Corpse and Robbers: A Male Housekeeper Mystery by Stephen Kaminski Book Tour and Giveaway!

Corpse and Robbers: A Male Housekeeper Mystery
by Stephen Kaminski

About Corpse and Robbers

Corpse and Robbers: A Male Housekeeper Mystery
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – A small town in Michigan
Cozy Cat Press (April 16, 2022)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 234 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1952579457
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1952579455
Digital Cozy Cat Press (May 13, 2022)
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B1BD759B

Paul Bearer & Sons has two memorial services on the schedule, but three dead bodies. When Rusted Bonnet’s funeral home becomes the site of a murder, Cam Reddick finds himself as a prime suspect. To distance himself from the allegations, Cam must untangle a host of clever cons and mini mysteries, from corpse robbing to a fine art scam to a modern-day treasure hunt. Cam soon discovers that Paul Bearer’s more closely resembles a con artists’ colony than a funeral home. With help from his ex-wife and mother, Cam ultimately unearths the most devious and deadly ploy of all.

 

Corpse and Robbers in the second installment of Stephen Kaminski’s Male Housekeeper Mystery series.

Excerpt 

 Twenty green oblong pills. Cam stared down at a pair of foil blister packs. He flipped one over and read “1 mg. flunitrazepam,” stenciled in blue on the back of each serrated square.

 After sitting for an hour in the office, staring at cheaply framed prints of French bistros with captions lauding the influence of early plein air impressionists on the artist, Cam had started to poke around out of boredom.

 

Bricks of Post-it notes and flimsy boxes of binder clips and staples filled the overhead cabinets. Blue and white banker’s boxes stacked four high lined the walls. Cam lifted the lid of one—it divulged nothing but pages of records inside:  copies of death certificates, receipts for casket purchases and sales, invoices for “mortuary services.” The second box he opened contained handfuls of programs, memorial prayer cards, and thank you notes. Standard funeral home fare, he figured.

 

Rummaging through the desk drawers yielded more old papers—most dated five or more years earlier. But at the back of the bottom drawer, under a pile of tax forms, he unearthed a stiff cardboard box with pretty pink and white stripes—a pricy parcel the size of a tissue box. Natural curiosity prompted him to lift the lid. To his disgust, his eyes met a cheap plastic tray of melted moldy chocolates:  a broken and congealed cherry cordial, green-speckled toffee, a truffle sprouting truffles—a sampler of Whitman’s nightmares. Cam’s first thought was to toss the box in the trash, but instead, propelled by instinct, he lifted a corner of the tray with the point of a pencil. His eyes widened at the sight. Cam quickly shot a look at the door—still closed.

 

He pinched the corner of the russet-colored plastic and gingerly pulled it away to reveal a yellow packing envelope snugly tucked underneath, one corner stamped with a New Delhi postmark. Cam unfolded the bubble-lined mailer, reached inside, and pulled out the packets of green pills.

 

 Kaminski also pens the Damon Lassard Dabbling Detective Mysteries. He is the recipient of the Murder & Mayhem Award for Best Classic Cozy, multiple Reader Views Literary Awards, and was a Chanticleer Media CLUE Award finalist.

Stephen Kaminski is the author of two cozy mystery series: The Male Housekeeper Mysteries and the Damon Lassard Dabbling Detective series, both published by Cozy Cat Press.

“Corpse & Robbers” (2022) is the latest of Kaminski’s Male Housekeeper Mysteries. The first installment of the series, “An Au Pair to Remember,” was penned in 2019.

Each of Kaminski’s Damon Lassard books — “It Takes Two to Strangle” (2012), “Don’t Cry Over Killed Milk” (2013), and “Murder, She Floats” (2014) — was awarded the Reader Views Literary Award for the Mid-Atlantic Region, and Don’t Cry Over Killed Milk was named Best Classic Cozy in the 2014 Murder & Mayhem Awards and was a 2013 Chanticleer Media CLUE Award Finalist.

Stephen is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Law School and currently serves as the chief executive officer of a national energy association. He lives with his 120 lb Swissie, Siberian forest cat, rescue kitty, and a gaggle of occasionally tolerable but always loveable humans in Bethesda, MD.

Purchase Link – Amazon 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

August 1 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

August 1 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – REVIEW

August 2 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

August 2 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 3 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST

August 3 – Novels Alive – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT

August 4 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT

August 4 – I Read What You Write – GUEST POST

August 5 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW

August 5 – Books to the Ceiling – REVIEW, EXCERPT

August 5 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT

August 6 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT

August 6 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

August 7 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT

August 8 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

August 8 – Nellie’s Book Nook – REVIEW

August 9 – Mysteries with Character – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

August 9 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

August 10 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT

August 10 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT 

Enter to win: (10) Paperback Copy Corpse and Robbers: A Male Housekeeper Mystery by Stephen Kaminski (U.S. Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?

Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!

#DropletsOfMagic by #EmilyBybee Teaser Blast! #UnstableMagicSeries #MagicPenBookTours

 TEASER BLAST

Droplets of Magic by Emily Bybee

 “This would end tonight. One of us would die. Here. In the gardens where love once grew.”

GET YOUR COPY TODAY! ➡ amazon.com/dp/B09XLQK5DG/

ADD TO YOUR TBR ➡ goodreads.com/book/show/61039195-droplets-of-magic

BLURB

Kira’s spells always end the same—rain and violent storms. She’s what’s called a Defect, and that means one of two things in the witch world—losing your magic or death. After faking her demise, Kira is in hiding. She risks exposure and travels the world, making the Defective magic that would get her killed into a gift by bringing rains to places that most need water.

The witch world has changed in the ten years Kira’s been gone. Kira doesn’t know that she has a much bigger part to play against an ancient danger that threatens the entire world. But the witches want her for their own greedy plans. Her only chance to escape the witch council is to hide in areas where her storms go unnoticed. After one last stop in Africa, she plans to disappear again.

But Kira’s past catches up with her and a decade old blood debt comes due. As if being prey to the witch world isn’t enough, her family’s history with the Russian Mafia causes an enemy who was once her childhood friend to hunt her down. She and her only ally Alex—a naïve American—team up to escape the underworld warlord. As Kira’s feelings for Alex grow, she fears he will be caught in the crossfire. To settle this debt, someone will have to die.

#MagicPenBookTours #DropletsOfMagic #UnstableMagicSeries #EmilyBybee #ParanormalRomance #PNR #YA #KU #booktoursignup #amreadingromance #indiebooks #kindlebooks #paranormalromancenovels #bookseries #yaromance #sweetromance #paranormalromanceseries #bookteaser #booklover #youngadultbooks

Once Upon a Scandal by Shilpa Suraj Book Tour! @BookReviewTours, @ShilpaAuthor @b00kr3vi3ws, @shilpa. suraj

 

A moment of passion, a devastating scandal and a marriage between sworn enemies...

Aakash Thakkar knows his path. Family, duty, responsibility, tradition. His path does not lead to madness, chaos, wild passionate steamy nights, and her. Or so he tells himself.

Kanak Shourie lives for the present. Friends, fun, work, life. Her present does not include the weight of other people's judgement, stuffy societal mores, discovering desire with uptight businessmen, and him. She refuses to believe otherwise.

What happens when the one you hate is the only one you want? What happens when you try to right a wrong but end up in something that feels more right than anything ever has?

Can Aakash and Kanak bury a lifetime of distrust and forge a life together? Or will the reasons that had them battling each other for years bury their tentative new beginning?

Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon.in * Amazon.com

Read an Excerpt from Once Upon a Scandal

Kanak gasped as his lips trailed a slow, sensual line of kisses down her neck. Her eyes closed and her head fell back giving him better access. 

He growled in approval, the sound thrumming through her. She fumbled with the buttons of his white shirt, her hand slipping through the gap and finding hard, firm, muscled skin. Her fingernails did a slow circle around his flat nipple making him nip her on her shoulder.

Her dazed eyes met his stormy ones, disbelieving, intense and confused. He lowered his head and took her lips in a kiss that solved her confusion, once and for all. 

She wanted this man, more than she’d ever wanted another. And she couldn’t deny it anymore. She fisted her hands in the thick, rough silk of his hair and pulled him impossibly closer. 

Their tongues met, dueled, and stroked making her moan, the breath of sound disappearing between his lips. He ground his hips against her, the movement making her legs fall apart, the better to cradle him with. 

The rough concrete behind her back scraped her skin but she couldn’t have cared less. But his hands slipped between the wall and her and flipped her over so his back was against it. She landed against the hard length of him, her hips doing an unconscious roll that had his head falling back.

She unzipped his pants, her fingers slipping in, searching and finding the hot silken steel of him. He cursed brokenly, his hips arching into her touch. She smiled, the heady rush of power over such a powerful man spooling through her. 

Until his hands cupped her breasts and her eyes rolled back in her head, pleasure swamping her and making it hard to focus. He dipped his head and took her breast in his mouth, the material of her flimsy dress damp in seconds from his attentions. His other hand pinched, fondled and stroked the other breast until her legs quivered. 

Kanak stroked harder, desperate for him to not stop what he was doing. He didn’t seem to want to anyway. He pulled her dress up, above her hips, the cool night breeze caressing her thighs and making her shiver. 

Kanak shoved frantically at his pants, pushing until she got what she wanted. It sprang free and she wrapped her hands around it, fisting it. 

The flash when it came lit up the darkness around them. Their small corner suddenly blindingly bright. He reacted with startling swiftness, spinning her so she was covered by the bulk of his body, unseen by whoever was out there. 

“Get the fuck out of here,” he growled over his shoulder, his furious laser like gaze sending a shiver down Kanak’s spine even though it wasn’t directed at her. 

Nervous laughter was the only answer. And then, another bright flash. 

“I am going to kill you,” he said conversationally to the person behind him.

In a matter of seconds, he tucked himself back into his pants and straightened Kanak’s dress with a deceptive calm. When he turned, still keeping Kanak hidden behind him, she heard the photographer squeak. 

“Give me your camera.” The words were soft, calm and deadly. The tone usually what you heard before you died. 

“No.” The man with the death wish giggled and moved back, out of his reach. “This is going to make me rich. And not just the photographs man. I got video too and it’s not on this camera. It’s with my friend who is already gone. You can’t catch him.” Another giggle. 

And before either of them could react, he disappeared into the dark. 

Ice slid through Kanak’s veins. What had she done? What had she allowed to happen? A sex tape of her on the internet, splashed across the tabloids, a sex tape with him…

“I will fix this,” he said, the same ice in his voice except his was directed at the mystery photographer. “I promise you.” 

She wanted to believe him. She almost did but Kanak knew that some things were out of even his control. 

A sex tape. Her head spun at the enormity of this fiasco. A sex tape with Aakash Thakkar, big shot industrialist, rising political power, and her number one enemy. 

She was screwed and she knew it. 

Shilpa Suraj wears many hats - corporate drone, homemaker, mother to a fabulous toddler and author.

An avid reader with an overactive imagination, Shilpa has weaved stories in her head since she was a child. Her previous stints at Google, in an ad agency and as an entrepreneur provide colour to her present day stories, both fiction and non-fiction.

Contact the Author:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Newsletter

Emerald Eyes by Aurelia Yates Publication August 30th Book Blitz! #AureliaYates #EmeraldEyes #XpressoTours @XpressoTours

 

Emerald Eyes
Aurelia Yates

Publication date: August 30th 2022
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

After the death of her mother and losing her job, Sarah realizes there’s nothing keeping her in the small town where she grew up, and she travels to New York to stay with her best friend. Upon her arrival, she literally falls for a sexy, dark man with mesmerizing emerald-green eyes.

Chance encounters continue to bring them together, and Sarah finds herself drawn into a sinful world she’s never known. Wilder is unlike any other man, and although she tries, she can’t resist him or his dominating temperament.

Try as she might, Wilder will not let Sarah escape him, and with a stalker coming after her, he is determined to protect her with everything he has—even when he has to punish her in the bedroom for disobeying his commands.

Hosted by:

Child of Etherclaw by Matty Roberts Book Blitz and Giveaway! #MattyRoberts #ChildofEtherclaw #XpressoTours @XpressoTours

Child of Etherclaw
Matty Roberts

Publication date: August 2nd 2022
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult

The bonds of family go well beyond blood.
But can those bonds hold when the blood itself carries a devastating secret?

Fenlee’s opal necklace had always radiated a certain warmth since her mother’s death. But now, at sixteen, her world begins to unravel as the stone sparks to life, revealing itself to be an otherworldly artifact of untold power.

Between her mechatronics studies at the academy and scavenging expeditions beneath the sprawling city of New Cascadia, Fenlee and her adopted brother, Elliot, try to decipher the mysteries of her necklace and its link to events in Fenlee’s past.

But they’re not alone in their search.

Strange undercity dwellers offer cryptic warnings, drones track their movements, and deadly corporate agents lurk in the shadows. When tragedy rips Fenlee’s family apart, she must learn to use the artifact’s power to save those who are deeply precious to her. But nothing can prepare her for the dark truths that she will uncover on that journey…

“Lee,” Elliot mumbled. “I’m not who you think I am.”

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

—

EXCERPT:

Thoughts of etherclaw and worries about her father had kept Fenlee up, so she’d spent almost the entire night installing and integrating the Elixir chip to keep her mind elsewhere. She got it working, but sleep still wouldn’t come, so she composed a message to her father. It’d be expensive to send, but she had to say something.

Hi, Dad. Hope you’re well. Me? I’m great. Except that I’ve been shitting myself because, you know, aer Mom died, we all promised we’d never leave each other. And that’s kind of what you’re best at these days. But, hey, it’s all fine because I found a chip that’s most likely stolen and worth probably half this apartment block, but in order to get it to work, I had to go into the Lunarinto Market for an adapter. But the adapter wasn’t exactly free, so I’m going to start working a part-time job while you’re gone to pay it off. In the Lunarinto Market. You know, the place you hate for me to even go near. One of my legs is just short enough to be constantly uncomfortable because I decided to wreck the one you gave me, my underwear is somehow still riding up my ass from the bike ride home yesterday, and I’m hyperaware of how bad my pits stink. Doesn’t matter because I got no sleep and I don’t have time to do much about it before academy. Also, Mom’s opal, which isn’t real, by the way, might actually be some kind of weird magic device from aliens. Woo! Oh, and your adopted son is smuggling a stray cat. Thought you should know. Don’t get yourself blown up. Love you!

She stared at the comm unit for an eternity before deleting it. Her opal felt cold on her chest in the morning gloom.

Matty Roberts began their career in journalism where they earned an Emmy and had the privilege of working on several other award-winning projects. They hold an MS from Johns Hopkins University and are now an engineer in renewable energy in Denver, Colorado where they live with their wonderful partner, two extraordinary kids, and the best doggie ever.

In addition to writing, engineering, and parenting, Matty is a vegan enby nerd who is in love with this world and will forever be doing all they can to make it a better place. And they may be known to occasionally play in a punk band here or there.

For more information about Matty and their upcoming books, visit www.mattyroberts.io.

Website / Goodreads / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by:

The Du Lac Chronicles (Book 1 of The Du Lac Chronicles) By Mary Anne Yarde Blog Tour! @maryanneyarde #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalFantasy #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub

Book Title: The Du Lac Chronicles Series: (Book 1 of The Du Lac Chronicles)

Author: Mary Anne Yarde

Publication Date: 21st February 2016

Publisher: Independently Publishing 

Page Length: 317 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Fantasy / Historical Romance

A generation after Arthur Pendragon ruled, Briton lies fragmented into warring kingdoms and principalities.

Eighteen-year-old Alden du Lac ruled the tiny kingdom of Cerniw. Now he half-hangs from a wooden pole, his back lashed into a mass of bloody welts exposed to the cold of a cruel winter night. He’s to be executed come daybreak—should he survive that long.

When Alden notices the shadowy figure approaching, he assumes death has come to end his pain. Instead, the daughter of his enemy, Cerdic of Wessex, frees and hides him, her motives unclear.

Annis has loved Alden since his ill-fated marriage to her Saxon cousin—a marriage that ended in blood and guilt—and she would give anything to protect him. Annis’s rescue of Alden traps them between a brutal Saxon king and Alden’s remaining allies. Meanwhile, unknown forces are carefully manipulating the ruins of Arthur’s legacy.

Trigger warnings:

Torture, Warfare

This novel is available on #KindleUnlimtied

Universal Link (if you have it): https://books2read.com/u/b5lYy7

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Du-Lac-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B01CDK2MK0

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Du-Lac-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B01CDK2MK0

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Du-Lac-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B01CDK2MK0

 

Mary Anne Yarde is a multi-award winning and bestselling author of Historical Fiction, as well as an award-winning blogger. She studied History at Cardiff University and went on to study Equine Science at Warwickshire College.

 

Mary Anne is a passionate advocate for quality Historical Fiction and founded The Coffee Pot Book Club in 2015 and became a professional Editorial Reviewer in 2016.

 

Mary Anne's award-winning series, The Du Lac Chronicles, is set a generation after the fall of King Arthur. The Du Lac Chronicles takes you on a journey through Dark Age Britain and Brittany, where you will meet new friends and terrifying foes. Based on legends and historical fact, The Du Lac Chronicles is a series not to be missed

 

Born in Bath, England, Mary Anne grew up in the southwest of England, surrounded and influenced by centuries of history and mythology. Glastonbury—the fabled Isle of Avalon—was a mere fifteen-minute drive from her home, and tales of King Arthur and his knights were part of her childhood.

Website: https://authormaryanneyarde.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/maryanneyarde

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/mary-anne-yarde

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Anne-Yarde/e/B01C1WFATA

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15018472.Mary_Anne_Yarde

Tour Schedule Page: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2022/06/blog-tour-du-lac-chronicles-book-1-of.html

A Coup of Tea by Casey Blair Book Blitz and Giveaway! #CaseyBlair #ACoupOfTea #XpressoTours @XpressoTours

 

A Coup of Tea
Casey Blair

(Tea Princess Chronicles, #1)
Publication date: August 2nd 2022
Genres: Adult, Fantasy

When the fourth princess of Istalam is due to dedicate herself to a path serving the crown, she makes a choice that shocks everyone, herself most of all: She leaves.

In hiding and exiled from power, Miyara finds her place running a tea shop in a struggling community that sits on the edge of a magical disaster zone. But there’s more brewing under the surface of this city—hidden magic, and hidden machinations—that threaten all the people who’ve helped her make her own way.

Miyara may not be a princess anymore, but with a teapot in hand she’ll risk her newfound freedom to discover a more meaningful kind of power.

A Coup of Tea is the first book of the Tea Princess Chronicles, a cozy fantasy series full of magic tea, friendship, and lifting people up even when the odds seem impossible.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

—

EXCERPT:

She hands me a third cup, and I eye her mistrustfully, that unease back again and sharp.

“Earning your tablecloth,” she reminds me.

I smell the grassiness of the green tea before I taste it. But the flavor is so strange I can’t immediately identify the elements—she’s used aloia nectar not just as a sweetener, but to bind this mystery ingredient, and the result has a strangely smooth, nutty element. I frown at the cup and take another sip, swirling the tea in my mouth.

“So?” Lorwyn asks.

It’s much better than the other two, but this tea gives the impression of oozing—no, crawling through the grass—

I set the cup down abruptly. “Please tell me your mystery ingredient is not insectoid.”

Her eyebrows rise in surprise. “Wow. Okay, I’m impressed. Apparently the trekkers named them sleekbeetles. New species discovered in the Cataclysm. Talmeri bought crates of their scales.”

I am drinking beetle scale tea.

This morning I was a princess, and now I sit sopping in a tablecloth drinking beetle scale tea.

“Why?”

Lorwyn shrugs. “I’m sure they were cheap. Talmeri’s always on the lookout for novelty items to boast the most unique tea flavors in the city, and she also likes torturing me. Who can say which was the primary factor this time?”

I grimace. “Wonderful. A hitherto untasted bug. I hope it’s at least magically inert and you haven’t poisoned me?”

“Of course I didn’t poison you,” Lorwyn says. “I tasted it before you did. How could you tell it was beetle?”

“The grassiness of the green tea,” I say. “It’s too sharp. You need something mellower that’s still robust enough to hold up to the aloia nectar.”

Lorwyn slumps back—I’m not entirely sure how she manages to, since she’s sitting on a stool.

“Aloia is tricky,” she grumbles.

“Maybe it needs another note,” I say. “The aloia manages the beetle flavor into something nearly salvageable. Now you need a bridge between the aloia and the tea.”

Lorwyn bolts out of her stool. “Wait there!”

She returns with another small pot and a cup, adds them to the tea service. She lifts the pot to pour, and all at once I realize, beetle scales aside, what’s been bothering me.

The water from that kettle should not have correctly brewed different kinds of teas and tisanes. The temperature of the water has to have changed, and there are no cooling or heating devices anywhere near the table.

I glance around for a structure, anything she could have used to anchor magecraft. The stools aren’t in any particular order around the table, there are no candles, and the teacups are arranged for the taster’s benefit alone.

Which means this isn’t magecraft at all.

It’s witchcraft.

I promise I can maim you in any number of ways, she said.

Lorwyn holds a cup of tea out to me with an excited look on her face.

I’ve lost my wits. After realizing what she’s doing, it’s the only explanation for what I do next.

I take the cup, and I sip.

Casey Blair writes adventurous fantasy novels for all ages, and her serial fantasy Tea Princess Chronicles is available online for free. After graduating from Vassar College, her own adventures have included teaching English in rural Japan, attending the Viable Paradise residential science fiction and fantasy writing workshop, and working as an indie bookseller. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest and can be found dancing spontaneously, exploring forests around the world, or trapped under a cat. For more information visit her website caseyblair.com or follow her on Twitter @CaseyLBlair.

Website / Goodreads / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by: