Unringing the Bell
by Judy Higgins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Mystery
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
In the small town of Goose Bend, Pennsylvania, people don't forget.
Especially something as sensational as 12-year-old Jacob Gillis burning down
the town. Nineteen years later, Jacob returns, hoping for redemption. Instead,
he finds himself entangled in a murder investigation. The prosecutor, taking
advantage of Jacob's involvement with the victim's beautiful sister-in-law,
threatens Jacob with loss of career and reputation if he doesn't play by his
rules. Only by outwitting the prosecutor can Jacob save his future.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
When Jacob Gillis was twelve years old, he burned
down the town of Goose Bend, Pennsylvania. The fire didn’t actually consume the
entire town – only two blocks of the four-block business section went up in
flames – but when the folks in Goose Bend spoke of the incident, they persisted
in saying that Jacob Gillis, abetted by his friend Charlie Garrett, burned down
the town.
Jacob watched Laskey walk back to the Sequoia, his
limp barely detectable, and for the thousandth time he wondered why his friend
kept what had happened to his foot a secret. But there were some places Laskey
didn’t go – formidable Laskey with his gruff manner and hard-muscled body. He
was a private person and sometimes a grizzly bear, but he had a goose-down
heart which he tried like heck to hide. But Jacob knew.
Laskey grasped the arms of his chair and pushed his
feet hard against the floor to contain himself. For a brief moment, the thought
had rushed through his head that a jail term for assaulting a DA would be worth
enduring for the pleasure of smashing Inglehook’s head against his desk.
Laskey squared his shoulders, turned around, and
looked Jacob in the eyes. “Don’t get yourself in a mess, Jake. Extrication
isn’t always possible.” He started for the door.
“Give back the painting,” he called over his
shoulder. “And Jake,” he paused and twisted around. “Don’t ever mistake pretty
wrappings for the quality of the gift inside.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW
1. What group
did you hang out with in high school?
I always
liked the active kids who were up for action and adventure. No sitting around
for me! I wanted to be with the group who was first in the swimming pool, or
raring to go on a hike or play baseball. Sometimes, I also spent time with the
group who hung out in the science lab after school. We made slides for biology
class or worked on demonstrations for physics.
2. What are you
passionate about these days?
People who
can’t afford to eat. Elephants. Tennis.
I spent about a year
interviewing people who came to my church for the once-a-month free lunch we
offered for the indigent, writing their stories in a blog. Every story was
different and it was an education for me. Previously, I’d thought that most
people who wanted a job could get a job. I had no idea of the many, many
reasons why they couldn’t. In all the people I interviewed, there was maybe one
who was taking advantage of the system. I’d have to write a book to cover all
the issues. Anyone interested in some of these stories can check them out
at justlunch.weebly.com.
Then there are the
elephants. Sometimes it looks as though they have more compassion than some
humans. Two books that are great reads are Life, Love, and Elephants by
Dame Daphne Sheldrick and Elephant Man by Vicki Croke. If you
were ever in doubt about the intelligence of elephants, the stories in these
two books should banish your doubts.
Tennis
saves me! It’s my exercise; it’s a social activity four times a week (I’ve made
a whole bunch of incredible friends on the court); and it’s a stress reliever.
A few whack, whack, whacks at the ball gets rid of a lot of writer-induced
frustration. And I love watching Federer play, as well as Nadal. I will be very
sad when they retire.
3. If you had
to do your journey to getting published all over again, what would you do
differently?
I lucked out
with my first book, The Lady. It was
named a finalist in the 2012 Amazon Break-out Novel Contest, so getting agents
to look at it wasn’t a problem. Winning a prize also gave me the confidence to
keep going, and has made the whole publishing process a lot easier.
4. EBook or
print? And why?
I’m not sure
why there should have to be a choice. Books should be in every from available!
And that includes audio-books. Nat Jones, a Charleston, SC actor has made an
audiobook of Unringing the Bell. When
I listened to his read of the first two chapters, I felt the most excitement
I’d felt in a long time (since winning the award for The Lady). Having an actor read what you’ve written is a truly
amazing experience. The Lady has also
just come out as an audiobook. Also, a movie producer has shown a bit of
interest in The Lady. THAT will be
beyond amazing if it happens. I’ve picked out the cast: Julia Roberts, Diane
Lane, Holly Hunter, Queen Latifa, Brad Pitt. Wow!
5. What is your
favorite scene in this book?
A friend of
mine told me a story about what happened at his senior prom. I loved the story
so much that I incorporated it into Unringing
the Bell. I won’t tell you what happened, but the tension that still exists
in the book thirteen years after the prom was the driving factor for the
relationship between my protagonist, Jacob Gillis, and the beautiful
sister-in-law of the murder victim. The issue is resolved in the very last
scene. I still get a kick out of reading that scene.
I also
especially like the chapters in the book where Aunt Zuela (Dr. Zuela Hay,
distinguished professor of Shakespeare) is part of the action. She’s zany,
funny, outspoken, and unpredictable. My agent told me she was “too far out” and
that I had to tone her down. He was unconvinced by my reply that she was based
on an actual person, so I reluctantly made her less zany. I think he was
probably right. But “too far out” or not, I had fun with her.
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Judy
Higgins was born in South Georgia where she grew up playing baseball, reading,
and taking piano lessons. To pay for her lessons, she raised chickens and sold
eggs to neighbors. She attended Mercer University for two years, and then
Baylor University from which she graduated with a BA in German. She received
her MA in German literature from The University of Michigan. After teaching
German for several years, Judy decided to become a librarian and earned an MA
in Library Science at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.
Judy’s
life took an exciting turn when she left her teaching job in Pennsylvania to be
Head of Library at the Learning Center School of Qatar Foundation. She lived in
Qatar for eight years, enjoying the experience of living in a different culture
and traveling to exotic places during every vacation. Recently, she returned to
the United States and lives in Lexington, KY. Judy has two children, Julia and
Stephen, two children-in-law, Jim and Erin, and four grandchildren: Kyle, Jon,
Karina, and Addy.
Judy’s
first book, The Lady, was a finalist in the 2012 Amazon Break-out Novel Award.
The first two novels of her Bucks County Mysteries, Unringing the Bell and
Bride of the Wind are available March 1, 2018. The series is set in an
imaginary small town in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Call me Mara, the story of
Ruth and Naomi, is scheduled for publication in March, 2019.
In
addition to writing, Judy’s passions include travel, tennis, elephants, and
playing the piano.
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JudyHBooks
Amazon
author page URL: https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Higgins/e/B00FZQOZPU
Barnes
and Noble Author URL: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unringing-the-bell-judy-higgins/1128014473
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
One randomly chosen winner
via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
Be sure to visit the other blogs on the tour.
March 1: Christine Young
March 6: Edgars's Books
March 8: XoXo Book Blog
March 13: Sharing Links and Wisdom
March 15: Stormy Nights Reviewing and Bloggin'
March 20: It's Raining Books
March 22: Let me Tell you a Story
March 27: A Chick Who Reads
March 29: Unabridged Andra's - review
April 3: BooksChatter
April 5: Read Your Writes Book Reviews
April 10: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
April 12: The Reading Addict
April 17: The Avid Reader
April 19: Queen of All She Reads
April 24: The Mystery Section
April 26: Author C.A.Milson
May 1: Fabulous and Brunette
May 3: Two Crazy Ladies Love Romance
May 8: Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
May 10: Harlie's Books
May 15: Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
May 17: Jazzy Book Reviews
May 22: La libreria di Beppe
May 24: Mixed Book Bag
May 29: Musings From An Addicted Reader
May 31: Readeropolis
June 5: Locks, Hooks and Books - review
June 7: Sapphyria's Books
June 12: Long and Short Reviews
7 comments:
Enjoyed the excerpt and the interview. Thanks for being here today.
Thanks for hosting the giveaway. Congrats on the book tour. Bernie Wallace BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
Great interview, thanks for sharing!
nice interview, sounds good.
Do you have any ideas for your next book? Bernie Wallace BWallace1980@hotmail(d0t)com
Shared on G+ to help spread the word, good luck with the book tour! 🦋
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