About the Book
Book: The Luck of the Draw
Author: Kate Darroch
Genre: Humorous British Detective Story
Release Date: August 9, 2024
Hunt’s
back in court – as the defendant! Why is our suave hero in hot water?
Can his friend and colleague Genie-Penny save him yet again? Will she
want to? Or is Hunt playing a deep double game? Find out in The Luck of the Draw
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Twice
Indie Spotlighted by Publishers Weekly; the 2022 and 2024 winner of the
Incipere Award for Christian Fiction, 2022 winner of the Readers
Favorite Gold Medal for Humor, and of many mystery book awards, Kate hopes that her readers will enjoy her Màiri Maguire Cozy Mysteries.
Kate also writes Sweets by The Sea, a series of Second Chance for Lasting Love novels that combine the themes of forgiveness, redemption and recovery, set in sleepy Welcombe Bay on the gorgeous Devon coastline. Kate’s readers say these love stories are even sweeter than her Cozies. Thanksgiving in Welcombe Bay, the first book in the series, took First Place in the 2024 Incipere Awards for Christian Fiction and Clean Women’s Fiction; and in the Pencraft Christian Fiction Awards.
Yet it is when writing the Huntingdon Hart Investigates series that Kate has the most fun. Hunt’s story has not been accorded any accolades, but he takes that in his stride – a prophet is never appreciated at home. Although, as Hunt modestly points out, he’s not a prophet, just a genius! A smidgin of prescience, together with skills honed by his earlier service in MI5 and MI6, make Hunt a force to be reckoned with. But not in the eyes of his beloved, the divine Sophia, twenty years his senior and younger than spring, who refuses to take Hunt’s pursuit of her seriously
More from Kate
The Luck of the Draw features Huntingdon Hart, universally considered to be rather different from all my other Cozy characters. My first Cozy heroine, darling Màiri Maguire, won me 17 book awards and a featured editorial spot in Publishers Weekly. Her cohort, Major Peverel, is the darling of almost all my readers – some like him even better than they like Màiri. Granny is very nearly as popular as Màiri herself; and even her nephew Niallie’s dog, Destroyer, gets fan mail.
Màiri took me by storm on the 29th December 2021, ousting from my calendar the historical Quaker mysteries I had begun writing. Belle, the heroine of that as-yet-unborn series, hasn’t emerged from my notebooks since. Màiri ousted Erin, one half of my Scotland Yard duo, who after a brief appearance on Vella was consigned to a twilight space until I find the time to write her adventures (as I long to do). As for my more nuanced mysteries, forget it!
Why do I spend my precious writing time on Hunt, when my readers are clamoring for more of Màiri? When I myself would prefer to write something with a little more depth? Because, as one famous writer once put it “It isn’t enough to wait for inspiration to strike. Sometimes you have to go after it with a club.” On the rare occasions when inspiration comes, it’s a Gift from God. You don’t refuse it. I woke up one morning, and Hunt was in my head. I could hardly grab paper and pencil fast enough. I wrote down his whole first case before breakfast.
Hunt is not your typical clean mystery hero. He was once a hitman for the British secret service. He spends a lot of time on racecourses; and frittering his life away on frivolities like nightclubs. He’s immensely vain, but – here’s the intriguing part – he’s not conceited. Hunt genuinely does have all the abilities he prides himself on; he truly is a detective genius. And terribly good-looking. And charming. He’s got millions, and the way he got his millions is interesting. Then one day, while he’s solving a curious case, he meets Sophia, 20 years older than he is, and it’s love at first sight. Hunt wants to marry her, and Hunt gets what he wants. But will he get Sophia? The signs are that he won’t, because she doesn’t take him seriously.
How can Hunt prove to Sophia that he will never love another? Clearly it would help if he weren’t squiring a fascinating Frenchwoman all over London. Which would be where The Luck of the Draw begins, if it didn’t actually begin with Hunt in the dock. Fear not, gentle reader. Hunt is a decent man, with decent instincts. He doesn’t have an unkind bone in his body. He’d kill anyone he considered a threat to people he cares about in a heartbeat, but he wouldn’t harm a fly. He has a deep respect for the law; he loves his country; he would take a bullet for his king (hint! hint!). Why is he in the dock? That’s an interesting story – at least, I hope you’ll think so. I do. Màiri does. Major Peverel thinks Hunt is a show-off. One day they’ll have a showdown. But not in The Luck of the Draw. Hunt has his hands full there, without the Major’s scorn washing over him.
Oh, by the way. In case you haven’t noticed yet, Huntingdon Hart Investigates is a spoof series, a sendup – and I have a total blast writing Hunt’s casefiles, each mysterious adventure more unlikely than the last.
Blog Stops
Simple Harvest Reads, August 23 (Author Interview)
Artistic Nobody, August 24 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 24
Fiction Book Lover, August 25 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, August 26
Beauty in the Binding, August 27 (Author Interview)
Stories By Gina, August 28 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, August 28
Guild Master, August 29 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 30
Blossoms and Blessings, August 31 (Author Interview)
Lily’s Corner, September 1
Back Porch Reads, September 2 (Author Interview)
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, September 3 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, September 4
For the Love of Literature, September 5 (Author Interview)
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Kate is giving away the grand prize package of a paperback copy of The Luck of the Draw, Death in Paris, and the winner’s choice of any Janna DeLeon eBook, any Anthony Slayton eBook, and any Paula Baird Jones eBook!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
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