Please welcome Pat Duggan author of Murder at Serengeti Plains
Pat Duggan will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Murder at Serengeti Plains
by Pat Duggan
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GENRE: Cozy Mystery
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INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
I began writing mystery novels, in a sense, to heal myself. I am not a violent person but was angry at the way someone had treated me. Occasionally, someone in real life irritates me, and my harmless solution was to create a story which concludes with me putting my ‘enemy’ in jail!
2. What elements are necessary components for this genre?
As I classify my writing as a Cozy Mystery, my interpretation of this genre is to feature a murder without involving what I consider as unnecessary descriptive violence.
3. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?
At the time, I was living in a partially constructed subdivision. As my heart doctor had recommended walking on a daily basis for exercise, we took a walk each day. Checking out the progress of each new home on a daily basis, gave a little purpose to the walk. One day we noticed a site with a newly poured basement and decided to take a closer look. As I looked down into the concrete lined hole, my imagination conjured up a body hidden in a dark corner of the large basement area.
4. What expertise did you bring to your writing?
Since my first job at a Savings & Loan in England I have been interested in fraud, not out of a desire to commit fraud but from the perspective of preventing it. It has always seemed clear to me that an honest person must figure out how perpetrate fraud in order to devise appropriate ‘checks and balances’ to defeat any possible attempt by a thief, to carry it out.
5. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
About eighteen months ago, I underwent five-way bypass surgery after a heart attack. Post surgery, I was blessed to find myself recovering in an RV park in a quiet location where two retired nurses were also residing. They stayed to help my partner guide me through recovery.
I will always be amazed that God gave me two fulltime nurses in a remote area overlooking the Gulf, and I was their only patient.
6. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
Murder at Serengeti Plains is the third novel in the series. I have rough drafts of two other novels written several years ago. My plan is to ‘dust off’ these manuscripts and work on rewriting them to provide Hazel Davies and Anna Kohl with new murders to solve.
7. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?
My character would be, and to some degree already is Hazel Davies. I would like to be the person who not only loves God, but is passionate about finding ‘truth.’
8. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book?
Three excerpts provided in separate document – Excerpts from Murder at Serengeti Plains .
9. Do you belong to a critique group? If so, how does this help or hinder your writing?
No, I don’t belong to a critique group. However, I do have a couple of trusted friends who read the draft of my novels and provide me with comments and suggestions.
10. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?
When I discovered the self publishing process involving minimum expense (Kindle Direct Publishing), it seemed like an appropriate next step after taking the time to write. My partner encouraged me to take this next step.
12. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I know that the standard advice is to outline the story. However, I just start writing. In truth, I rarely know where the story is going, or indeed, how it will end. As my writing progresses, I sometimes change the story and have to back track to make it all work.
14. Who is your favorite character in the book? Can you tell us why?
Noah – He is an honest man who cares about his new homeowners always strives to meet their expectations.
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 Nestand 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 ZebraHomes. 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.
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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 Withinand 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 and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Pat Duggan will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.