Cozy Wednesday with Erika Chase (Giveaway too!)

Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!!

I have been excited about this author and this series for months. A few months back I heard there was going to be a new mystery series featuring a book club. I haven’t belonged to a face to face book club for several years but I remember we talked about a lot of things that had nothing to do with books. Some evenings we never even talked about the book at all, but they were always fun and like the book club in this story food is a very important ingredient to any club that wants to be a success.

So grab a little snack and drink from the virtual buffet table and help me welcome Ericka to Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book! The cheese straws are very tasty.

Welcome Erika!

Hi Everyone!!

 

 

I’ve had a truly wonderful month, starting with the release of the first Ashton Corners Book Club mystery, A Killer Read on April 3rd. That’s quite a thrill, seeing your book cover on the web pages of the bookstores and hearing from readers that they’ve purchased it, are reading it, and heavens, even like it!

When a writer starts that journey from blank page to finished, edited manuscript there’s the constant question nagging away at the back of the brain – will anyone read it? Okay, two questions – and, will anyone like it? It’s a ‘pinch me’ moment when the feedback starts coming in.

Which truly points out that writing is all about being part of a community.

At my book launch last week, I met former neighbors, friends and family, former customers and writing colleagues, people I sang with and book club comrades. They’d all come out to help me celebrate one of the most important events in my life. And they’d been there all along, some actively supporting with words of reassurance, sometimes a good kick in the butt, and often some very skilled writing critiques. Others had taken part in this process just because they’d been a part of my life and though these were more subtle influences, they were still part of the entire package.

Readers are an important part of that community, because that is the bottom line to each publishing story. Does the reader enjoy the story? Do the readers want more?

Just as I write about a community, in this case a community of mystery readers in a book club, so I am part of many communities. And it’s the friendships that grow out of these that are so important in our lives.

In Ashton Corners, the book club friends enjoy sharing and comparing thoughts on the mysteries they read; support each other through their personal challenges; and of course, get down to the nitty gritty of sleuthing out a murderer! What could be a more bonding situation?

I enjoy visiting with this community of characters every day as their stories continue. The second in the series, Read and Buried will be out in December, 2012 and the third is almost ready to be sent off.

Books, friends and murder! Hope you’ll join us!

~Erika

Thank you so much Erika!! I am patiently waiting for the next installment.

A Killer Read (An Ashton Corners)
Berkley Prime Crime Mystery
The Berkley Publishing Group
Published by The Penguin Group
A Brand New Series!
Available Now!!

Welcome to the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straw Society hosted in Molly Mathew’s old Southern mansion.

The first meeting doesn’t go as planned when a stranger bursts through the door and demands to use the phone. He is later found dead in front of the house. Nobody knows who this man is or why he died in front of Molly home. The group is even more dumbfounded when they learn he was shot by an antique gun that belonged to Molly’s deceased husband.

Add to this confusion, a manuscript starts showing up a few chapters at a time in Lizzie Turner’s mailbox. Lizzie works for the school district as a reading specialist and it was her idea to start the book club. She never dreamed they would be solving mysteries instead of reading them.

Dollycas’s Thoughts
Erika has brought together a nice group of eclectic characters for this series and introduces them to us perfectly, laying the foundation for us to learn more in future stories. The plot is tight and full of twists that mislead the reader and I loved it!!!

While Lizzie is the main character and she is wonderful I really like Molly. She opens her house up to not only the book club but a literacy group and a tutoring program to keep her house “alive” since her husband passed away. She is also “a mover and a shaker in the community and truly one of the nosiest broads” around according to ex chief of police Bob Miller. She sounds like my kind of lady and the perfect character for a cozy mystery.

Each chapter has a sentence from a popular mystery as its header. You can’t go wrong with mood setters like those. The author also includes each of the book club members reading list at the end of the book. Both of these I guarantee will nourish readers appetites and add titles to your wish lists.

The is a super debut that would not only be great for a book club read but for all of us that like our mysteries on the cozy side. A Wonderful Who-Dun-It!!

About This Author
Erika writes the Ashton Corners Book Club mysteries for Penguin/Berkley Prime Crime. In a parallel life Erika Chase is also known as Linda Wiken. A former mystery bookstore owner (Prime Crime Books in Ottawa, ON, Canada), Linda is also a short story writer. She is a member of those dangerous dames, The Ladies’ Killing Circle.

Her short stories have appeared in the seven Ladies’ Killing Circle anthologies (three of which she co-edited), and in the magazines Mysterious Intent and Over My Dead Body. She has been short-listed for an Arthur Ellis Award, Best Short Story, from Crime Writers of Canada.

Before life in the world of mystery, she worked as an advertising copywriter, radio producer, journalist and community education worker. Besides writing and reading mysteries, her other passion is choral singing and she is a member of two choirs.

Okay, maybe one more passion — chocolate!

She shares her house with Keesha and Mojo, her two Siamese cats. Actually, they allow her to live there.

To find out more check out http://www.erikachase.com/

Would you like to win a copy of this fabulous book?
Thanks to the people at Penguin
I have 2 copies to giveaway!!

U.S. and CANADIAN RESIDENTS
You do not have to be a follower to enter but I hope you will find
something you like here and become a follower.

Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
Plus 2 Bonus Entries For Liking My Facebook Fan Page.

Leave a comment for Erika for 5 Bonus Entries !

If you publicize the giveaway anywhere you will receive
5 Bonus Entries For Each Link.

Contest Will End May 9, 2012 at 11:59 PM CST
Winners Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winners Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”