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It's Sizzlin'Summer

Contest Time

 

Let's temper the temperature with some cool stuff. The release date for the fifth Greg McKenzie mystery, A Sporting Murder, has been moved up to September 15. That means it's time to award some prizes to four of my faithful readers. Check 'em out:

 

Your Name used for a character in my next mystery.

● A signed copy of A Sporting Murder.

● A free download of any three of my books in the ebook format of your choice.

● Your choice of one of the first four Greg McKenzie Mysteries.

 

No need to do anything. You're automatically entered in the contest. The winners will be drawn on September 15th.

 


 

"Once Again, Campbell

Has Hit the Mark"

 

That's how Larry Chavis winds up his review (the first) of A Sporting Murder. Writing for The GenReview, he says:

 

"His writing is clean and spare, giving us enough sense of place and character to feel as if we've settled in with friends, and then in turn ratcheting up the tension and suspense. Greg McKenzie is not a hard-boiled private investigator, but he's tough and smart, well aware of the qualities Jill brings to the partnership. The way the case plays out against the backdrop of their lives gives them a genuineness that makes the reader feel these would be good folks to spend an afternoon with - or to have along in a gun fight."

 


 

Movin' On

 

We've done some interesting traveling the past few months. In June we signed books at the RC Cola-Moon Pie Festival in the small town of Bell Buckle, TN. Writer colleague Beth Terrell and I manned a booth among dozens of vendors selling just about anything you could imagine. The hat booth next to us did a great business in the sweltering heat. One booth sold (what else?) RC Colas and Moon Pies.

 

They started the morning with a 10-mile run (we skipped that) and wound up the day cutting the World's Largest Moon Pie. From our booth, we could view one of the contests, the Moon Pie Toss. They sailed over the crowd like small chocolate Frisbees. It was a fun day with a crowd put at 10,000.

 

 

A couple of weekends ago, we signed at the Tennessee Antiquarian Book Fair. While my mysteries aren't exactly antiquarian, except maybe the subject of Secret of the Scroll, I was invited down by my niece, Caroline McGee, and her husband, Tom. He put the show together and had book dealers and similar exhibitors from across the South.

 

For this one, we ventured a bit farther south to Cowan, TN. It sits at the foot of a range of hills known as Monteagle Mountain to drivers between Nashville and Chattanooga. The CSX Railroad rumbled through town on on off, with two diesel units in front and two in the rear to boost the boxcars over the mountain.

 


A Time for Memories

 

The weekend after next, we're headed for an event in Knoxville that will be filled with nostalgia. While working at The Knoxville Journal in 1950, I joined a new Air National Guard outfit, the 119th Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron. That was in the early days of radar air defense. The unit was called to active duty the following year for the Korean War. After a couple of months at Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, two other officers and I were pulled out and sent to the Far East. My year in Korea at Headquarters, Fifth Air Force, was an unforgettable adventure.

 

The 119th is still an ANG unit at Knoxville's McGhee Tyson Airport, though it is now designated as the 119th Command and Control Squadron,. assigned to the Air Force Aerospace Command. I was contacted recently and invited to the unit's 60th Anniversary celebration. So far they've found only three of the original members, another lieutenant (as I was then) and a sergeant. It should be an interesting time.

 

Stay cool.

 

Chester

Worldwide Launch Party Sept. 25

Mysteries & More, Nashville's  only mystery bookshop, will be the scene of the "Worldwide Launch Party" (owner Greg Bruss' description) for

A Sporting Murder

on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Are You an

E-Reader?

For the next month or two, my books will be available on Amazon in the Kindle format for only $1.99. Use this LINK.

The Website

Looks Totally New

I've just completed a total revision of my website (hint―it looks a lot like this newsletter). Use any of the links on the left to visit its pages.