Alert on Liz Fielding, Murder in Bloom #Giveaways

 

 

 

MEET ABBY FINCH. SHE’S A BUSY MUM OF THREE, AN EXPERT GARDENER AND THE STAR OF YOUR NEW FAVOURITE COZY MURDER MYSTERY.

One part jealousy. Two parts rage. Somewhere in Abby’s sleepy little village, the perfect murder is brewing . . .

Abby enters the Maybridge Flower Show, never dreaming for one moment that she’ll win the gold. Or an invitation to appear on telly, alongside gardening legend Daisy Dashwood!

Some people say Daisy’s a tiresome diva. But starry-eyed Abby can’t wait for the cameras to start rolling. Until . . .

Daisy staggers out on stage. Only to collapse at Abby’s feet.

Her demise might seem like a tragic accident — resulting from a cocktail of booze and hay-fever medicine.

But Abby’s not so sure. She starts digging, to uncover shifty suspects at every turn. From snarky co-stars to a toy-boy lover, they all had reason to want Daisy dead and gone.

And that’s not the only puzzle playing on Abby’s mind . . .

In life, Daisy went nowhere without her trusty caddy of healing teas. Now it’s vanished.

What if someone’s been tampering with Daisy’s favourite cuppa?

Buy on:
Amazon Kindle            Amazon UK           Amazon Aust

1. If you have a pen name, can you explain how you came up with it?

Far fewer authors use a pen name these days, but when my first book was accepted by Mills and Boon it was the norm and anyway, I was told, my own name wasn't "romantic" enough. I suspect these days, the fact that my married name is the same as a very popular female TV presenter who is famous for her craft shows would have made it a great deal more acceptable!

I was asked to come up with half a dozen names for my editor to look at. The book was going to acquisition that day and I had half an hour. I wrote down pretty much the first six names that came into my head. Given more time I might have chosen slightly differently, but Liz is my mother's name and - as was quite common when choosing pseudonyms - I used the name of a famous historical author for my second. After more than thirty years I'm as comfortable with it as my own name although one of my husband's friends, a fan of Romancing the Stone, always called me "Joan Wilder".

2. What are a few things we would find in or on your desk?

Help... Well on good days there's a lamp, several mugs stuffed with pens, a candle - the idea being that when I light the candle it's writing time - tissues, eyedrops (dry eyes), hand cream, the pair of glasses that I'm not wearing, my trusty magnifying glass. This was bought as a fun item when I had my first crime novel published, but has proved endlessly useful. My diary, my trusty thesaurus - probably my fourth since they tend to fall to bits - notebooks, my phone. There's a paper rack stuffed with postcards, bookmarks and the take-away menu from the local Thai restaurant. And always, always, a large mug of tea.

3. What motivates you to write?

The motivation to write is the challenge. From my first attempt at writing a 600 word story for the famous children's spot on the BBC - Listen With Mother. Surely I could do that. I could, but it's a lot harder than it sounds. Each challenge I set myself I eventually conquered - although getting published by Mills and Boon took longer! Even then I was always pushing the envelope with M&B. The first time, back in 1998, when I decided to include the hero viewpoint which didn't happen back then but Eloping With Emmy was a game-changer for me. City Girl in Training was the first book I wrote in the first-person -  again not done - but it was nominated for a RITA. And then, the toughest one of all, The Marriage Miracle with the heroine in a wheelchair. And that did win a RITA. 

And then, when we went into lockdown, I faced the challenge to step away from romance and write Murder Among the Roses, the crime novel that had been in my head for a very long time. It was a huge learning experience and I was stunned when Joffe offered me a three-book contract. Their faith in me has been rewarded with nominations for both The People's Book Prize in the UK and The Daphne du Maurier Award in the US.

4. Share something about yourself no one else knows?

Honestly, I'm an open-book however a recent exchange on Twitter suggests that my love for a banana sandwich is a bit odd. Who knew?

5 Tell us about your book...

Murder in Bloom, the third in the Maybridge Murder Mystery series, opens early in the morning on the first day of the Maybridge Show. My garden-designer heroine and sleuth, Abby Finch is being congratulated by locally-born celebrity gardener and national treasure, Daisy Dashwood, for her show garden. Daisy, who famously suffers from hay fever and a rumoured a drink problem is decidedly unsteady on her feet, is going to present her television show The Potting Shed from the main marquee and invites Abby to join her on stage.

She doesn't wait for an answer - who would say no? - but staggers on to waspishly criticise the next garden, designed by a Quentin Latimer-Blythe who is supposed to be her guest on the show, but with whom she has "history". Daisy, it would seem, isn't quite the "sweetheart" of her PR image. Later, with The Potting Shed show about to go live on air, Quentin has left in a huff and Daisy is missing. Abby is left to hold the fort until Daisy staggers onto the stage and collapses at her feet.

When there is no obvious cause of death, but any number of people with a motive to see Daisy dead, her friend, DI Iain Glover turns to Abby for help.

 Multiple Giveaway Alert! 

Kindle copy of Murder Among the Roses 

Kindle copy of Murder Under the Mistletoe

Kindle copy of Murder in Bloom

Audio codes for Murder Among the Roses & Murder Under the Mistletoe

Let us know in the comments which giveaway would you like to go in for! 

Liz Fieding

Liz Fielding met her husband when they were both working in Zambia and were keen members of the Lusaka Theatre Club. He was playing John de Stogumber in St Joan, and she was the pageboy to the Earl of Warwick. He swore it was the purple tights that got him.

 

Years spent in Africa and the Middle East provided the background to many of Liz's romances. Her first, An Image of You, was set in Kenya, in a place where they had spent many happy weekends on safari. It was plucked from the slush pile because the feisty feminist heroine made her editor laugh. Emotion touched with humour has been the hallmark of her work ever since.

 

After writing 70 books for Harlequin Mills and Boon, Liz has now turned to crime, signing with Joffe Books for three "Maybridge Mysteries", the first of which, Murder Among the Roses, is published on 18th April.

 

 

Liz Fielding on the web:

 

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