KILLING IN C SHARP
A Gethsemane Brown Mystery, Volume 3
by
Alexia Gordon
Number of Pages: 288
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She saved Carraigfaire—but can she save her friends? Gethsemane Brown fought off an attack by a sleazy hotel developer who wanted to turn her Irish cottage into a tourist trap. Now she must face a vengeful ghost determined to exact revenge for her murder centuries ago. This ghost’s wrath spares no one—not Gethsemane’s students, Inspector Niall O’Reilly, fellow teacher Frankie Grennan, or a group of ghost hunters descended on Dunmullach to capture proof ghosts exist. Proof Gethsemane has to quash to keep Eamon, her resident ghost and friend, from becoming an internet sensation. As if a spiteful specter wasn’t bad enough, a crooked music reviewer turns up dead in the opera house orchestra pit, a famous composer is arrested for the crime, and Gethsemane must team up with a notorious true-crime author to clear his name. If she doesn’t, friends will die, a ghost she cares about will never know peace, and she’ll star in a final act gruesome enough for any opera.
PRAISE FOR THE GETHSEMANE BROWN MYSTERY SERIES:
Book 1, Murder in G Major
Winner of the 2017 Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel
2016 Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel
Suspense magazine "Best of 2016" selection in Debut Novel category
Book 2, Death in D Minor
Runner-Up, 2017 Lone Star Bloggers' Choice Awards, Best Mystery/Suspense
Short List, 2017 Lone Star Bloggers' Choice Awards, Best Series
Book 3, Killing in C Sharp
Starred review, Publisher's Weekly, January 29, 2018
A writer since childhood, I put literary endeavors on hold to finish medical school and Family Medicine residency training. Medical career established, I returned to writing fiction. I completed SMU's Writer’s Path program in Dallas, Texas. Henery Press published my first novel, Murder in G Major, book one of the Gethsemane Brown mysteries, in September 2016. Book two, Death in D Minor, released July 11, 2017. Book three, Killing in C Sharp, comes out March 6, 2018. Murder in G Major won the Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best New Novel and was selected one of Suspense Magazine's Best Debuts.
I listen to classical music, drink whiskey, and blog at Miss Demeanors, voted one of Writers' Digest magazine's 101 best websites for writers, and Femmes Fatales.
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HALL WAYS REVIEW: Killing in C Sharp is another excellent addition to the quirky Gethsemane Brown Mysteries series. In this third installment, we return to the same Irish town as the prior books, where Gethsemane’s life revolves around her cottage, her school, and the local pub. Though readers will have more to bring to the table for having read either, or both, of the prior books, it does stand alone, and there is much that I love about this series.
"Men occasionally forget their female friends are brave, competent, and capable of taking care of themselves and become overprotective. It's the combination of night air, testosterone, and alcohol. Prevents synapses from firing. You have to make allowances." -- Father Tim
While I wouldn’t call Killing in C Sharp feminist, it does have some outstanding characteristics that are missing from many other mystery books. For one, our main character, Gethsemane, is an intelligent woman who doesn’t shy away from giving her opinion or asserting her expertise when she is the most informed on a subject. She doesn’t allow herself to be shushed or bossed around, belittled, or patronized. Secondly, the men in her life (both of this world and otherworldly), mostly get that Gethsemane is an equal force, and when they slide into sexist zones, they are quickly re-directed and corrected without it being A THING. Third, the book shows that women can and will support each other, whether they like each other or not. Finally, hallelujah, women are not victimized and pretty much every female, from girl to grown-up, is powerful in her own way – right down to the take-no-prisoners ghost who shows up to exact her revenge.
"She'd performed live all over the world and she taught teenaged boys. Nothing unnerved her."
Killing in C Sharp takes us more into Gethsemane’s professional world as a music teacher. Readers (especially educators) will chuckle over Gethsemane’s assessments of her students and their behavior and both sympathize and empathize at the situations. There’s nothing to make a teacher prouder than when her otherwise unruly group knows how to behave when it counts. And by the same token, there’s nothing more frustrating than when a teacher sees her unruly group behave and wonders why those students can’t offer the same courtesy to their own teacher. Some of these kids are a hoot, and of course, the Irish names are fantastic – like twins Feargus and Aengus!
The writing, as is the case in the prior book, Death in D Minor, is immaculate. Even the ARC is cleanly edited and doesn’t have so much as a misplaced comma to distract from the story. Author Alexia Gordon writes her dialogue so that it not only sounds natural, but it also brings the personality of each character to life in a unique way. There are a lot of characters in Killing in C Sharp, some familiar and many new, but it’s never hard to keep up because each is so well-defined. Readers will likely reflect how Gethsemane feels about each person she encounters, and it’s difficult to figure out the whodunit angle since we don’t see anything that Gethsemane doesn’t see.
In true form, Gethsemane makes some bad decisions that put her in some precarious predicaments. This increases the speed of the page-turning, but it always irritates me a little because she’s smarter than that. She takes risks but not advice, even when the advice is solid. Holy cow, Gethsemane is flawed, which I guess is another reason I enjoy her adventures. Admittedly, the paranormal/technology aspect towards the end of the book got a little weird for me, and it tied-up a bit too easily and neatly for something so complex. However, I happily suspend my disbelief because I just enjoy being in Gethsemane’s world so much. I really hope there’s another book coming so I can venture back there.
I highly recommend this book and this series for readers looking for a refreshing, outside-of-the box cozy mystery with quirky characters. Thank you to Lone Star Book Blog Tours and the author for providing me an eBook in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
HOW ABOUT A BOOK AND A BOURBON?
One winner receives a signed copy of Killing in C Sharp and
a bottle of Koval Bourbon Whiskey
One winner receives a signed copy of Killing in C Sharp and
a bottle of Koval Bourbon Whiskey
Winner must be at least 21 and shipping of alcohol permitted by laws of the state where prize is being delivered. In the event above conditions not met, an alternate prize will be awarded.
MARCH 13-22, 2018
(US ONLY)
3/13/18
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Notable Quotable
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3/13/18
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Promo
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3/14/18
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Review
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3/14/18
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Bonus Post
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3/15/18
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Notable Quotable
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3/15/18
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Review
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3/16/18
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Author Interview
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3/16/18
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Author Favorites
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3/17/18
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Review
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3/18/18
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Review
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3/19/18
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Excerpt
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3/19/18
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Notable Quotable
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3/20/18
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Review
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3/21/18
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Scrapbook Page
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3/21/18
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Promo
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3/22/18
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Review
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