Death by Diploma by Kelley Kaye blog tour and guest post
Death by Diploma
By Kelley Kaye
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Emma Lovett leaves her philandering husband and crosses the country to begin her teaching career at a high school in Pinewood, Colorado. There, she meets Leslie Parker, a fellow teacher given to quoting Shakespeare to fit all situations, and the two become fast friends.
Arriving at work early one morning, Emma discovers the body of the school custodian, a man who reminds her of her late father. When the police struggle to find the killer, the ladies decide to help solve the murder. Their efforts lead them to a myriad of suspects: the schizophrenic librarian, the crude football coach, the mysterious social studies teacher, and even Emma’s new love interest.
As Emma Lovett discovers the perils of teaching high school, she and Leslie learn more than they ever wanted to know about the reasons people kill.
Guest Post
It’s February 23, 2016, AKA Release Day. My debut novel, Cozy Mystery Death by Diploma, became available today throughout all of cyberspace and beyond. The starring characters in this novel have been around since the late 90’s, when I created them to write a script for a sitcom contest. They were born as an amalgamation of me and all my friends in education (I taught high school English and Drama from 1992-2011), and they flourished with all my teaching adventures. Now they’ve EVOLVED, no kidding, into honest-to-pete, Angela-Lansbury-loving SLEUTHS, solving murders and quoting Shakespeare! Their arduous journey is coming to a head today, Release Day.
Tuesdays are workout days, so here I am at 5 a.m., saying my good-mornings to the fifteen or twenty other crazy people who are up this early to sweat at least three to four days per week. There must be sparks coming from out my ears, no? I’m as antsy as a cat on a horse fence, sure my body is screaming the news: MY BOOK IS OUT! MY BOOK IS OUT! CAN’T YOU SEE HOW HUGE THIS IS??!? I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME! I study their faces, trying to gauge their reactions, but nothing happens. The same grim resignation appears there, that “I’m only here because I have to be” look. No clue as to the import of the day, no idea of the size of the accomplishment. I can’t believe it. So I take a deep breath and jump on the elliptical, ready to sweat like the rest of them.
It starts me thinking, though. When I finished the first draft of this book, I’d burst into tears, overwhelmed by the enormity of the task I’d completed: an entire book. Think about it: how many people do you know who say they want to write a book? They’ve got this great idea for a book, but they never find the time or the wherewithal to do it. Or think about any big thing you’ve done, or any noteworthy event in your life: did you just have a baby? Just finish your dissertation? Just meet your soul mate? It’s so strange to ambulate through an ordinary day when something’s going on that feels so life-changing and significant, and nobody seems to notice.
I guess there’s a lesson in perspective here: there is no neon sign over my head with arrows and flashing psychedelic words saying SEE ME! I DID SOMETHING AWESOME! SOMETHING THAT SHOULD WOW YOU ALL! It’s just another day for the other almost 7-billion souls on this speck of a planet, in this grain of a solar system, on this beach of a galaxy, along this ocean of a universe.
But you know what? That’s okay, because it’s Release Day. I feel awesome.
Author Bio
Kelley Kaye taught High School English and Drama for twenty years, but her love for storytelling dates back to creating captions for her high school yearbook. Maybe back to the tales she created around her Barbie and Ken — whatever the case, the love’s been around for a long time.
Kelley is married to this amazing man who cooks for her, and they have two funny and wonderful sons. She lives in Southern California.
http://www.kelleykaybowles.com/
On Twitter: @kelkay1202
Check out the book trailer for Death by Diploma: https://youtu.be/CAMXkR3kA-8
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