Michelle Hillen Klump | Author-Reader Match: A DASH OF DEATH

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Michelle Hillen Klump!

Writes:

Cozy mysteries set in the heart of a big city that go down like a smooth cocktail. A DASH OF DEATH features Samantha Warren, a former newspaper reporter turned mixologist who gets mixed up in a murder investigation while serving custom cocktails at a Houston, Texas-based historic home tour. When a party guest drops dead after sipping one of her cocktails, Samantha is afraid “the jigger is up” on her bar tending career. She must use her investigative skills to find the killer and clear her name. But when the killer strikes a second time, Samantha must learn to trust her instincts, or face her own bitter end.

About:

A born-and-bred Texan who loves to talk up Houston to anyone who will listen, my interests include: cocktail making and cocktail drinking, baking complicated recipes that taste great but look like they belong in a Nailed It highlight reel, and exploring different nooks and crannies of my city. I love suspense and thrillers of all sorts, from the most hard-boiled detective drama to the coziest mystery and everything in between. I’m hopeful readers will love my books as much as I love writing them.

What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match:

Readers craving books with:

• Puzzling mysteries
• Red herrings
• Journalists and former journalists
• Fabulous friends who don’t shy away from the truth
• Strong women who are learning to trust their instincts
• A small community within a big city
• Delicious food and cocktail recipes

What to expect if we’re compatible:

• A cast of supporting characters you wish were your friends
• Descriptions of baking and cocktail making that may leave your mouth watering
• Snuggle-worthy pets
• A little romance
• Satisfying mysteries where justice is served in the end

A DASH OF DEATH by Michelle Hillen Klump

A Cocktails and Catering Mystery #1

Bad news for Samantha Warren: The plucky Houston, Texas, reporter lost her job and her fiancé in rapid succession. But Sam has a way of making lemonade out of the bitterest of lemons. At a meeting of the local historical-homes council, she serves up the homemade bitters that she made as gifts for her wedding party. She intends to use that as her “in” to become an in-demand party mixologist. But the party’s over for one of the council members, who keels over dead soon after he sips the bereft bride’s bitter brew.

It turns out that the victim, Mark, was poisoned—his drink spiked with oleander. Since Sam mixed the drink that Mark imbibed right before his demise, she finds herself at the front of the suspect line. Now, she’ll have to use all of her reporter’s wisdom and wiles to clear her name.

Who could have wanted Mark dead? His wife, Gabby? His girlfriend, Darcy? Someone who wanted his seat on the council? Or another citizen of this sweet Texas town that holds some seedy secrets?

Job hunting, building her mixology business, and fending off late-night phone calls from her nearly betrothed don’t leave much time for sleuthing. But if Sam can’t “pour” over the clues to find the killer, it may soon be last call for her.

Mystery Cozy [Crooked Lane Books, On Sale: February 8, 2022, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781643859378 / eISBN: 9781643859385]

Michelle Hillen Klump began her writing career as a newspaper reporter, traveling the back roads of central Texas and Arkansas, reporting on everything from natural disasters to crime and corruption. She’s interviewed former presidents, covered a midnight manhunt through the Ozark Mountains, and learned the finer points of how to break a car window from a looter while covering a hurricane. Now, she uses her experiences as fodder for fiction, writing a cozy mystery series about a former reporter turned craft cocktail caterer.

Michelle lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and young daughter. When she’s not writing or working her day job, she enjoys gardening, reading, exploring Houston’s neighborhoods, hiking and biking, and creating craft cocktails for friends and family.