Author Guest Post
SUMMER FUN AND FESTIVALS IN WISCONSIN
BEYOND A REASONABLE DONUT starts during a special festival on Friday the thirteenth—the Faker’s Dozen Carnival. There will be rides, games, buskers, fair foods, and a tent dedicated to tempting good and bad luck. Emily Westhill, one of the proprietors of a café in Fallingbrook, Wisconsin, attends the carnival with an assistant, Nina. The two women fry and serve corn fritters. In honor of the day’s jokes and pranks, they’re calling them “corny” fritters. They plan to dip some of them in sugar.
As luck would have it on Friday the thirteenth, there is actual bad luck. A bucket of sugar that they know they brought to the carnival goes missing. One of the magicians causes bills to disappear from their cash drawer. The worst luck of the day, though, befalls another busker, a mime who ends up in Nina’s apartment with her head inside the missing bucket of sugar.
The mime had vandalized a painting that Nina hoped to finish in time for her solo show at a prestigious art gallery. When the police discover Nina’s anger and that Nina was keeping secrets, they arrest her. Emily is going to have to figure out who actually killed the mime, or Nina won’t only miss the art show, she’ll miss the fun of the Samantha Andersen and Hooligan Houlihan’s wedding, including, maybe, finding out Hooligan’s real name . . .
In the real world, Wisconsin excels in festivals, carnivals, fairs, and family-fun weekends. One of the most intriguing might be the one held in the village of Luck—the Lucky Days Festival, which features, among other things, bed races and sawdust piles for kids. Other interesting names are Hodag Heritage Days, the Ducktona 500 Family Festival, Copperfest, and Loon Day. You can chuck pumpkins into a river at Scarecrow Fest. You can celebrate local foods at the Sparta Butterfest, Colby Cheese Days, the Birchwood Bluegill Festival, the Musky Jamboree, the Fly-In Fish Boil, and various sausage, barbecue, and ethnic festivals. There’s a Paul Bunyan Festival where you can watch chainsaw carvers and a gem and mineral show where kids can hunt for treasure in an agate pit. There are music festivals, beer festivals, wine festivals, arts and craft festivals, reenactments, and fireworks. Emily could spend the summer showing off the Deputy Donut 1950 Ford “police” car at classic car shows and rallies. There’s even a concertina festival!
Writing murder mysteries, I’m particularly excited about the Death’s Door Barbecue. In fact, I’d love to attend all of these weekends and festivals. You can learn more about them and others at: https://www.travelwisconsin.com/things-to-do/entertainment-attractions/fairs-festivals
Which of these festivals and fairs would you like to visit? Let us know in the comments below.
About Beyond a Reasonable Donut
Beyond a Reasonable Donut (A Deputy Donut Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Publisher: Kensington (May 25, 2021)
Paperback: 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1496725581
ISBN-13: 978-1496725585
Digital ASIN: B08GY9Z1PD
Selling her corn fritters at a carnival, Deputy Donut Café owner Emily Westhill faces off against a murderer who doesn’t play fair . . .
Emily and her assistant, Nina, are looking forward to manning the Deputy Donut tent at the Faker’s Dozen Carnival in Fallingbrook, Wisconsin—a festival held on Friday the thirteenth to celebrate good and bad luck. But Emily has barely dropped the corn fritters in oil when bad luck boils up. First, their bucket of confectioner’s sugar disappears—and then while a mime creates a distraction, a magician robs their cash register.
After the carnival, their misfortune continues. Emily discovers that someone has broken into artist Nina’s loft and vandalized a large painting in progress with the bucket of stolen sugar, which is now on the head of the mime, who seems to have been suffocated. Emily would bet Nina was the intended victim, but the cops think Nina silenced the mime. Now Emily must catch the killer white-handed—before someone else kicks the bucket . . .
About Ginger Bolton
Ginger Bolton writes the Deputy Donut mystery series—coffee, donuts, cops, danger, and one curious cat. The first four books in the series are SURVIVAL OF THE FRITTERS, GOODBYE CRULLER WORLD, JEALOUSY FILLED DONUTS, and the latest, BOSTON SCREAM MURDER. JEALOUSY FILLED DONUTS was chosen as the Woman’s World Best New Cozy Mystery of the week and was named as one of Dollycas’s Best Reads of 2019. BEYOND A REASONABLE DONUT will be on store shelves May 25, 2021. When Ginger isn’t writing or reading, she’s crocheting, knitting, sewing, or generally causing trouble. She’s also fond of donuts and coffee. As Janet Bolin, Ginger wrote the Threadville Mysteries—murder and mayhem in a village of crafty shops.
Author Links
Website – https://gingerbolton.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGingerBolton
Twitter – https://twitter.com/ginger_bolton
BookBub – https://www.bookbub.com/authors/ginger-bolton
GoodReads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16834862.Ginger_Bolton/
Purchase Links: https://gingerbolton.com/where-to-buy
Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Google Play – IndieBound
Giveaway
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
May 17 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
May 17 – Novels Alive – GUEST POST
May 17 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
May 18 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
May 18 – Valerie’s Musings – REVIEW
May 18 – Moonlight Rendezvous – REVIEWS, EXCERPT
May 19 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW, EXCERPT
May 19 – Diane Reviews Books – GUEST POST
May 19 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, EXCERPT
May 20 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
May 20 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW
May 20 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 21 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW
May 21 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
May 21 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW
May 22 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
May 22 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
May 23 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
May 23 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
May 24 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
May 24 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUIEST POST
May 25 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – GUEST POST
May 25 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
May 26 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW
May 26 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!
Thank you for hosting me, Diane!
You’re welcome! Your guest post makes me want to visit Wisconsin once all this COVID nonsense is over. Thanks for writing it.
I am sooo ready to go somewhere!