Blog Tour & Giveaway: Feta Attraction by Susannah Hardy

Guest Post for FETA ATTRACTION

by Susannah Hardy

I love mysteries! You’re here visiting this blog because you do too. Did you ever solve a real mystery? Not ones like what that smell is emanating from your teenager’s bedroom, or who put the toilet paper on the roll backwards. Not that those aren’t important or that you shouldn’t get credit for your detective skills, LOL! But I’ve solved a couple of family mysteries, and I’ll tell you about one here today.

Genealogy is one of my hobbies, and there is a genealogical element to FETA ATTRACTION, one that will become more important in Book Two (sorry, I don’t have an official title or a release date on that yet!). My heroine, Georgie, will find out some very interesting things about who she is and where she came from and why murders keep happening around her in Bonaparte Bay.

My real-life family, and I suspect just about everyone else’s too, has its own mystery. Family legend says that my great-great grandfather was a Native American (Mohawk), that he and my white great-great grandmother had an affair, then he ran off when she found out she was pregnant. She left the baby with her widowed mother, and ran off herself. I’ve always taken that story with a grain of salt.

Now, thanks to the Internet and some digitized old newspapers, it turns out I was right to be skeptical.

The real story, which I pieced together from old newspaper articles and online census records—did I mention, I LOVE research?—is rather more Downton Abbey or Upstairs, Downstairs. Not nearly as romantic or interesting as having a Mohawk ancestor! The documentation proves that Great-Great-Grandma was a servant in the home of a wealthy shopkeeper, and they had a relationship, which resulted in a baby, my Great-Grandfather. A lawsuit was brought by the girl’s mother for loss of the girl’s services due to the pregnancy, and damages were awarded against the shopkeeper. My Great-Grandfather either never knew the real story, or deliberately lied about who his parents were on his marriage certificate, which other members of my family have taken as truth. Even though I’ve presented my proof, most still cling to the legend rather than the reality.

Not that I can blame them. Stories are often so much better than real life, aren’t they? Which is why we keep reading novels, and especially cozy mysteries with their familiar characters and satisfying endings. I hope you enjoy FETA ATTRACTION!

Wishing each and every one of you peace and prosperity in the New Year,

Susannah

About the Author:

Susannah Hardy is the author of the Greek to Me Mysteries, coming January 6, 2015 from Berkley Prime Crime. If you like your mysteries cozy, culinary, and a little bit crazy, you’re going to love Georgie and the gang at Bonaparte Bay. It’s available for order now! Click here.  Please!

Suze is a member of the New England Chapter of Sisters in Crime, the Romance Writers of America and the Connecticut Chapter of RWA.  Susannah is originally from Northern New York State (Way north!  Only a few miles from the Canadian border), graduated from St. Lawrence University, and now lives in Connecticut with her husband, teenaged son, and Elvira the Wonder Cat.

Website/Twitter

Georgie Nikolopatos manages the Bonaparte House, a Greek restaurant and historic landmark in beautiful upstate New York rumored to possess ghosts and hidden treasure. But when her husband disappears and her main competitor is found dead, it’s up to Georgie to solve a big fat Greek murder.

With her husband, Spiro, inexplicably gone for days, Georgie has her hands full running the restaurant and dealing with the crew of the TV show Ghost Squad, called in by Spiro to inspect the house for haunting. So when she has a chance to take a boating excursion on the St. Lawrence River with her friend Keith Morgan, she jumps on it. But their idyll is quickly ruined when they discover the body of rival restaurant owner Domenic “Big Dom” DiTomasso floating in the water.

When the police start asking questions, it doesn’t help that Spiro can’t be found—and with Georgie on their suspect list, it’s up to her to find her missing husband and find out who killed Big Dom before someone else’s order is up.

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of Feta Attraction

Review (4.5 Stars): Georgie Nikolopatos is the manager of a Greek restaurant called the Bonaparte House, which is owned by her husband, Spiro and his spunky mother, Sophie and she currently has her hands full.  Georgie’s husband has been missing for several days and even though this isn’t unusual, she now has to deal with the film crew that her husband set up to investigate claims that the restaurant is haunted.  To make matters worse, Georgie finds the body of a wealthy competitor and has been receiving threatening notes that may be related to her husband’s disappearance.  Now, Georgie has to find a murderer before it’s too late and she becomes the next person to suddenly disappear.

This is the first book in the Greek to Me mystery series and I already love this series!  Georgie was an enjoyable heroine that you will instantly like and want to spend more time with.  I thought that her relationship with her husband was very complicated and I was surprised that Georgie had lived that way for so long.  Her coworkers at the restaurant were hilarious and I enjoyed that the restaurant was being investigated by paranormal investigators to discover if it was really haunted while Georgie was dealing with a murder mystery.  The mystery was well-written with clever twists and turns that will definitely keep people guessing. Feta Attraction has the perfect combination of humor, mystery and romance that will have readers hungry for more.  Can’t wait to read the next installment in this charming series.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of Feta Attraction. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by January 17th, please leave me a comment below: