August 24, 2018 – mjbreviewers

I’m so excited to be a stop on the blog tour for authors Gemma Halliday & Kelly Rey and her new release Sherlock Holmes and the case of the Disappearing Diva. This is the second book in the Marty Hudson Mysteries Mystery.

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Disappearing Diva
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Gemma Halliday Publishing (August 14, 2018)
Print Length: 316 pages
ASIN: B07DP3NBH7

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about-the-book

From #1 Kindle & New York Times bestselling author Gemma Halliday and USA Today bestselling author Kelly Rey comes a story about Sherlock Holmes, two savvy female detectives, and one chance to catch a killer and the hot Dr. Watson at the same time…

If there’s one thing Martha “Marty” Hudson can’t say no to, it’s her best friend Irene Adler. So when Irene’s little white lie about a fake detective named Sherlock Holmes turns into a real case from an actual paying client, Marty is all in. But their simple missing person case takes a deadly turn when the missing “person” ends up being a missing corpse.

Rebecca Lowery was an opera singer in life and, according to her sister, who hires the famous detective to find her, a diva with capital D. When her body goes missing after a supposedly accidental fall, Marty & Irene can think of several people who might want the diva to disappear permanently—especially if her missing body is actually hiding evidence of her murder. Is it the boyfriend with a temper and a shady record, the jealous understudy who’s now stealing the show, the creepy undertaker with possible ties to the underworld, or the estranged sister herself who now inherits everything?

Marty and Irene aim to find out, even while trying to keep cool around the hot ME, Dr. Watson, and dodging questions from the Irregulars blogger, Wiggins, about the mysterious man behind the name Sherlock Holmes. Will the ladies be able to pull this one off? Or are they in over their heads…and possibly about to take their own final bows?

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Other Book In The Series:

About the Author

Gemma Halliday is the New York Times, USA Today & #1 Kindle bestselling author of the High Heels Mysteries, the Hollywood Headlines Mysteries, the Jamie Bond Mysteries, the Tahoe Tessie Mysteries, the Marty Hudson Mysteries, and several other works. Gemma’s books have received numerous awards, including a Golden Heart, two National Reader’s Choice awards, a RONE award, and three RITA nominations. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her boyfriend, Jackson Stein, who writes vampire thrillers, and their four children, who are adorably distracting on a daily basis.

Author Links

Website http://www.gemmahalliday.com/

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/gemmahallidayauthor

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First off, thank you so much for having me! I’m really excited to be able to chat with your readers today.

When did you know that you wanted to be an author? What things, if any, influenced that decision?

While I have always loved reading and writing short stories as a child, it wasn’t until after my own first son was born that I decided to try my hand at actually writing a book. Up until that point the idea of writing an entire novel had just felt so incredibly daunting. But one day when my son was very young, I began reading a book that was just so incredibly terrible—and despite that had sold so well!—that I thought to myself, “I bet even I could write a book like this.” Little did I know then how difficult it was to write a terrible book… Let alone a good one!

With so many cozies being written today, what makes your books stand out from the crowd?

I think every author has their own unique voice and style that sets them apart from other authors. My hope is that my style of humor resonates with readers and keeps them coming back for more.

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Do you work from an outline or plot or do you just see where the characters take you?

I absolutely work from an outline! In fact, I create extremely detailed outlines before I start writing. For me it is the best way to weave in all the twists and turns that I enjoy in a good mystery plot. In particular, my Marty Hudson Mysteries series, is co-authored with Kelly Rey, so the plotting part of the writing process is generally my forte…whereas a lot of the very humorous scenes that you read in this book, I have to credit to Kelly.

Do you read your reviews? Do you respond to them, good or bad? Do you do anything special to get those reviews?

I actually try not to read reviews. It doesn’t matter if I have 20 stellar reviews and 1 bad one… It’s the bad one that will get stuck in my head as I sit down to write the next book.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Just keep writing, just keep writing, just keep writing…

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Do you think that the cover plays an important part in someone buying your book(s)? Who designs your book covers?

I think covers play a huge role! I actually have a running gag going with my eight-year-old son. He always uses the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover.” And my response to that is that you should ALWAYS a book by its cover. How else are you going to judge a book? I think it’s the best indicator readers have of what type of story they’re going to get—will it be humorous or gritty, will it be romance or mystery, will it appeal more to me or my teenage son?

The designer who did the cover for SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE DISAPEARING DIVA is Yocla Designs. I absolutely love both of the covers in this series that she has done for us. I think they perfectly capture the humorous feel of these mysteries.

Please give us an insight into your main characters. What do you think makes them special?

The main character in the Marty Hudson Mysteries is Martha “Marty” Hudson. She is extremely loosely based on an actual character from the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories. In those Martha Hudson is a middle-aged and long-suffering landlady at 221 Baker St. where Sherlock Holmes lives. In our modern version of the Sherlock Holmes tales, Marty is a quick-witted and clever twentysomething barista who has acquired an eclectic knowledge base while slinging coffee at the Stanford University Bookstore café. She inherits a rundown Victorian at 221 Baker St.—not in London but in modern day San Francisco—and she and her best friend, Irene Adler, invent a fake private investigator to help them open some of the doors that are firmly slammed in the faces of two young female civilians. That fake detective? Sherlock Holmes!

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What have you learned about yourselves since becoming an author?

I began writing almost 15 years ago, so I can safely say that just about every facet of my life has change since I started writing. At this point I feel like it’s just a part of me as anything else.

Do you write full-time or part-time?

I am a full-time writer. I have been for several years, and when I’m not writing my own stories, I am acting as a publisher, putting out cozy mysteries and romantic comedies for my small press, Gemma Halliday Publishing.

What do your plans for future projects include?

I have several series that I’m working on at the moment, including plotting out another Marty Hudson Mystery. In addition to her stories, I have a new book in my Jamie Bond Mysteries, FATAL BOND, coming out in October, a new book in my Hollywood Headlines Mysteries, HOLLYWOOD REVENGE, coming out in summer 2019, and I’ll be launching a brand-new series called the Wine & Dine Mysteries in early 2019 that I’m very excited about.

What do you think the hardest part of writing is? What is the easiest?

For me the hardest part about writing is actually doing the writing. That blank page can be so daunting! Oddly enough what started out as the most difficult part for me when I started my career has now become the easiest—and that is plotting out new stories.

What type of books do you like to read? Who are some of your favorite authors?

I love reading mysteries! And the more humorous the better. I would hate to name any authors I really enjoy, because I would feel remiss if I left some fabulous ones out. There are so many fantastic authors out there and lots of new indies I’m dying to try.

What is the one thing you would like your readers to know about you?

I would love for readers to know how grateful I am for their support! I honestly and truly do appreciate every single person who has bought and read one of my books over the years. While I try not to read specific reviews, just seeing that readers have reviewed and enjoyed my books is so incredibly humbling and heartwarming.

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