Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Poker Face: A Spotted Pony Casino Mystery by Paty Jager. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Poker Face: A Spotted Pony Casino Mystery
by Paty Jager
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Poker Face: A Spotted Pony Casino Mystery
Murder Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher – Windtree Press
Number of Pages – 300+-
Dela Alvaro is a disable veteran who grew up on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation. When an IED in Iraq ended her military career, she came home to reassess her life and landed a job in security at the Indian run casino on the reservation.
Not even a year into being the assistant to the head of security, the head of security is found working with a human trafficking ring and Dela is promoted on a trial basis. When one of the casino employees is found stabbed and stuffed in a laundry chute, she knows she can kiss head of security good-bye if she doesn’t find the killer before the media gets hold of the story.
While she is in over her head, she can’t decide if the FBI Special Agent called in to help is a blessing or a curse. It’s a man she ran across in Iraq who overrode her authority. When a second casino employee is killed, Dela has to decide if she can trust the special agent with not only keeping her job but keeping the rest of the casino employees safe.
Guest post: Characters that are believable
Dela Alvaro the main character in my Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries has been spinning around in my head for a few years. I first wrote about her in a short story for a mystery contest. In that story she lived in California and was of the Miwak Tribe. Now she is no longer Indigenous, but is still a disable veteran.
I like that Dela has a drive and determination. She doesn’t let her disability dictate how she will live. At the same time, she has to be mindful of it as her aching missing leg reminds her all the time that she is different. This isn’t the first time I’ve written a character with a disability.
The very first mystery I wrote, what feels like eons ago (early 1990s), had a secondary character in a wheelchair. That book also had an Asian character who was a love interest. But alas, I wasn’t ready for publishing at the time. I’ve also written books with a disfigured woman and two blind heroes in different books. Not to mention always making a cast of many colors. I have always felt the world is made of many different and amazing people and cultures why put only one in a book. A book is a world.
While my Spotted Pony Casino series will be set mostly at the casino on the Umatilla Reservation, it will still be full of Indigenous and non-Indigenous characters. Some may seem stereotypical but there is a reason for stereotyping. There are some people who do behave certain ways. But there are also those that are like me…outside the box.
So far in this series, my favorite secondary character is Rosie. She is a 50ish, as round as she is tall, Indigenous woman with a wonderful smile and personality who loves to flirt with the men and can remember everyone she sees and talks to. She works in the deli café at the casino. There are bits about her that could be questioned as stereotypical, but there are other qualities in her that most would not consider an Indigenous woman possessing. I like to make all my characters whether they are main or secondary stand out in some little way.
To me characters are what breath life into a book or a world, to pull the reader in and keep them wanting more books with those characters in them. Do you like books with memorable characters? Do you also believe it is the characters who keep the readers coming back to a series?
About Paty Jager
Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 51 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.
Author Links
Website: http://www.patyjager.net
Blog: https://writingintothesunset.net/
FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/PatyJagerAuthor/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Paty-Jager/e/B002I7M0VK
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/patyjag/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/patyjag
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager
Newsletter- Mystery: https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm
Bookbub – https://www.bookbub.com/authors/paty-jager
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo
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TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 16
I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
Ascroft, eh? – GUEST POST
June 17
Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
Christy’s Cozy Corners – GUEST POST
June 18
Brooke Blogs – CHARACTER GUEST POST
Novels Alive – GUEST POST
June 19
FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 20
Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 21
Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 22
Here’s How It Happened – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 23
ebook addicts – SPOTLIGHT
June 24
MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
June 25
Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 26
Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
June 27
I Read What You Write – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 28
Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
June 29
Baroness’ Book Trove – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
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Looks like an interesting book.
Thanks for the contest.
Hi Sarah, Thank you for stopping in and commenting. I’m excited to see how my readers like this new series,
It looks like a good read.