore. It’s hard to explain the change that took place, but whereas before fictional themes were abstract, just part of a story, suddenly I felt them too deeply, too personally. Of course all the obvious storylines were out of bounds – children going missing in stories ceased to be powerful plotlines and became terrifying, all too easy to imagine potential realities, that I was being forced to experience just by reading a book! Even innocuous events affected me – in one book I read an innocent bus driver got shot, and I was propelled into thinking about his wife and kids at home, waiting for him to return but he never would, and what had he done to deserve this? – nothing, of course, it just served the author’s plot and it seemed so cruel, so unnecessary …
Well, I do have an overactive imagination! I am a writer, after all. But my enjoyment of crime fiction ceased overnight, which was a great shame. Until I discovered cozies. A good cozy mystery has it all – drama, an intriguing puzzle, thrills and great characters – but there is no gore, few if any upsetting themes, and the crimes themselves are presented with the kind of innocence that’s been stripped from our screens with the likes of CSI and police procedural dramas.
Personally, I think that reality is depressing enough these days, and I don’t want to have my recreational reading served up with the same horrible themes I can read about in the papers. (I never read the papers if I can help it, or watch the news!) Call me a coward, call me someone who prefers to live in a bubble, but there it is. The popularity of the cozy genre speaks for itself – I’m clearly not the only person who feels this way. In Murder at the Maples – and in all the Flora Lively mysteries to come – you won’t find anything too grim because I just wouldn’t be capable of writing it!
{From Ruth: I don’t usually comment on author guest posts, but let me say that I love this guest post! I find myself turned off to gory thrillers, and the thing that really has angered me is the penchant for authors to write realistic books where the bad guy goes unpunished! Give me Perry Mason, Columbo, and Matlock! Oh, I would love to read this book. I should have signed up for a review, but I am so far behind. Hopefully my readers will read this long before I do!}
There are two giveaways associated with this tour. Enter the rafflecopter below by October 23. You could win a $10 Amazon gift card!
When you leave the comment for your main entry into the author’s giveaway, you are automatically entered for an e-copy of this book! This giveaway is open internationally, and it will end on October 23 as well.
Be sure to follow the entire tour!
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26 Comments
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I’m wondering if this book is a standalone, or if it is/is going to be part of a series? I haven’t read it yet, but if it’s as good as this post makes it sound, I’m betting I’m going to want to read more!
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I love these kinds of mystery/sleuth books. It sounds like a great read!
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Thank you for this giveaway! I can’t wait to pick up this book!
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Thank you for the opportunity to win
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Murder at the Maples is a great book and one I would thoroughly recommend. I don’t mind blood and gore in books or films (whether that changes like it did for Jo when I become a Mum in a few months time I’ll have to wait and see!) but I enjoyed reading a mystery that relied on great characters and an intriguing plot.
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This book sounds like a great one and I like the cover 🙂
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Sounds like a great book. Can’t wait to read it
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I love cozy mysteries 🙂 I am laughing at how you couldn’t read certain books or watch things after becoming a mom! I would never watch really scary movies, but my son is a teenager and has made me watch things I probably never would have lol!
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Thanks for your post. I love these type of mysteries. The whole point of enjoying a book book is as an escape from reality
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I can totally see where the author is coming from. I never read the news either!
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I’d love to read this book, I love a good mystery and the title really has my attention.
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Thanks for this giveaway! 🙂
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Congratulations on the publication of Murder at the Maples! It sounds like a very interesting book. I love cozy mysteries and have added this book to my TBR list. Thanks for the great giveaway.
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Book sounds great. Would love to win. Thank you for a chance to win this book.
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Thanks for hosting-looks great!
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Cozy mysteries have renewed my love of reading.
I have been turned off by the language, gore, etc. of regular mysteries. Love the humor in cozies. I know death is not funny, but I am looking for entertainment, not depressing details. A bit of romance without description of activities are also a good thing.-
Exactly!
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Love reading mysteries,your book interests me by your title.
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Love reading mysteries,your book interests me by your title.
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Do you or does someone else do research for any novel you have written?
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I, too, love cozies and don’t go far afield. They satisfy my need for a good plot, strong women and sometimes a little romance. Would love to win a book!
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I so agree with you on the horror and gory things! Cozy mysteries are so much better for me. Right now a building in our downtown has red paint running down the sides as part of the advertising for the high school’s horror show for Halloween. It is made to look like there was a massacre on the roof. I think it is in very poor taste. Haven’t we been hearing about too many mass murders lately?
Thanks for the chance to win!
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I like the simpler cover.
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Thank you for kicking off this tour!!!
Lori Boness Caswell recently posted…It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
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thank you for the opportunity to win
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Hi Ruth,
Thanks so much for your lovely comment – I love your blog and I knew I had to write something truly from the heart for my guest post. I hope you enjoy the book when you get around to reading it, and thanks so much for hosting the very first day of my first ever blog tour!
Joanne Phillips
Joanne Phillips recently posted…The World’s Smallest Book Launch by Cathy Bramley
