The Reason I've Gone Quiet… I've Got Something to Shout About

   

Yes, I know. I've been suspiciously quiet of late. I haven't posted my usual short story. I haven't offered fabulous free book prizes. I haven't asked what you think of Agatha Christie or cozies or covers of the like. Here's why… 

I've got a new book in the works (woo-hoo!)

This one is a thriller like nothing I've ever written before. With echoes of Sliding Doors, a splash of Gone Girl and a good dose of my usual Aussie candour, this new, stand-alone story has kept me tap-tap-tapping away for months, and is almost complete! 

I thank you all so much for your patience and promise you the wait will be worth it. Or at least I hope it will. My most complicated mystery yet, this one is set in three very different places and two completely different timelines. It all starts with a simple scenario:   

A young backpacker meets an alluring stranger on a ferry, enroute to Santorini. When he gets off miles from her destination, she has to make a terrifying choice. Will she jump off with him and desert her travelling companions? Or will she stay safely on the ferry and miss what might be the experience of a lifetime? 

One woman, two choices. Which way does she go? 

What she can not know in her youth and naivety is that one choice will see her finding true love, the other will leave her fighting for her life. 

This is a story of choices, and of surviving their consequences.

Sound enticing? I hope so! And now you know: When writers go quiet it usually means the voices are screaming loudly in their heads and there's a bunch of characters coming to life on a page somewhere.

This book will be ready for a mid-2019 release but I'll be in touch before then with both the title and cover reveals, so stay tuned for that.

Until then, thanks again for your patience. You can catch up on all my other mysteries by heading to my website: calarmer.com or clicking on your favourite book here.

Happy (future!) reading, everyone.

xo Christina

It's Launch Day And 3 Subscribers Get My Book For Free (woohoo)

"There's a bullet in my head and it's really messing with my hairstyle…" 

So begins the second in my Posthumous Mystery series. This time the victim is 20-something party girl Maisie May who really shouldn't be dead. There's a pool party going on and she's missing all the fun.

As Maisie hovers overhead watching her loved ones splash about, she begins to wonder: who hated her just enough to shoot her then return to the pool as if nothing has happened?

Can you help Maisie uncover a killer before the creepy dead people lurking by the tunnel convince her to cross?

This is a fun, light-hearted whodunnit with lots of dark humour and a heart-wrenching twist. It's a stand-alone mystery, the follow-up to my first Amazon best-selling Posthumous Mystery Do Not Go Gentle and is now available (see more links below).

But First—Did YOU Win a Free Copy?

Last newsletter I casually mentioned that I'd love to hear your feedback on the cover and there might even be a prize in it for you. A few of you emailed me back with some lovely thoughts—"awesome", "cute" and "DEathLICIOUS" were my favourite responses—so I'd like to thank the following subscribers with a free e-copy of my new book: Linda M, Jackie T and Vicki & Q. I'll be in touch soon.

In the meantime, here's how ALL my beloved subscribers can get their own copy of the book. Just click on a retailer below:
@Amazon
@iBooks
@nook
@kobo
@smashwords and elsewhere

Thanks, once again, for all your support. I do hope you love it, I hope you find time to review it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to email me back or subscribe to my newsletter for news, views, discounts and prizes: calarmer.com

Happy reading everyone.
xo Christina

A Fishy Tale From a Fellow Cozy Writer + My New Book Title Revealed!

Regular subscribers know I don't wax lyrical very often about other authors — this is MY newsletter after all, folks ;-) — but today I'm giving a big shout out to a fellow cozy mystery writer who has a deep love of animals, natural sense of humour and more twists than a leaping whale.

Ruby Loren is an English writer who pens cozies, paranormal mysteries and, of particular interest to me, stories about rockstars (I'm married to a musician in case you were wondering!)

If you haven't tasted any of Ruby's work before, try her latest, Whales and a Watery Grave, which is already an Amazon #1 New Release and will be discounted to just 99c until the end of April - so get in quick!

Featuring popular protagonist Madigan Amos, a zookeeper with a heart of gold and a nose for trouble, this one sees Madi and her fiancée attempt to take a well-earned holiday to Mallorca (aka Majorca) in Spain. Instead they find themselves dragged into a wildlife documentary that turns deadly.

Dubbed 'Murder at the marine park!', it's a fun, action-packed read and you can grab your 99c copy via Amazon here. 

At the very least check out her stunning covers, amongst the most beautiful I've seen.

As for me?

I'm happy to announce that I'm midway through my second posthumous paranormal mystery, the follow-up to Do Not Go Gentle.

I'm calling it ... drum roll please ... Do Not Go Alone and it promises to be a tear-jerker with plenty of laughs in-between! I'll also have a book sale coming up in May, so look out for that.

Until then, happy (fishy) reading everyone!

xo Christina

I'm dead. I think my son stabbed me. I can not rest until I know why...

With her dead grandmother beckoning furiously from the tunnel, Lulu Gold refuses to go to the light even though she knows she's dead and there's no chance of return.

The problem is, she thinks her son—her achingly beautiful son—killed her and she's determined to find out why.

Why would her 13-year-old sneak up and stab her in the back one Sunday morning?

Was she really that horrendous a mother?

Or is there something else going on down there, something darker and more sinister at play?

Do Not Go Gentle is my latest murder mystery, and a whole new venture for me. Dubbed a 'Posthumous Mystery' it all takes place in the first 12 hours after a murder, and this time I invite the reader to come along and help me solve the crime.

As Lulu hovers above the crime scene, readers get a chance to view all the clues and hear the suspects' secrets to determine whodunit and why.

More than just a mystery, this one is also a study of family and friendships, a look at parenting gone awry and a re-evaluation of everything you ever thought about the true meaning of love.

It's not what you think.

My 10th novel and my favourite, this one is sure to make you laugh and cry, and often at the same time!

Happy reading everyone.
xo Christina