MURDER ON THE STEEL PIER by Rosie Genova ~ Guest Post & Giveaway

Murder on the Steel Pier (Tess Mancini Time Travel Mystery, #1)
by: Rosie Genova
Series: Tess Mancini Time Travel Mystery
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release Date: March 31, 2025
Publisher: Two Roses Books

Greetings from the Nifty Fifties…

The morning after a blowout birthday celebration in Atlantic City, crime reporter and party girl Tess Mancini wakes up in an unfamiliar place—1955. Bread is eighteen cents a loaf, Ike occupies the White House, and the Boardwalk is crawling with vintage cars and vintage wise guys. A bewildered Tess is sure of only two things: One, she’s not crazy, and two, the clothes are fabulous. Somehow, she’s living the life of her Great-Aunt Theresa, who disappeared decades before Tess’s birth.

In her 1950s existence, Tess is a reporter at the local newspaper, living at a boarding house owned by her Zia Antonetta, an Italian immigrant with a big secret. It turns out Theresa has a kid brother, teenaged troublemaker Val Mancini—aka Tess’s paternal grandfather. Though determined to return to her own time, Tess’s curiosity takes over. What happened to the first Theresa Mancini? And is Tess’s trip through time connected to her aunt’s fate?

But when young Val is accused of murdering a boarding house guest, a Nazi in hiding, Tess ends up with two investigations on her hands—and is now stuck in time until she can prove Val’s innocence. As she searches for answers, she finds allies in a dishy police detective and a suspiciously charming fellow reporter. The clock is ticking for Tess to find a way home, but first, she has to keep her grandfather off Death Row.

Because before Tess can get back to the future … she needs to make sure she has one.

For me, the best part about writing Murder on the Steel Pier was the deep dive into my research for its historical setting. In the story, main character Tess Mancini stumbles into a time slip, and ends up in 1955 Atlantic City, where she seems to be living the life of a great-aunt she never knew—but with whom she shares a name, a resemblance, and a career, that of newspaper reporter. As Tess searches her great-aunt’s room for clues, she finds car keys in the bottom of an empty purse. And inside the garage is a beauty, a 1947 Buick Roadmaster. Here is Tess when she discovers the car:

In front of me was a two-door, deep red rag-top convertible, with white wall tires and a ferocious grille, announcing the car as a “Buick Eight.” So infatuated with the sweep of its fenders and shiny chrome, I momentarily overlooked the obvious: If The Other Tess were still alive, she hadn’t driven away. Did she get on a bus or train? But all her keys were still here, including those for the house and this car, clearly a luxury vehicle, one she must have spent years saving for. So why leave it behind?

But thoughts of Theresa were overshadowed by the plush interior and metal dashboard of that sublime automobile. I slid into the driver’s seat, my hands automatically resting at ten and two on the smooth white steering wheel, my feet finding the brake and clutch. I pressed it and shifted the gearstick, a three-speed on the steering column. But I did it effortlessly, instinctively moving through the gears in an H-pattern. And if I put that key into the ignition, I could back straight out of this garage and drive away. Because somehow, this car and I knew each other…

Photo courtesy californiaclassix.com

Looking at the photo, it’s easy to see why Tess fell in love with that car. As part of my It was great fun for me to gift it to Tess, allowing her the ability to get around and investigate two mysteries: Why was she sent back in time? And who’s responsible for the dead Nazi found at the end of the Steel Pier?

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Proud Jersey girl Rosie Genova is a multi-genre author. Her work includes a Jersey shore cozy series, The Italian Kitchen Mysteries, and The Tess Mancini Time Travel Mysteries, set in 1955 Atlantic City. She is also the author of standalone suspense and a couple of rom-coms that presently live in her computer files (but are longing to be released into the wild). A former teacher and journalist, Rosie’s non-fiction has appeared in a variety of publications, including Entrepreneur magazine and The New York Times. The mother of three sons, Rosie still lives in her favorite state with her husband, too many dusty antiques, and a charming mutt named Lucy.

Places to find Rosie Genova:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Bookbub | Amazon Author Page

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