Frozen Stiff Drink: Death at Danby Landing, the 6th book in the Braxton Campus Mysteries, will go on a blog tour with Great Escapes Virtual Blog Tours from March 18th through 27th, 2020. The book is currently available for pre-sale. You can order the Kindle version today for $2.99 via Amazon, and it will be delivered in the coming weeks to you via email. The paperback version will be available in about one month, and the official publication date is March 18th, 2020.
Who’s Participating?
March 18 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – SPOTLIGHT
March 18 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – CHARACTER GUEST POST
March 19 – Valerie’s Musings – REVIEW
March 19 – Diane Reviews Books – GUEST POST
March 20 – Carla Loves To Read – REVIEW
March 20 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
March 21 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – SPOTLIGHT
March 21 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
March 22 – Gimme The Scoop Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
March 23 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW
March 23 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
March 23 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW
March 24 – Mysteries with Character – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
March 24 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT
March 25 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
March 25 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
March 26 – eBook addicts – REVIEW
March 26 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
March 27 – Rosepoint Publishing – REVIEW
March 27 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
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I’m very excited to share this book with everyone. If you’re interested in being on the tour, feel free to reach out to Great Escapes. In case you don’t remember where we left off at the end of the fifth book, Haunted House Ghost, someone said:
“I’ll be fine, but your family won’t be. I saw something, Kellan. Something about the past and the future colliding for the Danby and Ayrwick families. It will be tragic, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
Frozen Stiff Drink picks up several months later, in the harsh winter season, where a series of murders changes the future of Wharton County, Pennsylvania. As always, the titles have a significant clue about the mystery, and this time, the play on words is amazing. Frozen Stiff and Stiff Drink are two phrases we all know… Whether a person is freezing cold or we’ve found a dead body, it’s clear what ‘frozen stiff’ refers to. If you need a ‘stiff drink,’ things must not be going well… and when it comes to murder weapons, this title couldn’t be more accurate. I won’t say anything else, as I want to surprise and amuse readers… but I’ll leave you with one last thought before you read the overview of the story: You’ll never guess what’s coming this time. As you’ve come to experience with all the endings in this series, be prepared to get the shock of your life!
Overview
A winter blizzard barrels toward Wharton County with a vengeance. Madam Zenya predicted the raging storm would change the course of Kellan’s life, but the famed seer never could’ve prepared him for all the collateral damage. Nana D disappears after visiting a patient at Willow Trees, leaving behind a trail of confusion. When the patient turns up dead, and second body is discovered beneath the snowbanks, Kellan must face his worst fears. What tragedy has befallen his beloved grandmother?
Kellan’s brother Hampton learns essential life lessons the hard way after his father-in-law accuses him of embezzlement. While trying to prove his innocence, Hampton digs himself a deeper hole that might lead to prison. Sheriff Montague wants to save him, but she receives the shock of her life as the past hurtles forward and complicates her future.
Between locating Nana D and solving the scandalous murder of another prominent Braxton citizen, Kellan and April’s worlds explode with more turmoil than they can handle. Too bad neither one of them knows what to do about the psychic’s latest premonition. The suspicious deaths happening around town aren’t ending anytime soon.
*** PAST BOOKS IN SERIES ***
Braxton Campus Mysteries Series
A clever mystery series debuting in October 2018 and focusing on amateur sleuth, Kellan Ayrwick, an early-thirties single father who solves crimes in his Pennsylvania hometown while attending to his day job as a professor at Braxton University. Oh yeah, he’s a Hollywood director and the middle child in a huge family that loves to torture him.
- Academic Curveball: Death at the Sports Complex (Oct 2018)
- Broken Heart Attack: Death at the Theater (Dec 2018)
- Flower Power Trip: Death at the Masquerade Ball (Mar 2019)
- Mistaken Identity Crisis: Death on the Cable Car (Jun 2019)
- Haunted House Ghost: Death at the Fall Festival (Oct 2019)
Academic Curveball: Death at the Sports Complex (#1)
When Kellan Ayrwick, a thirty-two-year-old single father, is forced to return home for his father’s retirement from Braxton College, he finds the dead body of a professor in Diamond Hall’s stairwell. Unfortunately, Kellan has a connection to the victim, and so do several members of his family. Could one of them be guilty of murder? Then he finds a second body after discovering mysterious donations to the college’s athletic program, a nasty blog denouncing his father, and a criminal attempting to change student grades so the star baseball pitcher isn’t expelled. Someone is playing games on campus, but none of the facts add up. With the help of his eccentric and trouble-making nana weeding through the clues, Kellan tries to stay out of the sheriff’s way. Fate has other plans. Kellan is close to discovering the killer’s identity just as someone he loves is put in grave danger of becoming victim number three. And if that’s not enough to wreak havoc on his family, everything comes crashing to a halt when his own past comes spiraling back to change his life forever. In this debut novel in the Braxton Campus Mystery Series, readers discover a cozy, secluded Pennsylvania village full of quirky, sarcastic, and nosy residents. Among the daily workings of Braxton College and the charming Ayrwick family, Kellan weighs his investigative talents against an opportunity to achieve a much sought-after dream. When this first book ends, the drama is set for the next adventure in Kellan’s future… and it’s one you won’t want to miss.
Broken Heart Attack: Death at the Theater (#2)
When an extra ticket becomes available to attend the dress rehearsal of Braxton’s King Lear production, Kellan tags along with Nana D and her buddies, sisters-in-law Eustacia and Gwendolyn Paddington, to show support for the rest of the Paddington family. When one of them appears to have a heart attack in the middle of the second act, Nana D raises her suspicions and asks Kellan to investigate who killed her friend. Amidst family members suddenly in debt and a secret rendezvous between an unlikely pair, Kellan learns the Paddingtons might not be as clean-cut as everyone thinks. But did one of them commit murder for an inheritance? Kellan is back in his second adventure since returning home to Pennsylvania. With his personal life in upheaval and his new boss, Myriam, making life difficult, will he be able to find a killer or will he get caught up in his own version of stage fright?
Flower Power Trip: Death at the Masquerade Ball (#3)
Braxton College is throwing the Heroes & Villains Costume Extravaganza to raise money for renovations to the antiquated Memorial Library. While attending, Kellan stumbles upon a close family friend standing over a dead body that’s dressed as Dr. Evil. Did one of Maggie’s sisters kill an annoying guest at the Roarke and Daughters Inn or does the victim have a more intimate connection to someone else on campus? As Kellan helps the school’s president, Ursula, bury a scandalous secret from her past and unearth the identity of her stalker, he unexpectedly encounters a missing member of his own family who’s reappeared after a lengthy absence. When all the peculiar events around town trace back to the Stoddards, a new family who recently moved to Wharton County, the explosive discovery only offers more confusion. Between the special flower exhibit that’s made an unplanned stop on campus and strange postcards arriving each week from all around the world, Kellan can’t decide which mystery in his life should take priority. Unfortunately, the biggest one of all has yet to arrive at his doorstep. When it does, Kellan won’t know what hit him.
Mistaken Identity Crisis: Death on the Cable Car (#4)
A clever thief with a sinister calling card has invaded Braxton campus. A string of jewelry thefts continues to puzzle the sheriff given they’re remarkably similar to an unsolved eight-year-old case from shortly before Gabriel vanished one stormy night. When a missing ruby is discovered near an electrified dead body during the campus cable car redesign project, Kellan must investigate the real killer to protect his brother. Amidst sorority hazing practices and the victim’s connections to several prominent Wharton County citizens, a malicious motive becomes more obvious and trickier to prove. As if the latest murder isn’t enough to keep him busy, Kellan partners with April to end the Castigliano and Vargas crime family feud. What really happened to Francesca while all those postcards showed up in Braxton? The mafia world is more calculating than Kellan realized, and if he wants to move forward, he must make a few ruthless sacrifices. Election Day is over, and the new mayor takes office. Nana D celebrates her 75th birthday with an adventure. A double wedding occurs at Crilly Lake on Independence Day. And Kellan receives a few more surprises as the summer heat settles in Wharton County.
Haunted House Ghost: Death at the Fall Festival (#5)
It’s Halloween, and excitement is brewing in Braxton to carve jack-o’-lanterns, go on haunted hayrides, and race through the spooky corn maze at the Fall Festival. Despite the former occupant’s warnings, Kellan renovates and moves into a mysterious old house. When a ruthless ghost promises retribution, our fearless professor turns to the eccentric town historian and an eerie psychic to communicate with the apparition. Meanwhile, construction workers discover a fifty-year-old skeleton after breaking ground on the new Memorial Library wing. While Kellan and April dance around the chemistry sparking between them, a suspicious accident occurs at the Fall Festival. Soon, Kellan discovers the true history and dastardly connections of the Grey family. But can he capture the elusive killer – and placate the revenge-seeking ghost.
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About Me
For those new to me or my reviews… here’s the scoop: I’m Jay, an contemporary fiction, family drama, and mystery author who lives in NYC. My stand-alone novel, Father Figure, can be purchased on Amazon as electronic copies or physical copies. My co-written metaphysical drama about past lives, Weathering Old Souls, is a partnership with the amazing Didi Oviatt. My family drama series, Perceptions of Glass, has two books: (1) Watching Glass Shatter and (2) Hiding Cracked Glass. My clever book series, Braxton Campus Mysteries, will fit those who love cozy mysteries and crime investigations but with a twist. There are eight books: Academic Curveball, Broken Heart Attack, Flower Power Trip, Mistaken Identity Crisis, Haunted House Ghost, Frozen Stiff Drink, Legally Blind Luck, and Sleigh Bell Tower. I read, write, and blog A LOT on this site where you can also find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.
Woo Hoo, Can’t wait to read this one.
Thank you! I”m anxiously awaiting the final format to review before I can send it out!