|
MURDER OF A SLEEPING BEAUTY
A Scumble River Mystery
By DENISE SWANSON
Once upon a time there was an ideal princess and then she was murdered.
MURDER OF A SLEEPING BEAUTY, third in Denise Swanson's Scumble River
Mystery series, finds school psychologist Skye Dennison investigating
the death of Lorelei Ingels, head cheerleader, beauty pageant
contestant, and star of the school's production of "Sleeping Beauty."
Is it murder, suicide, accident, or natural causes? Skye's quest for
answers is complicated by her past relationships with both the chief of
police and local coroner. Since they won't help her she enlists the aid
of her eccentric family and two misfit students.
Skye's curiosity causes her to infiltrate the cheerleading squad,
participate in a beauty pageant, and become up close and personal with
the inside of a coffin. Along the way she must keep up with her job as
a school psychologist, cope with her lack of a car, and end things with
the current man in her life (who just might have been Lorelei's
murderer).
Skye is "everywoman" and the rest of the cast of characters are people you
would meet in any small town or school system. Swanson uses her own
experience as a school psychologist to accurately portray Skye's
professional life and to write multidimensional teenage characters.
***
Denise Swanson, the author of the Scumble River Mystery series, is an
Illinois school psychologist. A few years ago she discovered that the
spooky small town she was working in had some interesting secrets and
thought to herself: someone should write a book about this. At the same
time she realized a school psychologist in a small town was in the
unique position of having access to information that few others even
knew existed. These insights led her to believe that a school
psychologist would be the perfect amateur sleuth for a mystery series.
Her first book, MURDER OF A SMALL TOWN HONEY, began the Scumble River
Mystery series, which features school psychologist sleuth Skye Denison
and was released in July of 2000 by Penguin Putnam/Signet. It won the
Reviewers Choice Award for best Debut Novel and Best Amateur Sleuth
Series. It was also named one of the top five paperback mysteries for
2000 and was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. It made
the IMBA overall bestseller list for the year 2000 and is currently in
its third printing.
***
Tantalizing excerpt from MURDER OF A SMALL TOWN HONEY:
Suitcases and a garment bag were turned inside out, their linings
slashed. A makeup case, its contents oozing into the green carpet, lay
on its side, the hinges broken. Peeking out from under the bench were
feet shod in pointy rolled-up-toe shoes. It looked as if the remains of
the Wicked Witch from "The Wizard of Oz" were crumpled on the trailer floor.
Skye ran over and pushed the bench aside. "Mrs. Gumtree, are you all right?"
There was no answer or movement, but she still couldn't see the whole
person, as the head and torso were in the knee-well of the dressing
table. She crouched down and reached into the recess, trying to find a
pulse, and felt something sticky instead. When she withdrew her hand, it
was covered with blood.
***
Second in the series, MURDER OF A SWEET OLD LADY was published in April
2001 and nominated for a Mary Higgins Clark Award.
The third mystery, MURDER OF A SLEEPING BEAUTY has just debuted and has
already made several bestseller lists.
Swanson has published two short stories: "A Finger in Every Lie" in the
MAYHEM OF THE MIDLANDS Anthology, and "Not a Monster of a Chance" in Signet's AND
THE DYING IS EASY Anthology.
Ms. Swanson lives with her husband and black cat in Plainfield,
Illinois. For more information or to contact Ms. Swanson, visit her
website at: www.DeniseSwanson.com ***
|
