The Carnation Murder: An Early 20th Century Mystery (Adele Gossling Mysteries: Book 1)

Tam May

Mar 2022 · Adele Gossling Mysteries Book 1 · Dreambook Press

About this ebook

If you’re looking for a humorous historical small-town cozy who-done-it series featuring a smart and sassy amateur woman sleuth, you’ve come to the right place!

Can a forward-thinking woman help the police solve a murder in a backward-thinking town?

California, 1903: Smart, inquisitive, and a firm believer in the new progressive reforms, Adele Gossling seeks a new life after the devastating death of her father. She flees San Francisco for the small town of Arrojo, planning a life of peace and small pleasures with nothing more exciting than selling fountain pens to the locals in her stationery shop and partaking in the town’s favorite pastime: gossip.

Peace is exactly what she doesn’t get when she discovers her neighbor’s dead body in her gazebo. The police think they have a firm suspect: the young man who was secretly engaged to the victim. But Adele and her clairvoyant new friend Nin Branch suspect he’s innocent. In spite of the raised eyebrows from Arrojo’s Victorian-minded citizens, they set out to prove the young man didn’t do it. But if he didn’t, who did?

Can Adele and Nin solve this puzzling case involving a striped carnation, a diamond ring, a note, a muddy pair of boots, and a broken promise?

If you love historical mysteries, comfy cozies, amateur detectives, female sleuths, small-town mysteries, humorous whodunits, and early 20th-century fiction set in America, you’ll love this series!

Fans of Lee Strauss, Rosie Hunt, Sonia Parin, and R. A. Wallace will love these books too!

Pick up your copy of The Carnation Murder for a fun, absorbing mystery set in Northern California at the turn of the 20th century.

What early reviewers are saying:

"Really well paced and researched appropriately for the era.”

"The story comes alive.”

"Great new series, the time period details are interesting and the mystery intriguing."

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Don't forget to check out the other books in the Adele Gossling Mysteries!

Ratings and reviews

Boring! Nothing except lengthy character introductions and I was 52 pages in when I decided I wasn't going to finish this book. When a story doesn't have me wishing I was reading rather than watching something, that is a problem. I'm really sorry if you don't agree but these characters weren't even interesting enough to keep my attention.

A fun read with likable characters even the school girls were fun. Adele is the New Woman without being obnoxious or rude about it. She sees other ways to fight the good fight without causing damage. Solving mysteries is a side hustle next to her day job of selling stationary and all it's accessories.

fantastic, first time reading anyof the authors book and it won't be last. I only guessed when the book was nearly finished. Will look for more of the authors book and hope they will be free as I can't afford to buy new ones, it's a case of eating or reading, and eating wins. thanks again for a great read

About the author

Writing has been Tam’s voice since the age of fourteen. She writes stories set in the past that feature sassy and sensitive women characters. Her fiction gives readers the experience of women struggling to carve out an identity for themselves during eras when their options were limited. Her stories are set mostly around the Bay Area because she adores sourdough bread, Ghirardelli chocolate, and San Francisco history.

Tam is the author of the Adele Gossling Mysteries which takes place in the early 20th century and features suffragist and epistolary expert Adele Gossling whose talent for solving crimes doesn’t sit well with her town’s conventional ideas about women and their place.

Tam is also working on a new series, the Grave Sisters Mysteries about three sisters who own a funeral home and help the county D.A. solve crimes in a 1920s small California town. The first book of the series is set to launch in 2025.

In addition, Tam writes historical fiction about women breaking loose from the social and psychological expectations of their era. She has a 4-book series set in the 1890s titled the Waxwood Series and a post-World War II short story collection available.

Although Tam left her heart in San Francisco, she lives in the Midwest because it’s cheaper. When she’s not writing, she’s devouring everything classic (books, films, art, music), concocting yummy plant-based dishes, and exploring her new riverside town.

For more information about Tam May and her books, check out her website at www.tammayauthor.com.