99c Book Sale + 3 Crime Series To Self-Isolate With

During these mad and worrying times, it's easy to make light of self-isolation, especially if, like me, you feel as though you've been rehearsing for it your whole life.

Even though I have a full house with kids, a hubby and a frisky Blue Heeler, I've always enjoyed my own company and am very good at sneaking away. (Growing up in a large family and then six years in boarding school taught me a few tricks!)

If I'm not hiding out in my sunroom/office to write my latest mystery (Agatha Christie Book Club 4—more on that next newsletter*) I'm usually perched in the sun, on the sofa or under the covers, reading a good book.

And while I've been enjoying the zany way people have been reaching out to each other—from hilarious online memes to singing together on balconies—I must say there is still no better distraction than a book.

But not just any book. It has to be thick with plot, rich with characters and keep the pace and your heart beat galloping.

With that in mind, I've selected three crime series I think tick all the boxes, all by authors other than me. If these don't help you block out the world for a little while, you could always work your way through my seven Ghostwriter Mysteries. The latest, Without a Word, is now on sale online for just 99c. But only for three days so don't dillydally!

And happy (safe!) reading everybody.

xo Christina

*NB: Yes, I have immersed my Agatha Christie Book Club in another mystery, which is why I've gone to ground. I'll try to reach out every month or so but please be patient with me. :-)

3 OF MY FAVE CRIME WRITERS

• ANN CLEEVES & VERA

I love everything British author Ann Cleeves writes, but my favourite is her series starring the best character this side of Hercule Poirot—Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope.

A seemingly innocuous middleaged copper, Vera has a hilarious ability to sting her opponents with just one look, and you underestimate Vera at your own peril. 

Portrayed brilliantly by the beloved Brenda Blethyn in the BBC TV version, I think the books are even better. Start with her first, The Crow Trap and work your way through all seven.

• SUE GRAFTON'S ALPHABET SERIES

What's not to love about kick-ass Kinsey Millhone? She lives in somebody's renovated garage, barely has a social life and, as far as I can tell, only three items of clothing, but when you need someone to do a little snooping, this no-nonsense California PI is your go-to gal.

Starting with A is For Alibi—where else?—you'll have an almost complete alphabet of murders to work with. Sadly Ms Grafton never got to pen the final Z, may she rest in peace, which leaves our imaginations wide open...

• AGATHA CHRISTIE. WHO ELSE?

If you thought I'd leave the Queen of Crime off the list, you're not the most intuitive detective. But don't worry, after a few rounds with Hercule Poirot, you'll get the hang of it, and learn a few French words while you're at it. Miss Marple is just as beguiling.

Once again, start with Christie's first attempt—The Mysterious Affair at Styles—or just select from the 82 detective novels she ended up writing. (Yep, you read that right!)

Okay, that's it from me. I do hope you enjoy my suggestions and stay tuned for updates on my next cozy mystery. If you want to share some riveting book ideas of your own, don't hesitate to get in touch by reply email or leave a comment online. 

xo CA

A New Mystery, A Cozy Sale…

Super eBook Sale: ACBC 3

Thanks to my buddies at BookBub and EReader News Today, I'm running another global promotion, this time for the third adventure in the AGATHA CHRISTIE BOOK CLUB series, the award-winning Evil Under the Stars. 

For the next week or so, the eBook can be purchased for just 99c — in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and India.

To clinch your discount copy, just click here. And happy, reading, folks!

Sneak Peek: Ghostwriter 7

Meanwhile, I'm beyond excited to report that my brand-new mystery—the seventh in my popular GHOSTWRITER MYSTERY series—will be out on March 2. 

To PRE-ORDER your copy, head straight to Amazon now. To learn a little more about this series, click here, or read on to see what Roxy's been up to. [Oh and if you'd like to share your thoughts on the cover, don't hesitate to leave me a comment, below. :-)] 

Without a Word

(Ghostwriter Mystery 7)

OUT: March 2, 2020

"It’s been a long time between drinks for our merlot-swilling ghostwriter Roxy Parker, but she's back, this time in the belly of her mates and on a 20-year-old missing person's case.

Roxy’s client—PR princess Phoebe Fisher—was just a child when her entire family vanished. She wants Roxy to tell her story now; Roxy’s more interested in the past.

Why did young Phoebe’s family vanish?
How could they do it in just one night?
And what's the 'dark and sinister event' that triggered the whole thing?

As Roxy sorts fact from fiction, detective friend Gilda has a shocking case of her own—a woman has baked to death in a sizzling hot car. They’re calling it ‘suicide by sunbaking’ but is that even possible or could it be something more macabre?

From the best-selling author of the AGATHA CHRISTIE BOOK CLUB comes the much-anticipated seventh instalment of the Ghostwriter Mysteries, a fun, fast-paced series for those who love a humorous whodunit with contemporary characters you can fall in love with. This time, Roxy’s got a Border Collie by her side and a secret so scary she's terrified to tell her mum (let alone Max!)."

Happy (mysterious) reading, everyone.

xo Christina

PRE-ORDER NOW: Sliding doors-style mystery // thriller // suspense

My latest stand-alone mystery is now available and ready for pre-orders. To get your copy delivered straight to your e-reader, just click on the link here. Otherwise, look out for it August 14.

AFTER THE FERRY

by C.A. Larmer

LAUNCH DATE: August 14, 2019!

'After they had pulled my battered body from the dark sand I began to wonder: What if? What if I had never met a handsome stranger on a Greek ferry, or two possessive Sydney lads, or set off on a journey with an old school friend with a chip on one shoulder and a crush of her own?'

It's the mid-1990s, pre-mobile phones, and a young backpacker must make a terrifying choice—will she jump ship with an alluring Greek man she's just met? Or stay safely on the ferry and miss what could be the love of her life?

One woman, two choices, which way does she go?

In this Sliding Doors-style psychological thriller, we follow Millie Malone and her friends across two dfferent lifetimes: in one life she remains in the belly of her friends, and in the other she throws caution to the wind and jumps.

One life leads to true love, the other leads to murder.

This is a story of choices, and how one bad decision could end up being the best decision of your life.

NOW AVAILABLE @ AMAZON  //  $4.99

Agatha Christie Book Club 3 - 99c Sale

A dead body lying on a blanket… Sound familiar? (This one's for true Agatha aficionados)

In what will likely be my last Agatha Christie Book Club sale this year, I've discounted my third and newest book club adventure, Evil Under The Stars, down from $3.99 to just 99c for the eBook.

The biggest of all three adventures, that's a lot of bang for your buck, folks—although in this case, it's more a quiet suffocation in a park full of people, including our book club friends, who never heard a thing.

Find out what happens, how they managed to miss the murder, and what they do to redeem themselves and solve an impossible crime. This one's for TRUE Agatha Christie fans. While my book is a very modern mystery, there are some sneaky little clues from the original book that true Christie aficionados just might spot. Test your own prowess against mine!

For more info and retailer links, read on…

Evil Under The Stars: Agatha Christie Book Club 3

The champagne is flowing, the movie is showing, and a killer is lurking just blankets away… When the Agatha Christie Book Club reunite to watch Evil Under The Sun at a moonlight cinema, they quickly find themselves face-to-face with evil under a star-lit sky.

A woman has been strangled in a public park, with hundreds of witnesses and not a suspect in sight. How did no one see the killer lurking? How did no one hear the victim scream? And how could the gang have been lounging just metres away and missed the whole event?

When local detectives hit a brick wall, the book club do what they do best, channelling their inner-Miss Marple to help out. What eventuates is a true a battle of wits between our amateur sleuths and the Homicide Squad, with newcomer Detective Inspector Liam Jackson caught firmly in the middle.

From the author of the #1 best-selling Agatha Christie Book Club, this one’s for true Christie aficionados looking for a contemporary twist on the classic whodunit.

NB: This book follows British English spelling and usage, and contains some Australian slang. Clean read: no graphic violence, sex, or strong language. Genre: humorous, cozy mystery series, amateur sleuths, international mystery, police procedural

Purchase: @Amazon @Apple

@Nook @kobo

Get in quick: sale ends next week!

Happy (book club) reading, everyone.

xo Christina

How I Went From Christie to Creepy + Win up to 25 eBooks

Okay, I might stand out like a sore thumb, right (pick my book, anyone?) but when it comes to mystery writing, it turns out I fit right into a whole new category — the paranormal mystery genre. Who knew?

Have you ever read a paranormal mystery? I stumbled into the genre by accident, and am so glad I did!

It was a warm and sunny day, two years ago (well, I’m guessing it was warm and sunny; this is Australia, folks, it’s almost always warm and sunny). I was sitting at my desk and conjuring up a new crime novel, and I wanted it to be different to anything I’d done before. I kept thinking: what do I love best about murder mysteries? It’s not the murder, not really. I’m not a macabre kind of person (as we’ve discussed before). And it’s certainly not the sinister build up to the murder. Sometimes, while reading, I find myself thinking, “Come on, just stick the bloody knife in and let’s get on with it!”

No, it’s all about the CLUES.

I love ’em. Each and every one of them. And I especially love when they’re camouflaged with stinky red herrings—the kind that send you barrelling down the wrong alleyway and lead you further away from the truth.

So why not write a story with the murder already over and done with, and the victim presenting the clues like a narrator from above? Seemed like such a fun, fabulous way to write a book. So I did it.

The first, Do Not Go Gentle, was such a lark, I wrote a second one: my very latest: Do Not Go Alone, which brings us here, folks.

Today, I’m proud to announce that I’ve teamed up with 25 other paranormal authors—authors who’ve been writing this genre for years—to offer you the chance to winup to 25+ paranormal mystery eBooks AND gain access to free and 99c bookswhile you’re at it!

Just click on the image above, or here, and explore a new genre with me. It might be a little spookier than you’re used to, but gee it’s a lot of fun.

Happy (creepy) reading everyone!

xo Christina

DO NOT GO ALONE: A POSTHUMOUS MYSTERY 2

Now on sale for just 99c!

“There’s a bullet in my head and it’s really messing with my hairstyle…” So begins the second in the new Posthumous Mystery series. This time the victim is 27-year-old party girl Maisie who really shouldn’t be dead. Her party’s still pumping she’s missing all the fun. As she hovers overhead watching her loved ones splash about, Maisie begins to wonder: who hated her just enough to slaughter her in the middle of her own soiree then return to the pool as if nothing has happened? Can you help uncover a killer before the creepy dead people convince Maisie to cross?

3rd Agatha Christie Book Club On Sale NOW - 99c! (Hurrah)

I promised you a book sale...

...and here it is, folks. For just two short weeks—from May 5 to May 19—I'm reducing the cost of the third in my Agatha Christie Book Club series to just 99c. That's a lot of mystery and mayhem for very little moolah.

Evil Under The Stars is one for true Agatha Christie trainspotters. It tells of a woman lying dead on a blanket at an outdoor film night, with hundreds of witnesses and not a suspect in sight. How did no one see the killer lurking? How did no one hear the victim scream? And how could the entire book club have been lounging just metres away and missed the whole event? 

To find out whodunnit, grab your copy while it's hot. You can get a 99c ebook at the following e-retailers:

• Amazon: US, UK, Canada, Australia, India 

• Apple iBooks

• kobo

• B&N nook

• elsewhere

For other books, comments or just to reach out, visit my website calarmer.com or drop me an email: christina@calarmer.com. I love hearing from readers and getting your feedback.

Until then, happy (discount) reading everyone!

xo Christina

Celebrate the Hollywood Film with a 99c Mystery

A Hollywood Flick, A Floppy Moustache, a Discount Mystery…

By now most of you will have had the chance to watch Kenneth Branagh's version of the great Agatha Christie classic Murder on the Orient Express. Released at the end of last year, it stars Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Branagh himself in the lead role.

That was his first mistake.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the flick (hell, I'll take Brad Pitt in the lead role if it means more Agatha Christie stories brought to life on the big screen) but I kept thinking Kenneth had forgotten who he was playing and morphed into Sherlock Holmes. 

It all came down to that moustache. What was that about?! Perhaps Branagh's hair and make-up people hadn't read any of the books, or perhaps he was bringing his own interpretation to the part, but that was no Poirot mo!

Everybody knows Poirot's mo is… well… slick and neat! As Captain Hastings says, himself, in his very first description of his friend: "His moustache was very stiff and military." 

As Agatha Christie writes in the original Murder on the Orient Express: "…a small man muffled up to the ears of whom nothing was visible but a pink-tipped nose and the two points of an upward-curled moustache."

In contrast, Branagh's was wild and bushy and left him looking more like an Austrian beer maker than everybody's favourite, finicky Belgian detective.

But I forgive him. Really I do. While the mo is a pivotal part of the original character (and David Suchet pulls it off best, IMHO), I honestly don't mind that someone is bringing a fresh interpretation to an old character because, er, that's kinda what I do, isn't it?

My own special twist…

My Agatha Christie Book Club series is all about adding a fresh and modern perspective to an old classic. While I'm not actually rewriting any of Dame Agatha's stories (blimey, I wouldn't dare!), I do look at them afresh and celebrate the (sleuthing) wisdom within. And in my second Agatha Christie Book Club, Murder on the Orient (SS), I do just that, adding whispers of the original mystery in this very modern account of a series of murders that take place on a replica steamship called the SS Orient (a real-life ship, by the way).

With that in mind, I want to stop my griping and celebrate the movie by offering you a discount ebook! Yep, that's right, I'm dropping the price of my second Agatha Christie Book Club cozy mystery to just 99c! You can grab your copy here:
* Amazon kindle
* Apple iBooks
* Barnes & Noble nook
* kobo
* Smashwords and elsewhere

And if you haven't seen the movie, please don't let me put you off. Suspect styling aside, it really is a cinematic delight. How can it not be? It's based on an Agatha Christie plot.

Happy (discount) reading everyone.
xo Christina

Did You Win One of My E-books? Plus: 12 Cozies for just 99c

Hello and happy 2018 everyone. 

As a special thank you to my readers and subscribers for all your support over the past 12 months, I'm giving three of you a free ecopy of my latest Agatha Christie Book Club: Evil Under The Stars. 

The following subscribers have been chosen at random from my full subscriber list. In the interest of privacy I have used just a few words of your email address but will be in touch with you shortly to confirm your win.

AND THE WINNERS ARE… (drum roll please) 

*goodrum

*ktuck

*rfaubel

IF THAT'S YOU...

CONGRATULATIONS! I'll email you soon to arrange for delivery of my book. 

IF THAT'S NOT YOU…

Don't despair. Some good friends and fellow authors are doing an extraordinary discount ebook bundle deal that I'd like to share with you (below). 

Happy reading and here's to a bookish 2018 full of mystery, magic and adventure. Enjoy!

xo Christina

WINTER WHODUNNITS for 99c!

Curl up with a mug of cocoa, a warm fire, and a dozen murder mysteries!

12 cozy mystery novels from best-selling authors to get your blood racing on a cold winter's eve. There's nothing chilling about this chance to explore a dozen of cozies. Curl up for a cocoa, a cookie and a killing!

Get your copy here

* Stacey Alabaster * Anna Celeste Burke * Kathi Daley * Nell Goddin * Alison Golden * Dianne Harman * CeeCee James * Summer Prescott * BR Snow * Shannon VanBergen * Amy Vansant * JA Whiting

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Kobo | Nook | Google Play | iBooks

Guess Which Agatha Christie Novel My Book Club Are Exploring Next? (Sneak Peek)

Ever since my Agatha Christie devotees formed their own book club, I have had such fun selecting which of Dame Agatha's novels to focus on next. And you can imagine my dilemma...

Outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare, Ms Christie wrote 66 detective novels, numerous short story collections, romances and plays. But there's always been one book that really surprised me.

Evil Under The Sun is one of Christie's best and, I'd go so far as to claim, one of THE greatest murder mysteries of all time with an extraordinary twist that left my brain spinning. Somehow she had created the perfect murder where everything is turned on its head.

This is my very humble homage.

Evil Under The Stars is the third in my Agatha Christie Book Club series, and it's a classic whodunnit with a super-modern twist.

In my story, instead of Hercule Poirot encountering a dead body lying in the sun on a secluded cove in Devon, my book club friends come across a young woman who's been murdered while lying on a blanket at a moonlit cinema in Sydney. It's a very public event, one they all attended, and yet no one spotted a thing!

My biggest mystery yet, it's due out at Christmas.

Stay tuned for more details, folks, and, if you need to catch up on the story, get your e-copy of the second in the series, Murder On The Orient (SS), at any good e-book retailer now:

• Amazon

• Apple

• Kobo

• Nook

And while you're at it, let me know what you think of my new-look cover for the second book (above). I've gone bright and enchanting—just in time for the Aussie summer—and would love to hear your views!

Until then, happy reading everyone.

xo Christina