Friday, May 22, 2020

Hostage to Fortune - A Guest Post, Recipe, Review, & Giveaway

I'm so happy to welcome Kirsten Weiss back to Cozy Up With Kathy. Kirsten writes the Tea and Tarot Mystery series. HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE is the second book in the series and was released yesterday!


Empress Tarot Tea

A cozy mystery about a Tea and Tarot room would be incomplete without recipes at the back. And the nice thing about tea recipes is, they’re so easy! And even if you’re not into the Tarot side of the story, there’s something a little magical about mixing herbs.

In Hostage to Fortune, my fictional tearoom owners and amateur sleuths, Abigail and Hyperion, decide to up their marketing game and create some Tarot teas. This tea was named after The Empress Tarot card. The Empress card is about (among other things), the soft power of allowing things to happen, and she’s associated with the planet (and goddess) Venus. So, I chose herbs for this tea that are also associated with relaxation (and thyme is associated with Venus as well).

  
Here’s the recipe, a nice twist on traditional chamomile tea.

Ingredients:

1-2 parts dried lavender blossoms
4 parts dried chamomile blossoms
4 parts lemon thyme

Directions. Boil water and add water and herbs to cup. Steep 3-5 minutes. Parts should be small for just one cup–say 1/8 - 1.4 tsp lavender to 1/2 a tsp of the other two.

Note: lavender can have an assertive flavor, and not everyone is going to love it. But it is very relaxing. That said, a little goes a long way, so you may want to experiment with reducing the amount of lavender to taste.

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Review


HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE by Kirsten Weiss
The Second Tea and Tarot Cozy Mystery 

Abigail Beanblossom is more than happy to help her friend and former boss, Razzzor, who believes his wines are being counterfeited. When their first stakeout reveals a dead body, Abby is worried, but her partner, Hyperion, is ready to sink his teeth into another investigation. Stalkers, romantic entanglements, and wine prove a deadly combination, but will they prove lethal for Abby?

There's adventure, excitement, and danger, along with a good dose of humor and tea in HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE. Plenty of action scenes keep the story moving with lots of surprises to keep readers, as well as Abby, on their toes. We also see depth in the characters, joking aside, they care for each other and go to bat for each other, risking it all.

In Tarot, the Hanged Man represents being caught in a negative cycle. You can escape it, but you have to do the work. There are several negative cycles in which several of our characters find themselves in this second Tea and Tarot Mystery. We see unresolved relationships, bad relationships, addictive behavior, and more! Who will be able to escape it?

As both a tea and Tarot aficionado I'm thrilled that Abby is making Tarot themed teas, and even more excited that the author is sharing them. Interest in these subjects make the book even more appealing and compelling. But, even if you don't know anything about Tarot and don't like tea, you will still be captivated by the fun characters and the engaging mystery.

HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE incorporates wine, tea, Tarot, and fun in a delightful mystery.

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Hostage to Fortune: A Tea and Tarot Cozy Mystery by Kirsten Weiss

About Hostage to Fortune

Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series  
Publisher: misterio press (May 21, 2020) 
Number of Pages: 250 
Abigail and Hyperion uncork a murder…
Tea and Tarot room owner Abigail Beanblossom is used to running interference for her socially-awkward former boss, tech billionaire Razzzor. So when he invites her on a stakeout to investigate the sale of counterfeit wine from his latest venture – an upscale winery – she barrels on in. But the two stumble across the corpse of a wine merchant, and new wine in old bottles is now the least of their problems.
Good thing amateur detectives Abigail and her partner, tarot reader Hyperion Night, have a nose for murder. Their investigation takes them from elegant wine cellars to chic tea parties on the California coast. But just as the investigation starts to get its legs, Abigail discovers there’s more than wine at the bottom of this crime…
Hostage to Fortune is book 2 in the Tea and Tarot cozy mystery series. Start reading this hilariously cozy caper today!
Tearoom recipes in the back of the book.

About Kirsten Weiss


Kirsten Weiss has never met a dessert she didn’t like, and her guilty pleasures are watching Ghost Whisperer re-runs and drinking red wine. The latter gives her heartburn, but she drinks it anyway.
Now based in Colorado Springs, CO, she writes genre-blending cozy mystery, supernatural and steampunk suspense, mixing her experiences and imagination to create vivid worlds of fun and enchantment.
If you like funny cozy mysteries, check out her Pie Town, Tea and Tarot, Paranormal Museum and Wits’ End books. If you’re looking for some magic with your mystery, give the Witches of Doyle, Riga Hayworth and Rocky Bridges books a try. And if you like steampunk, the Sensibility Grey series might be for you.

Kirsten sends out original short stories of mystery and magic to her mailing list. If you’d like to get them delivered straight to your inbox, make sure to sign up for her newsletter at kirstenweiss.com
Feel free to follow her on Twitter @KirstenWeiss, on Tumblr at kweiss01, on Pinterest at KirstenWeiss, or on Bookbub, get in touch on Facebook, post a picture of this book to Instagram and tag her @kirstenweissauthor, or send her an email. She’ll answer you personally…which may be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.

Author Links:
Twitter: @KirstenWeiss  
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kirsten.weiss/  
Instagram: @KirstenWeissAuthor  
Bookbub: www.bookbub.com/authors/kirsten-weiss  

Book Series: Sensibility Grey Steampunk Suspense, Tea and Tarot cozy mysteries, the Pie Town cozy mysteries, the Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum cozy mysteries, the Doyle Witch and Doyle Cozy mystery novels, the Riga Hayworth paranormal mysteries.
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3 comments:

  1. Thank you for hosting me today, Kathy!

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  2. Love the Pie Town and Paranormal Museum mysteries!

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