Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Guest post & Giveaway:The Widow's Walk League by Nancy Lynn Jarvis



Today, it is my pleasure to welcome Nancy Lynn Jarvis to Pudgy Penguin Perusals. Thank you, Nancy,  for agreeing to come and introduce us to your series. I think you and most of my readers know how much I love a good cozy! Let's see what Nancy has to say about her books and then below will be the giveaway details. 


Too Many Coincidences for Comfort

The Widow’s Walk League, the fourth book in the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series I write is newly released and I’m getting a little nervous. I have all the usual, “will people buy it, more importantly, will they like it,” jitters writers have with each of their books, but this is something else.

The book blurb reads: “Santa Cruz husbands are being murdered. The local news media is buzzing because a dark-clad figure witnesses describe as Death had been seen lurking nearby each time a murder is committed. Regan McHenry discovers all the murdered men have something in common: their wives belong to a walking group called The Widow’s Walk League.”
Regan, my protagonist, is a real estate agent like I was. What happens to her at work is based on things that happened to me or to other Realtors I know. The real estate stories, strange as they may be, are true; the murders are not. At least they’re not supposed to be. And that’s what’s worrying me.

The first series book, The Death Contingency, began with a young surfer partying too much, getting swept out to sea, and dying of hypothermia. I got a couple of outraged emails telling me that would never happen to a fit, experienced young man…until local headlines proclaimed a young surfer died just as I described his death in my book. The real death occurred about a year after my book was released.

Buying Murder, book three in the series, opens with the discovery of a partially mummified body hidden in a wall anomaly. It only took three weeks after my book’s release for a headline like that to hit the local news.

The area president of our Woodies car club helped me set the scene for a murder at Woodies on the Wharf, a popular annual Santa Cruz event, for The Widow’s Walk League. I took a newly released book to the event for him and, just for fun, decided to tell the Woodie owner parked in the book’s fatal spot to be careful.

The Woodie owner was nonplussed, but I left the event somewhat shaken. It turns out he shared a name with the murder victim and told me he was a retired cop who knew the real Dave I base a recurring character in my books on and had even been with him when my real cop friend lost his eye in a shootout, the back-story I use for the Dave character in the books.
I don’t believe I’m a psychic. Like Regan, I don’t believe in psychics, but like she discovers in The Widow’s Walk League, some things are hard to explain.

And this is all getting weird. Really weird.

Wow, thanks, Nancy! Your books sounds really intriguing and a lot of fun.

For more info on the author please visit her website where you can read some sample chapters for free. Nancy is also a Goodreads author and can be found actively participating in the cozy mysteries group.



Thanks to Nancy's generosity I can give away one copy of her new book, The Widow's Walk League.

Giveaway details: Open to US only and deadline to enter is August 3rd at 5 PM.  The winner will have their choice of paperback or kindle format.

 Please be sure to leave an e mail address in your comment. Bonus entries available for this contest are as follows:


+1 for posting on your facebook page with link to giveaway
+2 for being a follower, old or new. Just remind me how you follow and under what name.
+3 for blogging (sidebar is fine) or tweeting about the giveaway. Leave me a link, please.  Good luck!

19 comments:

  1. Those coincidences are a little spooky! I'd love to win a copy of this book. I follow under the name of Susan. s dryburgh at hotmail dot com

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  2. Hi Kaye,
    Thanks for having me on your blog today. Give my best to Pudgy.
    Nancy Lynn Jarvis

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  3. What an interesting giveaway. Many thanks. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  4. Sounds like an interesting book.

    GFC follower as sandyg265

    sgiden at verizon.net

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  5. 'The Widow's Walk League' sounds very interesting! I would love to win this book! Please enter me in this giveaway!

    lovetoread205 [at] gmail [dot] com

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  6. I am a GFC follower, ID: Megan (Celtic_Girl). (1 of 2)

    lovetoread205 [at] gmail [dot] com

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  7. I am a GFC follower, ID: Megan (Celtic_Girl). (2 of 2)

    lovetoread205 [at] gmail [dot] com

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  8. I always enjoy getting to know an author a bit more!! Sounds like a fun series!!

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  9. Looks like a great series, thanks for the intro and chance to win! And what odd coincidences!

    I am a GFC follower.

    JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com

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  10. I just put this series on my wish list!
    kpbarnett1941[at]aol.com

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  11. This looks like a fun read. Thanks for the giveaway.
    mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com

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  12. This sounds intriguing!

    sharonsnote at gmail dot com

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  13. I am a GFC follower (Becky)
    blwilstead@aol.com

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  14. An intriguing book which would be captivating. Thanks. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  15. I'm definitely going to investigate this series, sounds great.


    cyderryATyahooDOTcom
    Chèli
    Cheli's Shelves

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am a follower through Google.


    cyderryATyahooDOTcom
    Chèli
    Cheli's Shelves

    ReplyDelete

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