Monday, May 15, 2017

Review Tour: The House on Devil's Bar by Jessie McAlan

Congratulations to tour winner Heather B. and to host winners fuonlyknew and Lampshade Reader.
Goddess Fish Promotions is organizing a Virtual REVIEW ONLY Tour for The House on Devil's Bar by Jessie McAlan, a 161 page US Amateur Sleuth available June 28 from Cousins House. The tour will run every Wednesday for 4 weeks starting on June 28, and the book is available in PDF format.

Jessie McAlan will be awarding a brown agate pendant 2.5”x1.5” size to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn host. Additionally, since this is a review tour, Goddess Fish Promotions will be awarding a $5 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn host.

The police verdict of a woman’s accidental drowning in the Mississippi River does more than set tongues wagging in the small Missouri town of Klim; it starts a flood of cancellations that threaten to sink Rona Murray’s bakery and events business. And blacken her good name. Determined to save both, she starts her own investigation to prove she and her property are blameless. Barbara Lindborg had stopped by Linn House to consider renting it for a party. Yet, when Rona returned from accepting a delivery, the woman had vanished.

Rona’s preliminary search for Barbara yields nothing more than suggestive footprints on the Bar. Did the woman accidentally fall into the river? Was she pushed – and if so, why? A later hunt reveals Barbara’s cell phone in the woods. How did it get halfway up the hill if the woman drowned a hundred feet below? The phone’s camera holds snaps of Klim, its residents, and the Bar. Do any of these hold a clue to her death? Or did her and Rona’s earlier conversation about history and treasure have a different meaning?

Suspects and motives pop up like bubbles in yeast. Is Matt, an employee, still bitter about his and Barbara’s divorce? What about Rona’s own ex, Johnny? Is he trying to drive her out of business, or is his current girlfriend, Crystal, jealous of their relationship and trying to eliminate the competition? A bit like calling the kettle black, for Crystal seems very friendly with Frank, the bad boy neighbor. Frank isn’t lily-white, either. He dislikes Rona; is he behind the pranks on her property or mixed up in Barbara’s death? It isn’t until Rona’s life is threatened one stormy night that she learns the killer’s identity and her true feelings about Johnny.
June 28: Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
June 28: Stormy Nights Reviewing and Bloggin'
July 12: The Reading Addict
July 12: Long and Short Reviews
July 19: Lampshade Reader
July 19: Reader's Handbook
July 26: Fabulous and Brunette
July 26: fuonlyknew