Those of you who know of my love of Cornwall and all things Cornish will understand that I am super excited today to share an extract from A Cornish Daisy's Kiss, one of books in A Little Hotel in Cornwall series by Laura Briggs.
Not only that. You will have a chance to win a wonderful prize (scroll all the way down to see what you might win).
A Little Hotel in Cornwall: Books 1-8
All eight novellas in the UK bestselling series A LITTLE HOTEL IN
CORNWALL are now available in one collection! Follow aspiring young author
Maisie Clark as she stumbles into a role as a maid in the idyllic hotel by the
sea, where there’s never a dull moment, from her quest to track down a
reclusive English novelist, to her brush with jewel thieves and a whirlwind
trip through Paris and London to name a few. All the while, she finds herself
falling for the handsome and enigmatic groundskeeper Sidney Daniels. Could the
key to unlocking her dreams be right in front of her?
This collection contains A Little Hotel
in Cornwall, A Spirited Girl on
Cornish Shores, Sea Holly and
Mistletoe Kisses, The Cornish Secret
of Summer’s Promise, A Train from
Penzance to Paris, A Cornish Daisy’s
Kiss, A Stargazy Night Sky, and The Cornish Key to Happiness.
Purchase Link - http://mybook.to/LHboxset
Author Bio
–
Laura Briggs is the author of several
feel-good romance reads, including the Top 100 Amazon UK seller 'A Wedding in
Cornwall'. She has a fondness for vintage style dresses (especially ones with
polka dots), and reads everything from Jane Austen to modern day mysteries.
When she's not writing, she enjoys spending time with family and friends,
caring for her pets, gardening, and seeing the occasional movie or play.
Social
Media Links –
Author Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/1JjeMoI
Twitter page: http://bit.ly/1ME9ivJ
Thank you to Laura for sharing an extract from the books in her anthology A Little Hotel in Cornwall (Books 1-8). It’s a fun, feel-good romance series about wannabe writer Maisie Clark, who finds the key to her dreams while working at a cosy Cornish hotel. The extract below is from Maisie’s sixth adventure, A Cornish Daisy’s Kiss, which finds her freshly returned from a writing mentorship in Paris that didn’t go exactly the way she hoped it would. Back where she belongs, Maisie finds herself confronted with another quirky adventure—this time, in the form of a private eye who she catches snooping through the hotel’s private business in quest of a mysterious person.
-----------------------------
"Look, I've got business cards, a photo of me with the chief inspector from Scotland Yard —" He pulled other things from pockets, including the aforementioned business cards for Frank Gilley, private investigator. I couldn't pick a chief inspector from Scotland Yard out of a police identity parade. The only thing that was making me think he might be telling the truth was his desperation.
"This is ridiculous," I said dismissively. "I don't know why I'm listening to this. Why do I care if you get fired, and whether you deserve it? I'm unemployed, I'm racking up a huge hotel bill, I have to send my book off and let a total stranger judge my work and write insulting things in its margins ... or type them in a digital copy, who cares?" I was talking to myself now. Maybe Mr. Trelawney would have pity on me if I squealed on the hotel thief and write me a nice letter of recommendation, and not think of me as an idiot for quitting Alli's offer.
"What are you talking about?" Frank stared at me like I was crazy. "Look, I have no idea what's going on in your life, but I swear on a stack of holy books that all I was doing was looking for something. Or someone, to be specific ... and I thought there was a chance that I would find a clue in that drawer as to where they were." He spoke slowly and carefully, trying to keep from raising his voice or giving me a chance to get past him to the door. "That's all. No pocketing passports, swear it." He held up one hand solemnly. "Scout's honor. Queen's honor. Whatever you want me to swear to, I'll do it."
I slumped against one of Jeanine the kitchen staff's extra sweaters, arms crossed in front of me. "So who are you looking for?" I was deeply suspicious, still. Maybe this was Anson all over again, just a different game.
"See, there's the rub," he said. "I don't know. This is all very hush hush by my client, who happens to be fairly important — at least, fairly rich," he amended. "That's the main thing."
"Am I supposed to be impressed by that?"
"Okay. Fair enough." Frank held up his hands in surrender. "Here's the story. Rich client hires multiple private detectives to look for somebody living under an assumed name. They all come back empty handed, including the last one who came to this village, sniffing around a couple of years ago. So they hire me, and I follow the same trail, but I figure out something they didn't. Namely, that the reason this person had mail sent to the hotel wasn't to cover their tracks, but because this is where the tracks lead."
"It's an employee," I surmised.
"Right. Clever girl. See, the last detective didn't think of that, but I have, and the best way to do it is to go through employee records and look for when this person was working here, past or present."
"But you don't know who you're looking for."
"Yes. True. But I can figure that part out later, after I get all the names," he answered. "I know when this person went missing, about when they turned up here ... I reckon I take some photos or some physical descriptions of the potentials, gather some information to show my client, and go on from there."
"Why is your client looking for this person?" If I was going to be curious, I might as well be curious all the way. I squared my gaze with his own. "How do you know you're not doing the wrong thing if you find them? Like tracking down a victim for the mob or something?"
"Well, you've got a point. Technically, private detective, don't care."
"But I do care, and you need me to shut up about your activities," I answered. "Mr. Trelawney would toss you out on your ear without question if he knew about this. I shudder to think what Ms. Claypool would do to you." Actually, I had no idea, but it sounded scary to suggest it this way.
Frank chewed his lip and looked discomfited. He sighed. "All right ... I can't reveal all the details per se, sworn to professional secrecy and all, but I can tell you some. There's benefits for this person if I find them, and a substantial reward for me. So, no killing, just cash. Is that better?"
He searched my face, waiting to see what effect this would have. I had to admit, it sounded far from any of the contract killers' ploys in late-night movies. Maybe some hotel employee had a major windfall coming to them — maybe they had a long-lost fortune waiting for them, or a priceless antique in their possession worth millions to some famous museum. It had to be something good if someone was tracking them down so desperately.
"Do you know why this person is hiding?" That was the last piece that made me curious. Obviously, this person didn't want to be found if they were using an assumed name, or had something to hide, unless they were like me and had a very crazy story behind it.
----------------------
Giveaway to Win a PB copy of A Little Hotel in Cornwall: Books
1-8 and a scarf with cover art from
the series printed on it (Open to UK and US Only)
*Terms and Conditions –
UK & US entries welcome.
Please enter using
the Rafflecopter box below.
The winner will be selected at random via
Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or
email.
If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources
reserves the right to select an alternative winner.
Open to all entrants aged
18 or over.
Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is
used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the
exception of the winners’ information.
This will passed to the giveaway organiser
and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random
Resources will delete the data.
I am not responsible for despatch or
delivery of the prize.
Please note that this giveaway is being offered through several blogs as part of the book promotion.
Chez Maximka is hosting the Rafflecopter gadget for free. I have no access to the data collected, and do not select the winner or dispatch the prize.
Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment