New Release: The Goddaughter's Revenge

by

Melodie Campbell

 

 Just in time for Halloween … MESS WITH ME, DARLIN’?
 WATCH ME KILL YOU WITH WORDS.

(Revenge is sweet when coupled with royalties.)

Here’s some news for all those sociopaths out there, and just plain nasties: Don’t mess with a crime writer.  We know at least twenty ways to kill you and not get caught.

On paper, of course <insert nervous laughter>. We’re talking about fictional kills here.

Or are we?

My name is Melodie Campbell, and I write comic mob capers for a living. And for the loving. So I know a bit about the mob. Like espresso and cannoli, you might say they come with my Sicilian background.

This should make people nervous. (Hell, it makes ME nervous.)

But I digress. To recap:  the question offered was:

Are any of your victims based on people who pissed you off in real life? Do you ever take out real life rage on fictional murder victims?

Oh sweetie, don’t I ever.

One of the joys of being a writer is playing out scenarios in your fiction that you dream about at night.  One of these is murder.  (The other is sex, but that would be my other series, the Rowena fantasy one.)

Back to grievous bodily harm. Like in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado, I have my little list.

To the covert colleague who made out to be friends and then bad-mouthed me to the board at a previous job.  Yes, you got caught red-handed. I called your bluff.  But better than that, I made your mealy-mouthed sorry hide a star of THE GODDAUGHTER’S REVENGE.  Take that, Carmine the rat.  You live forever in fictional history.

He never will be missed.

Oh, the joy of creating bad guys and gals from real-life creeps!  The crafty thing is, when you design a villain based on people you have met in person and experienced in technicolor, they sound real. Colorful.  Their motivations are believable. No cardboard characters here!

Of course, I may fudge a few details to keep out of jail. Names and professions change. Males can morph into females.

But fictional murder can be very satisfying. (Definitely more satisfying than fictional sex.)  Revenge is sweet, when coupled with royalties.

You can ignore that crack about fictional kills only. Of course we’re only talking books; in my case, light-hearted murder mysteries, and mob crime capers.

That’s right: mob capers. Like I said: never mess with a Sicilian Goddaughter.

Melodie Campbell achieved a personal best this year when Library Journal compared her to Janet Evanovich.  Her first book, ROWENA THROUGH THE WALL, was an Amazon Top 100 bestseller. Her fifth novel, THE GODDAUGHTER’S REVENGE, has just been released by Orca Books. 
Library Journal says this about Melodie`s third novel, The Goddaughter (Orca Books):

``Campbell`s crime caper is just right for Janet Evanovich fans.  Wacky family connections and snappy dialogue make it impossible not to laugh.``

Opening to THE GODDAUGHTER’S REVENGE

     Okay, I admit it. I would rather be the proud possessor of a rare gemstone than a lakefront condo with parking. Yes, I know this makes me weird. Young women today are supposed to crave the security of owning their own home.

     But I say this. Real estate, shmeel estate. You can’t hold an address in your hand. It doesn’t flash and sparkle with the intensity of a thousand night stars, or lure you away from the straight and narrow like a siren from some Greek odyssey.
     Let’s face it. Nobody has ever gone to jail for smuggling a one bedroom plus den out of the country.
However, make that a 10-carat cyan blue topaz with a past as long as your arm, and I’d do almost anything to possess it.
    But don’t tell the police.

THE GODDAUGHTER’S REVENGE on Amazon http://tinyurl.com/kmgjgsf

THE GODDAUGHTER on Amazon http://ow.ly/dnObH

Follow Melodie’s comic blog at  www.melodiecampbell.com

"Spirit Shapes" by Marilyn Meredith

Today, as part of her blog tour to promote her latest novel, Spirit Shapes, Marilyn Meredith is visiting with us. I've asked her to tell us where she got the idea for her novel. Welcome, Marilyn! 

As with all my books, the idea came from several different places. I’d been reading about different ghost hunters on Facebook. We have one that advertises tours in nearby Porterville and another I see who visits haunted places around Ventura County. I was privileged to go on one with the ghost hunter from Ventura.

Along with a small group of friends we toured the old Ventura Court House in the evening and in one section without any lights on. We were told tales about many of the ghosts who resided there but didn’t see any. The ghost hunter led us all around the old part of Ventura pointing out various ghostly hangouts and telling us about the ghosts when they were alive.

Hubby and I stayed twice in one of the places that he pointed out, a remodeled bed and breakfast that once had been a residential hotel and a flophouse. The first time we stayed, we had a large room that had obviously been an apartment at one time. The closet probably had once held a Murphy bed. The bathroom was big enough to be a kitchen—which I bet it was back in the day when everyone shared the bathroom down the hall. On this trip we learned that one of the rooms in the B & B was haunted—Room 17.

The next time we made a reservation we asked for Room 17—and were warned it was haunted. This room was tiny compared to the first one we’d stayed in—and much to our disappointment, no ghostly visitation. Our daughter informed us hubby would have had a better chance if he’d stayed there alone, as the ghost was a prostitute during her lifetime. Frankly, the room we stayed in previously felt more like it might have some ghostly residents.

Though there are many other elements in Spirit Shapes, ghost hunters and spirits play a bit part in the story.

Blurb for Spirit Shapes: Ghost hunters stumble upon a murdered teen in a haunted house. Deputy Tempe Crabtree's investigation pulls her into a whirlwind of restless spirits, good and evil, intertwined with the past and the present, and demons and angels at war.

To buy directly from the publisher in all formats: 

http://mundania.com/book.php?title=Spirit+Shapes 

Also available directly from Amazon.

Marilyn at the Library

Bio: Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. She borrows a lot from where she lives in the Southern Sierra for the town of Bear Creek and the surrounding area, including the nearby Tule River Indian Reservation. She does like to remind everyone that she is writing fiction. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and follow her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

Contest:

The person who comments on the most blogs on this blog tour will have the opportunity to have a character named after him or her in the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.

Tomorrow I’ll be visiting at: http://crimewriters.blogspot.com/