Title: Death by Jelly Beans
Author: Susie Black
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Book Blurb:
Mermaid Swimwear President Holly Schlivnik discovers the Bainbridge Department Store Easter Bunny slumped over dead and obnoxious swimwear buyer Sue Ellen Magee is arrested for the crime. Despite her differences with the nasty buyer, Holly is convinced the Queen of Mean didn’t do it. The wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to nail the real killer. But the trail has more twists than a pretzel and more turns than a rollercoaster. And nothing turns out how Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent on revenge.
Excerpt:
The door to Sue Ellen’s office flew open and a six-foot tall rabbit I’d later learn named Pedro Conejo, President of Rent a Rabbit Characters, stalked out and bowled me over as I tried vainly to get out of his way.
The messenger bag containing samples and the presentation information fell off my shoulder and bounced across the room. The flap of the unzipped messenger bag flipped open, scattering everything inside it from one end of the room to the other.
The rabbit gripped the two ears atop the head with his paws. He ripped the headpiece straight up and off with a furious jerk and shoved it under his right armpit. He turned, faced Sue Ellen’s open door, and screamed loud enough for anyone at the mart three blocks away to hear. “You can’t prove a damned thing. Think you’ll get away with this? We have a contract. I’ll get you fired for this; you bitch!”
Then the rabbit removed the left paw of his costume with his teeth and gave Sue Ellen the middle finger salute. He hurdled over my prone body splayed out on the floor and stomped out of the office without so much as an apology for knocking me over, let alone an offer to help me up.
I sat up and poked my extremities to make sure nothing more than my pride had been injured. Satisfied my body, if not my self-respect, remained in one piece, I shook myself to get out the kinks the way my standard poodle Siggie does after a bath. I stretched as far as possible and grabbed the messenger bag. I spent the next five minutes crawling on all fours around the room, stuffing everything back inside the case. Note to self: Next time, zip the damned bag closed.
As I shoved the last sample back in the messenger bag, Sue Ellen’s assistant came out of the buyer’s office and observed me sprawled across the floor. I bit the inside of my cheek not to laugh as Abby deadpanned. “Sue Ellen will see you now.”
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What’s your favorite thing about autumn:
Fall in the Desert
When you live in a challenging environment as I do in the desert, the changes in the weather are something you are in tune with daily. While the weather can change here at the drop of a hat, one thing you can count on is most of the time, it is gonna be hot. So, if blast furnace heat for half of the year is not your thing, then moving to the desert is not for you. Yet here I am... now for over twenty years...good grief. Desert living is not for sissies. But just when you say you have had enough and you’re ready to move to a cooler place, Mother Nature shakes her finger at you and convinces you to stick around. Halloween is traditionally the day the celestial switch flips and the desert weather changes from Hell on Earth to Heaven on Earth. Fall is nature's way of apologizing for summer. I prefer to think of fall as nature's reward for surviving the seemingly endless summer. Like a naughty but adorable child you know you should discipline but laugh at their antics instead, the peaceful atmosphere and the physical beauty of the desert somehow counteract the brutal heat.
What inspired you to write this story:
I was inspired to write this story by a visit to a department store during their Easter Promotional Extravaganza that featured a life-sized Easter Bunny sitting on a throne with a line of small children waiting their turn to speak the bunny and receive a miniature Easter basket filled with jelly beans. When I got home, my imagination took over, and before I knew it, my fingers were flying over the computer keyboard and voila, I created my special version of how a store promotion goes off the rails and a hilarious whodunit is the result.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally.
Runs September 1 – 30, 2024
Drawing will be held on October 1, 2024.
Author Biography:
Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. Susie began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries.
She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.
Social Media Links:
Book Bub: www.bookbub.com/authors/susie-black
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hollysusie1_saved/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@hollyswimsuit