#BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #GuestPost : Not Mushroom For Death – Helen Golden @HelenGoldenAuth

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘Not Mushroom For Death’ blogtour, organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing a guest post written by the author, but first I have some information

About the Author :

Hello. I’m Helen Golden. I write British contemporary cozy whodunnits with a hint of humour. I live in small village in Lincolnshire in the UK with my husband, my step-daughter, her two cats, our two dogs, sometimes my step-son, and our tortoise.
I used to work in senior management, but after my recent job came to a natural end I had the opportunity to follow my dreams and start writing. It’s very early in my life as an author, but so far I’m loving it.
It’s crazy busy at our house, so when I’m writing I retreat to our caravan (an impulsive lockdown purchase) which is mostly parked on our drive. When I really need total peace and quiet, I take it to a lovely site about 15 minutes away and hide there until my family runs out of food or clean clothes

Social Media Links:
Instagram
Facebook
TikTok

About the Book :

TV Chef Luca Mazza Dies After Collapse at Food Show on the King’s Private Estate.
Luca Mazza (38), who was taken ill during a food demonstration at the Fenn House Food and Wine Festival two days ago, is now known to have ingested poison. Lady Beatrice (36), the king’s niece, who is working on a refurbishment project at Fenn House with her business partner Perry Juke (34), is believed to be comforting Luca’s boss and close friend Sebastiano Marchetti (38), who she began dating last month.
Is he crazy? Why else would Detective Chief Inspector Richard Fitzwilliam suggest that Sebastiano poisoned Luca without any evidence? So now, with the help of her little dog Daisy and her best friends Perry and Simon, Lady Beatrice will have to prove to Mr Know-it-all Fitzwilliam that Seb is innocent. But with so many people having access to the food preparation area at the show how will she find out who did murder Luca before Fitzwilliam lets his personal dislike get the better of him and arrests Seb?

Purchase Links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US

And now it’s finally time for the

Never judge a book by its cover … except this one!

Have you ever wondered how a book cover gets from its initial concept to its final version? Well if you have, let me share with you the various iterations the cover of my new release, Not Mushroom For Death, went through before I agreed on the final version.
A book’s cover is its most important asset — when browsing online or in person in a book shop, even before a potential reader has got to the back matter to find out what the book is all about, in most cases they have decided if they want to know more based solely on the cover and the title.
A cover must work very hard. Not only does it have to be aesthetically pleasing and professional looking, but it also needs to give a clear sense of the theme, the action and most importantly, the genre it fits into. It must tell the reader what to expect. Because most readers don’t want to think they’re looking at a thriller just to find out when they read the back matter that it’s actually a paranormal romance, or vice versa — that’s a waste of their time. And for that reason many readers will scroll or walk on pass a book if it isn’t clear from the cover what genre it is.
So how do you convey all that information on the cover of a book?
Well, it’s a combination of colour, fonts, titles and subtitles, images (the type as well as the subject), and composition. Oh and one more thing — it’s got to fit in with other books in the same genre. Again it’s all about what readers expect. Take a look at the cover transition below…

You can see how each iteration made a change or two, whether it was colour, fonts, image, or title, each one moving the cover closer to what cozy mystery readers expect – bold colours, vector type images, clean fonts, series title on the cover, a sense of time-setting (if appropriate). They want to get a feeling that it will be a light and easy read, with often an animal on the cover (if there’s one in the book), and a pun-based title.
Hopefully you’ll agree that the final version is eye catching, fits with the book’s name and is genre appropriate. It’s something a cozy reader will see and recognise as a book they would like to know more about.
So while the old saying of ‘never judge a book by its cover’ is a good rule to live by when it comes to assessing people, in the case of books the truth is that readers really do judge a book by its cover!

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#OneDayBlogBlitz #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #Excerpt : For Richer, For Deader – Helen Golden @HelenGoldenAuth

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘For Richer, For Deader’ blogtour, organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing an extract, but first I have some information

About the Author :

Hello. I’m Helen Golden. I write British contemporary cozy whodunnits with a hint of humour. I live in small village in Lincolnshire in the UK with my husband, my step-daughter, her two cats, our two dogs, sometimes my step-son, and our tortoise.
I used to work in senior management, but after my recent job came to a natural end I had the opportunity to follow my dreams and start writing. It’s very early in my life as an author, but so far I’m loving it.
It’s crazy busy at our house, so when I’m writing I retreat to our caravan (an impulsive lockdown purchase) which is mostly parked on our drive. When I really need total peace and quiet, I take it to a lovely site about 15 minutes away and hide there until my family runs out of food or clean clothes

Social Media Links:
Instagram
Facebook
TikTok

About the Book :

Is the Wedding Between Sir Hewitt Willoughby-Franklin’s Step-Daughter and Billionaire’s Son Off?
Rumours are that the recent death of Kelley Lindsell (29), the personal chef of tycoon Rudy (68) and Sheri Trotman (65) at Sir Hewitt’s Fawstead Manor country estate in Fenshire, has spooked Sybil Bransgrove (36) so badly she’s considering cancelling her nuptials.
Meanwhile the bride and her mother, Lady Grace (61), are being supported by family friend Lady Beatrice (36), the Countess of Rossex, who, alongside her business partner Perry Juke, is currently managing the project to refurbish the Manor House and Lodge on the estate.
Not again! Now that Lady Grace has asked Lady Beatrice to liaise with the police during the investigation into Kelley’s death, she’ll have to cooperate with boorish Detective Chief Inspector Richard Fitzwilliam whether she likes it or not. Her only relief will be solving the murder with the help of her friends Perry and Simon and her dog Daisy to get rid of him faster. But with so many wedding party guests staying on-site, any one of them could be the killer. Can they find out who it is before Sybil calls off the wedding…

Purchase Links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US

And now it’s finally time for the

This is the first scene from the third chapter of For Richer, For Deader. In it Lady Beatrice, the Countess of Rossex, who is seventeenth in line to the British throne, and her business partner Perry Juke discovered the first body, at Fawstead Manor, the recently purchased country home of TV’s Sir Hewitt Willoughby-Franklin and his wife Lady Grace, who is a close friend of Lady Beatrice’s mother, HRH Princess Helen. They are there working on the refurbishment of Fawstead Manor in preparation for the arrival of the wedding party for the marriage of Lady Grace’s daughter Sybil to Otis Trotman, the son and heir of the American billionaire Rudy Trotman.

“Oh my giddy aunt!” Perry Juke exclaimed as he screwed his face up at the sight before him. Turning, his blue eyes now the size of saucers, he stared at Lady Beatrice, who stood just behind him in the sitting room at Fawstead Manor. “What is it?”
Lady Beatrice tentatively stepped forward to inspect the body lying on the low coffee table in front of them. “I think it’s a rat,” she told him.
A rat looks just like a large mouse, doesn’t it?
She peered a little closer at the animal lying on its side in front of her. There was a stiffness about it that suggested it had been dead for a while. The furry body was slightly hunched over, looking like a hairy brownish-grey banana with four legs. It has a much longer tail than I imagined, almost as long as its body. It looked like a large dead mouse. “Yes, I’m fairly sure it’s a rat.”
“Ew.” Perry turned his head away in disgust.
“Indeed,” she replied, screwing up her nose. A dead rat — or in fact, anything dead hadn’t been what they’d expected when they’d walked into the sitting room this morning to do a final check before handing the room over as completed to Lady Grace Willoughby-Franklin, their client.
“Hold on.” Lady Beatrice moved slightly closer still, her focus moving from the rigid form of the rodent to a white piece of paper lying beside it. Reaching the edge of the table, she leaned over and examined it. Oh, that’s not good.
“What?” Perry, curiosity clearly winning over his aversion to dead animals, moved to stand by her side. He reached over the table with his right hand.
“No!” she cried, grabbing his arm before his hand got any closer. “We shouldn’t touch it. There might be fingerprints.”
Perry dropped his arm as she let go, turning to her with a frown.
“Read it; just don’t touch it,” she told him.
As he paused to read it, her eyes roamed over the large bold letters printed on the paper again. Stop this or else.
Perry gasped. “What does that mean?”
“It sounds like a threat to me.”
He pulled a face, giving her a sarcastic smile. “I get that. But stop what?” He shook his head and ran his fingers through his short spiky blond hair. “So what do we do now?”
Straightening up, Lady Beatrice tucked her long red hair behind her ears. “I suppose we should tell Lady Grace, and then she’ll need to call the police.”
Perry snorted. “Good luck with that! I doubt she’ll take kindly to having the police here with the Americans about to arrive.”
He’s right. Lady Grace won’t be happy about this… “I think you should tell her. I’ll stay here and guard the crime scene,” she said hopefully.
Giving a short laugh, Perry shook his head. “Nice try, my lady. But no way.”
“But she likes you, Perry. She says you’re charming,” she protested.
“Well, that’s true, of course.” He gave her a smug smile. “But she scares the life out of me, and she won’t take this well. She’s your mother’s friend, so you should go.”
She scares me too! “Oh, all right,” Lady Beatrice said, giving a huff. “But if she kills me, you’ll have to finish this project on your own and deal with her all the time. So don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
Perry grinned as he took his phone out of his jacket pocket. “She wouldn’t dare hurt a member of the royal family, Bea. You’ll be fine.”
She rolled her eyes, turned around, and headed for the door.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #GuestPost : Spruced Up for Murder – Helen Golden #HelenGolden

– The Magic of Wor(l)ds is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free.
I’m grateful of receiving a free copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review of this book. –

Today I’m delighted to be on the ‘Spruced Up for Murder’ blogtour, organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I’ll be sharing a guest post written by the author, but first I have some information

About the Author :

Hello. I’m Helen Golden. I write British contemporary cozy whodunnits with a hint of humour. I live in small village in Lincolnshire in the UK with my husband, my step-daughter, her two cats, our two dogs, sometimes my step-son, and our tortoise.
I used to work in senior management, but after my recent job came to a natural end I had the opportunity to follow my dreams and start writing. It’s very early in my life as an author, but so far I’m loving it.
It’s crazy busy at our house, so when I’m writing I retreat to our caravan (an impulsive lockdown purchase) which is mostly parked on our drive. When I really need total peace and quiet, I take it to a lovely site about 15 minutes away and hide there until my family runs out of food or clean clothes.

Social Media Links:
Instagram
TikTok
Website
Facebook

About the Book :

Death at Francis Court Now Confirmed as Murder!
Speculation is rife that the victim, estate manager Alex Sterling (44), was found by Lady Beatrice (35), the Countess of Rossex, niece of King James. Lady Beatrice, who has finally come out of hiding following her son’s departure to boarding school, has been managing the project to refurbish and redesign the Events Suite at Francis Court, alongside Perry Juke.
Heading up the murder investigation is Detective Chief Inspector Richard Fitzwilliam. Rumour has it that he and Lady Beatrice have a fractious history…
Awful man! How dare Fitzwilliam suggest Lady Beatrice’s sister is the number one suspect for Alex’s murder. It could be any one of the staff who were on-site that morning. Well, she’ll show Mr High and Mighty Fitzwilliam! With her attention to detail, her clever dog Daisy, Perry’s imagination, and his partner’s contacts at Fenshire CID, they’ll find the murderer before him. And then they’ll see who’ll look like a fool. Because it won’t be Lady Beatrice, will it?
A cozy British Whodunnit with a hint of humour from new author Helen Golden.

Purchase Links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US

And now it’s finally time for the

Why I love cozies

As I’ve got older, I’ve found I have less appetite for gritty, catastrophising drama that is ‘real’ than I used to. I don’t want to think about what would happen if we were invaded by blood-thirsty aliens or if some biological infection turned a proportion of the population into zombies with a taste for human flesh. I don’t want to hear people screaming in fear. I don’t want to listen to the c-word. I don’t want to be bombarded with violence and sex. I want nice, happy people. I want birds tweeting. I want sunshine. I want to be entertained and comforted, not sacred to sleep with the light off. Basically I want to live in a Disney movie. Is it just me?
But fear not. If you’re like me, then there’s a world of books that will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. The characters don’t eff and jeff their way through life. They live in villages and country houses where everyone knows each other and are (mostly) friendly. Any sex and violence occurs off stage and, even though there’s bound to be at least one murder, it’s not described in gory detail. The overall feeling is light and humorous. Yes, I’m talking about cozy murder mystery books.
The cozy murder mystery book also has my favourite type of character — the amateur sleuth or sleuths. Think Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple; M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin; Simon Brett’s Charles Paris, and Richard Osman’s Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim. They all have a reason to investigate a particular murder or murders because they have an emotional investment in the result. Whether it’s to prove they’re not guilty or to save a friend or family member from being arrested, our main protagonist(s) is driven to find out who the real killer is. They overhear conversations; they know their friends and neighbours’ little quirks and habits; they draw out confidences and eventually they work it out, presenting the final solution before the police can say “You’re nicked!”. Ta dah!
And the fun part is that we, as readers, get to solve the murder along with them. We’re given the same clues at the same time, so even if we’re not as quick and don’t get there before the reveal, when we do finally find out who the murderer is and how they did it, we gently tap ourselves on the forehead and say “Of course!”.
What I also like is that there are no loose ends with a cozy. No trilogies to wade through. No waiting until the next book to find out if so and so has survived. Even if the cozy is part of a series featuring the same characters, everything is wrapped up nicely at the end regarding that particular deadly deed. We will hopefully catch up with our sleuth or sleuths in their next adventure. But for now, we can close the book satisfied and comforted that all is right with the world. Cue Disney theme tune.
So if you’re like me and you’re weary of the brutality of the real world, then grab a cup of tea, snuggle up under that blanket and get lost in a cozy book tonight.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds