Only 2 Days Left...

Jeff Cohen

In case you missed it:

SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, the eighth Haunted Guesthouse mystery (which is a source of amazement for me--8?) will be available to you in a mere two weeks, on December 6. More on that in a minute.

It will also be the last of the Haunted Guesthouse mysteries to be published by Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin Random House (which sounds like all the publishing companies but isn't). As the publishing business evolves into... something else, it was decided that the Guesthouse series sales numbers were good but not great, and so Berkley chose not to renew the contract or request more books.

But the wild card here is that Josh is a really good agent.

As soon as we were informed that the publisher wanted no more of the Guesthouse books, he was on the phone and it took a remarkably short period of time to contact Crooked Lane Books, the publishers of the Mysterious Detective Mystery series, where the Guesthouse, still well situated on the Jersey Shore in the fictional town of Harbor Haven, could find a new home.

So worry not, Copperman fans. The Haunted Guesthouse will go on. SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, which I think you'll find a special installment in the series, will be followed by at least two more books, probably in 2018 and 2019 if I had to guess, which I don't. I'm writing #9 right now and I'll tell you the title as soon as I think of it. 

In SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, Alison's ex-husband Steven "The Swine" Rendell has returned, and not for a pleasure trip. He's being chased by some unsavory characters after a LOT of money he owes them, but he has a plan: Alison should sell the Guesthouse and give him the profits. Some plan. When one of The Swine's pursuers ends up in an alley with a couple of bullets in him, it's possible she's going to stop being an ex-wife and start being an ex-widow. Or something. 

Meanwhile Paul Harrison the ghostly detective is restless with his inability to leave the house and is working on an experiment to propel him into "the next plane of existence." Alison's daughter Melissa definitely doesn't have a crush on this guy in her class. And Alison's boyfriend Josh is acting strange. There's a lot going on at the Guesthouse, and there will be for books to come.

So let's celebrate! It's time to move some inventory, by which I mean I'm hip-deep in books and need to get some out of my house and into yours. So let's have a contest. No. Let's have THREE contests! And let's make them as completely subjective and random as possible!

Contest the First: Guesthouse fans--search the Internet for mentions of E.J. Copperman or the Haunted Guesthouse series (no fair finding REAL haunted guesthouses!). Find your favorite review of a Guesthouse book, pick out a quote and enter it in Comments below. My three favorites (I told you this would be subjective) will get a copy of SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. 

Contest the Second: For fans of the Samuel Hoenig Asperger's mystery series, you know of Samuel's special interest in a certain British pop band (if you just thought One Direction, you are disqualified). Name your favorite Beatles song below. If yours is one of the Comments I choose incredibly arbitrarily, you'll win a free CODE. I know, you're excited. Wait. That code will get you a FREE DOWNLOAD of the brand-new audiobook version of THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND performed by Mark Boyett, who was interviewed here not long ago! You plug in the code, you get the book for free, and I will give out THREE codes for that audiobook from Audible.

Contest the Third: You like Samuel Hoenig, but you hate having someone read a book to you brilliantly? No problem! I'll give out THREE FREE copies of THE QUESTION OF THE FELONIOUS FRIEND on actual pages. To win this one, search the Internet for people rumored to have had Asperger's Syndrome or high-functioning autism in history (you'll be amazed how many there are, and no, we have no idea if any of this is accurate). Choose your favorite and mention him/her in a Comment below. Then get friends to vote for your favorite also in the Comments below (and mention your name). Top three vote getters win! (I could make an election comment here, but I'm exercising restraint.)

Yes, you MAY enter more than one contest, but you may only enter each one time (no multiple answers). And even then, since I'm being completely arbitrary about choosing winners, you may NOT win more than one of the prizes, to be fair to all.

Winners will be announced in this space next Monday, the 28th! Entries must be in by, let's say noon Black Friday, the 25th!

Complicated enough? Get to work!

Comments

[Kathy Whitmore]

The pun-filled title notwithstanding, E.J. Copperman’s first novel in this series deals not with zombies but ghosts.

[Kathy Whitmore]

Favorite Beatle's Song: All You Need Is Love

[Kathy Whitmore]

Dan Aykroyd has Asberger's. (I picked him cuz I'm old!)

[elaine malanga]

Fav Beatle tune "Norwegian Wood"

[Emily Goehner]

My entry in Contest The First:
Liz
Jun 07, 2010
Liz rated it liked it
I’m not sure what possessed me to buy this book – it just appeared in the mail after one of my book-ordering sprees.

(If one is going to have lapses of memory, the best cure is the arrival of a brand new copy of one of your books, although I'm sure ordering one of yours is something I could never forget).

[Paula Joe Myers]

Contest 2: I actually have 2 favorite Beatles songs. Paperback Writer is one because I like to write. Oh, to be a Paperback Writer! The second is Hey Jude. It's a beautiful song. When I was in high school the family lived in the country and I could start the "na, na, na, na, na, na, nas" as I pulled out of the driveway and be in town by the time the song ended. Listening to the song now reminds me of simpler times, when it was fun to race with a song. Help is a close runner-up. But not I Am the Walrus. That one scares the bejeebers out of me!

[Nancy Roessner]

I found a boatload of reviews and my favorite was one by Ellery Adams, another of my favorite authors. About Night of the Living Deed she wrote:
2351 days ago
ElleryAdams
This book had it all - from the picturesque Jersey Shore setting to an historical home, desperately in need of an overall and perhaps, an exorcism, to a group of feisty females banding together in search of a killer. This dialogue is witty, the writing crisp, and the reveal will surprise even the most eagle-eyed readers. Mr. Copperman has scored a home run!

[Amanda naughton]

Saw this review on Good Reads and laughed.

Chance of a Ghost, the fourth book in E.J. Copperman’s Haunted Guest House Mystery series, has been rated number one on the list of “Best Books to Read While You’re Snowed in and Curled up Next to a Fire.” Of course, that list was compiled entirely by me and only includes this one book (not to mention I was neither by a fireplace nor snowed in when I read it), but still, I know what I’m talking about.

[Amanda naughton]

My favorite Beatles song. EASY! Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. It always makes me happy and it was the theme song for an old tv show Life Goes On.

[Keith Johnson]

Michael Edward Palin. Come on, He's a Python.

[KarenM]

Found this on Goodreads about Night of the Living Deed:

What a fun book! The ghosts in the story were more like Topper-types rather than there-is-a-presence-here types and they interact with only some humans, not everyone, which makes for some interesting situations.

I loved Topper when I was a kid!

[Audrey Reed]

Picking a favorite Beatles song is like picking a favorite child. Today, I pick "Can't Buy Me Love". I am now listening to the Beatles thanks to you! (No, really, thank yoU!)