NBtM Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: Murder at Serengeti Plains by Pat Duggan

Welcome to my stop on the NBtM virtual book tour for Murder at Serengeti Plains by Pat Duggan. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book as well as a fantastic guest post from the author. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card. Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!

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Title: Murder at Serengeti Plains

Author: Pat Duggan

Publication Date: December 3rd 2021

Print Length: 280 pages

Genre: Cozy Mystery

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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 Nest and 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.

Goodreads * Amazon

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EXCERPT:

After Noah left, Hazel and Anna sat down to review what they had learned.

It seemed that Detective Grant’s case was solely based on a perceived argument between Gary and Noah. Everything else was assumption and speculation. Noah had no reason to kill Gary, even if he had found him onsite without authority. He could simply have called the police. Both Hazel and Anna knew there had to be more to the story.

However, one question had emerged from Noah’s story – what was Gary doing on the building site? The likelihood of his body being brought to the site and dumped seemed highly unlikely as the hammer, now identified as the murder weapon had apparently been found in the undergrowth nearby. So, the inevitable conclusion was that Gary got there under his own steam, but why?

Hazel and Anna decided to make a list of the possible explanations. After half an hour of considering the options, they concluded that there were only two possibilities. Either he was there to meet someone, or he was there to steal something. They decided it was time to ask around and see what they could find out.

It was time to take their daily walk. Since moving into Serengeti Plains, Hazel and Anna had made a habit of walking around the subdivision for exercise. They found the established part of the area a little boring as the homes had long since been completed and during the day there was very little activity, apart from the occasional dog walker. As a result, they usually made their way to the streets where construction was still active. There were numerous homes under construction and if nobody was working on a particular house, they would slip inside to view the progress. They had watched many of the homes progress step by step from the footings to the roof and then observed each step inside towards completion.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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 Within and 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.

Amazon * Facebook * Goodreads

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GUEST POST:

- What is it about the cozy mystery genre that draws you to it?

I am drawn to the cozy mystery genre because it seems to suit my mindset. This is more easily explained by identifying what I don’t like about the other genres.

I dislike books which are focused on sex or violence, and this eliminates many areas of literature. I have never been particularly interested in romantic novels and certainly don’t consider myself qualified to write them. When I was at school in England, history seemed to consist only of learning the dates of each king and queen’s reign. As such there was little education focused on life experiences in historic times. Sadly, my imagination has its limits and does not stretch to monsters and other out of this world characters. Consequently, when all of these areas are eliminated, the cozy mystery genre seemed to be the most promising avenue to pursue.

Thankfully, my mind does have an ability to drift into a slightly skewed direction and as such, I seem to imagine bodies in the most unlikely places. During my working life, I worked first at a savings and loan in England and subsequently worked in the financial field both in England and the U.S. I have always been fascinated by fraud, thankfully, not for personal gain, but to identify potential financial loopholes in order to put systems in place to prevent others from perpetrating fraud.

This combination of finding bodies in unusual places and an ability to create and identify fraudulent activities seems to have provided me with story lines on which to base my mysteries, without the need to focus on either sex or violence.

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GIVEAWAY:

Pat Duggan will be awarding a $20 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. (US only.) Good luck!

(All the Ups and Downs is not responsible for this giveaway, its entries, or the prize. Goddess Fish Promotions and the author assume all responsibility for this giveaway.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway