A Great Review for A Bull by the Horns

With all the holiday busy-ness the last couple of weeks, I almost missed this wonderful review of A Bull by the Horns by Pauline Michael at Night Owl Reviews. This kind of praise is the best Christmas present a person could ever hope for. Thank you!

Here’s my favorite part:

Deb Donahue delights readers with this fantastic first in a cozy mystery series. Honestly I finished reading this days ago and haven’t stopped talking about it. I’ve mentioned it to friends and family and even a stranger in a doctor’s office. I found the characters and scenario refreshing and entertaining. In fact I was so taken with the story that I’m seriously thinking of finding a retreat like this or starting one of my own. The setting is lovely, the suspects are intriguing and the death, definitely unique and attention grabbing.

Source: A Bull by the Horns – A Coffman Country Art Colony Cozy, #1

To read the whole review, please visit their website.

The First Two Reviews Are In

A Bull by the Horns earned two reviews in September, each with a five star rating. Here’s a couple excerpts from what the readers had to say:

“Here’s a book you’ll sit up in bed to read or take to work to read on your lunch hour. Once you start it, you’ll look up and be surprised that you’re not in a spacious farmhouse, dealing with the deftly drawn assortment of characters who are guests in Carina’s art colony, or that the weather outside isn’t what it’s doing so realistically in the novel.”

“Set on a farm in Ellendale, it is Donahue’s depiction of Coffman’s Country Art Colony that stuck with me days after finishing the novel. It made me want to sign up for the Coffman’s Art Colony—or not. You’ll see what I mean.”

Word is Getting Around

Anyone who lives in a small town knows how quickly word gets around when there’s news to share.  Even without trying, everyone seems to know almost before you do.

That seems to be happening on the internet too, at least for my newest release, A Bull by the Horns.  Just for fun, I Googled the title and my name and found a couple of places where people mentioned the book’s release without my even having to ask.

To thank them, I’m posting links below and inviting you to visit their site.  If you like reading, you’ll find lots to interest you besides my Coffman Country Art Colony Cozy.

Must Read Mysteries posts reviews and lists of new releases.

Omnimystey News is all about mysteries.  You’ll find some good book reviews here.

Novelspot has got a whole slew of helpful links for readers and writers.

Join the party line.  Share this post or Tweet using one of the links below to let people know about my newest book.

Click to Tweet: My friend Deb just published a book! http://ctt.ec/be4lc+

Click to Tweet: Check out this new cozy mystery book by Deb Donahue! http://ctt.ec/bLM8V+

A Bull by the Horns Finally Released

I’m breathing a sign of relief, but not for too long.  August 1, all versions of my Coffman Country Art Colony cozy mystery were released.  It took me longer to get this done than I had predicted, but I wanted to make sure it was the best that it can be.  I hope you think it was worth the wait. It can be purchased at the links below. Or if you want to try to win a print version, wait till August 11 and enter the Goodreads contest. Now I need to do my best to get the word out.  Hopefully all my friends and family will help spread the word!

Carina Coffman has worked hard to fulfill her grandmother’s dream of turning the family farm into an artist’s retreat. She thought the only obstacles she had left to deal with were a disgruntled neighbor unhappy with her new venture, and training Larry the goat to stop head-butting his companions Curly and Moe. When one of her guests ends up impaled by the longhorn of Ferdinand the taxidermied bull, however, she has her work cut out for her.

  

The Animals on New Life Old Farm

It’s hard to get any work done on my novel Bull by the Horns when my research leads me to such fun and interesting sites like this one.  This page makes me want to add more animals to the ones I’ve already created for my working farm/art colony/crime scene.

Here’s just a few of their residents.

Dixie

Elsie Gump

Tigger and Pooh

 

via The Animals – New Life Old Farm.

The Barn Door: Living Many Lives

It was time for my monthly post at The Barn Door a few days ago.  I went out and took several pictures of the farm I used to live on and then posted about how the location was the inspiration for my Coffman Cozy Mystery series..

On the 28th of every month, I will be posting something at The Barn Door about life in the Midwest, but the site has many contributors all talking about their lives in the Midwest also. Here’s a snippet of what I had to say, but I hope you will click the link at the end to read some of the other great posts.

As a writer, I can bring back the past if I want to. Or I can change the present to one that isn’t possible in reality. When the family decided it was time to sell the farm, I was lucky enough to be able to afford the small house, but not the other buildings or acres of farm land. I had a dream, you see, of filling the big house with artists and writers and composers. Adding a spirit of creativity to the existing aura of love and joy and peacefulness.

via The Barn Door: Living Many Lives.

Goats Want What They Want

via Baby Drinks Bottle of Water! | Chickens in the Road.

This picture from Chickens in the Road reminds me of a scene I wrote recently in my cozy mystery A Bull by the Horns.  Only Larry isn’t a baby and he’s reaching for spilled grain instead of a bottle.

Madeleine tried next, hesitant at first, but delighted when Moe’s soft lips began to nuzzle her offering.  Kikki shoveled out a huge handful of grain, thrusting it toward Larry who was trying to push Curley away from Stephan’s palm.

“Wait, Kikki.” I tried to stop her, but it was too late.  The greedy buck grabbed for the food but nipped fingers instead.  Kikki shrieked and pulled away, spilling grain both in and outside of the fence.  All three goats dove for it, Larry characteristically head butting the other two to get there first.

Kikki started crying hysterically, holding her hand out in front of her.

“There, there.” Stephan tried to comfort her by putting an arm around her shoulders. “See? No harm done.  He’s barely made a mark.”

Larry’s blunt teeth had left depressions in her skin but had not broken through.  Kikki, however, continued to wail as if her appendage hung by a bloody thread. The offending goat stuck his head through the fence wire, practically strangling himself as he lipped dirt and fallen seed from the other side.

A Bull By The Horns

Now that Chasing Nightmares is done and available to purchase in ebook or paperback, I need to get writing on my next project: the first book in my new cozy mystery series, Coffman Country Cozies.  Here’s a tidbit of what I have planned.

Artists and Writers and Murderers, Oh My! You thought living in the country was boring? Then you haven’t read a Coffman Cozy mystery yet.

Somewhere in farm country USA · www.debdonahue.wix.com/coffmancozies

Murder mysteries solved by mystery writers are boring.  Mystery writers who are murder suspects—much more interesting.  Especially if a poet, composer, artist and irascible old farmer have just as much motive and are equally annoying.

A Bull by the Horns is the first novel in the Coffman’s Country Art Colony series.  Protagonist Carina Coffman has worked hard to fulfill her grandmother’s dream of turning the family farm into an artist’s retreat.  She thought the only obstacles she had left to deal with were a disgruntled neighbor unhappy with her new venture, and training Larry the goat to stop head-butting his companions Curley and Moe.  When one of her guests ends up impaled by the longhorn of Ferdinand the taxidermied bull, however, she has her work cut out for her.