Gianetta Murray – Ruff Drafts

Moved to Murder: A Vivien Brandt Mystery
by Gianetta Murray

About Moved to Murder

Moved to Murder: A Vivien Brandt Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – South Yorkshire, England
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Troubador Publishing Ltd (June 5, 2024)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 266 pages
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CXJB9KVH

Vivien Brandt (forty-something editor, librarian, and future interior designer extraordinaire) has spent decades dreaming about a life in England, and thanks to her marriage to second husband Geoffrey, her dreams are finally coming true. She and her cat Sydney (who is considerably less excited about leaving the warmth of California) are the newest inhabitants of a cosy South Yorkshire village.

But as Vivien meets the locals – including the vicar, a charismatic politician, and a pair of troubled teenagers – she finds she still has a lot to learn about her new home. Especially after she discovers a body in it.

Now she must work with her neighbor Hayley and a somewhat mistrustful police inspector to uncover the village’s secrets and find a killer. Preferably, before the killer finds her.

Because it seems when the chips (crisps?) are down, the only common language between America and Britain… is murder.

GUEST POST

Cozy Rules

The first of my Vivien Brandt cozy mystery series, Moved to Murder, is now available through most book retailers. It features a fortysomething Californian who meets and marries a Brit, causing her to move to a small South Yorkshire village with her reluctant Siamese cat Sydney. In addition to remembering not to call trousers “pants” and that lemonade is actually Sprite, Vivien must navigate the cultural idiosyncrasies of this foreign land to discover secrets her new neighbors do not want exposed in order to find a killer.

But why did I choose to write a cozy mystery series? After all, romantasy, psychological thrillers, and cookbooks are the market leaders these days! (With the notable exception of Richard Osman, of course, but he is an exception to just about everything.)

The fact is, I decided when I started this career a couple of years ago that I wanted to write what I love. And I love a good cozy mystery.

If you’re reading this, you probably already know the most common rules for creating a cozy mystery: No graphic gore or sex, no animals shall be harmed, there may be a hobby or craft involved, and there should be lots of character development. In many cozies, the murder doesn’t even happen in the first half of the book while we learn to know and love the characters before one of them is taken from us!

But for me, the cozy contains two other elements that warm my heart and soothe my soul.

First, they go well with humor, like Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, or Turner and Hooch. The world can be a very gloomy place to live in at times. Escaping to a country village where the murders are fictional and the locals frequently indulge in witty repartee is just the ticket for forgetting what ails you. In Moved to Murder, a lot of the humor comes from the fact that Vivien is an American trying to fit into a very British lifestyle, and often failing miserably. But it’s a cozy so, never fear, she has supportive friends and a loving (and pretty hot) husband to see her through.

The other satisfying feature of cozies is their commitment to seeing justice done. There are no escaped serial killers here, determined to wreak havoc in a future installment. No women kidnapped and tortured for chapters on end. Murderers are caught through the clever detecting of a kindly police inspector or an amateur detective (or both) and humanely sent to jail to rethink their ways. Sometimes the victim is practically begging to be killed, nasty person that he is, and you actually find yourself sympathizing with a killer! But no matter, in the cozy world right is right and killing is wrong and a debt must be paid, even if that payment is occasionally creative.

Now, as with all rules, these are made to sometimes be bent or even broken. Agatha Christie’s works contain some quite gory murders, and few of the Golden Age writers are laugh-out-loud riots. But I find that satisfying as well, that there’s enough leeway to allow the creative cozy writer to produce works that suit a range of readers. Whether you like your cozies to feature a hobby, some romance, or a touch more police procedure, there’s something for everyone.

I hope you enjoy Vivien’s adventures, learn a bit of British slang, and have a chuckle or two as she blunders her way through British society. There may be a snarky detective inspector and some interior decorating, but I promise you the animals are safe as houses!

About Gianetta Murray

Like her protagonist, Gianetta is California-raised and moved to England twenty years ago after marrying her British husband. She has worked as a technical writer, knowledge manager, and librarian in both countries and is currently owned by two cats who are unimpressed by her accomplishments but willing to tolerate her in return for food.

Author Links: Website – https://gianettamurray.com, gianettamurray | Instagram, Facebook | Linktree

Purchase Links – US Link: Moved to Murder UK link: Moved to Murder

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

July 16 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

July 16 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – SPOTLIGHT

July 17 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW

July 18 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT

July 18 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW

July 19 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

July 19 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

July 20 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST

July 20 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT