Review Tour: A Shot Of Murder

Title: A Shot of Murder
Author: Brenda Gayle
Series: Charley Hall Mystery #1 
Pages: 150
Date Published: October 12th, 2020
Publisher: Bowstring Books
Format: Kindle

Genre: Historical Mystery

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours

Synopsis:

In 1948, Charley Hall resents giving up her job as city reporter for the Kingston Tribune to a returning soldier. But her demotion to the women’s pages is the least of her worries since Gran is organizing a surprise birthday party for Charley’s older brother, Freddie. Trouble is, Freddie hasn’t come back from his latest bender. When Charley goes looking for him, she discovers the dead body of a woman, last seen with her brother. Beside the murdered woman is a torn newspaper article about local politician Dan Cannon, who also happens to be Charley’s best friend. To make matters worse, a police detective from Toronto shows up and begins nosing around. Charley is not about to stand by and let her brother nor her friend take a fall for a murder based on circumstantial evidence. Not by a long shot.

~My Thoughts~
Charley prooved to be a sound, intelligent, and determined heroine/main character. 

I loved how in touch with her emotions Charley was. You could feel her frustration with her brother and his shenanigans, but also get the sense of how much she cared about him and how worried she was about him. Family right?

The writing style was different. It was the slow drip of honey off a spoon into a cup of expensive, rich tea. If that makes any sense! You know how when you listen to film stars from early Hollywood where they have the peculiar sort of affluent accent? That was how the voice in my head read this book, and I really enjoyed it! The characters all had their own way of speaking and Charley (Brenda) did an amazing job painting the pictures of all the scenes. 

It was also a very quick read. I was able to polish it off in one baby nap time, which, knowing my son, is not long at all. It was a fun and interestingly witty mystery with a good plot, strong characters, and I'm excited to know that this is a series so I can continue to get to know Charley and company! 

~Try an Excerpt!~

Charley watched the pale liquid trickle into the fine china teacup. She’d have preferred a black coffee—or something stronger—but this afternoon ritual seemed to mean a lot to her grandmother, and despite their differences, her grandmother meant the world to her. When Gran had taken her first sip, Charley went on the offensive. “You fought for a woman’s right to vote. You marched in the streets. You were arrested. You taught me to be strong and independent. How can you not see the injustice in this?”

“You are not being fired from the paper. You are merely being reassigned to a position more suitable to your sex and social standing.”

“I’m not going to take it. I don’t want to get dressed up and go to all these hoity-toity social events—”

Gran had begun to giggle, quietly behind her teacup at first, but now her laughter shook her whole body and she had to put the cup down on the table or risk spilling its contents.

“What is so funny?” 

“You.” Bessie sobered. “As a Stormont, you already get dressed up and go to ‘all these hoity-toity social events.’ John is giving you the opportunity to do more than simply look pretty at them. You can write about who was there and who were the big contributors to whatever charitable cause was being celebrated. You will wield far more clout with the power brokers of Kingston on the women’s pages than you ever could on the city ones.”

“I don’t want to do it,” Charley said.

“Then don’t.” She shrugged and picked up her teacup. “There are many ways to be useful. The Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire is always looking for intelligent young women to join our ranks and aid in service to our country.”

~Meet Brenda!~ 

Life is messy and I try to reflect that in my stories while still leaving readers with a feeling of hope. I want them to see themselves and people they know in my characters.

You could say writing is in my genes. My paternal grandmother was a formidable diarist; my father was a journalist and poet; my sister and cousin are both published authors; even my son has shown a talent for putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to tell awesome stories. So, it came as no surprise to anyone when I returned to my love of fiction after more than 20 years in the world of corporate communications–although some might argue there was plenty of opportunity for fiction-writing there, too.

A fan of many genres, I find it hard to stay within the publishing industry’s prescribed boxes. Whether it’s mystery, romantic suspense or women’s fiction—my greatest joy is creating deeply emotional books with memorable characters and compelling stories.

~Website ~ 

 Brenda will be awarding a $30Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.a Rafflecopter giveaway