A Perfect Manhattan Murder (A Nic & Nigel Mystery)
by Tracy Kiely
A Perfect Manhattan Murder (A Nic & Nigel Mystery) by Tracy Kiely
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Midnight Ink (May 8, 2017)
Paperback: 240 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0738745244
E-Book ASIN: B01LXJQVDI
Synopsis
The play’s the thing, but it’s the star-studded after-party that sends sparks flyingThrilled that their friend’s Broadway debut was a rousing success, Nic and Nigel Martini, along with Nic’s college pal Harper, are trying to enjoy the exclusive after-party. Unfortunately, all the champagne and repartee in the world aren’t enough to overlook the churlish behavior of Harper’s husband, Dan. Nic is shocked the next morning when she learns that Dan’s been murdered. Nigel thinks the world may be a better place without him.Still, Harper’s their friend and they’re intent on helping her any way they can. The Martinis will stop at nothing—with the possible exception of cocktails and walks with their bull mastiff Skippy—to see that the killer ends up behind bars.
About The Author –
Tracy Kiely is a self-proclaimed Anglophile (a fact which distresses certain members of her Irish Catholic family). She grew up reading Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and watching Hitchcock movies. She fell in love with Austen’s wit, Christie’s clever plots, and Hitchcock’s recurrent theme of “the average man caught in extraordinary circumstances.”
After spending years of trying to find a proper job that would enable her to use her skills garnered as an English major, she decided to write a book. It would, of course, have to be a mystery; it would have to be funny; and it would have to feature an average person caught up in extraordinary circumstances. She began to wonder how the characters in Pride and Prejudice might fit into a mystery. What, if after years of living with unbearably rude and condescending behavior, old Mrs. Jenkins up and strangled Lady Catherine? What if Charlotte snapped one day and poisoned Mr. Collins’ toast and jam? Skip ahead several years, and several different plot ideas, and you have her first mystery Murder at Longbourn.
While she does not claim to be Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, or Hitchcock (one big reason being that they’re all dead), she has tried to combine the elements of all three in her books.
Interview
Where are you from?
I grew up in Northern Virginia, but now live outside
Annapolis, Maryland.
Tell us your latest
news?
The third book in my Nic and Nigel
Martini series, A Perfect Manhattan
Murder, comes out May 8th. Here’s the official blub:
Thrilled that their playwright friend’s Broadway debut
was a rousing success, Nic and Nigel are trying to enjoy the A-list after-party
with their pal Harper. Unfortunately, all the champagne and repartee in the
world aren’t enough to overlook the churlish behavior of Harper’s
theater-critic husband, Dan. Nic is shocked the next morning when she learns
that Dan’s been murdered. Nigel thinks the world may be a better place without
him.
Still, Harper is their friend and they’re intent on
helping her any way they can. Invigorated by the thrill of the hunt and
fortified by a flood of cocktails, catching the killer becomes the Martinis’
top priority . . . with their behemoth Bullmastiff Skippy along for the ride.
When and why did you
begin writing?
I’ve wanted to be a mystery writer for as long as I can
remember (well, after a brief flirtation with tap dancing and becoming a
cartoonist for The New Yorker crashed
and burned). However, it wasn’t until I was around 30 that I sat down and said,
“Well, if you want to be a writer then shut up and do it.” I titled my first
mystery An Ostentation of Peacocks
and – not surprisingly – it went the same route as my tap dancing and
cartoonist dreams. I put aside the book for a few year before I tried again.
This time I had better luck (and a better title). My first book, Murder at Longbourn, came out in 2009.
When did you first
consider yourself a writer?
I think I’ve always considered myself a writer; but I
suppose it wasn’t until I actually got published that I felt that I could
publically call myself that.
What inspired you to
write your first book? (FIRST BOOK OR
THIS BOOK?)
(FIRST) The plot for Murder at Longbourn, is
something of a mishmash of my favorite forms of entertainment. I grew up
reading Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, and watching Alfred Hitchcock movies (I
am something of an Anglophile, much to the consternation of my Irish Catholic
family). I love the twisty, deviously clever plots of Christie, the sublime wit
of Austen, and the “average man caught in extraordinary circumstances” themes
of Hitchcock. When I began to think of
writing my own mystery, I realized it would have to have those elements. I began to wonder how the characters in Pride
and Prejudice might fit into a mystery.
What, if after years of living with unbearably rude and condescending
behavior, old Mrs. Jenkins up and strangled Lady Catherine? What if Charlotte
snapped one day and poisoned Mr. Collins’ toast and jam? While I had fun with these ideas, I realized
that I wanted to write about my own modern-day characters.
Then one day I was watching the news and - I kid you not -
there was a story about a woman who killed her husband at a B&B after they
attended a Host-A-Murder Dinner. I was
off to the races!
(THIS BOOK) I
recently came across the old movie Please
Don’t Eat The Daisies with Doris Day and David Niven (which, if you don’t
already know, tells the story of a Broadway reviewer whose popularity increases
with the vitriol of his reviews) and thought it would be fun to have a similar
character. In A Perfect Manhattan Murder, I theater critic finally goes too far
with his scathing reviews and pays the ultimate price. We writers have
notoriously thin skins, which is perhaps why this idea appealed so much to
me.
Here’s the
official blurb:
Thrilled that their playwright friend’s
Broadway debut was a rousing success, Nic and Nigel are trying to enjoy the
A-list after-party with their pal Harper. Unfortunately, all the champagne and
repartee in the world aren’t enough to overlook the churlish behavior of
Harper’s theater-critic husband, Dan. Nic is shocked the next morning when she
learns that Dan’s been murdered. Nigel thinks the world may be a better place
without him.
Still, Harper is their friend and
they’re intent on helping her any way they can. Invigorated by the thrill of
the hunt and fortified by a flood of cocktails, catching the killer becomes the
Martinis’ top priority . . . with their behemoth Bullmastiff Skippy along for
the ride.
Do you have a
specific writing style?
Is overly chatty and a little sarcastic a style? If so, then
that’s me. If it’s not a style, then it should be.
How did you come up
with the title?
Actually, this is the first time that my title wasn’t
accepted. I had hoped to call it Killer
Hangover but was overruled by Midnight Ink. They felt the title was too
similar to the previous book, Killer
Cocktail
Is there a message in
your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Um…don’t kill people? My books are generally message free –
I just hope to provide a few hours of light entertainment and some laughs. You
know, the usual emotions associated with a dead body.
What would you like
my readers to know?
That if they enjoy this series, they really need to read my
inspiration for it all; Dashiell Hammett’s The
Thin Man. It’s brilliant.
Author Links:
Webpage: http://www.tracykielymysteries.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tracy_Kiely
Purchase Links:
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This is a new author and series to me. Would enjoy reading.
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