Blog Tour: THE BIG SHAKEUP by Nancy Boyarsky

 

The Big Shakeup

by Nancy Boyarsky

 

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GENRE:   Mystery

 

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BLURB:

 

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, or so they say.

P.I. Nicole Graves arrives early at work, just as Los Angeles is hit with “the Big One,” a long-predicted, devastating earthquake. When the building stops shaking, Nicole finds Jerry, her boss, in his office dying of a gunshot wound. It appears to be suicide.

Nicole is shocked to learn that the police have decided Jerry’s death was murder and even more shocked that she’s their only suspect when there’s no shortage of people with motives. And there’s the question of why the detectives are pursuing this one case when all city workers, including the police, are in an all-out search and rescue operation for survivors. All she can do is evade capture long enough to prove her innocence and catch the real culprit.

 

 

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Excerpt Four:

 

She got up and hurried down the hall to Jerry’s office to see if his computer was still there. The odor she’d noticed before grew stronger as she approached his door. When Nicole opened it, the smell was unmistakable. It was blood—blood that had been left to ripen a while. She turned on her flashlight and swept the room with its beam. There was something lying on the floor near the desk. Hair rose on the back of her neck as she approached it. Just as she feared, it was a body. As soon as she was close enough, she focused the flashlight on its face and rocked back on her heels. It was Diana Chang, the young woman who’d arrived with Nate Goodman when Jerry was bleeding out. From the amount of blood on the floor, it looked as if Diana had bled out hours ago. She’d been shot through the forehead, and she was very dead.

 

Nicole got out the burner phone, ready to call 911. Only then did she realize that she—of all people—couldn’t report Diana’s death. Even calling anonymously was out of the question. It might allow the police to track her new phone and learn she’d been at the scene of yet another murder. She also had the feeling that, whether or not they tracked her here, they were still going to blame her for Diana’s death.

 

 

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My Review: It all started with an earthquake—a big shakeup—and then PI Nicole Graves found her boss underneath his desk in a pool of blood and a gun. Was it the earthquake that killed him or a gun shot?

At first, all this could talk about was the earthquake—the intensity level, the damages, the aftermath, and the statistics. Right away, the story was getting off to a mild start. Then, soon after, Nicole is charged with the murder of Jerry and was booked into a women’s correctional facility. Now, we’re getting somewhere. After she gets released, she spends her time trying to figure out who the real killer was while trying to hide from the police.

The narrative was nice and simple, but it was long and slow at times. I thought there was far too much time spent on the earthquake and its aftermath. The characters mentioned the quake too much and too often. Even though I wish the mystery and story would’ve moved faster, I was still eager to find out what happened. After all, the bodies were piling up and Nicole was still getting blamed. The whole thing was actually a gripping hide-and-seek chase from the cops. What a shocking revelation to realize who the killer might actually be. But was it really him? You just have to keep reading to find out.

A compelling mystery full of suspense!

 

Rating: 4 stars

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Nancy’s award-winning Nicole Graves Mysteries have been compared to Mary Higgins Clark and are praised for contributing to the “women-driven mystery field with panache” (Foreword Reviews) as well as for their “hold-onto-the-bar roller coaster” plots (RT Book Reviews). Her debut novel The Swap—book one of the Nicole Graves Mysteries—won the prestigious Eric Hoffer award for Best Micro Press Book of the Year.

Nancy has been a writer and editor for her entire working career. She coauthored Backroom Politics, a New York Times notable book, with her husband Bill Boyarsky. She has written several textbooks on the justice system and contributed to anthologies, including In the Running about women’s political campaigns and The Challenge of California. She has also written for the Los Angeles Times, West magazine, Forbes, McCall’s, Playgirl, Westways, and other publications. She was communications director for political affairs for ARCO.

In addition to writing mysteries, Nancy is producer and director of the “Inside Golden State Politics” podcast.

Nancy can be contacted through her website, www.nancyboyarsky.com

Visit Nancy Online: www.lightmessages.com/nancy-boyarsky

Facebook: nancyboyarskyauthor

Pinterest: boyarsky2402

Goodreads: goodreads.com/nboyars

Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Shakeup-Nicole-Graves-Mysteries-Book-ebook/dp/B0C8ZNKZ78/

 

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GIVEAWAY :

Nancy Boyarsky will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway