GUEST POST and GIVEAWAY
The Killing at Kaldaire House
(The Milliner Mysteries Book 1)
(The Milliner Mysteries Book 1)
by Kate Parker
The Killing at Kaldaire House, the first book in the new Milliner Mysteries by Kate Parker, is currently on tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. The tour stops here today for a guest post by the author, an excerpt, and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
A dying man. The painting within her reach. What’s a thief to do?
Talented London milliner Emily Gates creates amazing hats for Society ladies, but to collect from those who don’t pay her bill, she burglarizes their homes. She needs every penny to send her deaf brother to school. Late one night, she sneaks in to find Lord Kaldaire badly injured in his study. Unwilling to abandon him, she calls for help.
When Kaldaire dies without revealing who attacked him, his widow agrees to keep Emily’s secrets - if Emily will help find her husband’s killer. A bigger danger is a Scotland Yard inspector who threatens to arrest Emily - unless she spies on her father’s family of swindlers and conmen. Worst of all are the attacks from an unknown assailant. What will Emily face first, jail or death?
This cozy mystery is set in the era of My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins, of early automobiles and aeroplanes, and of King Edward VII and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. If you enjoyed the Victorian Bookshop Mysteries, you’ll like Emily Gates and the collection of aristocrats and thieves in her world as they step into the 20th century.
Excerpt
Click below to read an excerpt.
Praise for the Book
“This cosy mystery is a very enjoyable read, I really liked Emily and her love for her little deaf brother shines through ...” ~ Carole’s Book Corner
“What a great start a new series ... If you enjoy cozy mysteries that have a historical flair you should really give this book a shot.” ~ Books a Plenty Book Reviews
“The plot of The Killing at Kaldaire House is quite entertaining and imaginative ... I absolutely adored The Killing at Kaldaire House by Kate Parker, and hereby grant it our highest rating of Five Kitties!” ~ Jane Reads
Guest Post by the Author
The Gates Gang
My newest book, The Killing at Kaldaire House, is the first in The Milliner Mysteries. Once again, I’m writing a cozy mystery set in England in that golden period between the Victorian era and World War II that is so fun to write and to read about in genre fiction.
But this time, I’ve added something very personal to the series. I was an only child for several years, and I only had one cousin. She was not my age and I rarely saw her. My father, who was an only child, had 22 cousins, many of them around his age and he saw them often while he was growing up. When I was a child, some of my neighbors had five and six children in their families. I was jealous. I realize those of you who grew up in big families may laugh at this.
So, I created the Gates family as an idealized extended family, working, playing, feuding, eating, and talking together. And then I made them more interesting than my family. The family business is planning and executing heists. They are conmen, burglars, swindlers, and thieves. Nonviolent, of course. These are cozy mysteries, and the murders come from outside the family.
When the story opens, Emily Gates, a talented young milliner, wouldn’t dream of calling on the family she grew up with. She has written off her father and all his relatives. Soon, however, she is suspected of murder and the Scotland Yard detective investigating the case is well aware of her family.
The East End of London at that time was crowded with houses of one or two stories, markets, and warehouses. The people who lived there were poor, from the working poor to the unemployed to newly arrived immigrants from Eastern Europe. While the government was slowly tearing down the slums and building council flats, the influx of the poor to London grew faster than housing could be built. As a result, housing was overcrowded. The amount of shipping at the nearby London docks was dropping, leaving many unemployed.
It is in this grimy, crime ridden warren of alleys that the Gateses live. While the outside of their homes appears impoverished, the insides are anything but. Emily’s grandmother employs a maid. When Emily’s uncle “procures” a motor car, an expensive item in Edwardian times, it is in the livery barn by the Gates’s house that he hides it.
The Gates family members end up getting involved in all sorts of adventures while helping Emily out of her predicament. I look forward to writing the next Milliner Mystery to see what else the family can get into.
About the Author
Kate Parker has wanted to travel to 1930s England since she read her mother’s Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers mysteries when she was a schoolgirl. After many years of studying science, she decided a time travel machine was out of the question, so she found herself limited to reading about the period and visiting historic sites. Her love of this fascinating and challenging period led her to the research from which the Deadly Series grew. Eventually, she found it necessary to spend several days in the British Library reading old newspapers, which meant another trip to England. Near Christmas. A sacrifice she’d gladly make every year.
Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a print copy (US only) or an ebook copy (international) of The Killing at Kaldaire House by Kate Parker.
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