Shifting and Shenanigans
by Elizabeth Pantley
October 10-21, 2022 Virtual Book Tour
Synopsis:
Paige and her adventurous Aunt Glo inherit a country inn from eccentric GeeGee. They pack up and hit the road, arriving at the charming place they both loved since childhood. Finally! They can get into the secret room in the basement that GeeGee kept locked! They discover it’s a wonderful library filled to the brim with mystery books. But more than the room was a secret – it’s a magical place that houses enchanted books. Paige and Glo find themselves smack-dab in the middle of a murder mystery, along with a motley group of book club friends. The club will need to work together to solve the case in order to get out of the book and back to their home.
Praise for Shifting and Shenanigans:
"A book club cozy mystery with a wonderful twist!"
Judi, Amazon Reviewer
"I’m ravenous for the next book!"
@mullanewayne
"The concept is nothing short of brilliant!"
Book Bites
"A must-read mystery!"
JACW, Amazon
"A unique twist to the cozy mystery genre! I was enchanted."
Cozy Up with Kathy
Book Details:
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Published by: Indie
Publication Date: July 15th 2022
Number of Pages: 210
ASIN: B0B3WLF7CW
Series: Magical Mystery Book Club #1
Book Links: Amazon | Goodreads
Read an excerpt:
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said the locksmith. He took a step back and scratched his head. He’d been at it for twenty minutes and still hadn’t opened the door. “It doesn’t make sense. This takes a skeleton key. It should be a simple task. People can do it with a couple of Allen wrenches. I’ve even done it with a pair of paperclips.”
“So, what do we do now?” Glo asked.
“Best thing is to contact a carpenter. Since the hinges are inside, he’ll have to drill the lock. It’ll destroy the lock and damage your door, though.”
“We don’t have much choice. We want to get into the room, so we’ll have to do it,” I said.
After the locksmith left, we looked up a couple of local contractors, but any openings were days away. We texted Theo but hadn’t heard back from him yet.
We decided to start the day by sorting out the kitchen. There were plenty of dishes and dry goods, but the organization was an absolute mess.
“How in the world did she work in this disaster?” Glo mumbled. “You’d spend half your time searching for things!” She was emptying out a cabinet. She pulled out an odd assortment of dishes, pots, cleaning supplies, and canned goods. She started to laugh and held up a hundred-piece puzzle in one hand and a shoeshine kit in the other.
“Now this makes perfect sense.” She was snorting. “Make dinner, clean up, shine your shoes and do a puzzle.”
I held up a few treasures from the cabinet I was working on. “And here you go. In case you need a spare pair of socks, a stack of plastic containers – no lids – and printer ink.”
“It’s like a treasure hunt! It’s good for us to sort through all this anyhow.”
“True,” I agreed. “Then we’ll know what we’ve got. Let me find some paper and a pen and we’ll start a list of things we need.”
I began to sort through the typical drawers most people would use for things like pens and scratch paper, then groaned. “You know what’s in her junk drawers? Talcum powder, coffee creamer, clothespins, and aha! The soup bowls!”
“Where’s the very last place you’d look for a pen and paper? Try that first,” snickered Glo.
“Probably the bathroom,” I joked. “I’ll just make a list on my phone.”
I opened another cabinet and groaned at the stack of boxes and plastic containers jammed into every inch. They were filled with random stuff. I took them to the table and dumped them out.
“Holy Toledo! Glo, look at this!” I stood up and did a little dance around the kitchen. I shimmied over to her, then held up a very old-looking skeleton key.
~ ~ ~
“I feel like we should have a drum roll or a trumpet fanfare—”
“—or fireworks!” laughed Glo. “At least a countdown. Five … four … three … two … one! Blastoff!”
I turned the key and heard the click as it unlocked. “Houston, we have liftoff.”
I twisted the knob and pushed the door open. There was a set of stairs to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs was another door. We opened it. Impossibly, there was another set of stairs. At the bottom of those stairs was yet another door. It required a skeleton key to open. I stared at the key in my hand. “You better work,” I told the key.
The key worked smoothly, and I opened the door.
Our jaws dropped and neither of us spoke. You could have heard a cotton ball drop.
Finally, Glo broke the silence. “Holy macaroni! This is insane!”
“How could she have kept this secret our whole lives?” I wondered.
“WHY did she keep this secret?” Glo added.
“This room is the size of the entire house! It’s enormous. Ginormous!” I whistled.
“This secret space is underneath the inn! How is it two stories high? Is that even structurally sound? This is bizarre.”
The room was indeed two levels high, connected by a brass spiral staircase. In the front area, where we were glued to the spot, was a large seating area with eight cozy floral patterned armchairs. A beautiful wooden coffee table sat in the middle. There was an antique globe on a brass stand, and a stone fireplace like the one upstairs. This one had an intricately carved wood mantle and a stone hearth. A large statue of a woman holding a book was centered on the mantle.
“Look at all these books!” exclaimed Glo, spinning in a circle.
“This is the library GeeGee referred to in her will! Remember? She said she’s putting us in charge. That it’s priceless!”
“I am beyond confused, Paige. How is this even possible? GeeGee was just a sweet little innkeeper. She was the lady who baked us cookies and homemade stew. And she was hiding all this right under our feet?!”
***
Excerpt from Shifting and Shenanigans by Elizabeth Pantley. Copyright 2022 by Elizabeth Pantley. Reproduced with permission from Elizabeth Pantley. All rights reserved.
Review:
4 stars!
Imaginative and engaging cozy paranormal mystery featuring
a mysterious library and magical book club.
Shifting and Shenanigans, the first book in Elizabeth Pantley's new cozy mystery series, Magical Mystery Book Club, was a complete and total and happy surprise. I loved the premise that the book club group would be plopped down at the beginning of whichever mystery they had selected and seamlessly incorporated into the story. As Frank and one other member were hold-overs from when GeeGee ran the club, little tidbits of information about how things worked in the past kept coming to light.
I particularly enjoyed the discussion of how the writing style of the author of the selected book determined how the members saw or experienced the book's setting and other characters. If the author was very descriptive of the surroundings or spent a lot of time developing characters, the club members experienced a much more vivid and detailed setting, and the book's characters were more complex in their interactions with the group.
I liked how the story written in their copy of the book was only as complete as the group's progress. Also, if the cozy mystery had paranormal aspects, the possibilities for what the club members might find in the story were greatly expanded.
The club's investigation into the murder was simple and straightforward, but after establishing the foundational plot about the book club and the library, we don't really know much about the different club members themselves yet. Character development is a bit thin. But what we get is quite engaging, and I'm already looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Vampires and Villains.
I recommend SHIFTING AND SHENANIGANS to cozy mystery readers who would enjoy a very imaginative paranormal storyline.
Author Bio:
Elizabeth Pantley says that writing her Mystery and Magic book series is the most fun she's ever had at work. Fans of the series say her joy is evident through the engaging stories she tells. Elizabeth is also the international bestselling author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution and twelve other books for parents. Her books have been published in over twenty languages. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, a beautiful inspiration for her enchanted worlds.
Catch Up With Elizabeth Pantley:
www.NoCrySolution.com
Goodreads
BookBub - @DestinyFalls
Instagram - @destinyfallsmystery
Facebook - @DestinyFallsMysteryandMagic
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GIVEAWAY:
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