It’s a thrill
to have received recognition from two book award programs for The Case of the Slain Soprano, my first
cozy mystery. The book was named a finalist in the 2018 Wishing Shelf Book
Awards and a Semi-Finalist in the 2019 Kindle Book Awards.
Admittedly,
there is some of Susan Moore Jordan in spunky Augusta Mckee and her love of
music and Cincinnati. But there the similarity ends. Having been “vertically
challenged” my entire adult life at barely five feet tall, making Augusta
something of a fashionista with a model's figure definitely made my character
her own woman. And keeping her single—a statement in itself in an era when
never-married females might have been considered "old maids" or
"spinsters"—gave her a very different life.
Not much
about Augusta’s early life gave any indication she’d become a fearless lady who
can confront cops and climb a rock wall in a skirt as she does in the first
book in the series. Born into a family of some means in Philadelphia, Professor
Augusta Iris McKee has been in Cincinnati since she entered the Conservatory of
Music to study singing in 1927. Now fifty-three, she is a respected member of
two college faculties: her alma mater and Cliffside College, where she also
teaches music literature and directs an annual musical stage production.
Augusta tells few people why she has never married. The fellow college student
who won her heart died at the age of twenty in 1931, the year she graduated.
While she’s had men in her life, Augusta doubts she’ll ever meet another Meyer
Abrams. He gave her a new passion: teaching people to sing, though she still enjoys
the opportunity to perform occasionally.
Augusta is
proud of the fact she appears much younger than her years. At five feet nine
inches tall she enjoys wearing designer stiletto heels which bring her to an
even six feet. Independent, strong-willed and outspoken, she is fiercely loyal
to the people she loves. Admired by her peers, loved by her students and by the
Sisters of Mercy at Cliffside College, Augusta has made music her life, and
sharing her music is her greatest joy.
In the spring
of 1963, Augusta is faced with a challenge she could never have imagined when the
young girl playing the leading role in her Cliffside production of The Pirates of Penzance is found dead. Homicide Detective Malcolm Mitchell comes on
the scene as lead investigator into Linnea’s murder, and sparks fly during his
first encounter with Augusta at the campus. Later, their considerable differences
resolved, they begin to work together to solve this case. By the end of the
book, Augusta and Malcolm have kindled a romance.
Since I first
introduced Augusta McKee, she’s had one adventure after another. In The Case
of the Disappearing Director, the search for a missing eyewitness to a
mobster murder, Augusta tries to stay out of Malcolm's way as he attempts to
solve the case but finds herself in the middle of the action.
And most
recently Malcolm and Augusta face their greatest challenge in The Case of the Purloined Professor, which
will be released on October 1. In this latest of the series, Augusta is
taken hostage by the ruthless kingpin of a crime family, and Malcolm must find
and rescue her. He receives some unexpected help from a house guest: a shaggy Golden
Shepherd named Caruso, who Mal and Augusta—to her consternation—are caring for
as his master, a fellow Cincinnati police officer, recovers from a gunshot
wound.
Who
knows what’s next?
And the fourth book is now available for pre-order here:
No comments:
Post a Comment