Title: Evil Alice and the Borzoi
Author: DK Coutant
Genre: Mystery
Book Blurb:
Cleo Cooper, a cross-cultural psychology professor, is living the dream on the Big Island of Hawaii. With ocean-dipping weekends, she enjoys her dog, her job, and her boyfriend Ben - until the day she’s on a research vessel and a dead body is caught in the dragline. The police call it murder and set their sights on a gentle former student, Kai. It doesn’t take much urging from Kai’s auntie for Cleo to investigate. But Ben grows distant, and Cleo’s dog grows ill. A couple of accidental deaths later and someone makes an attempt on her life. Will Cleo survive the dark side of paradise?
Excerpt:
As I was musing ‘what ifs’, my eyes drifted to an intense mountain of a man in a red shirt so saturated with color I expected it to drip onto his jeans. The almost-to-the-elbow sleeves revealed ropey forearms the color of a dried kukui nut. The bones in his broad face, made me think of a tiger, not traditionally handsome, but arresting. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Almost as if he could feel my scrutiny, he turned his head and looked directly at me. My pulse quickened and I froze - an impala trapped in the gaze of a predator. I couldn’t look away. A barely perceptible smile appeared on his face. He knew the effect he was having on me. Embarrassment gave me the strength to jerk my eyes down to my feet.
What the hell was wrong with me? Maybe low blood sugar? I didn’t eat much breakfast.
I risked a glance back at him. Damn, he was still looking at me with his self-assured smile. He greeted my glance with a hint of a nod and turned his attention back to the speaker. Flustered, I too looked back at the speaker, but I couldn’t make out what the guy was saying so I went back to looking at the crowd, carefully avoiding the red-shirted predator.
There were a lot of locals who I didn’t know, but I saw Rikki and Gina standing together. No sign of Kawika, Gina’s cop-husband. I would have thought the police would want to come to the funeral as part of an investigation now that they suspected foul play.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
What’s your favorite activity to shake off the winter doldrums?
I love the extremes. I either bundle up and go skiing, or skip town and find a warm beach. Or, the next best thing, read a book and let the protagonist face the cold or hassles with traveling instead of me. LOL!
Why is your featured book a cure for the winter blues?
In case you can’t get away to a beach to warm up, Evil Alice and the Borzoi takes place on the Big Island of Hawaii. And you can vicariously play in the sun and surf with Cleo.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $35 Amazon gift card
Open internationally.
Runs March 1 – 31, 2024
Drawing will be held on April 1, 2024.
Author Biography:
DK Coutant’s not-to-dark, not-too-light mystery set in Hawaii, Evil Alice and the Borzoi, was released in March by The Wild Rose Press. DK lived the dream as a cross-cultural psychology professor in Hawaii for many years before leaving to write and forecast geopolitical events. (https://goodjudgment.com/Inc and INFER https://www.infer-pub.com/ She loves traveling, writing, her dog, and her husband (not necessarily in that order). For more information https://www.dkcoutant.com/
Social Media Links:
On Facebook: DK Coutant
On Mastodon: @dkcoutant@lor.sh
On Instagram: @dkcanddog
On Twitter: @dkcoutant