Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Feature Spotlight & Giveaway ~ THE LIGHT CATCHER MURDERS by Jo Cassie McRae

The Light Catcher Murders (Kate Atherton Mysteries, #1)
by: Jo Cassie McRae
Series: Kate Atherton
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: August 15, 2020
Amazon | Paperback | Goodreads

Nestled in the scenic Texas Hill Country, the cozy town of Wheaton Creek seemed an idyllic place to escape the world’s increasingly harsh realities. At least, that’s what Kate Atherton thought.

Kate once enjoyed a long, successful career with a specialized, highly secret federal intelligence agency. Crises in both her personal and professional life drove her to early retirement and, ultimately, to Wheaton Creek, the perfect place for her and her former-military husband to escape what had come to feel like a world made up of wars, hatred, fear, and untimely death. And, at first, the escape was all Kate had hoped for. Then murder came to Wheaton Creek—a crime that a corrupt county sheriff seems determined to pin on Kate’s photographer friend, Lucy Celek.

Lucy’s work has been chosen to appear at a prestigious photography festival, a festival that could take her from amateur to professional standing. All goes well until the gallery displaying her work is broken into, and one of Lucy’s photographs is vandalized. A week later, the man Lucy suspected of destroying her photograph—a fellow photographer who was angry that his own work was not chosen by the festival committee—is murdered. Faced with a sheriff who shows little interest in expanding his list of suspects beyond Lucy, Kate feels she must dust off her puzzle-solving skills to find the real killer. Murder is just the beginning, though, as Kate’s amateur sleuthing begins to reveal a tangled web of crimes that go beyond anything she could have imagined.


Picking her way through the broken glass again, Kate slipped up behind Lucy. She gave the beleaguered deputy a sympathetic smile and gently took hold of Lucy’s elbow. “Lucy, dear. Do you think you might want to calm down? This officer is going to do his best to find out who did this and why. He isn’t the bad guy here.”

Lucy wheeled on her. “He doesn’t have to look far to find out who did this. If he’d just listen to me and quit asking irrelevant questions! I’ve been telling him that it has to be Stewart Wilson. You saw how Stewart behaved after the festival. He’s a horrible, angry, vindictive man! Did you see how he ripped into my mural? The bastard! If I could get my hands on him, I swear I’d rip into him the same way!”

The deputy’s eyebrows shot up, and he shifted uneasily, his pen hovering over his notepad. Kate’s grip on Lucy’s elbow tightened, as did the smile she showed the deputy. “I’m sure Ms. Celek didn’t mean that, Deputy Green,” she said. When Lucy started to disagree, Kate squeezed her arm so tightly that Lucy let out a little yelp of pain. “She’s understandably distraught. If you have more questions for her, might I suggest that you give her some time to collect herself? I’m sure she’ll be more helpful when she’s feeling a bit more rational.”

“Rational?” Lucy flinched again under the renewed fierceness of Kate’s grip and did not finish what she had been about to say.

Purchase The Light Catcher Murders from:
Jo Cassie McRae is a native Texan who has lived near Austin on the edge of the Texas Hill Country for over 30 years. In addition to writing, McRae loves to read, garden, and cook. Like Kate Atherton (The Light Catcher Murders), McRae’s bookshelves overflow with history books, biographies, historical fiction, and mystery novels. Unlike Kate, McRae does not have a mysterious, secret former career, having worked instead as a rather ordinary legal assistant at an Austin law firm.

Places to find Jo Cassie McRae:

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41 comments:

  1. Thanks for hosting my book! Hope you have a lovely day.

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    1. Thanks! I had an awesome cover designer, so I can't take credit.

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    1. Thanks! My cover designer is Heather Foster at Star Street Creative.

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  4. Thanks for sharing your great  book and for the giveaway too.

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  5. This book sounds very interesting!

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  6. Thanks! If you read it (and I hope you will!) please let me know what you think!

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  7. Good morning, Jo. My question for you today is what are some of your favorite genres to read and would you mind sharing some of your favorite authors/titles?

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    1. I love mysteries, cozies, historical fiction, and literature. I pretty much run the gamut. Dorothy Dunnett's Game of Kings (Lymond Chronicles) are a favorite, and I like everything by Bernard Cornwell. Of course I'm a huge fan of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple stories and books (who isn't?), and I like the Vera novels by Ann Cleeves. Louise Penny's Gamache series is a must-read for crime/mystery readers, I think. For harder action, I am a Lee Child fan. Carl Hiaasen's books are great fun if you don't mind your humor on the irreverent side. For fantasy/romance, I'm a Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) devotee. So, as you can see, I'm kind of all over the place!

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    2. My reading is a little bit all over the place. I like non-fiction history and historical fiction, mysteries, cozies, some fantasy, and literature. I’m a big fan of Dorothy Dunnett’s Game of Kings (Lymond Chronicles) series, and I like pretty much everything by Bernard Cornwell. The Sookie Stackhouse series was very enjoyable, as were Lilian Jackson Braun’s “Cat Who…” books. Of course, I love Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple books and stories, along with the Vera books by Ann Cleeves and the Gamache books by Louise Penny. For heavier crime/mystery, I turn to Lee Child. Carl Hiaasen’s books are always great fun if you don’t mind your humor a little on the irreverent side!

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    3. Thank you for your response, I prefer my humor on the irreverent side and like you, I am an eclectic reader. I love everything romance and science fiction, particularly dystopian stories and scientific and historical textbooks.

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    4. I'll bet you have interesting bookshelves!

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    1. Oh yes! They're such fun! I hope you'll enjoy The Light Catcher Murders. I am working on the second installment in the series now and love to consider readers' thoughts on the first one as I move forward.

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  9. Thank you so much! I hope you'll consider reading the whole book, and let me know what you think!

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    1. Thank you. That's good to hear. If you read The Light Catcher Murders, you'll have to let me know if it lives up to the excerpt.

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  11. thank you for sharing an excerpt, this sounds really good

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad to know the excerpt is coming across well. It's so difficult to give the full flavor of a book in a brief excerpt. Please consider reading the whole book. Thanks for your post!

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  12. I really enjoyed the blurb and the excerpt.

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  13. I'm happy to hear that. I hope you will give the book a try. If you do, please let me know what you think.

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  14. I just wanted to again thank Read Your Writes for hosting my book today, and to thank all of your readers for their interest and comments. Jo Cassie McRae

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  15. Thanks for sharing, sounds like a good read.

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    1. Thank you! I do hope you will pick it up. If you read it, please let me know what you think! You can always leave comments on my website, jocassiemcrae.com.

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  16. Congrats on the release, I love the cover.

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  18. This one sounds like a great cozy read. best wishes to the author on the book.

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