Here’s the story:
A post-World War II “cozy” mystery about a museum heist, a missing child, a murder, a recent ex-con and an even more recent widow.
In Hartford, Connecticut, 1949, Juliet Van Allen, a museum administrator, discovers that her artist husband is having an affair with another woman. Just a wee bit shocked, Juliet slips unseen back to her office to mull over her options and wish the earth would swallow her, when she meets an intruder. Elmer Vartanian, recently released from prison for a museum robbery, is coerced into helping scout the museum for a heist by a gang that has kidnapped his daughter. When her husband is found murdered, Juliet becomes the prime suspect, and Elmer is her only alibi.
Juliet, the rebellious only daughter of a wealthy financier, and Elmer, a lower-class ex-convict who has educated himself in prison, must partner to solve their separate crises. She is Elmer’s guide to a post-war world that has changed so much since he entered prison. He feels guilty for having missed his daughter’s childhood, for being safe when friends were killed in World War II, and is bewildered over atomic energy, Modern Art, ballpoint pens, and frozen orange juice concentrate.
Juliet is not sure she believes Elmer’s story. Elmer is not sure she didn’t kill her husband, yet they are compelled to work together, dogged by the scandal-monger newsman, the shrewd police detective, and scrutinized by the even more judgmental eye of Hartford’s elite in world where Modern Art meets old-fashioned murder.
The novel is offered for a limited time only at 99 cents.
However, I will offer the book free for the next month to any blogger willing to review the book (Or just give it a mention and a link. I’m not fussy.) on his/her blog. Just email me at: JacquelineTLynch@gmail.com with your blogsite url, and I will email you back with the special coupon code to download “Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red” FREE from Smashwords.com.
Note, on the Smashwords site you can download the book in any format that can be read by Kindle, Sony, Nook, any other kind of e-readers, and can also be downloaded to be read right on your computer. You do not need an e-reader.
When purchasing an ebook from Amazon, also note that you can download the Kindle program to your computer, so you can read books on your computer.
14 comments:
Your description of your novel CADMIUM YELLOW, BLOOD RED intrigued me sufficiently to want to read it! I don't have a Kindle, though; would you be able to e-mail it to me so I could print it out for myself or read it onscreen in increments (my eyes hurt after sitting in front of computer screens too long)? Is this the freebie or the 99-cent version? Please let me know, because it sounds like a great mystery! Also, I love the vintage songs on your Web site. I'm a writer, too, so I'm rooting for you in any event; we writers must support each other's goals! :-)
Hi, Dorian, thanks for your interest. I would recommend our readers hopping over to your interesting movie blog "Tales of the Easily Distracted" here: http://doriantb.blogspot.com.
I'm sorry I can't email the novel to you; I'm only working through the Smashwords download as far as the freebie goes. However, you don't need a Kindle or any e-reader device, you can download it right onto your computer. You can adjust the font to make it larger.
And for anyone purchasing from Amazon and downloading the "Kindle for PC" - that is, reading the book on a Kindle format on your computer - you can adjust the font so that it is larger. Makes for easier reading.
The car on the cover, incidentally, is a 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitian, which is driven around by the main characters in the story. They stopped making those cars after only a few years.
Thanks again for your kind words, and for stopping by. Best of luck with your writing.
A hero named Elmer? I'm already loving it, Jacqueline. I'm going to post a link to your post with all the info. I'll also read it and review it within the next couple of weeks. Though the last time I tried to deal with smashwords, I had no luck. I'll give it another go. I don't mind paying for it. I've been meaning to read the Nuthatch book as well. I'm not really good at reading off my screen, so I hesitate. But I'll push myself.
I love that car. I think I rode in one when I was a kid. These older cars were beautiful to look at, but jeez, their interiors always smelled of gasoline. That's what I remember most.
You think you rode in a Lincoln Cosmopolitan when you were a kid?!! Yvette, if you weren't my hero before, you are now.
Thanks for offering to take the plunge. I hope you have better luck with Smashwords this time, though you may try Amazon.
I'm thinking of turning it into a series with these characters. Sort of a post-War "Thin Man", but probably less witty and sophisticated. And a little more sober. So, if this works out, you might be seeing more of Elmer.
She might have driven in a Cosmopolitan. Sweet Betsy from Pike.
I'll definitely read & review it (I owe you, I feel badly that I haven't made time yet to review "Meet Me in Nuthatch"), but no need to send a free copy! I don't know if you know this, but I'm an inveterate mystery reader--classics only!--Love Sayers, Tey, Conan Doyle, Christie & Ngaio Marsh!
Thank you so, so, much, my friend. Say, you ought to stop by Yvett'e blog "In so many words..." - http://yvettecandraw.blogspot.com. - There isn't anything she doesn't know about the classic mystery stories.
Sounds like a dandy!
Thank you, Caftan Woman. Still mulling over your trading cards for character actors. Dang, that was brilliant. All those pennies spent on chewing gum and baseball cards, when I could have had something I really wanted.
Sounds like a winnner, Jacqueline! As for the trading cards, I'll give either you or Caftan Woman an Allen Josyln for a Franklin Pangborn!
Thanks, Becky. I want it known here and now that I'm not trading my Charles Lane for anything.
I'm reading it now, Jacqueline, and enjoying it. I got it from Amazon - downloaded the Kindle apparatus for my PC. Not that I enjoy reading on line, but for you I made the sacrifice. HA! Who knows, I may get to like reading off my monitor at some point. The type is big enough so I don't need my reading glasses at any rate.
Thank you so much, Yvette, for making the sacrifice. Consider yourself a pioneer in a new and strange land. Like the first people to cross the prarie in a covered wagon, or cook in a microwave.
I'm on the computer all day, so eye strain is a major factor. I understand how reading off a monitor may not be as comfortable as reading from a printed book. I particularly have difficulty with blogs that have white words on a black background. Blinding headaches from those. I have to skim quickly.
Does my blog give you a headache? Oops. I purposely made the background dark gray instead of black. Tell me you are pain free!
No, your blog is pleasing to the eye in many ways. Gray is good. And thank you so much for the review on your blog.
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