book blitz for the Amanda Lester series by Paula Berinstein

This is my stop during the book blitz for the Amanda Lester Series by Paula Berinstein. This book blitz is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 30 January till 5 February. You can see the tour schedule here



About the Amanda Lester series

The Amanda Lester series is a Middle Grade/ Young Adult Mystery series.

The series contains 5 books so far and at least 2 more books are planned. The first four books are also available bundled in a box set. And the first book is also available in audiobook format. The currently published books are:

- Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy (Amanda Lester, Detective #1)

- Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis (Amanda Lester, Detective #2)

- Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle (Amanda Lester, Detective #3)

- Amanda Lester and the Blue Peacocks’ Secret (Amanda Lester, Detective #4)

- Amanda Lester and the Red Spider Rumpus (Amanda Lester, Detective #5)



The First book in the series:

Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy (Amanda Lester, Detective #1)

by Paula Berinstein

Blurb:

Amanda Lester wouldn’t be caught dead going into the family business. Her ancestor, Sherlock Holmes’s colleague Inspector G. Lestrade, is a twit. Nevertheless her parents refuse to see his flaws, and she’s going to a secret English school for the descendants of famous detectives whether she likes it or not.



When Amanda arrives at the dreaded school, she considers running away—until she and her new friends discover blood and weird pink substances in odd places. At first they’re not sure whether these oddities mean anything, but when Amanda’s father disappears and the cook is found dead with her head in a bag of sugar, they’re certain that crimes are taking place.



Now Amanda must embrace her destiny and uncover the truth. The only snag is that arch-villain Blixus Moriarty, a descendant of Holmes’s nemesis Professor James Moriarty, might be involved, and he doesn’t like nosy little girls interfering in his business.

You can find Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy on Goodreads



Get the e-copy for free!

The e-copy of Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy is free now on all vendor sites! Grab your free copy here:

- Amazon

- Barnes & Noble

- Kobo

- Smashwords



Get the Audiobook!

You can buy the audiobook of Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy here:

- Audible

- Amazon

- iTunes



Listen to a sample of the audiobook here on Soundcloud.

All five books in the series

Buy the whole series on Amazon!

The first Amanda Lester book is free and book 2, 3, 4 and 5 are only 0.99$ per book or can be bought as part of a box set. Links to each book on Amazon are below:

- Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy (Amanda Lester, Detective #1)

- Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis(Amanda Lester, Detective #2)

- Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle (Amanda Lester, Detective #3)

- Amanda Lester and the Blue Peacocks’ Secret (Amanda Lester, Detective #4)

- Amanda Lester and the Red Spider Rumpus (Amanda Lester, Detective #5)

- Amanda Detective box set Books 1-4

- The Amanda Lester series page



The Amanda Lester books on other vendors

The Amanda Lester series is also available on other vendor sites. Get the books on B&N, Kobo, iTunes and Smashwords.



About the Author:

Paula Berinstein is nothing like Amanda. For one thing, she’s crazy about Sherlock Holmes. For another, she’s never wanted to be a filmmaker. In addition, compared to Amanda she’s a big chicken! And she wouldn’t mind going to a secret school at all. In fact, she’s hoping that some day she’ll get to build one.



You can find and contact Paula here:

- Website

- Facebook

- Twitter

- Goodreads

- Paula's blog on Goodreads

- The Writing Show podcasts

- Newsletter

Guest Post 4: Amanda Lester’s villains

When you’re writing about the descendants of the Sherlock Holmes characters, the obvious choice for a villain is a Moriarty. In fact it’s obligatory. But what should this Moriarty be like? The original Professor James Moriarty was a sketchy character who appeared in only three of Conan Doyle’s stories. That’s right, three. And yet despite the paucity of information about him he’s as infamous as a villain can be.

Because the original Moriarty was never fleshed out, his descendants could be virtually anything I wanted them to be. But I did need them to work in the story. At a minimum I needed a criminal mastermind who would dominate the detectives throughout the series. I also wanted to be able to call on his associates to do his dirty work for him. So I decided that Blixus Moriarty would, like his ancestor, head a criminal cartel full of bad guys. But then I diverged from what Doyle did. I gave him a family and made him a babe. That’s right: my principal villain is a drop-dead gorgeous family man, kind of like Tony Soprano if he were played by Brad Pitt, but higher class and frankly, smarter.

If I tell you why I made him that way it might spoil Book 1 for you and I don’t want to do that. Suffice it to say that once you’ve read the pink book you’ll understand. You’ll also find some surprises about other members of Blixus’s family, especially in Books 3 and 6.

But even though Blixus is the Voldemort of Amanda’s world, he and his entourage aren’t the only bad guys in the series. As with Harry Potter, I’ve populated my story with a whole cast of villains large and small, and Amanda has to fight all of them. In fact I create at least one new villain for each book to keep things interesting. And that means an assortment of not only criminals but other antagonists that keep those obstacles coming.

Some of my villains are seriously awful people—psychopaths and sociopaths you would not want to meet in real life (Banting Waltz and Hugh Moriarty among them). They can be dangerous and cruel and greedy and way beyond unpleasant. But some of them are more wannabe than true criminal, and those end up providing a bit of comic relief (what I do to poor Twinkle Earnshaw is just so mean, for example, but she so deserves it). I’ve also created characters who make trouble but aren’t true villains (hello, David Wiffle and Ancillary Darktower). They’re just jealous or envious or grandiose or frustrated. Then there are characters who don’t start out as villains but become that way through necessity, as well as bad guys who go straight (no spoilers here).

My bad guys come in all flavors: male and female, young and old, public school and working class, urban and rural. Some live in luxury and some live literally underground. Some are likeable and some are repulsive. They have names like Crocodile Pleth and Alfie Kingsolver and Taffeta Tasmania and Jackie Lumpenstein. But there is one thing they have in common: they all make trouble for Amanda and her friends. Still and all, where would a detective be without them?

Tomorrow I’ll talk about romance in Amanda’s world.

Giveaway

There is a tour wide giveaway for the book blitz of the Amanda Lester series. These are the prizes you can win:

- One winner will win all 5 Amanda Lester books in paperback.

- Two winners will win a set of all 5 Amanda Lester books in e-format.



For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway