Monday, February 2, 2015

Book Tour and giveaway- Death and the RedHeaded Woman by Loretta Ross

Happy Monday! So glad to be part of this blog tour. Death and the Red Headed Woman by Loretta Ross was a great  read. Leave a comment and email for a chance to win a copy of this book!

Welcome Loretta, I am excited for this book and know other readers will love it too.

great escape tour banner large death and the red headed woman640

Death & The Red Headed Woman
by Loretta Ross

Death and the Redheaded Woman
Death and the Redheaded Woman
(An Auction Block Mystery)

Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: MIDNIGHT INK (February 8, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0738743936
goodreads-badge-add-plus


Synopsis
Auctioneer Wren Morgan is cataloging the contents of the Campbell house, an ante-bellum mansion with a Civil War-era lost jewels legend. She was hoping to find something interesting, but the naked dead guy on the stairs is an unwelcome surprise. When the body turns out to belong to a small-time criminal with ties to a more recent jewel heist, Wren suddenly finds herself face-to-face with Death.
Death Bogart (pronounced “Deeth”) is a disabled Marine combat vet, down on his luck and trying to start over as a private eye and part-time bounty hunter. The stolen jewels he’s searching for are the final evidence needed to convict a murderer — and the reward money could turn Death’s life around.
In Wren, Death finds a friend and a willing ally — someone to help him learn to overcome his new physical limitations, and possibly even a second chance at love. But Death and Wren aren’t the only ones searching for treasure. Two ruthless men are also on the hunt, and they will do anything to eliminate the competition. To survive, Death and Wren will have to solve two mysteries spanning a century and a half and outwit a pair of cold-blooded killers.
My Review:
Wren and Death are great characters that really bring this story to life, you will be intrigued and captivated.  Loretta Ross has a hit with this page- turner. She holds your interest until the end and makes you want more. I am eager to see where Wren and Death will go next. 
Guest Post :
Hello, Shelley! Thank you so much for inviting me to visit your blog today.
My first book, Death and the Redheaded Woman, is a cozy mystery about the adventures of redheaded auctioneer Wren Morgan and Death (pronounced "Deeth") Bogart, a disabled Marine combat vet turned private eye and part-time bounty hunter. I thought you might be interested in the story behind why I made Death a former member of the Corps.
Jerry Dean Hicks, one of my nine half-brothers, was fifteen years older than I. I was only three when he joined the Marines and was sent to Vietnam. My early memories of him are sketchy at best. In his absence, a big teddy bear he'd given me (Jerry Bear) stood as his avatar. He was a distant ideal -- strong and brave and not entirely real. A proud young man in a dress-blue uniform in a picture in the Camp Pendleton yearbook. A fun almost-stranger who got leave one Christmas and showed up unexpectedly.
Someone taught me the words to the Marine Corps Hymn and I remember perching on top of my swing set and singing them to the summer sky. I told people proudly that my big brother was a Marine.
War is not kind to anyone. Indeed, if war is anything, it is unkindness made manifest. Jerry was wounded in action twice, but I believe his deepest wounds were ones that left no physical scars.  He returned a troubled young man to a troubled nation, cast off his medals, grew out his hair and joined the peace movement.
I saw him briefly when I was in my mid-teens. He hitchhiked across country, from Oregon to Missouri, with a big hound dog named Lady for a companion. He looked so different, a long-haired hippy in ragged denim, that Mom didn't even recognize him at first.
We thought that he had come home to stay, but he was struggling with addiction and alcoholism. He found it difficult to hold down a job and, before long, he returned to the West Coast.
I didn't see Jerry again until the spring of 2000, when our mother suddenly passed away. For the first time we met and talked as two adults. I liked him. He was intelligent and funny and warm and kind. If our ages, and war, and distance hadn't intervened, I think we could have been really close. He'd fallen in love with a woman named Bobbie and with her help he'd gotten clean and sober. He worked for the Oregon Department of Conservation. He and Bobbie ran a private, no-kill animal shelter from their home in Deadwood, Oregon and he was active in raising awareness of those soldiers who are still MIA/POW, and the quest to bring them home.
Tragically, he'd lost Bobbie to a brain tumor less than a year before Mom died.
A couple days after the funeral I drove him to the airport and we hugged goodbye with promises to stay in touch and visit more. Life, however, intervened, and that was the last time I saw him. He kept up the animal shelter for as long as he could, but a few years later he was diagnosed with Parkinson's and in October of 2011 he passed away. He was just over a month shy of his 61st birthday.
And...I never really knew him. But looking back on his life now, I have tremendous compassion for that idealistic young Marine and for the troubled man that war twisted him into. And I have tremendous respect for the strength with which he overcame the obstacles in a difficult life and the grace and dignity with which he lived out his final years.
That's why, when I was writing Death Bogart, I chose to make him a former Marine. Now, mind you, Death is not Jerry. But he wore the uniform as an homage to Jerry.
And if the Army and the Navy/ should ever look on Heaven's scene/ they will find the streets are guarded by/ my United States Marine.

Author Photo

About This Author
 Loretta Ross is a writer and historian who lives and works in rural Missouri. She is an alumna of Cottey College and holds a BA in archaeology from the University of Missouri – Columbia. She has loved mysteries since she first learned to read. Death and the Redheaded Woman will be her first published novel.
My Website is at http://www.lorettasueross.com.
My blog is connected to my website athttp://lorettasueross.com/blog/
I’m on Twitter as @lorettasueross and my profile page is at https://twitter.com/lorettasueross
Purchase Links:
Amazon B&N Book Depository

43 comments:

  1. Looks like an excellent read, hope to get a chance to read it :)
    jslbrown2009(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  2. The characters sound very interesting. Must add this one to my TBR list.

    lag110 at mchsi dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a great read!
    dnrocker@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. This sounds like a great book. Thank you.fpr the chance.
    Moonbay7399@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like a lot of fun and I love page turners!!! Thank you for the chance.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the backstory for the private eye character. Thanks for the giveaway! raquel36m(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  7. This sounds like a great read~I love the title. Thank you for the chance to win a copy and I wish you great success with your writing!
    woodrumbetty@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. As the daughter and sister of Army veterans and the aunt of a Marine, your story hits home. I'd love to read this book and hope to have that chance.
    rjprazak6@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Rebecca! I have a nephew who's a Marine also, though he's less than four years younger than I am, so he's seems more like I imagine a younger brother would. He likes to make a point of reminding me that I'm older so I make a point of reminding him that *I* still have hair. ;)

      Thanks for visiting today! :)

      Delete
  9. Sounds like a wonderful read—thanks for the opportunity to win a copy!

    skkorman AT bellsouth DOT net

    ReplyDelete
  10. This sounds like a really good book. I love hearing the backstory of how Death came to be.

    Angie Young
    angiey1974@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. A captivating and interesting feature and wonderful giveaway. Many thanks. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Death and the Red-Headed Woman sounds special. Best wishes. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you for inviting me to your lovely blog today, Shelley! :) I really appreciate everything you all are doing. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you for hosting this. it is such a great way to hear about new books and authors.
    libbydodd at comcast dot net

    ReplyDelete
  15. This series looks like a keeper. The type that I harass the author till she mails me a bookplate to place in the book. I love collecting new cozy mysteries and my library is currently at 1823 books and growing. I'm thinking about buying the apartment next door to turn into a library.

    NoraAdrienne at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd better get some bookplates made up! Your library sounds great. :)

      Delete
    2. Now that's an awesome home library! Go next door to pick out a book. :)

      Delete
  16. New author to me, I really liked what she had to say about her brother.

    kaye.killgore@comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm a new author all around. :) Thanks for reading my guest post! :)

      Delete
  17. The cover alone says BUY ME! It sounds like a great read. Definitely going on the wishlist. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Looks like a fun read. Love the history.

    gibsonbk at hiwaay dot net

    ReplyDelete
  19. Auctions can be fun---but be careful not to spent too much money! I'd love to read this book.
    suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. Death & The Red Headed Woman sounds like an excellent book! I am looking forward to reading it.
    myrifraf(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  21. LOVE the cover!!
    thank you for the giveaway!!

    cyn209 at juno dot com

    ReplyDelete
  22. Looks Like A Great Fun book Thanks for the chance iamabho@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. This looks like such a good book! Thanks for the giveaway!

    bstrickland470(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  24. This looks fabulous! Love the cover! Thank you for the chance to win :)
    heatheranne99 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  25. Love finding new authors :)
    amy2read at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  26. Winner is Kaye Kilgore! Congratulations!!

    ReplyDelete

First in Series- Miss Julia Speaks her Mind by Ann B. Ross

Happy Monday! This week's First in Series is Miss Julia Speaks her Mind by Ann B. Ross Released on August 22, 2000. Seri...