Nothing trumps concerns about aging like murder. Living in Birdsey Falls, the town that common sense forgot, does not give a person much experience with murder.
Hi. My name is Tamsen Mack and I’m a writer in the midst of a change of life. For the past twelve years I’ve been successful writing a children’s series centered on Perry, a loveable bear with six paws and his group of animal sidekicks. This was great fun when my daughter was little but now that she has just left for college I’m anxious to write something more adult. Not that kind of adult. Just a book featuring humans rather than animals.
I can’t spend a lot of time sulking about my career because suddenly all my friends are in crisis mode too. My best friend Grace, who didn’t marry until her late forties, has had the honeymoon stage of her marriage drastically disrupted by the arrival of her surly teen-age stepson. Diane, the mother of five, has aging parents who have just moved into a senior living apartment and twin sons who are experiencing sophomore slump at college. Syra, a college professor, is recovering from a double mastectomy and is being nursed back to health by her pastry chef brother who is semi-agoraphobic and will only leave their house to come across the street to mine. My husband is having a difficult time dealing with our empty nest and even Mycroft, my bloodhound, seems to have lost all his joie de vivre. Could it get any worse? Yes. My mother-in-law, a society matron dripping in sarcasm and pearls, is much too involved in our lives. Oh, and last week I found my husband’s uncle sitting in our gardener’s cottage with a letter opener plunged in his neck. What fresh hell is this?
While my friends and I may be slipping into the Women of a Certain Age bracket of our lives, we aren’t letting late life pregnancy scares, rabid step-sons, forgetful parents, cougar flirtations, blood spattered tee shirts, depressed dogs, or being terrorized in our own attics slow us down. We have a murder to solve before the small town Birdsey Falls police make a big mistake.
Between snooping in the gardener’s cottage and scouring the secret places of my own home, which resembles a haunted castle and requires a map to navigate, we have discovered a 70-year-old photo of five children, one surviving page from the murdered man’s autobiography, a stack of yellowed newspapers dated April 1 going back to 1938, an eerie quote from Edgar Alan Poe, and hints of a decades old kidnapping and murder that was never solved.
I’d love to stay and chat some more, especially if sugar and caffeine are involved, but I’ve called an emergency meeting of the Women of a Certain Age (WOACA) group tonight. Barring a surprise drop in visit from my graciously acerbic mother-in-law, we plan to systematically scour the yellowed pile of newspapers and see if we can discover why the murder victim kept them and if that information will lead us to his killer. A busy night for a bunch of women flirting with peri-menopause. But don’t worry, there will be pastry!
Join us!
Tamsen
You can read more about Tamsen in The Death of Perry Many Paws.
About The Death of Perry Many Paws
Tamsen Mack, a successful children’s author, discovers her husband’s reclusive uncle in his study with a letter opener in his neck. Scattered around the room are a set of clues he left behind: a seventy year old photo, one page from his autobiography and over seventy yellowed newspapers from 1938 each dated April 1. An eerie quote from Edgar Alan Poe and a friend’s bloody shirt push Tamsen’s writer’s curiosity into over-drive. Aided by her friends and armed with sugar and caffeine, Tamsen plunges into the murder investigation. When she discovers a long forgotten crime her curiosity leads her to a connection between two chilling murders and the ties they have to her own circle of friends. When everyone has something to hide and someone to protect Tamsen wonders who among her friends she can really trust.
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GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on November 20 for your chance to win a print copy of The Death of Perry Many Paws. (US entries only, please.) Good luck everyone!
Meet the author
Deborah Benjamin started writing at a young age to entertain herself while watching football with her father. By age twelve she branched out and wrote a play starring the neighborhood children. The play was very well received and the one night only showing had standing room only as there were not enough chairs in the basement to seat all the parents. Deborah rested on the laurels of this success for many decades until deciding to write a mystery series based on a group of Women of a Certain Age. Deborah lives in Rochester, New York with her high school boyfriend and husband of forty years (same man). They have two adult sons who live in Brooklyn, New York.
Wow this sounds like a must read. Thanks for the chance to win.
Sounds awesome! Thanks for introducing me to another new author! and thanks for the chance to win a copy!
Yes please Dru, I’d love to win a copy of this. I have a crazy family just like hers… I even have an uncle who chose door number 3 instead of getting help. I’d love to add this to my home library.
This sounds like a fun new series. I enjoy books with Women of a Certain Age. Thanks
Thanks for introducing us to new authors & new series!
Wow, what a great setup. Count me in for the next meeting of the WOACA group. I’d really like to find out what’s in those newspaper articles. Thank you for this chance, Dru, and for introducing us to Deborah Benjamin. I look forward to reading this & hope to win the print copy.
Sounds like an exciting book! Thank you for introducing me to a new author.
myrifraf(at)gmail(dot)com
Ha ha ha…love the sound of this…please enter me and thanks for the contest. Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com
This book sounds like something I would enjoy. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
Sounds like a great book. Especially with the main character being g about my age. 🙂
I have left that “certain age” behind, but remember it well.
This sounds like a fun book – thank you for sharing
WOW…..another new author for me to read…so exciting…..this book sounds so awesome…..can’t wait to read it……thanks so much dearest Dru for the chance to win!!! God bless you!!!
I especially enjoy books about women who are reaching that “certain age”. I would love to have this one.
I am well beyond that certain age but would like to read and refresh my memory. Sounds like a fun book to read and thank you for the offer.
This is a great set up. I love all of the clues. I am closer to “a certain age” than I care to asmit. Thanks for the giveaway!
I’m not familiar with this author and would love the opportunity to become acquainted. Thank you for opportunity. robeader53@yahoo.com
Sounds interesting. Old pictures, Edgar Allen Poe….
Would love to try it. thanks.
A fascinating introduction! Thanks Dru and Deborah for the opportunity to win a copy. I am sure it will be a captivating book! 🙂
Sounds like a good book. This is a new author for me.
How intruiguing!! I’d love to win a copy of this book. It sounds delightful!!
Love the woaca goup, sounds like a fun cozy
I love it that you have a mature sleuth, or set of sleuths. Sounds delightful, and definitely something I will put on my Amazon list!
Mysteries are always more fun when the clues lead back to the inner circle. I know we’d really enjoy this one, thanks for the chance to win it.
This is a new author for me. “The Death of Perry Many Paws” sounds like a fun cozy. Thank you for this chance!
I can’t wait to read this book, sounds like a lot of activity going on. Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
Sounds like a good book with very interesting family characters. Thanks for the giveaway.
Another new-to-me author to try. Thanks for a chance to win a copy. Sounds like one I would really enjoy.
Sounds delightful! Thanks Dru.
This is a new author to me and sounds like a fun book
kaye dot killgore at comcast dot net
This sounds like a fun book, thanks for the chance to win. rango1971@yahoo.com
Tantalizing
What fun! Being of that age myself, I want to see if I can find any of my friends in this group.
The title alone is worth looking for this one. I am already smiling.
Love the idea about a mystery based on the lives of women of a certain age.
Contest is closed.