Advertisement

The Thorny Rose Mysteries Audiobook Tour Spotlight, Author Guest Post & Giveaway

I have read and reviewed most of the books from The Thorny Rose series from Lauren Carr.  Today, we are featuring the audiobook versions of The Thorny Rose Mysteries--along with a guest post from the author and a book tour giveaway for you to enter at the end of this post!

"The plot was original, fresh and fast paced in spite of the "traditional elements" employed which can normally be found in any other thriller of this genre. The USP of this story would be its unpredictability. When you think you have it all guessed up, the plot would change its course keeping you hooked. There were a lot of suspense twists and turns that kept the momentum up. Needless to say, the writing was simply perfect. One thing that writer needs to be lauded for is the humor she inculcated in the book. Minus those humorous parts, the book would have been one serious read." - Reviewer: Book and Ink

Many of our posts contain affiliate links.
Should you purchase an item via our links--we may receive slight compensation from an
affiliate partner.  

Guest Post


Okay, Readers, Let’s Work Those Gray Cells!
By Lauren Carr

If you ask any author, they will tell you that they love feedback from readers. Admittedly, constructive advice from readers is helpful in the writing of future books.

Granted, not all advice offered by readers is a good fit. For example, after reading It’s Murder, My Son, a reader approached me at a book event to suggest that since Mac Faraday is so wealthy, “Why doesn’t he pay someone to train Gnarly?” Now, if I was to follow her advice and make Gnarly a well behaved dog, I’d lose half of my reading audience!

Sometimes, due to our human condition, we fail to realize that the very thing we love about something goes hand in hand with what we may perceive as a flaw.

Marriage counselors have been noting this for years. How many times does a woman fall in love with a man because he is hard working and successful? Then, after the wedding, she is annoyed because he works all the time—failing to realize that he is successful (which she loves) because he works all the time (which she hates).

You can’t have it both ways.

Such is the case with my best-selling murder mysteries. Reviewers and readers rave about their fast-pace, twists, turns, unexpected clues, and assortment of unique characters who come to life on the pages. Hard core mystery fans are thrilled by the complexity of my mysteries. Rarely are they able to figure it all out. They can figure out some of it, but not everything. There’s always a twist that will take them by surprise.

But then—once in a while, a reader, after raving about all that will say, “The only complaint that I have is that there are too many characters …” Each book contains a cast of characters in the front.

Like the advice from the reader who suggested that Mac Faraday hire a dog trainer for Gnarly, my response is, “Thank you for the advice, but no.”

I spent most of my career writing humor, while devouring murder mysteries. I only dreamed of writing whodunits. In my head, I believed that you had to be a really brilliant writer in order to write a murder mystery that would challenge whodunit fans to, as Hercule Poirot used to say, “work those gray cells.”

That brilliant writer was not me—or so I thought.

Then, I became dissatisfied with mystery after mystery. Most, if not all, of the time, I would figure out who had done it. Many times, I would have the mystery figured out by a quarter of the way through the book. Often, the books were just too simple.

In many cases, I found that there were so few characters, aka suspects, that a flip of the coin would give me a fifty percent chance of being right. Unfortunately, I had the killer pegged over ninety percent of the time.

Unable to find murder mysteries to read that offered a real challenge, I decided to start writing them myself—writing the type of mysteries that I like to read—with lots of twists, turns, unexpected clues, and an assortment of unique characters who come to life. My challenge to the reader to solve the mystery before I provide the solution gives readers a thrill, which makes them continue turning the pages to the end.

These readers who complain about too many characters, while loving everything else about my books, fail to realize that murder mysteries are like puzzles. Each chapter, each scene, each interaction between the characters is a piece of puzzle. When everything is pieced together correctly, you end up with the solution to the crime.

Fewer characters mean fewer suspects, which makes for less of a challenge to the reader. Less of a challenge makes for less fun in trying to figure out who did it. When it comes to a murder mystery, there is no thrill if you remove the challenge.

A true puzzle enthusiast gets no joy out of putting together a one hundred piece puzzle in one hour. There’s no fun in that.

Like the wife who complains that her successful husband works too much—my readers can’t have it both ways. When they pick up a Lauren Carr mystery, they must prepare themselves to work their brain’s gray cells. (When they need help, they will always find the Cast of Characters in the front.)




Join us for this tour from May 4 to Jun 5, 2020!

 
The Thorny Rose Mysteries
 KILL AND RUN by Lauren Carr


Book Title: Kill and Run by Lauren Carr
Series: Thorny Rose Mystery Series (Volume 1)
Category:  Adult fiction, 422 pages
Genre:  Murder Mystery
Publisher:  Acorn Book Services
Release date:  September, 2015
Format available for review:  audible (download code), ebook (mobi, ePub, PDF)
Tour dates:  May 4 to Jun 5, 2020
Content Rating: PG (mild violence and sexual suggestion)

About the Book

Five women with seemingly nothing in common are found brutally murdered in a townhome outside Washington, DC. Among the many questions surrounding the massacre is what had brought these apparent strangers together only to be killed.

Taking on his first official murder case, Lieutenant Murphy Thornton, USN, believes that if he can uncover the thread connecting the victims, then he can find their murderer.

The case takes an unexpected turn when Murphy discovers that one of the victims has a connection to his stepmother, Homicide Detective Cameron Gates. One wintry night, over a dozen years before, her first husband, a Pennsylvania State trooper, had been run down while working a night shift on the turnpike.

In this first installment of the Thorny Rose Mysteries, the Lovers in Crime join newlyweds Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday to shift through a web of lies and cover-ups. Together, can the detectives of the Thorny Rose uncover the truth without falling victim to a cunning killer?



Buy the Book 

Audible ~Amazon
Add to Goodreads




"Mysteries, murder, danger, and memories that threatens their lives keeps the action and suspense at a high level and even when the answers are found, it left me wanting more." - Review by Sherry Fundin of Fundinmental

About the Book

After ten months of marital bliss, Jessica Faraday and Murphy Thornton are still discovering and adjusting to their life together. Settled in their new home, everything appears to be perfect … except in the middle of the night when, in the darkest shadows of her subconscious, a deep secret from Jessica’s past creeps to the surface to make her strike out at Murphy.

When investigative journalist Dallas Walker tells the couple about her latest case, known as the Pine Bridge Massacre, they realize Jessica may have witnessed the murder of a family while visiting family at the winery near-by, and suppressed the memory.

Determined to uncover the truth and find justice for the murder victims, Jessica and Murphy return to the scene of the crime with Dallas Walker, a spunky bull-headed Texan. Can this family reunion bring closure for a community touched by tragedy or will this prickly get-together bring an end to the Thorny Rose couple?

 
 Buy the Book

Audible ~ Amazon
Add to Goodreads



Murder by Perfection is a wonderful read and a perfect to escape from the challenges of a busy day. Danger, intrigue, humor, and love all take their turn in this tale which will keep you reading into the wee hours." Review by Marilyn R. Wilson, Olio by Marilyn

About the Book

Beware: Perfection has a dark side!

Frustrated with their busy schedules, Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday attempt to find togetherness by scheduling a weekly date night. The last thing Jessica Faraday expected for her date night was to take a a couple’s gourmet cooking course at the Stepford Kitchen Studio, owned by Chef Natalie Stepford―the model of perfection in looks, home, and business.

When Natalie ends up dead and Murphy goes missing, the Thorny Rose detectives must peel back the layers of Natalie Stepford’s life to discover that the pursuit of perfection can be deadly.


Buy the Book:
 

Audible ~ Amazon
Add to Goodreads

Enjoy this latest Thorny Rose Mystery! 
Coming soon to Audible!

"Wow - this is one INCREDIBLE novel that I could not put down. It had me  on the edge of my seat and I can honestly say that I never saw the end coming. It was full of suspense, action but also humour (done in a way  that only Lauren can accomplish)." - 5-Star Review of THE NUTCRACKER CONSPIRACY by Working Mommy Journal
THE NUTCRACKER CONSPIRACY by Lauren Carr


Book TitleThe Nutcracker Conspiracy (A Thorny Rose Mystery #4) by Lauren Carr
Category:  Adult Fiction (18 +),  388 pages
Genre:  Mystery
Publisher:  Acorn Book Services
Release date:   January 30, 2020
Format available for review:  audible (download code), mobi, epub, PDF
Tour dates: May 4 to Jun 5, 2020
Content Rating:  PG-13 (Lauren Carr's books are murder mysteries, so there are murders involved. Occasionally, a murder will happen on stage. There is sexual content, but always behind closed doors. Some mild swearing (a hell or a damn few and far between). No F-bombs! 

About the Book

Three years ago, the nation gasped in horror when the President of the United States barely escaped an assassination attempt that left two dead—the vice president’s wife and the attempted assassin.  Even after numerous investigations proved otherwise, conspiracy theorists argue that the assassin was acting on orders from the CIA, FBI, and every federal agency within a hundred miles of the capital.

Aspiring Author Dean Conway is the last person Lieutenant Commander Murphy Thornton wants to spend his Saturday afternoon when they end up at the same wedding reception table. While their wives tend to bridesmaid duties, Murphy is trapped listening to Dean’s latest work-in-project—completing the manuscript of an investigative journalist who’d disappeared months earlier.

“She was number twelve,” Dean says.

“Twelve?” Murphy asks.

“Twelve witnesses connected to or investigating The Nutcracker shooting have died either in an accident or suicide.”

Two days later, Dean dies suddenly―but not before sending a text message to Murphy:

 “13” 


Buy the Book  

Amazon.com ~ Audible (coming soon!)
BookBub ~ Add to Goodreads

Meet the Author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, Chris Matheson Cold Case, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty-five titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, crime fiction, police procedurals, romance, and humor.

A popular speaker, Lauren is also the owner of Acorn Book Service, the umbrella under which falls iRead Book Tours. She lives with her husband and two spoiled rotten German Shepherds on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect with the author: 

 Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook  ~  Instagram



Enter the Giveaway




 

Post a Comment

1 Comments

  1. Thank you so much for featuring my Thorny Rose Mysteries and this fun guest post. Here's wishing each of your followers luck in the giveaway for the Amazon Gift Card.

    ReplyDelete

Comments

The ZOO banner 3