by Laura Crum
That’s right. All you bloggers out there with an active horse blog (by which I mean you update it regularly) can request a free review copy of my new book, “Going, Gone.” Email my publisher (Susan Daniels) at susan@danielpublishing.com and give your blog address, snail mail address, and agreement to post a review of the book on your blog and email Susan a copy of said review when you put it up. The review copies will be mailed out on March 1st (approximately), which is also the deadline for this offer. So get your request in now.
The first review of “Going, Gone” has just come in, and here it is:
Fans of Laura Crum's marvelous series of "equine" mysteries featuring veterinarian Gail McCarthy will certainly remember Lonny Peterson, the guy Gail looked certain to marry during the early years of her literary adventures. So, you can imagine how she'd feel to pay Lonny a visit while on vacation with her husband and child only to discover he's charged with murder.
Naturally, Gail immediately concludes Lonny's innocent and is being framed for the killing of his most recent girl friend and her brother. Will she have time on her vacation to catch the real murderer and help her former lover clear his name? Well, of course she will! But author Crum makes it a most suspenseful and intriguing process, so there's nothing "ho-hum" about this mystery adventure.
I'm an unabashed fan of Laura Crum's mysteries. One obvious reason is that Crum lives in and writes about my home territory--Santa Cruz County, California--where both of us were born and raised. But before I ever came to know Laura, I was a big fan of Dick Francis, his mysteries about horses and the people who deal in them. Though Francis is still writing mysteries with the help of his son, I believe Laura Crum is now doing better "equine" mysteries and should be the heir to Francis' literary domain.
Laura has now written 11 mysteries featuring Gail McCarthy. It has been fun to grow along with Laura and her alter-ego. Gail is now settled into her marriage to husband Blue and raising her little boy, Mac. She's putting on a little weight, but she's certainly not slowing down any--as you will discover in the thrilling climax of "Going, Gone," in which Gail has to ride for her life as the real murderer comes after her bent on putting her out of business forever.
The title comes from the world of horse auctions, which Crum gives us a good taste of while laying out the structure of her mystery plot. The people Lonny is accused of killing were in the auction business and the clues to the real killer are rooted in that world, which Gail has to explore on her own without much help from law enforcement.
This is a fast-moving mystery thriller that you won't want to put down once you're into it. It won't be officially published until April 5, but you can order it now on Amazon.com and the other online book retailers. It's published by Perseverance Press, an imprint of John Daniel & Co., in the larger format trade paperback edition with the slick cover. List price is $14.95, but you will be able to get it for less online.
Perseverance Press has rounded up quite a few of the better series mystery writers who lost their publishers in the recent market reshuffling by the big publishers. It also carries the mysteries of Lora Roberts, Carolyn Wheat, Jeanne M. Dams, Hal Glatzer and several more. These are clean, handsome volumes that will look fine in your mystery library.
They've kept the Gail McCarthy series alive and well, which has made me more than happy to do business with them.
©2010 by Ron Miller.
Ron Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He most recently was the television columnist for MYSTERY SCENE magazine.
Perseverance Press/John Daniel & Co.
http://www.danielpublishing.com/perseverance
Award-Winning Traditional Mysteries for the New Golden Age
Spring 2010: GOING, GONE by Laura Crum and MIDNIGHT FIRES by Nancy Means Wright
7 comments:
A free book! That is exciting news!
I cut my teeth on Dick Francis, but you are the new reigning equine mystery queen, Laura, keep up the fantastyk stories!
Voyager--There is no way that I am in Dick Francis' league--at least in his prime. He was the master, as far as I'm concerned. But that was such a nice review, I just had to post it. I didn't pay the guy or anything, honest(!)
I hope many of you take my publisher up on the free review copies, and I look forward to reading your reviews. Let me know if you post one. Thanks--Laura
I still need to dig into your writing Laura - you have such lovely posts I'm sure your books are amazing. Things have just gotten busy, busy, busy.
I am generally an avid reader and my husband really wasn't at all - so much so that I began to question if he COULD read! heh heh.
I kept trying different authors and genre's to see if I couldn't strike a chord. I got him started on a John Sanford mystery and he LOVED that guy. The next mystery writer he enjoyed was Stephen White.
I bet now that we have horses and I've found his genre I could get him going with your books! I'll keep you posted.... hopefully he's not just hooked on the testosterone filled mystery writers! grin.
Shanter, I probably shouldn't admit this, but I seldom find time to read a novel any more. That said, I think if you enjoy my blog posts you'd enjoy my books. I try to put a lot of my insights on horses into them. And since you've got a blog, you can request a free review copy of the new one. What have you got to lose? It even has illustrations by mugwump. If you're thinking more about your husband, the earlier books in my series (before Gail had a kid) are a little more "guy friendly". Or at least, I think so. And, then, some people really like to read a series in order. I think all the books stand on their own, though, so starting with the most recent one, since you can get a free review copy, makes sense to me.
Yes, I was gonna try and start from book 1! Both for me and my husband...
I'll send in an e-mail but I didn't think my blog qualified cuz it's not really all horse related... lots of other pieces unrelated to my hayburners get thrown in there and if your publisher goes to see if it's horse relates she might not get a horse post. But I'll toss my hat in the ring... Thanks!
I think if you have an active blog and you do some horse posts, you qualify.
Hey Laura - I just wanted to say what a great review this is for GOING, GONE. Exciting! And I love the cover of it, also.
I'll definitely be emailing your publisher for a review copy. Thanks for the offer!
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