Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Death By Theft: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery by Abigail Keam. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Death By Theft: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery
by Abigail Keam
Death By Theft: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery
Cozy Mystery
19th in Series
Setting – Kentucky
Worker Bee Press (October 30, 2023)
Number of Pages ~200
Josiah is happy for her pals Lady Elsmere and Shaneika Mary Todd when broodmare Jean Harlow gives birth to a male foal sired by Comanche. The owners of both horses have high hopes the foal will become a stakes winner—maybe even win the Kentucky Derby. The foal has a broad chest, indicating significant lung capacity—important for winning races, but just like his daddy, the foal is ebony with a bad attitude.
Josiah and Shaneika visit dam Jean Harlow early one morning and are shocked to find the prized foal is missing. They frantically search Lady Elsmere’s and Josiah’s farms without success. It’s urgent they find the foal fast as he is not yet weaned and is too young to be separated from his mother. Who would snatch the feisty foal from his mother’s care? And equally important, why?
Death By A HoneyBee
Death By Drowning
Death By Bridle
Death By Bourbon
Death By Lotto
Death by Chocolate
Death by Haunting
Death By Derby
Death By Design
Death By Malice
Death By Drama
Death By Stalking
Death By Deceit
Death By Magic
Death By Shock
Death By Chance
Death By Poison
Death By Greed
Death By Theft
Guest Post
Hello, I am Abigail Keam and let me introduce myself. Hopefully we will become friends.
I am the author of the award-winning contemporary Josiah Reynolds Mystery Series and the 1930s Mona Moon Mystery Series. As for my age, I am as old as my teeth.
My first mystery novel, DEATH BY A HONEYBEE, won the 2010 Gold Medal Award for Women’s Lit from Readers’ Favorite and was a Finalist of the USA BOOK NEWS-Best Books List of 2011. Since then I have won many writing awards and honey awards.
Honey awards? Yes, I used to make my living being a beekeeper and selling at farmers’ markets. The information about beekeeper Josiah is spot on. I should know – I have the stings to prove it.
I live in the Thoroughbred capital of the world – Lexington, Kentucky, USA where the past never dies and secrets abound in a world of antebellum mansions, oak-cured bourbon, and horses. My house sits on a cliff system called the Palisades which borders the Kentucky River.
My new novel is Death By Theft: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery.
I can tell you what inspired me to write my first Josiah Reynolds mystery.
I kept dreaming about Josiah Reynolds, my beekeeping sleuth. She wanted to be born, so I started writing about her and Death By A HoneyBee was born. Anything to keep her quiet.
I had no idea of how popular she would become. Death By Theft is the 19th Josiah Reynolds mystery. I love writing about Josiah, her quirky friends, and her animals. I love her life.
I’ve been asked many times about my style.
I think less is more. I appreciate the hardboiled writing of Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain. I dislike a flowery approach to writing. I get angry if I have to skip page after page of numbing description. I do not use an outline or a formula. Each mystery is unique and meanders where Josiah wishes to go. Each mystery is a standalone but carries a thread about Josiah’s life.
How much of my books are realistic and based on someone I know?
I am terrible at eavesdropping on other people’s conversations. One can learn the juiciest things that way. I also write about my neighbors, but they never recognize themselves.
If my book was made into a film, I would like the following to play Josiah and Mona.
Ashley Judd for Josiah Reynolds Mystery Series and Emilia Clarke for Mona Moon Mystery Series.
Here’s my advice for other writers?
It’s a tough business, so be prepared. Have a thick skin. Also pick your target audience.
I write about women for women. My characters are strong females. There is no reason women
can’t have adventures like male characters in literature. Beyond that I adore interweaving history and beekeeping information into the story. My stories are entertainment but there’s no reason the reader can’t pick up a fact or two along the way.
About Abigail Keam
Abigail Keam is an award-winning and Amazon best-selling author who writes the Josiah Reynolds Mystery Series about a Southern beekeeper turned amateur female sleuth. Besides loving history, Kentucky bourbon, and chocolate, Abigail loves honeybees and for many years made her living by selling honey at a farmers’ market like her protagonist, Josiah Reynolds. She is an award-winning beekeeper who has won many honey awards at the Kentucky State Fair including the Barbara Horn Award, which is given to beekeepers who rate a perfect 100 in a honey competition.
Miss Abigail has taken her knowledge of beekeeping to create a fictional beekeeping protagonist, Josiah Reynolds, who solves mysteries in the Bluegrass. While Miss Abigail’s novels are for enjoyment, she discusses the importance of a local sustainable food economy and land management for honeybees and other creatures.
She currently lives on the Kentucky River in a metal house with her husband and various critters. She still has honeybees.
Official Site http://www.abigailkeam.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/author.abigailkeam/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/abigailkeamauthor/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/abigailkeam/
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Abigail-Keam/e/B0045PEGUQ
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@abigailkeam
Purchase Links – Amazon – Barnes and Noble – Apple –
AWARDS
2010 Gold Medal Award from Readers’ Favorite for Death By A HoneyBee
2011 Gold Medal Award from Readers’ Favorite for Death By Drowning
2011 USA BOOK NEWS-Best Books List of 2011 as a Finalist for Death By Drowning
2011 USA BOOK NEWS-Best Books List of 2011 as a Finalist for Death By A HoneyBee
2017 Finalist from Readers’ Favorite for Death By Design
2019 Honorable Mention from Readers’ Favorite for Death By Stalking
2019 Top 10 Mystery Novels from Kings River Life Magazine for Murder Under A Blue Moon2
2019 Honorable Mention from Readers’ Favorite for Death By Stalking: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery
2019 Top 10 Mystery Novels from Kings River Life Magazine for Murder Under A Blue Moon: A 1930s Mona Moon Mystery
2020 Imadjinn Award for Best Mystery – Death By Stalking: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery
2022 Finalist in Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Finalist for Best Historical Category – Murder Under A Full Moon
2022 Finalist for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical Category – Murder Under A New Moon
2022 Death By Chance: A Josiah Reynolds Mystery Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Finalist for Best Cozy Mystery
2022 Top Ten Mystery Novel by Kings River Life Magazine for Murder Under A Bridal Moon: A 1930s Mona Moon Mystery
2022 Top Ten Mystery Novel by Kings River Life Magazine for Murder Under A British Moon: A 1930s Mona Moon Mystery
Enter the Giveaway
Death by Theft TOUR PARTICIPANTS
October 30 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 30 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
October 30 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT
October 31 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 31 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
October 31 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
November 1 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
November 1 – The Plain-Spoken Pen – SPOTLIGHT
November 1 – Eskimo Princess Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 2 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 2 – Lady Hawkeye – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
November 2 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 3 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT
November 3 – fundinmental – REVIEW
November 3 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!
Want to Book a Tour?
Click Here
Thank you, Miss Christy. It was lovely speaking with you. Abigail Keam
You’re welcome! Thank you so much for your thoughtful post! It was so nice getting to know about you and your writing!