It’s BOOK RELEASE DAY for FAIR TRADE!

I’m so excited to share that Book 3 in the Barks & Beans Cafe cozy mystery series, FAIR TRADE, is now available for Kindle (and in Kindle Unlimited!) and in softcover! Not that he’s biased, but my hubby says this is my best yet in the series! 🙂 You can find all the links here: https://heatherdaygilbert.com/books/fair-trade/

I had SO much fun writing about the West Virginia state fair–it brought back a lot of fun memories. Even though the fair was canceled this year due to COVID, I’m hoping this book will bring the sights, sounds, and some of the smells of the fair to life for you.

Here’s a little sample to whet your interest…oh, and if you’re a fan of my Murder in the Mountains mystery series, there’s a little surprise visit by someone you know in FAIR TRADE! 🙂

FAIR TRADE sample:

1

“You forgot to tamp it again, Macy.” My brother Bo sounded exasperated. “Remember how we practiced it?”

I sighed, hoping I wasn’t all that bad. “How many iced lattes have I made today? And how many times did I forget to tamp before I pulled the espresso shots?”

Our Millennial barista Milo helpfully piped up. “I think you’ve tamped it a couple of times so far?”

We all knew I’d made at least twenty drinks today.

I shot him a glare, although it probably went unnoticed since my oversized shades had dark lenses.

In return, Milo gave me a grin. He sported brick-colored shorts, a polo shirt, Ray-Bans, and his dark blond hair was cut into a trim style that shouted high maintenance. He was a rich boy, and he didn’t mind looking like one. He brought a certain moneyed vibe to the Barks & Beans Cafe that several of his wealthier Lewisburg friends seemed to appreciate. Especially those of the female variety, although I still suspected Milo was taken with our full-figured and big-hearted employee, Bristol.

Back in June, Bo had come up with the idea for setting up an iced coffee stand at the West Virginia state fair this August, and I’d agreed it seemed an apropos way to expand our reach as we neared the one-year anniversary of the day we’d opened our dog-petting cafe. Together with our baristas, we’d brainstormed quite a few iced coffee and cold tea drinks that would be easy to replicate on the fairgrounds with limited equipment.

The only problem was, I was instructionally impaired when it came to making coffee. Up until now, I’d deliberately focused on building the Barks half of the cafe. We both knew I was the dog person, and Bo was the coffee person. But we didn’t want to overwork our regular baristas in the August heat, so I’d volunteered to help with the booth as needed during the fair.

I was grateful I wasn’t relegated to barista duties all day. Our friend Summer planned to bring a couple of shelter dogs over daily around lunchtime, allowing coffee customers to pet them in the shaded crate area. We wanted to continue our mission to match the shelter dogs to just the right humans, and there was no better place to have a little one-on-one contact than the fairgrounds. But the booth had been really busy this morning, so I’d had to up my coffee-brewing game in a relatively short amount of time.

Obviously, it had been too short, given my lack of tamping prowess. Bo had told me many times that if I didn’t push the metal tamper down on the ground coffee before brewing it, the end result would be more water than coffee. No one wanted to pay for that.

–copyright 2020 Heather Day Gilbert

Also, I wanted to share that NO FILTER, Book 1 in the Barks & Beans Cafe cozy mystery series, is FREE for Kindle for 2 days only (10/27 and 10/28)! Pick up your copy now at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Filter-Barks-Beans-Cafe-Mystery-ebook/dp/B085BX4N96

Finally, I have a couple of questions for you! I want to get a better feel for my readers. Please respond in the comment section below (or email if you’re getting this via email): Do you read psychological thrillers? Would you be interested in reading a clean psychological thriller? 

I personally DO read psych thrillers, but I dislike the often-heavy language/graphic situations portrayed. I’m thinking about working on a new series at some point that would be more Hitchcock-like, so cleaner and with no gore.

Thanks for being my valued readers! I hope you all enjoy a jaunt to the West Virginia fairgrounds with FAIR TRADE! I introduced some fun new characters in this one…and all your fave characters show up, as well!

-Heather