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 you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Susan C. Shea!
Hi readers! THE KING’S JAR is the second of three traditional mysteries with a dose of humor that feature Dani O’Rourke. She’s a modern, successful career woman. She’s like a lot of her real-life peers in many ways. She’s in her mid-thirties, is moving past a painful divorce, fretting about her weight, and pouring herself into a hard but occasionally glamorous job as a fundraiser for the Devor Museum in San Francisco. As the story begins, she’s organizing a gala event that will take place in New York City’s most elegant private club. The event will honor the uber-wealthy and socially prominent San Francisco couple who are donating a priceless African artifact to the Devor. Panic ensues when the “king’s jar” is stolen shortly before the event. Cancel the event? Hardly! Dani and her museum colleagues have to find it fast, which becomes problematic when the professor who had custody of it is found dead and the police suspect he was murdered.
I was lucky enough to hold leadership positions in the not-for-profit world for a couple of decades. Most of the time, I relished the work, which included a lot of writing. Was it glamorous? It was hard work, a lot of it behind the scenes making other people look good, but there were gala parties with wealthy donors, multiple opportunities to wear evening dresses (hey, works for me), eat exquisitely prepared meals, and glide past the velvet ropes into the private spaces occupied by millionaires and billionaires. Like Dani, I was always on some level “staff,” and sometimes put in uncomfortable spots by powerful people expecting me to support their demands, reasonable or not. That’s probably when I developed what one reviewer called my “wickedly funny” perspective on that world. Unlike Dani, however, I never stumbled over a dead body or found myself in physical danger!
My ideal reader is someone like me because I only write what I love and relish sharing with real and virtual friends:
- The working woman who knows about the demanding boss or the pushy client
- The younger career woman who is properly ambitious, loyal to friends, enjoys flirtations
- The optimistic person who deals with a few scars from breakups, gossip, or job problems, sometimes by inhaling M&Ms or Haagen Dazs (but who does not judge)
- The reader who likes a bit of romance tucked into her mysteries
- Anyone who enjoys a chuckle or a laugh-out-loud moment in her reading
- The reader who knows or wants to know about beautiful San Francisco, lively Manhattan, or good food
We’re compatible if you enjoy:
- All-senses descriptions of a few of the US’ loveliest places for an armchair visit
- Spending time with a heroine who is fallible, doesn’t know how to shoot a gun, and has to talk her way out of danger when she can, which isn’t always possible
- Getting to know – and maybe cheer for – an ex-husband who is as charming as he can be annoying, rich – (think multi-millions, two Porsches, and a pied a terre in Paris), and determined to win his ex back
- Checking out a handsome, green-eyed cop who turns up at awkward moments
- Holding your breath in hair-raising moments with villains who’ve made one too many bad decisions
- A perspective on the secondary art market from a writer who says too often “art + money = crime.”
THE KING’S JAR by Susan C. Shea
A priceless artifact goes missing, its keeper is killed, and tensions swirl around Dani O’Rourke as she puts the final touches on a gala dinner in a swanky Manhattan private club, where two billionaire donors put opposing pressures on her and her charming, rich, ex-husband shows up. Matters only get worse when Dani returns to San Francisco and realizes she’s being stalked.
Mystery [Independently Published, On Sale: September 16, 2023, Paperback / e-Book (reprint), / eISBN: 9798851659799]
Buy THE KING’S JAR: Amazon.com | Kindle | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Susan C. Shea
Susan C. Shea loves fine art, interesting food, all things France, the beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area she lives in, and her two orange tabby cats. She writes three mystery series that arise out of her likes: a French village mystery series that debuted in May 2017; the Chateau in Burgundy series that launched in 2023; and the Dani O’Rourke mysteries set in San Francisco. All of her series have collected high praise from reviewers. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. She blogs with 7Criminal Minds and speaks frequently at book events.
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