{"id":1742,"date":"2017-03-08T01:05:15","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T06:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/?p=1742"},"modified":"2017-03-01T19:44:35","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T00:44:35","slug":"story-sample-pressed-to-death-by-kirsten-weiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/2017\/03\/08\/story-sample-pressed-to-death-by-kirsten-weiss\/","title":{"rendered":"Story Sample: Pressed to Death by Kirsten Weiss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Title:<\/strong> Pressed to Death<\/p>\n

Author:<\/strong> Kirsten Weiss<\/p>\n

Blurb:<\/strong> A Perfectly Proper Party in Wine Country Takes a Deadly Turn<\/p>\n

Paranormal museum owner Maddie Kosloski has the perfect exhibit for the harvest festival\u2015a haunted grape press. But when she\u2019s accused of stealing the press, and her accuser is murdered, all eyes turn to Maddie. Knowing the perils of amateur sleuthing as she does, Maddie is reluctant to get involved . . . until her mother insists she investigate.<\/p>\n

Does her mom have a secret agenda? Or is she somehow connected to the murder? Facing down danger and her own overactive imagination, Maddie must unearth the killer before she becomes the next ghost to haunt her museum.<\/p>\n

Praise:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“In Weiss’s engaging sequel . . . Well-drawn characters and tantalizing wine talk help balance the quirky aspects of this paranormal mystery.”\u2015Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpt:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was going to jail.<\/p>\n

Worse, my arch nemesis would be the one to drag me from my own paranormal museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not traffic in stolen goods.\u201d My voice cracked on the final word. You\u2019d think my innocence would go without saying, but Detective Laurel Hammer\u2019s loathing for me was irrational.<\/p>\n

So I was saying it. I crossed my arms, defiant. The photos of executed murderers watched, impassive, from the museum\u2019s glossy white walls.<\/p>\n

GD, the museum\u2019s ghost detecting cat, hopped off the haunted rocking chair in the corner. He landed, silent, on the checkerboard floor and cocked his sleek black head.<\/p>\n

Blue eyes crackling, the detective planted her hands on the glass counter and loomed over the tip jar. Looming\u2014of the tall and blond, beautiful and terrifying variety\u2014was Laurel\u2019s signature move.<\/p>\n

I edged away, dropping my arms to my sides. Unable to meet her gaze, I focused on her manicure, pale pink and elegant.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Paganini says otherwise.\u201d She blew a wisp of short, side swept hair out of her eyes. \u201cHe reported his antique grape press stolen from his winery, and said it was in your possession\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n

I shivered, tugging my black\u00a0Paranormal Museum\u00a0hoodie closer around my matching tank top. The museum was freezing, and I turned to the thermostat to escape her glower. The seven a.m. sun slanted through the blinds. I winced at the morning light as I pretended to adjust the heat. It was going to be another warm autumn day in California\u2019s Central Valley. There was no sense in turning down the AC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bought the press from Herb Linden,\u201d I said. \u201cMy collector. I have a copy of the receipt.\u201d<\/p>\n

I never should have done business with a man who lived with his mother and worked out of the trunk of a VW. But paranormal museum curators had to take what they could get. I\u2019d taken over the museum less than a year ago. It wasn\u2019t the only paranormal museum in the country, but I was determined to make it the best. Or at least make a decent living off it. That wouldn\u2019t be possible from jail. What was the penalty for trafficking in stolen goods?<\/p>\n

Purchase Link:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Pressed-Perfectly-Proper-Paranormal-Mystery\/dp\/073875031X\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488168292&sr=8-1&keywords=pressed+to+death<\/a><\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kirsten Weiss writes genre-blending cozy mystery, urban fantasy, and steampunk suspense, mixing her experiences and imagination to create a vivid world of magic and mayhem.<\/p>\n

Author Links:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Website:\u00a0http:\/\/KirstenWeiss.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Pinterest:\u00a0https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/kirstenweiss\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter: @KirstenWeiss<\/p>\n

Facebook:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kirsten.weiss\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: Pressed to Death Author: Kirsten Weiss Blurb: A Perfectly Proper Party in Wine Country Takes a Deadly Turn Paranormal museum owner Maddie Kosloski has the perfect exhibit for the harvest festival\u2015a haunted grape press. But when she\u2019s accused of stealing the press, and her accuser is murdered, all eyes turn to Maddie. Knowing the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[249],"tags":[281,28,17],"class_list":["post-1742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story-sample","tag-featured","tag-mystery","tag-paranormal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/KWPressed-to-Death.jpg?fit=205%2C312&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kq3e-s6","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1744,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions\/1744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}