Book Review of A Sporting Murder by Lesley A. Diehl

 
Once again The Overnight Bestseller is pleased to participate in a Tribute Books Blog Tour. Today we welcome Lesley A. Diehl, author of the cozy mystery A Sporting Murder.


 A Sporting Murder Book Summary

It's smooth sailing for Eve Appel and her friend Madeleine, owners of Second to None Consignment Shop in rural Florida's Sabal Bay, land of swamps, cowboys, and lots and lots of 'gators. Eve and her detective boyfriend Alex have joined Madeleine and her new beau David Wilson for a pleasure cruise on his boat. But cloudy, dangerous waters lie ahead. A near fatal encounter with Blake Reed, David's supremely nasty neighbor, is soon followed by a shooting death on the dividing line between David and Blake's land. Both men run sport-hunting reserves, but Blake imports "exotics" from Africa and promotes gator killing, while David stays within the law, pointing clients toward the abundant quail and turkey as well as the wild pigs that ravage the landscape. Nevertheless, when a mutual client is killed, it is David who is arrested and charged with murder.

Blake's nastiness is only exceeded by that of his wife, Elvira, who forces Eve and Madeleine out of their shop, intending to replace it with a consignment shop of her own. It seems that bad luck looms over them all, even Eve's brawny and hard-to-resist Miccosukee Indian friend Sammy, whose nephew has disappeared. As the case against David grows stronger and his friends' misfortunes multiply, Eve and her strange and diverse group of friends, including her ex, a mobster, her grandma, and Sammy's extended family, band together to take on the bad guys. But the waters are getting muddier and more troubled, and Eve and Madeleine may end up inundated in every sense of the word.

Price/Formats: $4.95 ebook, $13.95 paperback
Genre: Cozy Murder Mystery
Pages: 250
Publisher: Camel Press
Release: July 15, 2015
ISBN: 9781603819398

Buy Links

Amazon
Barnes and Noble


Lesley A. Diehl's Bio

Lesley A. Diehl retired from her life as a professor of psychology and reclaimed her country roots by moving to a small cottage in the Butternut River Valley in upstate New York. In the winter she migrates to old Florida--cowboys, scrub palmetto, and open fields of grazing cattle, a place where spurs still jingle in the post office. Back north, she devotes her afternoons to writing and, when the sun sets, relaxing on the bank of her trout stream, sipping tea or a local microbrew.

 The Overnight Bestseller's Review of A Sporting Murder

This is the third in  Lesley A. Diehl's Eve Appel cozy mystery series, and she provides us with an entertaining mix of characters, an engaging setting, and two unsolved murders that baffle the reader until their resolution at the end of the novel.

Her intrepid amateur sleuth Eve Appel is reminiscent of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum with her lively sense of humor, her unresolved love life, and her uncanny ability to get into--and out of--trouble.

At the same time, Diehl touches upon serious themes in the novel, including the mistreatment of foreign workers, prejudice towards Aboriginal peoples, and the illicit trade in endangered species for "trophy" collections.

This novel will appeal to lovers of cozy mysteries everywhere, who will also want to check out Diehl's other series.

Related Sites

Lesley A. Diehl's Web Site:
http://www.lesleyadiehl.com/

Lesley A. Diehl's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/lesley.diehl.1?fref=ts

Lesley A. Diehl's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/LesleyDiehl
 
Lesley A. Diehl's Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3414925.Lesley_A_Diehl

Lesley A. Diehl's Blog:
http://lesleyadiehl.com/blog/

A Sporting Murder Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25506068-a-sporting-murder

Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186

A Sporting Murder blog tour site:
http://asportingmurder.blogspot.com

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Janet Evanovich on Writing

Fans of comic mysteries and offbeat heroines will enjoy the question and answer session with Janet Evanovich in the "By the Book" feature of the NY Times Sunday Book Review. She has some interesting--and of course amusing--things to say about her writing. 

Evanovich has written more than twenty Stephanie Plum novels. Asked what makes a good series' heroine, Evanovich notes the following: "Consistency of character. Forgivable flaws. Values we admire. Sense of humor. My heroines are all resilient, tenacious, forward-looking positive thinkers who are not self-absorbed, not perfect and not able to resist a cupcake." 

The author's "comfort" books are actually cookbooks, which she can read without gaining weight. 

When she is writing, Evanovich doesn't like to read other authors' works in case they stick in her head while she is trying to write. She reads magazines instead (including Guns & Ammo!).

For the full text of the article, please click here.