Monday, August 17, 2020

~ GREAT ESCAPES FOWL MURDER BLOG TOUR ~

~ GREAT ESCAPES BLOG TOUR STOP ~
--  'FOWL MURDER'  --
AUTHOR VICTORIA TAIT
~Post Includes:  Book Spotlight, Author Bio,
Unique Author Guest Post & Giveaway~
   

Fowl Murder: A Cozy Mystery with a Determined Female Amateur Sleuth (A Kenya Kanga Mystery) by Victoria Tait

 

About Fowl Murder

 


Cozy Mystery  
1st in Series Publisher: Kanga Press (July 21, 2020)
  ebook, 190 pages Digital ASIN: B089RRXBC1

 
 
A shooting on the savannah. A tragedy she’d rather forget. When past and present collide, will she survive to see her future? Kenya, 2016. Semi-retired vet Rose Hardie just wants to enjoy her golden years and care for her disabled husband. But her peace of mind shatters when a forgotten confidant returns and reopens a case where Rose pulled the trigger. With her memories of the poacher’s shocking death flooding back, she barely catches her breath before her childhood friend is brutally murdered.
 
Braving blackmail and entrenched corruption, the tireless woman dives headfirst into helping the victim’s son solve the crime. But when the lead suspect is killed, Rose’s plans for a peaceful life end up dead and buried…
 
As her own traumatic history unravels, can Rose catch a killer before she becomes the next victim?
 
Foul Murder is the first book in the compelling Kenya Kanga Mystery series. If you like determined heroines, unpredictable twists and turns, and vivid African settings, then you’ll love Victoria Tait’s pulse-pounding tale.

About Victoria Tait


Victoria Tait is an exciting new author launching her Kenya Kanga Mystery series. She’s drawn on 8 years living in rural Kenya with her family to transport her readers to a world of curiosity, community and conspiracy. The Kenya Kanga Mystery series brings to life the beauty of the Kenyan landscape, the magic of its wildlife and the warmth of its people.
 


The Kenya Kanga Mystery Series: the Meaning behind the Name

Welcome to Fowl Murder, the first book in the Kenya Kanga Mystery Series.  

Kenya
The series is based in Kenya, a country on the eastern side of Africa with a coastline adjoining the Indian Ocean. It is the 48th largest country by area in the world, and the 29th most populated with nearly fifty million people.  The British colonised Kenya between 1888 and 1962, when it gained independence and was ruled by Jomo Kenyatta; his son Uhuru is the fourth and current President of Kenya.
 Mitumba Stallholders

Most of the ‘mzungu’ or white/European settlers are of British descent, although many nationalities are now represented including Americans, Dutch and South Africans. In Nanyuki the dominant African tribe is the Kikuyu, the largest ethnic group in the country making up approximately 20% of the population.  They were the first to rise up against the British and as a result have dominated business and politics, with three out of four presidents being Kikuyu.

I lived in Nanyuki, where Rose lives, for six years and in Gilgil, another small town, for two more, before returning to the UK.  Nanyuki straddles the equator: a large yellow sign with a red banner announcing ‘Equator’ at the southern entrance to the town is a popular place for tourists to be photographed. 

 
Equator Sign at Nanyuki

I have drawn on the sights I saw, the experiences I shared and the amazing people I met to write this series.  Every day gave me something to wonder about: whether it was a boda boda motorbike carrying a sofa across it, with a man sitting on the sofa; being stuck in a traffic jam on one of the busiest roads in Nairobi only to find the cause of the delay was a Maasai herding his cows the wrong way up the carriageway; or the majestic beauty of Mount Kenya after a fresh snowfall on its three peaks.

Mystery
My aim is for my readers to progress through the investigations Rose and her companions undertake, in their shoes, piecing together the puzzle to complete the whole picture.  A reader may guess the murderer’s identity before Rose, but not how or why the killer acted in the way they did.  I like to play fair: Rose will have the same information as the reader, and the murderer will not be a character introduced at the end of the book, or at the beginning and not seen again until the end.

Kanga
Finally the word ‘Kanga’ which has two meanings.  It is the Kiswahili—the national language of Kenya—name for guinea fowl. Most commonly seen are flocks of red or blue-wattled helmeted guinea fowl, with white spots on black feathers and a helmet-shaped protrusion on their heads.  The vulture guinea fowl is larger, has a bald head (which gives it a look not dissimilar to a vulture, hence the name) and swathes of black and white striped feathers over a royal blue feathered breast.

 
Blue Wattle-Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Guinea fowl are hardy birds adapting to many environments, and flocks of up to thirty birds are often spotted on the savanna, dry bush, or areas on the edge of forests.  They roost in trees at night for safety.  During the day they scratch at the ground seeking seeds, insects, tubers and occasionally a small snake as food.  Some people who keep these semi-domestic birds claim they make excellent guard-birds, notifying the presence of intruders with their high-pitched call.

The second meaning of Kanga is that of brightly coloured cotton material.  It is thought that the spotted patterns of some designs reminded people of guinea fowl feathers, which gave rise to the name Kanga.  It is impossible to drive down a street in a Kenyan town, particularly if you visit the coast, without seeing a lady with a brightly coloured Kanga wrapped around her waist, tucked in like a towel. 
 
 
Kanga Swatches

A Kanga is a piece of printed cotton fabric one and a half metres long by one metre wide with a wide border pattern, known as a pindo, and a separate central pattern.  In the early twentieth century it became common to include a saying or proverb, known as a jina, in the cloth.

There are many ways to wear or use a Kanga: a toga style dress, a headdress, or a baby carrier where the cloth is wrapped around the baby on its mother’s back, and securely tied across the mother’s front.  Double or even quadruple pieces of Kanga can be found stretched between poles to create a sail style sun-shade.

I aim to incorporate an animal into the title of each book in the series.  Book 2, which will be available in October, is called Tusk Justice and revolves around elephant conservation.  My free novella, which is only available to members of my book club, is called Grevy Danger and begins with the Great Grevy Rally, an event to count the endangered Grevy’s zebra.  Readers can join my mailing list and obtain their free copy of the book by visiting my website VictoriaTait.com

 
 Grevy’s Zebra

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Author Links:  You can find Victoria at https://www.victoriatait.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaTait  

Blog/News: https://victoriatait.com/news/ 

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20373879.Victoria_Tait  

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/vataitauthor/   

Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N - Kobo   


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TOUR PARTICIPANTS:  

August 5 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW  

August 5 – The Self-Rescue Princess – CHARACTER INTERVIEW  

August 6 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT  

August 6 – Reading Authors Network – SPOTLIGHT  

August 7 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT  

August 7 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT  

August 8 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST  

August 9 – Christy's Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST  

August 10 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW  

August 11 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW  

August 12 – The Book Decoder – REVIEW  

August 12 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT  

August 13 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST  

August 14 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author – SPOTLIGHT  

August 14 – Here's How It Happened – REVIEW  

August 15 – Brooke Blogs – CHARACTER GUEST POST  

August 16 – Socrates Book Reviews – REVIEW  

August 17 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT  

August 18 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – GUEST POST 

 

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~ NEW SEWING PATTERN FABRIC FLOWER TOWELS ~