Blog Tour: Bringing in the Thieves by Lora Lee (Review/Tour-Wide Giveaway)

About the Book

Bringing in the Thieves (Joyful Noise Mysteries – Book One)

Frankie Lou’s back and Poppy’s madder than a wet hen.
Create a church choir filled with teenage misfits?
Over Poppy’s dead body.

Minister’s daughter Frankie Lou McMasters has come back to Ruby Springs, Texas with her daughter, Betsy, eleven years after running off to marry the town bad boy. Her mild notoriety as a bad girl is prime gossip for her childhood enemy, Poppy Fremont, now choir director of Faith Community Church–where Frankie Lou’s daddy, now retired to Florida, was the preacher.

When Frankie Lou comes to the deacons with a request to add a youth choir of at-risk teens she’s been coaching, Poppy throws a fit. A few hours later, Frankie Lou finds her dead in the baptistery pool. And Poppy’s not playing possum.

Frankie Lou sets out to clear her name as the main suspect, and tries to locate the real killer. Could he be sexy Joe Camps, the father of one of her teen singers? In the meantime, her momma shows up from Florida to take charge of Frankie Lou’s life. Bless her heart.

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• Buy Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Books
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Release Date: December 9, 2014
• Length: 168 Pages
• Published by: Bell Bridge Books

My Review

Single mom, Frankie Lou McMasters, returns to her hometown of Ruby Springs. It’s a small town in Texas where she was raised as the Minister’s daughter. Her parents are now retired and moved to Florida, but Frankie Lou plans to raise her own daughter in Ruby Springs. The townspeople remember her as the “bad girl”, but Frankie Lou hopes to change that.

She brings a teenaged choir, made up of troubled youths, to town and appears before the deacons to ask that the choir use the local church for their rehearsals. The current choir director, Poppy Fremont, is furious and Frankie Lou’s past reputation doesn’t do her any favors. When Frankie Lou discovers Poppy’s body floating in the baptistery pool, she’s the prime suspect.

Frankie Lou is determined to clear her name. With the help of her neighbor, she sets out to find a killer. She even gets a bit of romance along the way.

This is a fun cozy mystery and the first in a new series. The characters are quirky and a bit eccentric. I was nearly dancing to the choir as I read this book. The first word that came to my mind to describe it is sassy. Frankie Lou is sassy, her neighbor is sassy and even the overall dialogue is sassy. It’s a delightful way to spend your weekend. I hope there are more books in the series and that they are just as good as this one.



For reading challenges:
Cruisin’ thru the Cozies Reading Challenge
Where are you reading? challenge (Texas)

FTC Disclosure: The author provided me with a copy of this book to review for this blog tour. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author

You can’t be a preacher’s kid and raise a little hob without some serious repercussions. Yes, ma’am, that’s the gospel truth. Lora Lee’s JOYFUL NOISE mystery series for Bell Bridge Books, sheds a little light on just how serious those consequences can be when Frankie Lou Birmingham McMasters returns to her hometown of Ruby Springs, Texas after ten years in hopes of putting some shine on her tarnished reputation, but finds herself in the middle of murder and mayhem instead.

Though author Lora Lee insists the series isn’t about her in any way, shape or form, she does admit to being a real-life P.K. (that’s preacher’s kid, in case you didn’t know.) She was born in Texas and her Southern blood runs deep. Her daddy told her any place below the Mason-Dixon line was part of the South, including the Lone Star State.

Since living in West Michigan most of her married life, she’s lost some of her Texas twang, but once in awhile, a might could and a y’all or two slips into her conversation with her critique partners. They love her, anyway. So does her husband of fifty-plus years and their children. With a current family count of twenty-three, get-togethers often resemble an old time revival when they all gather for fun and food.

Lora Lee is a member of Romance Writer’s of America, Mid-Michigan RWA, Sisters-in-Crime, RWA’s specialty chapter Kiss of Death and is currently published in contemporary romance. She is also a proud graduate of the Grand Rapids Citizens Police Academy.

When not writing or trying to keep up with her ever-growing family, she enjoys reading, music and travel.

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