Book Tour + Review + #Giveaway: Dickens & Christie Mystery by Kathy Manos Penn @KathyManosPenn @SDSXXTours
Whiskers,
Wreaths & Murder
A
Dickens & Christie Mystery Book 3
by
Kathy Manos Penn
Genre:
Cozy Mystery
If
it were up to her, they’d be singing carols and baking cookies.
Instead, they’re stockings-deep in a murder investigation…
Leta
Parker is looking forward to her first holiday season in the
Cotswolds. Prepping for the town’s tree-lighting ceremony, the
village is enraged when the new American earl announces plans to
develop his family’s estate into a resort. And when the brash
successor is found dead in a ditch, it’s obvious this car crash was
no accident.
Determined
to unwrap the truth behind the tragedy, Leta enlists the help of the
Little Old Ladies Detective Agency and her talking dog and cat. But
with everyone in the charming hamlet a suspect, it’ll be tough to
discover who’s not on Father Christmas’s naughty list.
Will
Leta and friends deliver the gift of justice?
Whiskers,
Wreaths & Murder is the third book in the delightful
Dickens & Christie cozy mystery series. If you like clever senior
women, deep friendships, and animals of the talking variety, then
you’ll love Kathy Manos Penn’s yuletide whodunit.
Buy Whiskers,
Wreaths & Murder for a holiday homicide today!
I’ve
caught the Christmas spirit, I thought. The Christmas after Henry
died, I’d barely managed to put out a few snow globes and candles,
much less get a tree. I knew I’d still have some tearful moments,
but I hoped today’s spurt of enthusiasm was a sign I was healing.
I’d
been hesitating to pull out my boxes and boxes of Christmas
decorations, worried I’d have a meltdown, but since I’d made it
through tree shopping without tears, I decided to chance it. After
all, I thought, even if I have a good cry, tonight’s party
will cheer me up.
By
the time I carried all the boxes from the garage to the sitting room,
I was thinking I should have asked Peter or Gavin for help. What
on earth was I thinking when I shipped all this? At least the
containers were clearly labeled. In the summer, when I’d moved into
my fairytale cottage and begun sorting boxes, it was apparent I’d
swung back and forth from haphazard to highly organized when I was
packing in Atlanta. Thank goodness the Christmas decorations were in
the organized category.
Dickens
and Christie watched as I opened the box of teddy bears and other
animals, many of which I’d acquired pre-Henry. There was my
treasured Richie Bear from the now-defunct Rich’s department store
in Atlanta. He was a white bear with a red sweater and red knit cap.
Two brown Lord & Taylor bears from different years were wearing
knit scarves and hats. The Lord & Taylor locations in Atlanta had
long since closed, and I still couldn’t believe the flagship store
on Fifth Avenue had closed after over one hundred years in business.
Christie
wandered over to climb into the box. “What’s with all the bears?
I thought we had cats too . . . Wait, here’s one.” She’d found
a black and white cat with a Santa hat. She sniffed everything as I
pulled out several more cats, a moose, and a mouse. Each one made me
smile and Christie purr. Dickens was more interested in lounging in
front of the fire and content to watch from afar.
“You
know, Christie, I have a picture of you as a kitten, curled up with
the packages beneath the tree—after you’d chewed ribbons and
clawed wrapping paper. You played so hard, you conked out.”
“I’ve
learned better now. I prefer to play with the paper after
you’ve unwrapped the packages. I still think the ornaments are fair
game, though.”
“Yes,
dear. That’s why I never place fragile ornaments on the lower
branches where you can reach them.” Thank goodness, she confined
her antics to the bottom of the tree. I’d had a kitten named
Moocher, another black cat, who’d climbed up the trunk of the
Christmas tree one year. I was lucky I’d been there and been able
to reach in and grab him without breaking a single ornament or worse,
toppling the tree.
I
was saving the several boxes of ornaments until last, so I turned to
the box labeled China. I knew it wasn’t china, but I
hadn’t known what else to call the plethora of candle holders,
decorative plates, and Christmas knickknacks I’d collected. I had a
handblown glass tree with tiny glass balls hanging on the branches, a
wooden sleigh, and several snow globes.
Christie
meowed, “I remember the big snow globe, the one on the gold base
that played music. That thing scared me to death.”
That
got Dickens’s attention. “It only scared you after you knocked it
to the floor and it burst into pieces! We didn’t see you for hours
after the crash.”
Christie
turned her nose up before she replied, “Excuse me, I believe it
jumped off the shelf. I had nothing to do with it.”
Jumped
off the shelf? That’s a creative explanation. I looked around
the sitting room and considered my collection. Garland, I need
garland. I’d go out Sunday afternoon to get some, and then I
could arrange candles and snowglobes in the greenery and hang the
three Christmas stockings with the names Christie, Dickens, and Leta.
There,
I thought. I’ve made it through without tears. I’ll
tackle the ornaments another day. Maybe I’ll just open the boxes
and set them by the tree and leave it to my friends to pull them out
one by one—all except the box of cat ornaments. I moved it to
the office with the idea of decorating the cat tree on my own before
the tree trimming party next week.
Whiskers, Wreaths & Murder is my first time getting to solve
crimes with Dickens & Christie, and Leta Parker. When I was
reading Whiskers, Wreaths & Murder I felt as if I was in one of
those cozy little villages in one of those Lifetime movies. You know
like Murder She Wrote or maybe an Agatha Christie movie or book. Oh,
and I so enjoyed Dickens & Christie and their friends.
Leta Parker moved to Cotswolds after the death of her husband and
times like this brings back all the memories of her husband making
her sad during the holidays but she has her furry friends, Dickens &
Christie to help her through.
After inheriting an estate in Cotswolds an American earl decides that
he wants to turn it into a resort this
upsets the village people tremendously. Leta and a friend are out
riding their bikes one morning when they come upon an accident. A car
has run off the road. When they reach the car where it ran off the
road down the embankment the drive is still alive but dies later.
The driver of the car is none other than the American earl. After a
little sleuthing Leta and her friend discover that the accident may
not have been an accident that he could be murder. Who could have
murdered the earl? Or was it an accident?
Leta and her trusty furry friends Dickens & Christie are on the
case. Dickens & Christie can talk and Leta understands what they
say and can talk back to them. She can also talk to other animals
too. Leta has Dickens & Christie both are spoiled rotten, but they
are still well behaved and nice and very smart. I so enjoyed the
scenes with Dickens & Christie especially when they were in
Leta’s office so adorable.
Whiskers, Wreaths & Murder is the third book in the Dickens &
Christie Mystery series but can be read without reading the first two
books in the series as Whiskers, Wreaths & Murder is the first
book in the Dickens & Christie Mystery series as I mentioned
above that, I have read. I don’t feel as if I have missed anything
with not having read the first two books in the series as each book
has its own mystery to solve. The only thing I feel as if I may have
missed out on is Leta’s, Dickens, and Christie’s leaving Atlanta
and moving to Cotswolds and the other mysteries of course.
Whiskers, Wreaths & Murder is a fun little cozy murder mystery
with a crime to solve and a whole lot of suspects that will keep you
on the edge of your seat trying to figure out whodunit as the
suspects list keeps dwindling down. The atmosphere and the setting
making it feel so real as if the words are coming to life right off
the page.
This is one little murder mystery that I would highly recommend to
all murder mystery fans with a small-town setting. One-click your
copy of this warm and cozy little mystery today to begin yet another
awesome journey with Dickens & Christie!
Pumpkins,
Paws and Murder
A
Dickens & Christie Mystery Book 2
The
Fall Fête isn’t very festive when an illusionist is discovered
dead.
Can an expat and her talking pets crash the killer’s party?
Retirement
in the Cotswolds has given Leta Parker a new lease on life. Growing
close to her small-town pals, the former corporate trainer is
thrilled to help them put on the village’s annual autumn
celebration. But the punch goes sour when a friend’s estranged
magician husband is found murdered.
With
the newly widowed woman the prime suspect, Leta leaps into action
with spunky friends and her talking dog and cat to clear her name.
But when they trace the lecherous victim to England’s picturesque
southern coast, they discover a long list of past lovers who’d be
happy to see the sleight-of-wandering-hands womanizer permanently
disappeared.
Can
Leta expose the truth, or will this investigation be her final trick?
Pumpkins,
Paws & Murder is the second book in the lighthearted
Dickens & Christie cozy mystery series. If you like compelling
characters, talkative four-legged friends, and journeys full of
action and humor, then you’ll love Kathy Manos Penn’s playful
tale.
Buy Pumpkins,
Paws & Murder for a grand illusion of danger today!
Can she nab a killer before
her quaint village becomes a graveyard?
Recently
widowed Leta Parker desperately needs a change of scenery. Pursuing
her lifelong dream of retiring to the Cotswolds, she leaves her
soulless corporate hustle in Atlanta and moves to England with her
talking dog and cat companions—Dickens and Christie. But she’s
barely begun making new friends when she stumbles across her
housekeeper’s body …
With
several villagers pegged for the crime, Leta teams up with a retired
English teacher and her sharp-as-a-tack octogenarian mother to track
the killer before the trail goes cold. As the not-so-friendly local
policewoman elbows them out and scandalous rumors plague the
tight-knit community, it’s left to the ladies and their pets to
sleuth for the truth.
Can
Leta, Dickens, and Christie sniff out the culprit before the cute
little town loses more than its charm?
Bells,
Tails & Murder is
the delightful first book in the Dickens & Christie cozy mystery
series. If you like spunky literary women, amusing animal sidekicks,
and inviting cultural backdrops, then you’ll love Kathy Manos
Penn’s engaging page-turner.
Buy Bells,
Tails & Murder to
see the fur fly today!
If you like clever senior women, deep friendships, and amusing animal sidekicks,
you’ll love this cozy mystery series.
When
tragedy rocks her world, Leta Parker hops across the pond to mend her
soul. Will a murder in her tranquil hamlet upend her plans . . . or
can she catch the killer and still be home for tea?
Dive into the first three books in the delightful Dickens & Christie mystery series. Do you like compelling characters, cultural backdrops, and talkative four-legged friends? Then you won’t want to miss these clever whodunits.
Picture
me sitting serenely at my desk surrounded by my four-legged office
assistants. The dog warms my feet, and the cat provides the purr-fict
background music. I sip hot tea, sift through handwritten notes, and
place fingers on the keyboard as thoughts take shape. Such is the joy
of writing.
As
a child, I took a book everywhere—to family dinners, to doctor’s
offices, and of course to bed. Years later, a newspaper article
inspired me to put pen to paper and submit my thoughts—my words—to
the editor. Before I knew it, I was writing weekly columns and blogs.
Then came a book co-written with my dog. (What? Doesn’t everyone do
that?)
Now
I’m living a dream I never knew I had—writing cozy animal
mysteries featuring a dog and cat who talk to their owner. If a dog
can write a book, surely animals can communicate. Naturally, my
office assistants help with the dialogue. And, yes, they are angling
to be listed as co-authors.
By
the way, if you can’t find me, I’m traveling in the UK doing
research for my next mystery—don’t judge.
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