Monday, September 5, 2016

The CEO Came DOA by Heather Haven - #review #giveaway


Lee Alvarez takes a job ferreting out the saboteur of a start-up company’s Initial Public Offering in the heart of Silicon Valley. Little does she know early one morning she will find the CEO hanging by the neck in the boardroom wearing nothing but his baby blue boxers. Was it suicide? Or was it one of the many people who loathed the man on sight, including his famous rock singer ex? Enter the world’s scariest drug, Devil’s Breath, and the bodies start piling up all the while she’s planning her very own Christmas wedding. Ho, ho, ho.



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MY REVIEW

Who doesn't like to hear that the rich, powerful and very smart folk in Silicon Valley have troubles like the rest of us?  And this is the Alvarez family's milieu, so every time they get a case, we get a treat to read!

I could swear that I've read at least one other book in the series (my money's on #1), but it must have been before I started reviewing books on my blog, so that was pre-2014.

When you think about it, having a detective agency as a family business is a great idea.  And the Alvarez family works especially well.  There is a natural closeness amongst the employees.  Communication in the office speeds up, which is important for an agency, especially one that happens onto mortal crimes as often as the Alvarez clan.  And I think working with relatives gives them a different outlook on approaching their cases, sensitivities that may just not be there for law enforcement professionals or 'run-of-the-mill' investigators.

Normally, I'm a happy camper if my computer turns on and everything is working just right.  Other than checking plugs and resetting the internet connection, I'm pretty much lost.  Ms. Haven not only weaves a gripping mystery but makes tech talk seem almost tasty as well!

Add the rest of the series onto my TBR list (maybe before #6 comes out).  You see, family is very, VERY important to me, and having a family of investigators hits the spot.  It's rare that a single book has the ability to add a series to my favorites list, but Haven's The CEO Came DOA may have done just that.

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MEET THE AUTHOR



After studying drama at the University of Miami in Florida, Heather went to Manhattan to pursue a career. There she wrote short stories, comedy acts, television treatments, ad copy, commercials, and two one-act plays, which were produced, among other places, at the famed Playwrights Horizon. Once, she even ghostwrote a book on how to run an employment agency. She was unemployed at the time.

Her first novel started the Silicon Valley based Alvarez Family Murder Mystery Series.  Murder is a Family Business, Book One, won the Single Titles Reviewers’ Choice Award 2011, followed by the second, A Wedding to Die For, 2012 Global and EPIC finalist for Best eBook Mystery of the Year. Death Runs in the Family won the coveted Global Gold for Best Mystery Novel, 2013. DEAD….If Only won the Global Silver for Best Mystery Novel, 2015. Her fifth novel of the series, The CEO Came DOA, debuts September, 2016. She loves writing this series mainly because she gets to play all of the characters, including the cat!

Heather’s other series, The Persephone Cole Vintage Mystery Series, is set in Manhattan circa 1942, during our country’s entrance into WWII. The Dagger Before Me, Book One, was voted best historical and mystery novel by Amazon readers in October, 2013.  It was followed by Iced DiamondsBook Three, The Chocolate Kiss-Off, is a 2016 Lefty Award Finalist Best Historical Mystery.

On a personal note, her proudest award is the Silver IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards) Best Mystery/thriller 2014 for Death of a Clown. The stand-alone noir mystery is steeped in Heather’s family history. Daughter of real-life Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus folk, her mother was a trapeze artist/performer and father, an elephant trainer. Heather likes to say she brings the daily existence of the Big Top to life during World War II, embellished by her own murderous imagination.

Heather gives lectures, speaks at book clubs, and moderates author panels in the Bay Area, as well as teaching the art of writing. She believes everyone should write something, be it a poem, short story or letter. Then go out and plant a tree. The world will be a better place for it.

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GIVEAWAY!!!


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Click on the banner above to go to the tour page where you will find links to more reviews of this title, along with guest posts and interviews by and with the author and characters.  You can also find out how to become a blog host for future book tours!

(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.)

5 comments:

  1. Hi Kentucky Gal! Thanks so much for giving me time on your blog and your great review! I am very touched. family, as I suppose you can tell, is very important to me, too!

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  2. This is a new author and series to me and it sounds like an amazing read.

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  3. A great review thank you. Sounds like a fantastic read.

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  4. Having been in the corporate world, I think I will enjoy this series!

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  5. Hope you can enjoy the rest of the series when you do get around to reading it! Of course we love it when we realise we aren't too different from the rich hehe :3

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