Death Hits the High Notes (The Sweet TOOTH Murder Mystery Series) by GG Calpo

Christy Maurer

57 minutes ago

Categories: BooksCozy MysteryCurrent Giveaways

Death Hits the High Notes (The Sweet TOOTH Murder Mystery Series) by GG Calpo | Character Guest Post with Giveaway: $10 Amazon Gift Card 10/22

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Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Death Hits the High Notes (The Sweet TOOTH Murder Mystery Series) by GG Calpo. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!

Death Hits the High Notes (The Sweet TOOTH Murder Mystery Series)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – New York
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wild Rose Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 7, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 284 pages
Paperback

Trouble is brewing at Whitman’s Port Choral Society as choir members drop dead and Detective Jonathan Storm raises more questions than answers in his investigation. When Stefan, the choir’s soloist, gets weaker by the day, Meg and her friends take matters into their own hands. And if a murder investigation was not enough to elevate anyone’s blood pressure, Meg finds herself in danger tied to her past that she’s struggling to understand.

Will Meg and her friends stop the killer before Stefan becomes the next victim—and before Meg’s past catches up with her?

Join these golden-age sleuths as they follow the clues, protect their own, and prove that friendship is the strongest weapon against a killer.

Character Guest Post: Why Me? (as told by Stefan Papadopoulos to GG Calpo)

“Really, me? A murder target? What were they thinking of?”

When my friends told me I was more likely the murder target, not the ones falling dead in my choir, I froze. I mean, why me?

Okay, I don’t mean to sound whiny. Or petulant. But really…someone wants me dead?

What have I done lately that would drive someone to murderous intent?

Don’t answer that…and stop laughing. It’s not funny.

I can just imagine myself laid out in a coffin. Do you think my friends would know how I would want to be dressed? Maybe I should drop off the clothes with Liz. Just in case, you know. My friends are wonderful at sniffing out killers, but you never know, as they say. What? I’m getting morbid?

No, no. I don’t do morbid. I’m just saying that if people are going to stare at me and mumble over me, I’d better be in something sartorially sublime—something that would burn into the retina of those looking at me for the last time and make them remember me for the rest of their lives. Not just reds and oranges. Beige? Oh dear, beige is not a color. Beige is what happens when a sound goes off key. I do colors that are wild. And free. Unapologetic. I mean to live on in the memories of my mourners, long after the winds have carried my ashes to eternity.

Hmmmm…maybe you’re right. I am getting morbid. Imagine that…

You want me to tell you who I am? Maybe you’d be able to help my friends finger the murderer? I wouldn’t have to worry about the wind blowing my ashes to eternity then? Haven’t you read about us in Hook, Line, and Murder? That’s the one where we caught the killer of our former student. Get the book, make yourself a cup of something strong and a plate of cheese, settle down and read it. Trust me, you’d enjoy it. You’d never guess the who. We almost didn’t.

All right already. Formal introductions are so boring…but if I must, I must.

I’m Stefan Papadopoulos, retired band and choir teacher of the Post Elementary School of the Whitman’s Port Union Free School District. What a mouthful! Mind you, I retired from teaching. One never retires from music. Which is why I still sing in the Whitman’s Port Choral Society, for more years than you have been alive. Oh my, I’ve just dated myself. Wipe that smirk off your face, please.

Now listen carefully. When you have taught as many elementary grade kids as I have on how to blow that horn and not pass out, then you’d comprehend the amount of pain and suffering I’d been through. It would drive any normal person to drink. And possibly homicide. But here stands before you a well-adjusted, completely benign, still impossibly handsome man with remarkably few enemies, considering the number of idiots who have passed through my life unscathed. Again, why me?

I wonder how they’re planning to kill me? Not a blow to my face, I hope. I wouldn’t want a closed casket. Don’t go there? Right, right.

Back to my years of teaching then. All those years of excruciating agony did gift me a few skills. One of which is an ear for when someone is lying. Blame that on years of hearing “I did practice…” from the mouths of countless adolescents. Why is this relevant? Well, when we’re hunting for killers, it comes in handy when we can sense who’s hiding secrets.

And because I have perfect pitch—it’s mostly a gift but an enormous burden when listening to karaoke—I’m sensitive to sounds. I hear when a wrong note sounds, a beat is missed, a voice enters too soon, and a sound comes from somewhere it shouldn’t. Silences are very loud to me. I listen for clues. You find out quite a lot when people talk and think no one is listening carefully.

Which is fine and dandy when using my skills to find someone’s killer. But when I’m the murder target, it’s cymbals clanging in a spectacularly out-of-tune world. Nothing makes sense.

Except for my friends: Meg, Barbara, Edna, and Liz.

Liz must be going out of her mind by now. Meg, Barbara and Edna wouldn’t be doing any better. Why kill me? And not by a complete stranger either! They think the killer is someone I know. Is it one of the choir members, someone who’d been singing beside me for years? See these goosebumps on my arm? The thought chills my blood. And unlike my favorite Chardonnay from Napa Valley, I’m not best served chilled.

My friends are frantic to protect me. They can be annoying and claustrophobic in wanting to bubble wrap me away from harm. If I let them, they’d stuff me in a closet somewhere and put Barbara on guard outside the door. Not Liz, no, not Liz. She’d be the first to cut me loose and help me escape. My soul sister, Liz. What would I do without her?

But I’m not letting this killer ruin my solo. My Ave Maria will soar high to the ceiling of St. Anthony’s Cathedral. And if that’s the last breath I will be taking, you can bet your last penny—if you can find one that is—that beneath that black robe, I’ll be wearing the brightest, peacocky outfit you’d ever lay eyes on.

Chew on that and choke, whoever you are, my wannabe murderer!

About GG Calpo

GG Calpo is a retired lawyer and accountant who traded contracts and numbers for the far more enjoyable chaos of fictional crime. Now she writes cozy whodunits featuring warm-hearted golden-aged sleuths who’ve seen it all, heard it all and will investigate a murder with zero hesitation. She loves stories where the stakes are personal, family and friendships are paramount, with characters who refuse to follow the outline and endings that pull the rug out. When not plotting twisty crimes—on paper only, of course—she spends her time reading, crocheting blankets and sweaters for her five grandchildren, watching mystery TV shows and taking long walks in her neighborhood. She lives in Central New Jersey with her husband and two corgis, Whiskey and Nugget.

Author Links

Facebook https://facebook.com/gg.calpo

Instagram https://instagram.com/gg.calpo

GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/62170493.G_G_Calpo

Amazon https://amazon.com/author/gg.calpo

Purchase Link – Amazon