Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Death on a Deadline (A Homefront News Mystery) by Joyce St. Anthony. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Death on a Deadline (A Homefront News Mystery)
by Joyce St. Anthony
Death on a Deadline (A Homefront News Mystery)
Historical Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Pennsylvania
Crooked Lane Books (November 8, 2022)
Hardcover : 288 pages
Editor-in-chief Irene Ingram pencils in her newest mystery in Joyce St. Anthony’s second captivating Homefront News mystery, perfect for fans of Anne Perry and Rhys Bowen.
As World War II rages in Europe and the Pacific, the small town of Progress is doing its part for the soldiers in the field with a war bond drive at the annual county fair. Town gossip Ava Dempsey rumors that Clark Gable will be among the participating stars. Instead of Gable, the headliner is Freddie Harrison, a B-movie star. When Freddie turns up dead in the dunk tank, Irene Ingram, editor-in-chief of The Progress Herald, starts chasing the real headline.
There are plenty of suspects and little evidence. Ava’s sister Angel, who was married to the dead actor, is the most obvious. The couple had argued about his affair with the young starlet Belinda Fox, and Angel was the last person to see Freddie alive.
Irene discovers there’s more than one person who might have wanted Freddie dead. As Irene draws on her well-honed reporter’s instincts to find the killer—nothing is what it seems in Progress, and now her own deadline could be right around the corner.
My review of Death on A Deadline
If you’re a fan of historical cozy mystery books, you will really enjoy this captivating new title in the Homefront News Mystery series. Death on a Deadline is the second book in the series, but it can be read as a stand alone. I do recommend you read Front Page Murder though as you get to know the main characters much better in the first book. Here’s a quote from my review of that one:
Front Page Murder is the first book in the Homefront News Mystery Series, so it’s the perfect choice for those of you who like starting at the very beginning. Front Page Murder has wonderful characters, a bewildering mystery, and lots of cozy elements. It really did make me feel happy! I hope it does the same for you!
Death on a Deadline has Irene once again caught up in a murder, only this time some of her main suspects are ones with whom she’s well-acquainted!
It’s summertime and the small town of Progress, PA is holding its annual fair. This fair is different this year in that the town is raising money for the soldiers fighting in WWII by selling war bonds; and celebrities, who are touring the country to support the war bond initiative, have descended upon Progress. Unfortunately, the fair becomes much different when Irene, the town’s newspaper editor-in-chief, finds one of those celebrities dead in the dunk tank. You’ll need to read the book to find out why Irene has some locals on her list of suspects.
There are a lot of secondary characters, and that’s one reason I recommend reading the first book before this one. You may find it hard to keep track of everyone with the celebrities in town. Since I read the first book, I knew who the locals were, and it was easy for me to separate the main characters from the “guest” characters. Irene’s spunky and persistent characteristics shine through once again in Death on a Deadline. It’s a good thing the chief-of-police is her future father-in-law because she can easily ascertain info from him, and she can tell him things she’s found out in her “investigating.”
Both the plot and the mystery’s intrigue kept me engaged while reading Death on a Deadline. If you read a lot of cozies, you may figure out who the killer is early on in the book, but you may also change your mind a couple of times as you gather clues with Irene. I enjoyed the titles of the chapters, many of which contained WWII information that I didn’t know before reading this cozy. That’s one reason I enjoy historical cozy mystery books. The authors do their research which makes the books all the more exciting. I’m looking forward to what the author has for us next! I give Death on a Deadline 4 solid stars and think you cozy mystery lovers will enjoy it like I did!
About Joyce St. Anthony
Joyce St. Anthony was a police secretary for ten years and more than once envisioned the demise of certain co-workers, but settled on writing as a way to keep herself out of jail. In addition to the Homefront News Mysteries, she is the author of the Brewing Trouble Mysteries and the upcoming Cider House Mysteries written under her own name, Joyce Tremel. She lives in the beautiful Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania with her husband.
Author Links – http://www.joycetremel.com https://www.facebook.com/JoyceTremel https://twitter.com/JoyceTremel
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Penguin Random House
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Death on a Deadline TOUR PARTICIPANTS
November 7 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 8 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST
November 8 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW
November 9 – I’m Into Books – SPOTLIGHT
November 9 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
November 10 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – CHARACTER GUEST POST
November 10 – Novels Alive – REVIEW – SPOTLIGHT
November 11 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
November 11 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW
November 12 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
November 12 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 13 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
November 13 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – CHARACTER GUEST POST
November 14 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT
November 15 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
November 15 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
November 16 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 17 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
November 18 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW
November 18 – Book Club Librarian – REVIEW
November 19 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
November 19 – Christa Reads and Writes – REVIEW
November 20 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
November 20 – Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers – AUTHOR GUEST POST
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I always enjoy discovering cozy authors who are new to me!
Sounds like a book I will enjoy reading.
New author to me. Sounds like a great book, looking forward to reading it.