Ghostwriter Sale Coming Up!

Hi guys,
A quick heads up for those who loved Killer Twist and are considering buying more great Ghostwriter mysteries. I will be putting Roxy Parker's second exciting adventure—A Plot to Die For— on sale on Amazon for just 99c for one full week, starting this Saturday, July 20.

But that's not all, lovely people. If you go to Goodreads, you can clinch one of 3 free paperback copies I'm putting up for grabs. You've got a month to enter, so hop to it: book giveaway.

If you're after the 4th Ghostwriter Mystery, Dying Words, that's hot off the press and now available as an ebook at:
Amazon and Smashwords.

I'd LOVE to hear your feedback so please don't hesitate to write a quick review and/or leave me a comment. And look out for other giveaways coming up.

Happy reading,
xo Christina
PS: Those who know me will also know that July 20 is my birthday, so this year, the treats are clearly on me!

Roxy back on murder track

At last, life was looking pretty good for ghostwriter Roxy Parker. She had the man of her dreams, a new book in the wings, and was so content, she'd barely found time for a speedwalk, let alone her good friend Gilda Maltin. Everything was rosey until ...

... In the dead of night, an elderly man has been bulldozed over in a brutal hit and run. Clutching to life, he summons his sobbing family to his bedside and utters one simple sentence—"Roxy Parker ... she has it!" —before taking his final, gasping breath.

So begins the next exciting adventure for my crime loving amateur sleuth.

Keen to know more? Want to clinch your own ecopy?
Dying Words is the fourth book in the Ghostwriter Mystery series and is now available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Words-Ghostwriter-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00DPUYG5M/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373078356&sr=1-4&keywords=Dying+Words

It was a fun story to write because, as I said in an earlier blog, it was based on a real life incident that happened to me. An elderly man I had met and interviewed just once also called out my name on his deathbed and, while I'm pretty sure his passing was innocent enough, it set my imagination into overload.

Why did he call out my name of all names? What had he given me that was so precious to him? And what if there was a riveting mystery behind it all and he was sending me a message from the grave?

Dying Words is the result of my imagination gone wild. I loved writing it and I'm sure you're going to love reading it, too. And if you did, please don't hesitate to jot down a quick review and/or get in touch.

I love hearing from my readers, it's part of the reason I do what I do. (The other part is simply because it's such good fun.)

Happy reading!

xo Christina

Sneak peek - 4th Ghostwriter cover

Hi readers,
As promised, here's a sneaky peek at the latest cover for the fourth Ghostwriter Mystery novel, Dying Words which will be up on Amazon in early July. Designed by Mullumbimby artist/designer Stuart Eadie, it's a bold new look, and I'm very excited about it.

I'd love to hear your comments and will be back in touch when the book is published.

Cheers,
Christina Larmer

Roxy's next breathtaking adventure!

Fans of Roxy Parker and my Ghostwriter Mystery series will be happy to hear I have now completed the fourth book in the series and it is with my US editor as we speak. I've had many wonderful emails from fans begging for another Roxy Parker adventure, so I hope this one delivers on every scale. It's now called Dying Words and actually derives from a real-life incident that happened to me about two years ago.

A man I had met and interviewed once very briefly called out my name on his death bed. He was begging for a photo to be returned. It was a photo he had given me for a relatively dull book on Surveying that I had just completed. I had to Express Post the photo back to him before he died and it got me wondering: why did he NEED that picture back, so desperately? Was there something hidden in the picture? Some clue to a secret treasure or a cause for his death?

And so Roxy Parker gets the same desperate plea in my next book, Dying Words. In her case the man was definitely murdered and she must try to work out why he called out her name before he slipped off this mortal coil. Thus begins a very baffling adventure for the adventure-prone ghostwriter who goes on a frantic chase to locate an old missing photograph before a mysterious burglar beats her to it. This seemingly benign, black and white portrait of six people in 1975 holds the key, not only to the man's senseless murder, but to another very brutal crime that happened 37 years ago.

Along the way, we also reunite with Roxy's motley collection of mates including gutsy copper Gilda and Roxy's now-boyfriend Max (who has a secret bombshell he's about to drop!)

It's an intriguing tale and I hope you enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed writing it and it's also been great fun creating the cover with my talented Aussie designer Stu Eadie. This cover will be a little different to the last three and I'll give you all a sneak peek once I have it in my hot little hands (or should that be hot little hardrive?).

Once again, thanks to everyone for your patience and support, and I'll let you know once it's available online. In the meantime, you can catch Roxy's other adventures (or try one of my other books, The Agatha Christie Book Club or An Island Lost) at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=C.A.+Larmer

All feedback most welcome.

Happy reading,
Christina

Thwarted! For now...

So last time we spoke, I raved a bit about the glories—the ease!— of self-publishing via Smashwords. Perhaps I spoke a little prematurely. Sure, formatting the book was slightly tricky but hell, I did it, and I'm Queen Luddite. I got the cover designed, it looks hot, I have to say (thanks, Stu). And I uploaded the lot to Smashwords. They accepted it, yippee! Than they spat me back out. It seems I hadn't quite ticked all the boxes.

This process is a little trickier than I had anticipated. Doesn't mean it can't be done. Doesn't mean it won't be done. But there are a few hiccups I hadn't counted on. For instance, I didn't realise - duh! - that I'd need an ISBN number. A barcode as such. Why I didn't realise this is bizarre and a little embarrassing but there you go. How else can retailers know where to send my giant royalty cheques? Luckily for me, Smashwords recommended an Aussie ISBN website. I'm in the process of acquiring a book of 10 ISBN numbers (just $80 all up, people), then that's sorted for a few years/decades. (Really, with all this mucking about, you don't expect me to find any time to actually write anything else, do you?)

I also didn't realise I needed a US tax file number. The very thought sends shivers down our collective spines but, again, why I hadn't anticipated this, is beyond me. If you don't provide a tax number the US government withholds 30% of earnings. SO WHAT you might chorus? What's 30% of NOTHING? Then, you do the maths and realise that you're already giving your life's work away for a measly $2.99. Why let Uncle Sam take a whole dollar? What the hell did HE do? They don't even tax Bill Gates that much. (18% if you must know.)

Fortunately, I do have an old Social Security number from my three years working in the US, so I may use that. Or will that only open a can of worms? Will a helicopter suddenly descend upon the house, bright lights, a Swat team in place to demand where I've been for the past 12 years and why the hell haven't I been paying tax in God's Own Country?!

NOW we know what we needed publishers for.

I'm now in consultation with my Aussie tax bloke to find out the best course of action. Perhaps 30% ain't so bad...

But you know what? I still would rather go through all this crap then have to deal with a publisher, or not as the case currently is. Sure, a publisher would do all this for me, cross all these Ts, tick all the boxes. But I can still do it faster. They say it takes around a year for a publisher to turn a book around. So far, it's only been about six weeks for me. So we're doing okay.

Speak to me again in a month.
xo