The Girl in the Gallery by Alice Castle

The Girl in the Gallery

by Alice Castle

GENRE:   cozy crime

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BLURB:

The Girl in the Gallery by Alice Castle

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Dulwich…

It’s a perfect summer’s morning in the plush south London suburb, and thirty-something Beth Haldane has sneaked off to visit one of her favourite places, the world-famous Picture Gallery.

She’s enjoying a few moments’ respite from juggling her job at prestigious private school Wyatt’s and her role as single mum to little boy Ben, when she stumbles across a shocking new exhibit on display. Before she knows it, she’s in the thick of a fresh, and deeply chilling, investigation.

Who is The Girl in the Gallery? Join Beth in adventure #2 of the London Murder Mystery series as she tries to discover the truth about a secret eating away at the very heart of Dulwich.

Excerpt:  
As she sped on to the last gallery, containing the current exhibition, Beth automatically stopped for a

second opposite one of her favourite still lives – the red, white, and blue bouquet by Jan van Huysum. Eighteenth century flower painters were paid extra for insects, and she loved spotting all the wriggly wildlife. This time, it wasn’t a bug that caught her eye, though. It was something on the very edge of her peripheral vision. Something that jarred, didn’t make sense. Shouldn’t even be there. Something that, she realised with dread, was in the mausoleum antechamber. Something that meant, however much she did not want to, she had to turn back and look.

Beth’s heart started to thud. It was a flash of scarlet.

Wasn’t it Constable who’d added red to all his canvases as ‘the salt in the soup’? Well, Beth felt vehemently her life didn’t need even the tiniest jot more seasoning. She could no longer picture the shade crimson lake without shuddering from head to toe, after her ghastly first day at Wyatt’s School.

No, this time, if anything bad was happening, she was not going to stumble across it on her own. Resolutely shutting her eyes, she sidled back past the niche and then ran straight for the ticket desk. She’d get that girl on the desk to come with her, if she had to drag her all the way.  

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Alice Castle was a UK  newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph before becoming a novelist. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, was a European best-seller which sold out in two weeks.

Alice is currently working on the sequel to Death in Dulwich and The Girl in the Gallery. The third instalment in the London Murder Mystery series, it will be published by Crooked Cat next year and is entitled The Calamity in Catford. Once again, it features Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.

Alice is also a top mummy blogger, writing DD’s Diary at www.dulwichdivorcee.com.

She lives in south London and is married with two children, two step-children and two cats.

Alice Castle’s Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Alice Castle is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary?lang=en

Links to buy Alice Castle’s books: myBook.to/GirlintheGallery  myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich, myBook.to/HotChocolate

The book will be on sale for $0.99.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:

Alice Castle will be awarding $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

REVIEW: 
Set in the village of Dulwich, this cozy mystery features an engaging heroine, AliceCastle, archivist by trade and dreamer by nature. Her favorite escape is an art gallery, where she knows each portrait by heart. One day, however, Beth comes across a girl's body lying on a sarcophagus in the gallery. 

Inspector Harry York is called in to investigate, but Beth cannot help getting involved as well. Like Miss Marple, Beth is a keen observer of human nature, and this book rises above your everyday cozy mystery by deftly juggling serious social concerns (teenage angst, bullying), with the charm of English country life.