Today I am so pleased to welcome Chris T. Kat to Joyfully Jay. Chris has come to talk to us about her latest release, Swordplay (A Jeff Woods Mystery). She has also brought along an exclusive excerpt and a great giveaway.  Please join me in giving Chris a big welcome!

Swordplay banner

 

Hello, I’m Chris T. Kat, visiting Joyfully Jay again. 🙂 I’m here to talk about my new release, Swordplay (A Jeff Woods Mystery). Swordplay is the third and last book in the Jeff Woods Mysteries series, and was published by Dreamspinner Press on December 22nd. The release was like an early Christmas gift. 🙂

In Attachment Strings and Sacrifices, the first two books in the Jeff Woods Mystery series, Jeff, his boyfriend Alex, and Alex’s brother Sean lived in Atlantic City. In Swordplay, the whole family moved to Washington DC.

I’m extremely fond of the Atlantic City area because that’s the place I’m most familiar in the US (just in case you don’t know, I hail from Germany). Last year, when I visited my best friend, we took a three day trip to Washington DC, and I was blown away by that city. I loved the architecture, and especially the museums.

Here’s one of my favorite pictures:

 Washington

As you can see, we had days with a clear blue sky (but OMG! So freaking cold!) and days with lots of rain. No matter the weather—and believe me we got drenched—we had a great time, and I enjoyed seeing so many buildings I so far had only ever seen on a TV screen. Of course, I had great company, plus I got to meet Andrew Q. Gordon and got him to sign his book, The Last Grand Master, for me.

We were in Washington in spring, and I was looking forward to seeing the cherry blossoms. Well, when we started on our drive, it snowed. Yep, late March and it snowed. After about an hour of driving, the snow changed into rain and it was really cold. I still held out hope for the cherry blossoms, but unfortunately, we only found a few trees that started to thrive. That didn’t deter me from including a scene in which Sean is completely enthralled with the petals.

What about you? Have you visited a new place / city that struck a chord with you?


Excerpt

Excerpt from Chapter Twelve:

“I’m meeting with one of the managers in about ten minutes. I doubt he’ll tell me something new, but since miracles never cease to happen….”

“Meet me at home when you’re done, and we’ll grab a bite and then head over to Cooper’s school. It’s time for him to answer some questions.”

“Will do.” Parker clicked off, and I stuffed my phone back in my jacket.

Meanwhile, Sean had crumbled the petals into shreds. He stared at them, disappointment written all over his face.

“They’re fragile,” I tried to console him. Sean’s lower lip quivered, and I felt compelled to add, “We’ll take some with us, okay? Maybe we can preserve them somehow. Are you hungry? You should be. It’s lunch time.”

I pulled out the box David had packed and found two sandwiches neatly cut into cubes, which I could feed Sean. Although he looked at me dubiously, he opened his mouth. After placing a cube in his mouth, I moved the wheelie so the feeding would be easier on my back. I even found a bib in the backpack, which I tied around Sean’s neck. People sometimes stared at us with pity, but most of them bustled past us without batting an eye.

It took Sean almost three-quarters of an hour to eat his lunch and drain his sippy cup. After stowing everything in the backpack, Sean reminded me loudly to pick up some petals. Of course it couldn’t be just any petals. No, I had to crawl around on the ground and obtain the ones Sean liked the most. Another quarter of an hour later, we were finally on our way to take the dreaded Metro back home.


Blurb

SwordplayAfter leaving his dream job as an Atlantic City detective, Jeff Woods has moved to Washington DC with his life partner Alex Fisher and Alex’s disabled little brother Sean. Parker Trenkins, Jeff’s ex-partner on the force, has made the move as well, along with his significant other David. Jeff and Parker partner up once again, but in a new way, as owners of their own detective agency.

Life is difficult at the best of times. Sean loses sight in one of his eyes, a direct result of being pushed into the Atlantic by a homicidal maniac a year ago. In his struggle to deal with everything, a restless Alex enrolls in Tai Chi classes at a nearby school.

As it happens, a murder case Jeff and Parker take involves the head of that very Tai Chi School, Charles Cooper. Cooper is a suspect in the murder of a financial corporation official. He appears to have motive. Jeff and Parker’s investigation arouses the real killer’s interest, and if they don’t uncover his identity soon, it may be too late for them.


Bio

Chris T. KatChris T. Kat lives in the middle of Europe, where she shares a house with her husband of many years and their two children. She stumbled upon the M/M genre by luck and was swiftly drawn into it. She divides her time between work, her family—which includes chasing after escaping horses and lugging around huge instruments such as a harp—and writing. She enjoys a variety of genres, such as mystery/suspense, paranormal, and romance. If there’s any spare time, she happily reads for hours, listens to audiobooks or does cross stitch.


Giveaway

Chris has brought a set of all three books in the Jeff Woods Mystery series (Attachment Strings, Sacrifices, and Swordplay) to give away to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment at the end of the post or at any of the blog stops to enter. Chris will pick the winner on January 3rd. 

Chris is giving away a set of all three books in the “Jeff Woods Mystery” series (Attachment Strings, Sacrifices and Swordplay) as paperbacks to one lucky winner! Comment on any of the Swordplay blog tour stops for your chance to win.

Here’s the list of participants:

  • December 23rd: The Novel Approach
  • December 27th: Love Byte Reviews
  • December 30th: The Blogger Girls
  • December 31st: Joyfully Jay

 

  • By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • Winners will be selected by random number. No purchase necessary to win.  The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
  • If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner may be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay.
  • Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
  • Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
  • By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
  • Readers may only enter once for each contest.  Duplicate entries for the same giveaway will be ignored. In the event of technical problems with the blog during the contest, every effort will be made to extend the contest deadline to allow for additional entries.
  • Void where prohibited by law.
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