Congratulations to the winners of the last contest. Riley S. from Fort Pierce, FL won In Sunshine or in Shadow. A Hide Tide Murder is going to Carli S. from NYC, NY. The books are going out in the mail today.
I have a mystery and a historical novel to give away this week.
I liked E.C.R. Lorac’s latest from the British Library Crime Classics series. If you like classic mysteries from the Golden Age, you might want to try Death of an Author. Lorac spins a twisting tale full of wry humor and red herrings, poking some fun at her contemporary reviewers, who long suspected the Lorac pseudonym to belong to a male author. Vivian Lestrange—celebrated author of the popular mystery novel The Charterhouse Case and total recluse—has apparently dropped off the face of the Earth. After he was reported missing by his secretary Eleanor, whom Inspector Bond suspects to be the author herself, crime and murder are afoot when Lestrange’s housekeeper is also found to have disappeared. Bond and Warner of Scotland Yard set to work to investigate a murder with no body and a potentially fictional victim.
Maybe you’d prefer to win Daisy Goodwin’s Diva, about Maria Callas. In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she was the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. But her fame was hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her golden voice, she learned early in life to protect herself from those who would use her for their own ends. When she met the fabulously rich Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, for the first time in her life, she believed she’d found someone who saw the woman within the legendary soprano. She fell desperately in love. He introduced her to a life of unbelievable luxury, showering her with jewels and sojourns in the most fashionable international watering holes with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. And then suddenly, it was over. The international press announced that Aristotle Onassis would marry the most famous woman in the world, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, leaving Maria to pick up the pieces.
Which book would you like to win? You can enter to win both, but I need separate entries. Email me at Lesa.Holstine@gmail.com. Your subject line should read either “Win Death of an Author” or “Win Diva.” You must include your name and mailing address. Entrants from the U.S. only, please. The giveaway will end Wed., April 3 at 5 PM ET.
