Spotlight & Excerpt: Death and Decluttering + Giveaway

This is my stop during the blog tour for Death and Decluttering by Nancy McGovern. Death and Decluttering is the first book in the new cozy mystery series Sparks and Joy by author Nancy McGovern.

This blog tour is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 4 till 24 January. See the tour schedule here.

Death and Decluttering (Sparks and Joy #1)
By Nancy McGovern
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 23 June, 2020

Blurb:
Joy Russo loves chaos. From her life as a busy reporter to her brawling, coffee-obsessed Italian family, there’s nothing she loves more than her messy, little life. Then the weird, slightly out-of-this-world Aurora Sparks arrives, whose life seems to revolve around creating order out of chaos.

The two of them have somehow ended up as roommates in the small Upstate New York town of Bent River, and the old adage that says “opposite attract” couldn’t be further from the truth! Sparks fly & tempers flare as each young lady tries to deal with the other’s eccentricities while not compromising their own values. Much easier said than done.

But when a man is found dead and Joy’s father is the prime suspect, the two must put aside their differences if they want to help him. They soon find that Joy’s tough, no-nonsense demeanor and Aurora’s ordered, structured nature perfectly complement each other when it comes to ferreting out clues. And, thankfully so, as the danger threatens to escalate unless they can sort through the facts and solve this mystery in a hurry!

Death & Decluttering is the first cozy mystery adventure in Nancy McGovern’s new series, “Sparks & Joy”!

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon

Excerpt:

“Joy Russo? You’re Ricardo’s granddaughter, right?” Aurora held out a hand.

“He was my Nonno. My maternal grandfather.” Joy nodded.

“I believe I talked to your lawyer? Mr. Goggins? He let you know what date I’d be arriving, right?”

Joy’s arms remained crossed, and her face was decidedly un-joyful as she said, “Aurora Sparks. I’ve heard of you.”

“Great.” Aurora gave her a smile that was two parts desperation and one part relief. “I’ve got all my boxes in the car. It should take me an hour or so to unload them. If you could show me my side of the house—”

“Your side of the house?” Joy’s eyebrow raised half an inch.

“Er… yes?” Aurora didn’t know what to say. The lawyer, Mr. Goggins, had assured her that the will was air-tight. No court of law could challenge it. She was being left half the house, and that was that. Naturally, she knew Joy wouldn’t necessarily be happy about it. But she hadn’t accepted Aurora’s offer to purchase her half, nor had she been willing to sell the whole house and split the proceeds. Aurora could have challenged this in court and forced Joy to sell, but the lawyer had warned her that the case could then take years to resolve and end up costing more than the house itself. So that left Aurora with no option but to come and actually live here in Bent River. She didn’t mind. A change of pace would suit her just fine.

“You know you won’t survive a week here, right? Bent River isn’t your average, everyday town,” Joy said. “It’s definitely not New York City.” She looked Aurora up and down in a fashion that seemed to imply Aurora would drag the city with her wherever she went.

“I know it’s not NYC. That’s why I’m here. I’d like to be as far away from crowds as possible for a while,” Aurora replied.

“You won’t last a month,” Joy predicted.

“That’s up to me now, isn’t it? And I thought it was a week?” Aurora raised an eyebrow right back at her. If Joy thought she could cheat her out of her fair share of the property, she could think again. “Fifty percent of this house is mine by rights and, if you refuse to sell, then I’m here to stay.”

About the Author:
I’m a mother, wife, homemaker, pet lover, teacher, student, reader, writer, drinker of tea & wine (depending on the time of day) and sleep-deprived dreamer. I live in Northern New Jersey with my husband (a veterinarian and writer), our three children and too many furred & feathered friends to list!

Please visit my website at www.NancyMcG.com for more information about my books and to sign up for my newsletter!

You can find and contact Nancy McGovern here:
– Website
– Facebook
– Twitter
– Goodreads
– Amazon
– Bookbub
– Pinterest
– Instagram