Good day, book people. Like most avid readers, I have favorite authors, along with favorite characters. Some characters begin to feel like friends over time, especially if they reappear in a series. I’m pleased to welcome Priscilla Cummings, the main character from Sniffing Out Murder by Kallie E. Benjamin. Thank you, Priscilla, for stepping off the pages of Sniffing Out Murder and joining us today. I’ll now turn the blog over to you.
I may not be a prophet, but I could relate completely to the Biblical scripture that read, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown…” When Joe Kelley called me “Prissy,” memories of my former self raced through my mind. The image of a chubby kid with glasses getting teased by the cool kids while I pretended the names didn’t bother me was still painful. “Sissy, Pissy, Prissy.” Kids can be cruel. Twenty years later, I had dropped the baby fat, exchanged the glasses for contact lenses, and am now a bestselling children’s book author. My first book, Bailey the Bloodhound, Pet Detective, had made it onto a prominent bestsellers list. Still, back in my hometown of Crosbyville, Indiana, I was, and would always be, chubby Prissy Cummings.
Bailey lifted his head from the ground, turned his gaze back to me, and watched. His expressive brown eyes seemed to ask, Hey, are you okay?
“I’m fine, buddy.” I forced a smile.
I’m sure he didn’t believe me, but he let it go and returned his nose to the ground and the trail he’d been following.
Bailey was my three-year-old bloodhound and the inspiration for my books. Like all bloodhounds, he had an excellent nose. He was able to pick up a scent that had been left days earlier. Bloodhounds had been bred to track deer, wild boar, and rabbits. Since the Middle Ages, the breed’s remarkable ability has even been used to track people. Once he was on a scent, Bailey could be stubborn. He also had an uncanny knack for getting me into trouble.
“Who are you talking to?” Joe Kelley asked.
“Bailey.”
Joe glanced around. Then he tilted his head to the side and squinted. Eventually, he glanced down and took a look at the nearly one-hundred-pound dog on the end of the leash I was holding. “You talk to your dog?” He said it as if talking to my dog was something for which I should be ashamed. Bailey wasn’t a rock or some other inanimate object. He was a living, breathing, sentient being. He understood far more things than Joe Kelley.
“Yes. I talk to my dog.”
Bailey sat by my leg and stared up at Joe as though he couldn’t believe anyone could be quite that dense. I had to agree with Bailey. Joe Kelley had never been the sharpest knife in the drawer. It was clear that while I’d changed over two decades, Joe Kelley had not.
“To each his own.” Joe shrugged.
“Okay, well we’re going to finish our walk.” I turned to go.
“Wait. What’s the hurry?” Joe reached out and grabbed my arm. “You’ve changed, Prissy.” He gave me an appraising glance and then winked. “You’re looking good.”
Ugh. Good manners required acknowledgment for a compliment, but I couldn’t force myself to thank him for looking me over like a prize heifer at the Elkhart County Fair. If I were a better liar, I might have tried to return the compliment with a compliment, but I was a terrible liar. Time hadn’t been good to Joe. As a teenager, he’d been an athlete with a nice physique and thick hair. Now, he had a beer belly, thinning hair, and a predatory smile.
Twenty years had elapsed since I’d talked to Joe Kelley. I’d changed both inside and outside. However, this conversation showed me that some things, and people, never change. I’d heard that Joe married former mean girl, Whitney Baxter. If that was the case, then honor was the last thing that I could expect to receive. In fact, I would consider myself lucky if I could be ignored and forgotten. Regardless, the one thing I never expected was to be accused of murder. ♦
Sniffing Out Murder (A Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery)
by Kallie E. Benjamin
About Sniffing Out Murder
Sniffing Out Murder (A Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery)
When a murder unleashes a widespread investigation through Crosbyville, children’s book author Pris and her trusty bloodhound, Bailey, must sniff out the truth before the whole town goes to the dogs.
After deciding that life as a teacher wasn’t right for her, Priscilla found inspiration for her first children’s book in her three-year-old bloodhound’s nose for truth, and so The Adventures of Bailey the Bloodhound was born. After the book’s massively pawsitive response led Pris to move back to her hometown of Crosbyville, Indiana, to continue the series, she’s surprised by how things have changed in the town, but even more so how they haven’t.
Pris is frustrated to discover that newly elected school board trustee Whitney Kelley—a former high school mean girl—is intent on making Crosbyville more competitive by eliminating “frivolous spending” on the arts and social programs, including Pris and Bailey’s beloved pet-assisted reading program. A minor altercation between them isn’t anything unusual, but after Bailey sniffs out Whitney’s body in a bed of begonias, locals start hounding Pris and Bailey as suspects for the crime.
With Bailey’s sharp senses and Pris’s hometown know-how, can they prove to the community that they’re all barking up the wrong tree?
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting - Indiana
Berkley (December 5, 2023)
Paperback : 352 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593547357
ISBN-13 : 9780593547359 (Paperback)
Digital ISBN : 9780593547366 (eBook)
Digital ISBN : 9780593746950 (Audiobook)
Digital ASIN : B0C1Q7D3FX (Audible Audiobook)
Digital ASIN : B0BXKHGG75 (Kindle edition)
Purchase Links #CommissionEarned: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Audible Audiobook | Apple | Books-A-Million | Barnes and Noble | B&N eBook | B&N Audiobook | Google Play | Hudson Booksellers | Kobo Audiobook | Kobo eBook | Powells | Target | Walmart
About Kallie E. Benjamin
Kallie E. Benjamin (Valerie Burns) is the author of the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series. The first book, Sniffing Out Murder releases on December 5, 2023. Valerie is an Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist. Writing as V. M. Burns she is the author of the Mystery Bookshop Mystery, Dog Club Mystery, and RJ Franklin Mystery series. Writing as Valerie Burns, she is the author of the Baker Street Mystery series. Valerie is also an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles.
Author Links
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/v-m-burns
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmburnsbooks/
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16534140.V_M_Burns
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vmburnsbooks/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/vmburns
Website: vmburns.com
Tour Participants
December 5 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST
December 5 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
December 5 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
December 5 – Cozy, Suspenseful, and Sweet – SPOTLIGHT
December 6 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
December 6 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT
December 6 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
December 6 – Eskimo Princess Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
December 7 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
December 7 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW
December 7 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
December 7 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
December 8 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
December 8 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
December 8 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT
December 9 – MJB Reviewers – REVIEW
December 9 – Bigreadersite – REVIEW
December 9 – The Book Diva’s Reads – CHARACTER GUEST POST
December 10 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW
December 10 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT
December 10 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author – SPOTLIGHT
December 11 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW
December 11 – Mochas, Mysteries and Meows – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
December 11 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
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