Author Guest Post by Pat Duggan, Murder at Serengeti Plains

A body has been discovered! Was it an accident or was it murder?

Welcome to one of the March 28th stops on the blog tour for Murder at Serengeti Plains by Pat Duggan with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

The inspiration and the history behind this book

I know I am blessed, particularly as I have reached a time in my life when I do not have to work and my new found writing career is not driven by necessity.  As such my inspiration comes initially from everyday experiences which my unusual, some may call twisted imagination, adjusts to create its own story.

Murder at Serengeti Plains was no exception.  In this instance, there were two separate everyday experiences.  The first was an incident in which a person unfairly treated me like a fool who did not know what I was talking about.  It was subsequently proven that the ‘expert’ was in fact wrong, and my observation was correct.  In my imagination, I wanted him punished.  The second everyday experience occurred several days later when I was taking a walk around the construction site which surrounded our new home.  I walked up to the edge of a newly poured basement and noticed that this particular layout had a small area out of sight of the main basement area. Once again, my imagination kicked in and it seemed like a suitable place to hide a body.  These two everyday experiences were the beginning of this new novel.

As I began to work on my book, my partner and I took a break to visit the historic town of Centerville, Ohio. We discovered that it was first settled in 1796 and has links to several well-known people in history, including The Wright Brothers.  The town and its history fascinated me, and I quickly decided it would be a great location for the Serengeti Plains subdivision.  I took time to study the history and incorporate it in my book. 

About the Book

Murder at Serengeti Plains
Hazel Davies & Anna Kohl Mysteries Book Three
by Pat Duggan

3 December 2021

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Page Count: 280
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Murder at Serengeti Plains is the third mystery novel in the series, featuring amateur sleuths Hazel Davies and Anna Kohl.  The earlier novels are Murder at Eagles Nest and Could They Be Twins?

The book is set in a new residential subdivision, Serengeti Plains, built by the renowned local builder, Zebra Homes.  It is located in the peaceful, historic town of Centerville, Ohio.  However, peace is shattered when the new residents are awakened one morning by the sound of police sirens.  The procession of police cars, come to rest in their own neighborhood.  A body has been discovered!  Was it an accident or was it murder?

Hazel Davies and Anna Kohl have recently moved into this new subdivision.  They have previously helped the police to solve murders in both Florida and Ohio, but they did not expect to find one on their own doorstep.  When the police begin to look at their friend as the perpetrator, they find themselves drawn into yet another murder investigation.

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Excerpt

After Noah left, Hazel and Anna sat down to review what they had learned. 

It seemed that Detective Grant’s case was solely based on a perceived argument between Gary and Noah.  Everything else was assumption and speculation.  Noah had no reason to kill Gary, even if he had found him onsite without authority.  He could simply have called the police.  Both Hazel and Anna knew there had to be more to the story.

However, one question had emerged from Noah’s story – what was Gary doing on the building site?  The likelihood of his body being brought to the site and dumped seemed highly unlikely as the hammer, now identified as the murder weapon had apparently been found in the undergrowth nearby.  So, the inevitable conclusion was that Gary got there under his own steam, but why?

Hazel and Anna decided to make a list of the possible explanations.  After half an hour of considering the options, they concluded that there were only two possibilities.  Either he was there to meet someone, or he was there to steal something.  They decided it was time to ask around and see what they could find out.

It was time to take their daily walk.  Since moving into Serengeti Plains, Hazel and Anna had made a habit of walking around the subdivision for exercise.  They found the established part of the area a little boring as the homes had long since been completed and during the day there was very little activity, apart from the occasional dog walker.  As a result, they usually made their way to the streets where construction was still active.  There were numerous homes under construction and if nobody was working on a particular house, they would slip inside to view the progress.  They had watched many of the homes progress step by step from the footings to the roof and then observed each step inside towards completion.

About the Author

Originally from Manchester, England, Pat Duggan moved to the U.S. in 1985.  After a career in finance, which included running her own book-keeping and tax business, in the Cincinnati area, Pat and her partner retired and moved to Oregon.  Years later, they embarked on a five-year journey, traveling across the country in a motorhome.

Writing was a whole new direction for Pat, which began with two non-fiction books – The Power Within and Finding God in an RV.  Then she branched into writing fiction as she turned to her love for solving murder mysteries and the challenge to figure out ‘whodunit!’

Sadly, their traveling days are over, but settling down has brought its own reward as it inspired this latest novel.

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Giveaway Alert!

Pat Duggan will be awarding a $20 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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