Drive Bye by Amy Saunders Excerpt Guest Post & Giveaway

Drive Bye
by Amy Saunders

It is fast paced. Clean cozy mystery. With lots of action, drama and family issues.
~readalot

Ms. Saunders scored points with me on this one before I ever clicked to ‘turn the page’ on this one. I love punny titles chock full of “double entendre”. Add to that the fact that this is a “team cozy mystery” (Book 3 of the “Belinda and Bennett Mysteries”) in the style of Agatha Christie (I loved her Tommy and Tuppence) and my reading engines were revving already.
~Back Porchervations

I loved the story plot and Belinda is a fantastic character…
~Shelley’s Book Case

I loved this story it had so much going on. A nosy reporter, a stubborn matriarch grandmother, hidden secrets! Definitely a great adventure for those who love cozy mysteries!
~Community Bookstop

Drive-Bye
(The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book Three)
Cozy Mystery
File Size: 1321 KB
Print Length: 174 pages
ASIN: B00J47HT0O

Synopsis:
Belinda’s recent blunders have come back to bite her – and Bennett – in the monster cupcake. But they’re not the only ones with problems.

A car crash uncovers the body of an unlikely murder victim. But the more they learn about her, the more the answer to her death seems to lie in issues that reach far beyond Portside.

As the truth comes out, and Belinda’s personal life teeters on the breaking point, she takes life by the maraschino cherries, and finds help in very unexpected places.

About This Author

Amy Saunders is a mystery lover with a soft spot for humor and romance–and the ocean. She lives in Massachusetts, and loves to bake and watch movies. She’s the author of one mystery series and three standalone mysteries. Learn more about Amy and her books at her website.

Links:

Website – http://amysaundersauthor.com

Twitter – http://twitter.com/amy_saunders

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/bandbmysteries

GoodReads – http://www.goodreads.com/amydsaunders
Purchase Links
AMAZON B&N

Tour Participants

June 16 – Queen of All She Reads – Review, Giveaway
June 17 – Carole’s Book Corner – Guest Post
June 18 – Kelly P’s Blog – InterviewJune 20 – Cicero’s Children – Interview
June 21 – readalot blog - Review
June 23 – >Back Porchervations – Review, InterviewJune 24 – Shelley’s Book Case - Review, Giveaway
June 24 – Victoria’s Pages of Romance – Guest Post
June 25 – Community Bookstop – Review, Giveaway
June 26 – Chloe Gets A Clue – Interview
June 27 – deal sharing aunt – Guest Post, Giveaway
June 28 – LibriAmoriMiei – Review
June 29 – Omnimystery News – Interview

Book Excerpt:

But she wasn’t Belinda Kittridge tonight, and it was doubtful any of them would want to talk to her. She was Maya Gilchrist, an out-of-town cousin of Victoria’s. Victoria had lots of cousins and cousins of cousins, most of whom nobody in Portside knew.

The clothes made her walk differently. The dress fanned out behind her like a train as she took longer strides than she meant to, holding her upper body like a runway model. Belinda gripped her oversized black clutch, the metallic flecks in her nail polish catching the light from car headlights. Her black heels clicked on the sidewalk.

She froze, gazing around at the clumps of attendees–so many people she knew. Belinda swallowed, feeling her mouth dry up, and told herself to walk with confidence. She could do this. The worst that could happen is someone did recognize her.

That thought wasn’t helpful.

Gary Wolman stood in the forefront, talking to the TV crews and other journalists. Belinda sighed with relief that this wasn’t all a big waste of time. Victoria’s instincts had been right.

Belinda hung back to observe, and figure out her best move around the gauntlet, spying out particularly troublesome associates. Like Colleen, who was at the front of the line asking Wolman questions.

A limo pulled up near her. Belinda glanced over automatically, and nearly tripped on a crack in the sidewalk when Bennett crawled out.

He was in a black suit that shimmered in the lights–definitely designer. She could tell by the way the fabric hugged him. He had his hair combed conservatively to the side, and had grown more facial hair since she saw him at the hardware store–more than she’d ever seen. Then a woman stepped out after him. A platinum blonde woman in a black, sequined gown and red lipstick.

Belinda completely lost herself–or who she was supposed to be–for a solid minute and just stared blankly ahead of her.

Bennett was selling things he owned left and right. He couldn’t afford a designer suit. Never mind one that had obviously been tailored to his physique. He didn’t show up at black tie events in limos with wannabe Hollywood starlets. Who was this person? Where was her Bennett?

Well, technically, he was coming toward her with a movie star beard in a suit that could easily make her drool. But that was beside the point.

He was with another woman. A woman she didn’t even recognize.

Belinda’s blood burned, and she gripped her clutch to stop from doing something unladylike. Like stabbing that hussy through the temple with one of her stilettos.

She tried to concentrate on her task–and not gawking at Bennett. They weren’t touching, which was the only thing that saved that woman’s life that night.

Belinda drew her shoulders back to make her move into the crowd, when all Arkham Asylum broke out on that street.

Guest Post: 

How Reading Improves the Way I Write
 The thing about being a writer is that I'm also a reader. I obsess over stories and characters. I have trouble letting go of things good or bad. (You should hear the conversations my sister and I have.) And while it seems ridiculous sometimes (who cares? they're not real!), having that outside perspective helps when I'm on the inside writing my own books. How? Ultimately in three important ways.
I know what I want to know when I read.
 The reader point-of-view is always different from the writer point-of-view. As a fan, you'll ask questions the writer never thought of. So it's impossible to judge everything readers will want to know, but I try to step back and think what it would be like to just read my books. What questions would I have? What details would I want about the characters? What scenes would I like most? I can hardly claim total objectivity here, but trying to think like a fan does help.
I've suffered disappointment.
 With a series, you're more invested in everything, especially the characters. So to have it all crash and burn is kind of annoying. I've been there more than I'd like, so figuring out why it happened - and then avoiding the same pitfalls in my books - is important to me. My purpose is to entertain and if readers are just irritated at the decisions I'm making, well, I've failed. I get the fan frustration side of things and I'm trying to avoid causing it as a writer. Not that you can make everyone happy...because you can't. Reading makes me excited to keep writing.
 The reader experience pushes me to keep working and work harder and faster on my own material. I know how I get about the series I love, and how eager and excited I am for the next book. Knowing that I'm now on the other side of that coin - the one responsible for the next book - helps me to focus because I know people are waiting. And I don't want to disappoint them. Or make them wait forever to learn what happens next. Aside from these three reasons, reading as a writer is also an important way to learn. Reading books by authors with more experience, and by those considered masters inside and outside your genre, is an awesome front-row seat for how to write and how to write well. I'll admit I'd like to read sometimes without analyzing as I go, but I can't seem to help it. Plus, it's taught me too much over the years to quit now. Like being a writer, being a reader can have its ups and downs, but reading continues to help me put my books in perspective and teaches me how to improve. So even though I'm in control of my book series and where it goes, I try not to forget my own fan experiences so I can stay focused and keep things moving in the right direction.
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