Dang Near Dead
by Nancy G. West
Just like Fit to Be Dead – Dang Near Dead is a humorous cozy mystery that takes the reader all over the place. There are different threads to the craziness that don’t seem to be connected and then all of a sudden something happens or is said and everything falls into place.
~Sapphyria’s Book Reviews
~Sapphyria’s Book Reviews
The characters are well-developed and unique, as is the context and plot line. West combines humor and mystery to create an entertaining story.
~Christa Reads and Writes
~Christa Reads and Writes
Nancy West has done it again with another hit…you will enjoy this read.
~ Shelley’s Book Case
~ Shelley’s Book Case
Dang Near Dead
Series: An Aggie Mundeen Mystery
Publisher: Henery Press (September 30, 2014)
Hardcover: 238 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1941962169
Paperback: 280 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1940976402
E-Book ASIN: B00N12RJLC
Synopsis
Aggie vacations with Sam and Meredith at a Texas Hill Country dude ranch with plans to advise her column readers how to stay young and fresh in summer. Except for wranglers, dudes, heat, snakes and poison ivy, what could go wrong?
Aggie vacations with Sam and Meredith at a Texas Hill Country dude ranch with plans to advise her column readers how to stay young and fresh in summer. Except for wranglers, dudes, heat, snakes and poison ivy, what could go wrong?
When an expert rider is thrown from a horse and lies in a coma, Aggie is convinced somebody caused the fall. Despite Sam’s warnings, Aggie is determined to expose the assailant. She concocts ingenious sleuthing methods that strain their dicey relationship as she probes secrets of the ranch and its inhabitants. After she scatters a hornet’s nest of cowboys, she discovers more than one hombre in the bunch would like to slit her throat.
About This Author
I’ve been writing since age seven: poems back and forth with my mom. I had a real poem published in the Library Journal, Pegasus, at age fifteen. At eighteen, I wanted to study journalism and English literature, but friends who chose that college route were making minimum wage or selling lingerie. Being practical, I earned a business degree. After marriage and two children, I decided I HAD to study literature and write. I wrote non-fiction articles, a biography, and a suspense novel in 2004. That’s when whimsical Aggie Mundeen cut through the suspense, popped into my head and demanded her own series. The Aggie Mundeen mystery capers were born. Aggie must have been right: FIT TO BE DEAD is a LEFTY FINALIST 2013 for best humorous mystery, nominated by Left Coast Crime.
Links:
Chat with Aggie and Nancy on their blog: www.stayyoungwithaggie.wordress.com.
Author’s Webpage: http://www.nancygwest.com/
Author Page at Henery Press: http://henerypress.com/authors-humorous-mystery-series-authors/nancy-g-west/
Tour Participants
February 18 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – Review
February 19 – Omnimystery News – Interview
February 20 – Christa Reads and Writes – Review
February 21- Off
February 22 – Off
February 23 – Babs Book Bistro – Interview
February 24 – Shelley’s Book Case – Review
February 25 – deal sharing aunt – Guest Post
February 26 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – Review
February 27 – A Blue Million Books – Interview
Guest Post:
Recipe:
Mixing Mirth with Murder
by Nancy G. West
Murder Is Never Funny.
People generally are …
Recipe:
1.
distinctive
place
2.
characters
likely to go there
3.
off-the-wall
protagonist with foibles (and a serious side)
4. murder
Voilá: MIRTH with MURDER.
1. Distinctive Place
A place
where people are apt to act in predictable ways because of where they are. The
setting would be similar to locked-room
mysteries, but in a place that suggests humorous possibilities.
For example:
__ Sandra
Bullock in Miss Congeniality.
If you put
a tough, no-nonsense FBI agent used to wearing uniforms and no makeup in a beauty pageant, do you think funny things will
happen?
__Goldie
Hawn in Private Benjamin.
If you drop
a klutzy, feminine, out-of shape girl into a military unit under a hard-as- nails sergeant, do you expect humor?
__Aggie
Mundeen in Fit to be Dead #1
If you put
an out-of-shape woman, pushing forty, into a health club where she has to
shape up
before anyone discovers she writes the “staying-young” column, do you envision fiascoes?
__Aggie
Mundeen in Dang Near Dead #2
If you put
city-girl Aggie and friends at a ranch with dudes, wranglers and
varmints
(human and otherwise), do you foresee comical events?
__Aggie
Mundeen in Smart, But Dead #3 (2015)
If Aggie
takes a course about the genetics of aging because she fears nothing but
middle- age decrepitude, gets a professor
who dislikes her, finds a campus corpse and goes to jail, do you see possibilities for humor?
So, focus
on a unique setting, humorous characters and events, and add murder. But
murder is
never funny. Keep the murder off stage (and as antiseptic as possible) and
focus on
characters' reactions to their surroundings and events before and after the
crime.
Which
brings us to the second ingredient:
2. Amusing Supporting Characters
When you
think of a beauty pageant, a boot camp for women, a health club with more
“sedentaries” than “Stallones,” or a working ranch full of dudes, do you expect
certain
types of
people to be there? Exactly. Exaggerate these types. Absorb their traits into
your supporting characters.
They won't disappoint you. They'll do nuttier things than you ever imagined. Which brings us to the most
important element – Ta Dah!
3.
Your distinctive, determined,
protagonist with a unique set of foibles.
When
your main character is determined to solve a crime with no investigative training, in an unfamiliar environment,
while thinking she might also impress a particular
detective, will her plans succeed? Doubtful. Not without mishaps, screw-ups
and
hilarity. Her foibles will be accentuated. She'll try harder. And you'll
have as much
fun as your
readers, rooting for her while she struggles.
DANG NEAR DEAD #2
“Must Read” Southern Writers Magazine
SMART, BUT DEAD #3 2015
WHERE TO FIND NANCY
Website:
www.nancygwest.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard
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