Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Murder in the Piazza: A Maggie White Mystery by Jen Collins Moore. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Murder in the Piazza: A Maggie White Mystery
by Jen Collins Moore
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Murder in the Piazza: A Maggie White Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Level Best Books (September 22, 2020)
Paperback: 278 pages
Maggie White, a downsized American executive stuck in Rome on her husband’s expat assignment, is finding the dolce vita isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. She’s taken a job offering painting instruction to well-heeled travelers and her boss-a rather unpleasant English lord-has turned up dead in his penthouse. Maggie’s left with a palazzo full of suspicious guests, a valuable painting her boss might have stolen, and a policeman who’s decided she’s the prime suspect. Now Maggie must keep the tour up and running while she tracks the killer and works to clear her name.
Character (Maggie White) Guest Post: Walking, Walking, and More Walking
Pay attention, everyone, I’ve cracked the code on why Italians stay so fit when they are surrounded by the world’s most delicious food: they walk. A lot.
I’ve lived in Rome for five months now. My husband’s company offered him a two-year stint in the world’s most beautiful city, and I jumped at the chance to take a well-earned rest after spending two decades raising my children and climbing the corporate ladder. Not that I exactly wanted to retire. My company consolidated departments and gave my job to a woman ten years my junior—a woman I myself had mentored—so there wasn’t much to keep me in Connecticut.
Rome is just as charming as people say, but slowing down and living the good life is harder than I expected. I just don’t feel like myself without a job to go to each day. So I’m using my time to watch my neighbors and see how they make life here work.
And walking is a big part of it. Why? First off, driving here is crazy. Navigating the one-way streets, restricted zones and pedestrian routes are bad enough, but you have to be willing to double or even triple park if you have any hope of finding a place to leave your car. There’s even a word for that: doppia fila. My husband suggested we buy a scooter, but I’m too old to be climbing onto something so small.
Since you can’t drive, you walk. You walk to the bus. You walk to work. You walk to the grocery store. And I don’t mean one of those mega-marts for a weekly stock up. Italians—and I—shop at our corner stores, which somehow seem to have just what we need. But we walk there three or four times a week because our refrigerators are about half the size of American ones and they don’t hold much more than a few days worth of food. And forget about stocking up on 15 jars of pasta sauce when it’s on sale. There’s no cabinet space here for bulk shopping.
Italians also walk for pleasure every night. Seriously, every single night! And not to get the extra steps on their Fitbits. They do it to see their friends and neighbors, to slow down and connect with the people around them, and to take a break before preparing dinner. The passeggiata sounds awfully civilized, and it is.
And here’s the great thing. When you walk more, you can eat more. More pastries, more gelato, more pizza. Not bad, right?
And my life here is looking up. I just landed a job working for Masterpiece Tours, a company offering painting tours of Rome to well-heeled travelers. Burt says there’s something about my boss he doesn’t trust, but I’ll find a way to make it work. I always do.
About Jen Collins Moore
Jen Collins Moore is the author of the Maggie White Mysteries. Her short fiction has appeared in Mystery Weekly, and she is the editor of the Mystery Writers of America Midwest newsletter. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, as well an established marketer and entrepreneur. A transplanted New Englander, she lives in Chicago with her husband and two boys.
Author Link:
https://www.jennifercollinsmoore.com/
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo
Enter the giveaway Ended
Murder in the Piazza Tour Participants
November 2
Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
Author Elena Taylor’s Blog – SPOTLIGHT
November 3
Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
November 4
Elizabeth McKenna – Author Blog – SPOTLIGHT
Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
November 5
Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 6
Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT
November 7
Reading Is My SuperPower – GUEST POST
Baroness’ Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
November 8
eBook Addicts – SPOTLIGHT
Diane Reviews Books – SPOTLIGHT
November 9
My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
T’s Stuff – SPOTLIGHT
November 10
Here’s How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT
November 11
Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – GUEST POST
November 12
Mysteries with Character – REVIEW
My Journey Back – CHARACTER GUEST POST
November 13
Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
View from the Birdhouse – SPOTLIGHT
November 14
Cassidy’s Bookshelves – REVIEW
Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST
November 15
I Read What You Write – GUEST POST
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Looks like an interesting book.
Thanks for the contest.
It looks like a good read.
Thanks for the chance to win!
This looks like a mystery series I would really enjoy reading!
Good luck with the release!
It sounds like a interesting story to read one weekend.
this book sounds interesting and makes me want to read it
thanks this sounds like an interesting book
Where did you get the idea to write this murder story?