Murder at Serengeti Plains

 

Murder at Serengeti Plains

by Pat Duggan

 

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GENRE:   Cozy Mystery

 

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BLURB:

 

Murder at Serengeti Plains is the third mystery novel in the series, featuring amateur sleuths Hazel Davies and Anna Kohl.  The earlier novels are Murder at Eagles Nest and Could They Be Twins?

 

The book is set in a new residential subdivision, Serengeti Plains, built by the renowned local builder, Zebra Homes.  It is located in the peaceful, historic town of Centerville, Ohio.  However, peace is shattered when the new residents are awakened one morning by the sound of police sirens.  The procession of police cars, come to rest in their own neighborhood.  A body has been discovered!  Was it an accident or was it murder?

Hazel Davies and Anna Kohl have recently moved into this new subdivision.  They have previously helped the police to solve murders in both Florida and Ohio, but they did not expect to find one on their own doorstep.  When the police begin to look at their friend as the perpetrator, they find themselves drawn into yet another murder investigation.

 

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EXCERPT

 

The National News on television led off with a headline about house prices and the shortage of homes for sale throughout the country.  In Centerville, Ohio there was a growing, new sub-division, Serengeti Plains, being built by Zebra Homes.  The builder named the development after a district in Africa where zebras roam wild.  His company was well respected and recognized for building beautiful single-family homes, laid out to form desirable neighborhoods and the Serengeti Community was fast becoming a gem amongst their many projects in the area. 

 

The construction site was a hive of activity, with multiple homes in various stages of completion as demand for new homes pressured the builder to construct his properties as quickly as possible.  There were contractors of various disciplines swarming all over the building site, working feverishly to complete each unit while maintaining the builder’s required quality and standards.

 

All of this activity invariably led to disagreements and friction amongst the workers.  One man in particular, Larry Cox, who worked for the excavation company and held an inflated opinion of himself always seemed to be at the center of much of the unrest.  He liked to ‘throw his weight around,’ and talked down to the other workers on the site.  He continually bragged about his thirty years’ experience and seemed to think this cemented his superiority over anyone and everyone on the building site, including buyers who frequently visited the site to watch the progress of their ‘soon to be’ new home.

A Word With the Author

1.Did you always want to be an author?

 

To be honest, becoming an author was, for many years, the last thing on my mind.  It did not emerge as a possibility until I closed my book-keeping and tax business, then moved to Newport, Oregon in 2000.

 

Once we had settled into our new home, I began looking for something to do.  I started writing a mystery novel but when I looked into its publication the real problems emerged.  I discovered that a new author finding a publisher was, for me at least, an impossible task.  At this point, I gave up writing.  

2.Tell us about the publication of your first book.

 

For many years I did not write anything.  Then we sold our house in Oregon, bought a motorhome and decided to travel.  On our first journey across the U.S. from Oregon to Ohio and then down to Florida, I recorded over fifty miracles.  Many of these were simple experiences, like taking the right roads to our destination after the GPS failed us, and a close but safe, encounter with a bison after I had asked God if He would show us a bison while we were on our journey.

 

Anyway, when we parked in Florida for the winter, I felt compelled to write a book about our journey.  When I had completed, Finding God in an RV, I discovered Kindle Direct Publishing, which is a division of Amazon.  This company enabled me to produce all the documentation for publication at minimum cost.  Now they print books to order, whenever they are needed.  They are marketed through Amazon and I receive a royalty on each purchase. 

3.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

 

I enjoy reading Janet Evanovich books, particularly the Stephanie Plum novels.  Although, I confess, I have got a little behind in the numbered sequence, as moving into a new home and my own writing seems to take up all of my spare time.

4.What's the best part of being an author? The worst?

 

The best part of being an author is the satisfaction achieved from finishing a book, knowing that I have tied up all the loose ends.

 

The worst part is in the middle, wondering how I will pull everything together.

5.What are you working on now?

 

I am turning my thoughts back to a novel I had started many years ago when we lived in Newport.  At the time, we had an opportunity to tour a dredging ship which is used to remove sand from the shipping channel into the harbor.  When we were standing high up on the bridge looking down into the hopper, where the sand is stored until it can be dumped out at sea, my twisted imagination could see a body.  I think it is time to find out how it got there!

 

 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Originally from Manchester, England, Pat Duggan moved to the U.S. in 1985.  After a career in finance, which included running her own book-keeping and tax business, in the Cincinnati area, Pat and her partner retired and moved to Oregon.  Years later, they embarked on a five-year journey, traveling across the country in a motorhome.

Writing was a whole new direction for Pat, which began with two non-fiction books – The Power Within and Finding God in an RV.  Then she branched into writing fiction as she turned to her love for solving murder mysteries and the challenge to figure out ‘whodunit!’

Sadly, their traveling days are over, but settling down has brought its own reward as it inspired this latest novel.

 

https://www.facebook.com/writesstoriesrealandimagined/

 

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Pat-Duggan/e/B0845YGGV3/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3153509.Pat_Duggan

 

Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Serengeti-Plains-Pat-Duggan/dp/B09MYYWS71/

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

 

Pat Duggan will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway