Casting Call for a Corpse
Casting Call for a Corpse: A Fun Detective Cozy (The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries)
by Heather Haven
About Casting Call for a Corpse
Casting Call for a Corpse: A Fun Detective Cozy (The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Publisher: The Wives of Bath Press (August 1, 2020)
Print Length: 295 pages
Digital ASIN: B08BR6H1GV
A DETECTIVE AGENCY WITH HEART.
AND A WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!
Super sleuth, Lee Alvarez, finds a dead man wearing a tuxedo in a friend’s bathtub during a soiree for San Francisco’s VIPs. And not just any friend, but an internationally acclaimed actress who recently came to live in San Francisco. And not just any bathtub, but a bathtub residing inside one of Alamo Square’s famed Painted Ladies, recently bought by said actress.
The police believe it’s the actress friend who done the man in. After all, it’s her house and her tub. And another man died under suspicious circumstances around her recently. Both romantic encounters, doncha know. The actress must be guilty.
Or is she?
For ace detective Lee Alvarez, the timing couldn’t be worse. She is supposed to go off in celebration of her 6-month wedding anniversary with her hunky hubby. Paris is calling!
Or is it?
Her long-time friend, plus her mother – She Who Must Be Obeyed – thinks she should stick around and find out who the real killer is. So Lee, family, handsome hubby, and Tugger, the cat, are on the job. But Lee’s nose is itching. Which means not one of the suspects is telling the truth.
Or not all of it. Lee soon uncovers threatening letters, sullen playwrights, dead bodies, and a criminal web of jewel thieves, all treading the boards of her friend’s latest musical. This is showbiz?
Author Haven pulls out all the stops in a cozy fan’s delight about a charming, and unconventional Palo Alto detective family who get their man or woman, as the case may be. Book Seven follows its tradition of the Bay Area’s favorite PI, who rolls over with all four paw in the air when it comes to her darn near perfect mother. But with the help of her computer geek brother and handsome hubby, Lee works to solve the case in time to celebrate her own 6-month wedding anniversary.
A Word from Lee Alvarez...
On my mother,
The-Never-Had-A-Bad-Hair-Day,
Lila Hamilton Alvarez
By
Lee Alvarez
My mother makes me crazy. I say this because she is perfect. I once heard a joke that went like this: Two men are drinking at a bar. One man says to the other, “What brings you here every night? For me, my wife can’t do anything right. I can’t stand being around her.” The second man shakes his head and replies, “It’s not my wife’s faults that are killing me. It’s her virtues.” The first man says, “Wow! You have my sympathy. That’s even worse.”
I can relate to the second man’s point of view like nobody’s business. All my life I have lived in the shadow of the most beautiful, in-control, stylish, intelligent, and knowledgeable woman on this planet, my mother, the Blond Ice Princess.
Since I was a little kid, my girlfriends used to tell me how lucky I was to have such a ‘with it and gorgeous’ mom. When I got a little older, all my boyfriends developed huge crushes on her. I think most of them hung out with me, just to get to her.
When Dad was alive, he said Mom was the only woman alive to clean fish in a beaded Halston gown. Mom would respond, arching one of her famous eyebrows, that she didn’t see anything wrong with that, because she always wore an apron over it. Then they’d both laugh. It was a running joke between them.
These two were seriously in love. Dad worshiped Mom and Mom adored Dad. They were a modern day Romeo and Juliet, he the Mexican immigrant made good, and her the Palo Alto blueblood.
I’m told I take after my father in nearly every way. Dark hair, twilight colored eyes, fiery temper. When I was a kid, everybody said, “Lee’s got Roberto’s features but not his fixtures.”
Not that anyone ever said this around Mom. First of all, too crude. Gender-based innuendos are not made around L. H. Alvarez. She would be scandalized. And secondly, my mother can’t stand it when people use nicknames or abbreviations. She calls it lazy. I have been called Liana, since I dropped out of the womb. Whoops. Scratch that remark. Back to being too crude.
And what really makes her crazy – ha ha - is how at the tender age of eleven, I became enamored of Dashiell Hammett, the quintessential writer of hard-boiled detective stories. Dad had given me a set of the famous writer’s books for my birthday and, man oh man, it changed my life. I never looked back. Becoming a PI was the next logical step.
You could say I cut my teeth on Sam Spade. That’s who I emulate. Of course, I like to wear a Vera Wang and sip on a Starbuck’s mocha latté as I emulate.
Well, after all, I am my mother’s daughter.
About Heather Haven
Heather moved to the Bay Area and studied creative writing at Stanford University. Previously, several of her comedy acts and plays were performed in NYC. Her novels include the humorous Silicon Valley-based Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, Manhattan-based Persephone Cole Vintage Mysteries, Love Can Be Murder Novellas, Snow Lake Romantic Suspense Series and standalone mystery noir, Murder under the Big Top, based upon her mother’s stint as a performer with Ringling Brothers’ Circus. There is also her anthology, Corliss and Other Award-Winning Stories. Her favorite protagonist is in Corliss, one of the featured short stories, but don’t tell anyone!
Author Links
Website – http://heatherhavenstories.com/, Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/HeatherHavenStories/,
Purchase Link – Amazon
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
August 24 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
August 24 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
August 25 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – SPOTLIGHT
August 26 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT
August 26 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
August 27 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
August 27 – ebook addicts – SPOTLIGHT
August 28 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – GUEST POST
August 29 – My Journey Back – CHARACTER GUEST POST
August 30 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – REVIEW
August 31 – Christa Reads and Writes – GUEST POST
August 31 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW
August 31 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 1 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 1 – I Read What You Write – GUEST POST
September 2 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 2 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT
September 3 – CelticLady ‘s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 3 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
September 4 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
September 5 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 5 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
September 6 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT
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