Welcome to the September 21st stop on the blog tour for The Light Catcher Murders by Jo Cassie McRae, organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for other features, alternate excerpts, and a giveaway! (More on that at the end of this post.)
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About the Book
The Light Catcher Murders
A Kate Atherton Mystery
by Jo Cassie McCrae
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Page Count: 235
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Nestled in the scenic Texas Hill Country, the cozy town of Wheaton Creek seemed an idyllic place to escape the world’s increasingly harsh realities. At least, that’s what Kate Atherton thought.
Kate once enjoyed a long, successful career with a specialized, highly secret federal intelligence agency. Crises in both her personal and professional life drove her to early retirement and, ultimately, to Wheaton Creek, the perfect place for her and her former-military husband to escape what had come to feel like a world made up of wars, hatred, fear, and untimely death. And, at first, the escape was all Kate had hoped for. Then murder came to Wheaton Creek-a crime that a corrupt county sheriff seems determined to pin on Kate’s photographer friend, Lucy Celek.
Lucy’s work has been chosen to appear at a prestigious photography festival, a festival that could take her from amateur to professional standing. All goes well until the gallery displaying her work is broken into, and one of Lucy’s photographs is vandalized. A week later, the man Lucy suspected of destroying her photograph-a fellow photographer who was angry that his own work was not chosen by the festival committee-is murdered. Faced with a sheriff who shows little interest in expanding his list of suspects beyond Lucy, Kate feels she must dust off her puzzle-solving skills to find the real killer. Murder is just the beginning, though, as Kate’s amateur sleuthing begins to reveal a tangled web of crimes that go beyond anything she could have imagined.
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Excerpt
Picking her way through the broken glass again, Kate slipped up behind Lucy. She gave the beleaguered deputy a sympathetic smile and gently took hold of Lucy’s elbow. “Lucy, dear. Do you think you might want to calm down? This officer is going to do his best to find out who did this and why. He isn’t the bad guy here.”
Lucy wheeled on her. “He doesn’t have to look far to find out who did this. If he’d just listen to me and quit asking irrelevant questions! I’ve been telling him that it has to be Stewart Wilson. You saw how Stewart behaved after the festival. He’s a horrible, angry, vindictive man! Did you see how he ripped into my mural? The bastard! If I could get my hands on him, I swear I’d rip into him the same way!”
The deputy’s eyebrows shot up, and he shifted uneasily, his pen hovering over his notepad. Kate’s grip on Lucy’s elbow tightened, as did the smile she showed the deputy. “I’m sure Ms. Celek didn’t mean that, Deputy Green,” she said. When Lucy started to disagree, Kate squeezed her arm so tightly that Lucy let out a little yelp of pain. “She’s understandably distraught. If you have more questions for her, might I suggest that you give her some time to collect herself? I’m sure she’ll be more helpful when she’s feeling a bit more rational.”
“Rational?” Lucy flinched again under the renewed fierceness of Kate’s grip and did not finish what she had been about to say.
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About the Author
Jo Cassie McRae is a native Texan who has lived near Austin on the edge of the Texas Hill country for over 30 years. In addition to writing, McRae loves to read, garden, and cook. Like Kate Atherton (The Light Catcher Murders), McRae’s bookshelves overflow with history books, biographies, historical fiction, and mystery novels. Unlike Kate, McRae does not have a mysterious, secret former career, having worked instead as a rather ordinary legal assistant at an Austin law firm.
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Giveaway Alert!
Jo Cassie McRae will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveawayDisclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Thank you for hosting The Light Catcher Murders.
You’re welcome!
Thanks for hosting!
You’re welcome!
Great post – thanks for sharing!
Thanks for visiting!
Thank you! And thanks for following the tour!
You’re welcome!
Good morning and thank you for the book description and giveaway.
Thank you, James, for stopping by! Please consider adding the book to your TBR list!
You’re welcome, thanks for checking it out!
Were you caught off guard by anything any of the characters did?
That’s an interesting question, and one I’m not sure I can answer it well without spoilers. I can say that Lucy surprised me a couple of times–though, folks who have read the book probably won’t be “surprised” by that. She’s that kind of woman! Kate surprised me in her personality development. She turned out grumpier and more sharp-edged than I envisioned at the outset. In hindsight, I think someone with her background and who had achieved what she did in her career might tend to be that way as opposed to the gentler person I originally envisioned.
Fascinating! I love hearing the author’s perspective on questions like this. Thanks for sticking around in my comment section!
Sounds like a great read.
Thank you, and thanks for following the tour! I’m please that readers are responding well to The Light Catcher Murders, and I hope you’ll give it a read and let me know what you think!
this sounds really good, thanks for sharing
You’re welcome! I have enjoyed sharing excerpts and meeting new readers. The reviews for The Light Catcher Murders have been good, so I hope you’ll follow through on your thought that the book sounds good and give it a try! Please let me know what you think. Thanks so much for stopping by today.
Thanks Westveil Publishing for hosting The Light Catcher Murders today!
It sounds like an interesting read! I love photography so I can relate to that aspect of the main!
Thanks. I have a good friend who is a photographer. She is sort of the inspiration for Lucy, and she insisted on reviewing the book before I released it to make sure I hadn’t committed any major photography gaffes. I do hope you’ll give it a read, and be sure to let me know what you think!