The Gun Also Rises by Sherry Harris: Review and a Giveaway!

The Gun Also Rises

(A Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery)

by Sherry Harris

About the Book

 

The Gun Also Rises (A Sarah W. Garage Sale Mystery)

Cozy Mystery

6th in Series

Kensington (January 29, 2019)

Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages

ISBN-10: 1496716965

ISBN-13: 978-1496716965

Digital ASIN: B07CWF942Q

TO RECOVER A PRICELESS MANUSCRIPT . . .

A wealthy widow has asked Sarah Winston to sell her massive collection of mysteries through her garage sale business. While sorting through piles of books stashed in the woman's attic, Sarah is amazed to discover a case of lost Hemingway stories, stolen from a train in Paris back in 1922. How did they end up in Belle Winthrop Granville's attic in Ellington, Massachusetts, almost one hundred years later?

WILL SARAH HAVE TO PAY WITH HER LIFE?

Before Sarah can get any answers, Belle is assaulted, the case is stolen, a maid is killed, and Sarah herself is dodging bullets. And when rumors spread that Belle has a limited edition of The Sun Also Rises in her house, Sarah is soon mixed up with a mobster, the fanatical League of Literary Treasure Hunters, and a hard-to-read rare book dealer. With someone willing to kill for the Hemingway, Sarah has to race to catch the culprit—or the bell may toll for her . . .

About the Author

Agatha Award-nominated author, Sherry Harris, started bargain hunting in second grade at her best friend’s yard sale. She honed her bartering skills as she moved around the country while her husband served in the Air Force. Sherry uses her love of garage sales, her life as a military spouse, and her time living in Massachusetts as inspiration for the Sarah Winston Garage Sale series.  You can connect with the author on her Webpage, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

My Thoughts

The Gun Also Rises by Sherry Harris has us spending July in Ellington, Massachusetts.  Sarah Winston is hired by Mrs. Belle Winthrop Granville III to sort through her mystery collection for a garage sale with the proceeds to benefit the Ellington Free Library.  While digging through the large assortment of books that are stored in the attic, Sarah uncovers a traveling case filled with Ernest Hemingway manuscripts that disappeared from a train in Paris in 1922.  Sarah takes the case down to Miss Belle who is just as surprised as Sarah at the unexpected find and asks for time alone.  Soon Sarah hears Miss Belle cry out and Sarah rushes to her aid.  Miss Belle was assaulted by her maid who stole the case with the manuscripts.  Sarah rushes after Kay Kimble, the maid and finds her dead on a path in the woods from a bullet wound.  A shot rings out and Sarah ducks to avoid being hit.  Word gets out about the Hemingway papers and members of the League of Literary Treasure Hunters have descended on the town.  Then a masked gunman appears at Miss Belle’s demanding the limited edition of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.  They thwart the masked bandit and start a search for the elusive novel.  Sarah must evade the literary treasure hunters while seeking clues that will lead her to Kay’s killer and the missing manuscripts.  To top it off, Sarah’s reporter brother returns to town and she is busy preparing for a sale to raise funds to help a veteran reunite with his dog from Iraq.  Can Sarah stay alive long enough to see another sunrise? 

The Gun Also Rises is a busy novel.  Sarah has a full plate as she deals with missing manuscripts, her brother, a murder, preparing for a very special sale to help a veteran bring his dog to America, pricing Miss Belle’s mystery collection, evading the literary treasure hunters, hunting down the rare Hemingway book and trying not to be the killer’s next victim.  The Gun Also Rises can be read as a standalone if you have not read any of the previous A Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mysteries.  I find Sarah’s garage sale business interesting.  She never knows what treasures she will find.  I wanted to buy all the books in Miss Belle’s fictional attic.  I found The Gun Also Rises to be easy to read with steady pacing throughout most of the book (a little slow in the middle).  I loved all the mystery novels mentioned throughout the book (Trixie Belden and Agatha Christie are just two examples) as well as the details on Louisa May Alcott and historical sites that people can visit.  There are also some clever Gone with the Wind references.  The murder of Kay and the missing manuscripts leads readers on a merry chase as we follow the clues to figure out who is behind these appalling deeds.  I do wish it had been harder to identify the guilty parties, and I was unsatisfied with the ending (spoilers).   I was glad to see a move forward in Seth and Sarah’s romantic life.  Sarah’s ex-husband has left town (finally) and Sarah can finally move forward romantically with her life.   I appreciated the author highlighting the role of military spouses and the support they need when their significant other is serving overseas.  There is also a storyline about a veteran suffering from PTSD who is missing the dog he had in Iraq.  Sara is organizing a sale to help unite the man with his beloved canine.  Readers will find themselves laughing at Sarah’s various escapades.  Buckle your seatbelt for a humorous and fast paced romp with Sarah in The Gun Also Rises.  For a complete list of the books in A Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series, click here.

The Gun Also Rises comes out on January 29 and is available at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Google Play , and IndieBound.  The next book in A Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series is Let's Fake a Deal which releases on July 30. In honor of the tour, there is a giveaway of three print copies of The Gun Also Rises.  You can enter via the Rafflecopter form below or click here.  Good Luck!  If you have an opportunity, visit the other stops on the tour for guest posts, character interviews, spotlights, reviews and author interviews.  Thank you so much for joining me today.  I hope you can visit tomorrow when I return to share my review of Pruning the Dead by Julia Henry.  Take care and Happy Reading!

Kris

The Avid Reader

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Participants

January 28 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

January 28 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! – SPOTLIGHT

January 28 – Sapphyria's Books – REVIEW

January 29 – Babs Book Bistro – GUEST POST

January 29 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT

January 30 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

January 30 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

January 30 – A Wytch's Book Review Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

January 31 – A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW

January 31 – Celticlady's Reviews  - SPOTLIGHT 

January 31 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST

February 1 – Ruff Drafts – GUEST POST

February 1 – The Book Decoder – REVIEW

February 1 – Mallory Heart's Cozies – REVIEW

February 2 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 2 – Laura`s Interests – REVIEW

February 2 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW

February 3 – Carla Loves To Read - REVIEW

February 3 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

February 3 – Readeropolis – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 3 – Rosepoint Publishing – REVIEW

A Good Day to Buy: A Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery

It's Friday!  Congrats on making it through another week.  Dead Souls by Angela Marsons it out today.  It is a wonderful and complex novel that I thoroughly loved reading!  Angela Marsons did it again.  She never fails to deliver.  If you enjoy suspense/thriller novels, you really should look into Angela Marsons D.I. Kim Stone novels.

A Good Day to Buy by Sherry Harris is the fourth book in A Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series.  Sarah Winston is helping Verne and Velma Spencer downsize their collections for a move to Florida.  Today is garage sale day, and Velma keeps trying to reclaim items.  Her husband, Verne takes her inside, and Sarah gets ready to bargain.  Later in the morning, a customer attempts to enter an off-limits area in the garage that Sarah has cordoned off with sheets.  Behind the sheets, Sarah discovers the couple on the floor.   Verne is dead, but Velma still has a pulse.  Through the back door of the garage, Sarah sees a man fleeing into the woods.  After giving her statement to the police, Sarah is home enjoying a Fluffernutter sandwich (marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter) when there is a knock at the door.  It is Sarah’s estranged brother, Luke who is twitchy and acting cagey.  He needs a place to stay and asks Sarah not to tell anyone that he is there especially C.J. (Chief of Police and Sarah’s ex-husband/current paramour).  Luke tells Sarah that he is an investigative reporter working on a story.  Luke stays a short time, but he is soon gone without a word.  When Luke’s fingerprints turn up in the Spencer’s garage and he becomes a “person of interest”, Sarah knows she must take action.  Sarah finds a notebook of Luke’s in the couch that contains a list of names.  Sarah hopes that Luke’s research will lead her to him.  She knows her brother did not hurt the Spencer’s.  Now, she has to prove it and then explain her deception to C.J.  Sarah will need to stay alert and on her toes, because she is not the only person trying to find Luke!

A Good Day to Buy is nicely written and has a good pace (and flow).  A Good Day to Buy can be read alone.  The needed background information on Sarah is provided in the book (and she has a complicated history).  There are some wonderful descriptions of antiques in the book.  I love vintage items and there are several objects described that I want to own.  I give A Good Day to Buy 4 out of 5 stars.   I am not a fan of the romance in this series.  I was very disappointed to see Sarah take up with her ex-husband again (I preferred her with Seth).  He strikes me as a self-centered individual, and he does not seem happy with the new Sarah (who she has become since the divorce).  I believe Sarah is with him because it is comfortable, easy, and familiar.  It will be interesting to see what happens between C.J. and Sarah in the next book.  The murder mystery was complex and a delight to solve.  I believe many readers will be stumped by this one.  The secondary storyline regarding veterans was shocking (spoiler).  There are some handy garage sale tips at the end of the book.  I enjoyed A Good Day to Buy better than the previous book in the series.  I was especially grateful that Ms. Harris cut down on the Fluffernutter sandwich references (makes me queasy just thinking about them).  I was surprised by the cliffhanger ending (and disappointed).  I hope the author will resolve the issue early in the next book and not drag it out (sorry, but I do not want to spoil it for anyone).  Tagged for Death ($2.99 on Amazon--Kindle), The Longest Yard Sale ($1.99 on Amazon--Kindle), and All Murders Final! are the first three books in the series. 

Thank you for your visit and I hope you have a great Friday.  I will be sharing my thoughts on No Charm Intended by Mollie Cox Bryan on Saturday.  I have to go put a new cat play center together. The cats have destroyed their last one (they have had it for a year). Cats love climbing and sharpening their nails!  Take care and Happy Reading!

Kris

The Avid Reader