As part of the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Murder in Tranquility Park by J.D. Griffo, Alberta Ferrara Scaglione stops by to give a character’s perspective on this new cozy mystery!
SERIES: Ferrara Family Mystery #2
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
PUBLISHER: Kensington
RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2019
PAGES: 336
Alberta Scaglione and her twentysomething granddaughter, Jinx, love to spend time—and solve crime—together . . .
Ever since Alberta Scaglione inherited her spinster aunt’s Cape Cod cottage, she’s been enjoying the good life in Tranquility, New Jersey, with her black cat, Lola. But since things are mostly quiet in this town, she finds other things to do—like joining Jinx for morning jogs in Tranquility Park. She has to do something to stay healthy, as long as it doesn’t involve Jinx’s healthful tofu sausages and gluten-free pasta. But when they stumble across a treehouse hidden in the trees, and a dead body underneath it, they take a detour into solving a murder. Now the Ferrara ladies will have to exercise extreme caution to avoid a permanent decline in their health . . .
Includes Italian recipes from Alberta’s kitchen!
Hi Everyone,
I don’t usually do this sort of thing, you know, tooting il mio proprio corno, tooting my own horn. But at my age I’ve learned that exceptions should always be made and sometimes you really can teach an old dog like me a new trick. So I’m going to become someone I never thought I would, la spacconeria. Because it’s time for this old lady to brag.
I have good reason to brag too – the Ferrara Family Mystery Series lives on! Are you screaming with joy? I am! The second book in the series, MURDER IN TRANQUILITY PARK, hits bookstores this month. I’m happy for myself, but I’m even happier because I get to share more adventure with my granddaughter, Jinx. She really is la pupilla dei miei occhi, the apple of my eye. Let me explain why.
I hadn’t seen Jinx in years. Ah madon, sorry! Her real name is Gina, but her nickname’s Jinx and you can read all about how she got her nickname in our first book – MURDER ON MEMORY LAKE. I hadn’t seen her because her mother and I, my daughter Lisa Marie, we just don’t get along and she moved her family to Florida years ago. It breaks my heart and I blame myself, but what can you do? Some day, I pray that Lisa Marie will be able to put aside her anger and we can end this follia, this craziness, put the past behind us so that I can get to see my beautiful daughter again. I will never give up that hope, but until then I have my granddaughter right by my side and we’re making up for lost time. By playing amateur detectives and solving murders.
Ever since I moved to Tranquility, New Jersey – which is another crazy story that’s explained in the first book – it feels like I’m surrounded by dead bodies! Pazzo! Really crazy! So after solving the murder mystery in book one, we’re back to solve not one, but two murders in book two! Ah madon! It makes my head spin just thinking about it. It all starts when we find a dead body while jogging in Tranquility Park. Yes, I’ve taken up exercise, but it might have been the worst decision of my life because once we find the corpse, everything spirals out of control and we all find our lives in danger yet again.
But Jinx and I don’t do it alone. Oh no, we have help. My cranky sister, Helen, and our sister-in-law, Joyce, are part of our detective team and we’d be lost without them. And we also get some support from my old friend, Vinny, who’s the Chief of Police, as well as some new gentlemen friends, Sloan and Freddy. Everybody’s Italian except Sloan, but I’m a little sweet on him so please don’t hold it against him.
So I hope we get to know each other better. All you have to do is pick up MURDER IN TRANQUILITY PARK and you can join this crazy, loving Italian family as we set out to solve another murder mystery in our quiet lakeshore town.
Because when it comes to murder and mystery, it’s always best to keep it in the family!
Ciao,
Alberta
Italian by birth, Jersey by upbringing, J. D. Griffo is an award-winning playwright and author who has written ten novels, over twenty plays, and a handful of screenplays that have yet to see the light of day.
Griffo studied Journalism and Marketing at New York University, graduating magna cum laude many, many years ago, as well as Creative Writing at the New School and Gotham Writer’s Workshop.
And the J. D. stands for the author’s mother – Jean Dolores – who absolutely loved to read and tell stories.
This giveaway is hosted by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours, not RimSP
Follow along with the tour HERE
Thanks so much for the chance to win these books. They look so good!
I love a good mystery and these sound exciting.
Marilyn