The Brim Reaper Blog Tour with Diane Vallere: Guest Author/Giveaway

Samantha Kidd: The Character Behind the Trench Coat
by Diane Vallere

THE BRIM REAPER Blog tour

If you don’t count the teen romance I wrote in high school or the 20 pages of a Batman/Catwoman fan fiction I penned in the 90s, then you could say Samantha Kidd is the first character I wrote. And why shouldn’t she be? In many ways she’s me, and in many ways she’s not. And in a few ways, she’s who I’d like to be.

She’s me in that she never got over the house where she grew up. A part of her is rooted in that town. She had a successful career as a buyer—an enviable job for a person interested in fashion—but it didn’t make her happy. We both like hoagies. We both like pretzels. We both wear sample size shoes. Samantha is insanely loyal to the people she considers friends. As long as she has her cat and her clothes, she’ll be fine.

She’s not me in that she finds dead bodies and gets involved in homicide investigation. If that were me, I’d probably call my old boss and see if I could get my job back! Samantha is a size 8 and I’m…not. (Why an 8? I didn’t want her to be a sample size when it came to clothes. Just about everything looks good in a size 2-4, and I can’t really relate to that. I might not be an 8, but I can relate to one!).

And she’s the person I’d like to be in that she’s tenacious. When things go wrong, she doesn’t pack her bags and run away. When people disagree with her or her theories, she doesn’t let it stop her from proving she’s right. When she gets knocked down (sometimes literally) she gets back up again. And again. And again.

The thing that keeps me coming back to Samantha Kidd, and will keep me coming back for several more books in the series, is that at her core, she’s still looking for something.  Love? Value? Self-worth? Credibility? All of the above? Sure.  And, like Samantha, I think a lot of us are looking for those very same things. It’s fun to ride shotgun with her as she explores life—with style & error!

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Blurb: When an over-the-top collection of vintage Hollywood costumes comes to Samantha Kidd’s hometown, it brings a hat box full of hype. Close friend Eddie is in charge of the exhibit but when hype turns to homicide, he turns to Samantha for help. Brimming with good intentions, she loops in the cops, but after one too many cloche calls, she’s soon in over her head. If she can tear the lid off the investigation, it might mean a feather in her fedora. And if she can’t? She might get capped.

Biography: Diane Vallere is living proof that you can redesign your life with a little know how and a lot of determination! After close to two decades working for a top luxury retailer, she traded fashion accessories for accessories to murder, now juggling three different mystery series: Style & Error, featuring former fashion buyer Samantha Kidd; Mad for Mod, featuring Doris Day-loving interior decorator Madison Night; and the upcoming Material Witness series, featuring Polyester Monroe and the fabric shop she inherited. Diane started her own detective agency at age ten and has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since. Find her athttp://www.dianevallere.com/.

Buy the Book!

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H03A1MW

Amazon AU: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00H03A1MW

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00H03A1MW

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-brim-reaper-diane-vallere/1117531202?ean=2940149089451

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-brim-reaper

Indiebound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780984965342

Connect with Diane!

Website: http://dianevallere.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DianeVallereAuthor

Twitter: @DianeVallere

Newsletter: http://www.dianevallere.com/contact.html

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