April Fool’s Day!
Sigh. It’s April Fool’s Day, aka All Fool’s Day. Takes me back to my (much) younger years…
Every year, without fail, I’d get hit on the head with a folded newspaper or cushion that was balanced on the top of a ‘almost’ closed door. As soon as I’d push the door open? Wham, it landed right on my noggin! I think my bro wanted to put a plastic cup of water on top of the door but mom was having none of that…
What IS April Fool’s Day?
April Fools’ Day or All Fool’s Day is an annual custom on 1st April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting “April Fools!” at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. See Wikipedia.
Dad Also Got In On The Act…
My brother was the newspaper and cushion prankster, but dad? Well… he’d make sure to stuff the toes of our shoes with scrunched up newspaper. (Jeez, feel sorry the new newspapers in our house back then!)
In Ireland:
In Ireland, it was traditional to entrust the victim with an “important letter” to be given to a named person. That person would read the letter, then ask the victim to take it to someone else, and so on. The letter when opened contained the words “send the fool further”.
In Scotland:
In Scotland, April Fools’ Day was originally called “Huntigowk Day“. The name is a corruption of “hunt the gowk“, gowk being Scots for a cuckoo or a foolish person
All of the above came from this wikipedia link below (well, except for my bro and my dad):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day
Speaking of Scotland:
Death In Paris by Author Kate Darroch
Màiri Maguire works in top schools all over the world, and runs into murderous mayhem everywhere she goes. Author Kate Darroch takes you back to the seventies in this murder-mystery! Set in Scotland, Màiri departs for Paris with her bestie Lianna.
And then the unexpected happens…
In Kate’s own words:
In this first book, Màiri is traveling to Paris on vacation with her friend Lianna. On the train from Le Havre, Lianna spots the Income Tax Inspector who has sent her a ruinous and completely unjustified tax bill, Charlie Stout.
“Let me at him!” Lianna rages “I’ll strangle him!”
That night, Stout is strangled and his dead body thrown from the Eiffel Tower. Lianna is the prime suspect.
The gendarmes lock her up.
In only 7 days time, Màiri must be in Istanbul for the start of the new school term.
Can Màiri discover the real murderer and free Lianna before then?
Or must she choose between her friend and livelihood?
Meet Author Kate Darroch
You do need to take a look at this great series from Kate Darroch; author of the Màiri Maguire Cozy Mysteries. Kate hopes that you will enjoy reading these stories as much as she enjoys writing them!
Kate Says:
These Cozies are set in the 1970s because for me that was a Golden Period. I have fond memories of the years 1970 to 1975; which is where all the Màiri Maguire stories are set.
My mysteries are not even slightly autobiographical, but I am “writing what I know” and what I know well. There were many women much like Màiri and Lianna and Katriona and Morag in the Glasgow of their day, everyday heroines. I’d like you to meet some of them.
It is no accident that Ellis Peverel is written as a wealthy English gentleman with a military background. That a man of his stamp and a woman of Màiri’s attitudes could become friends is a sign of the times. It would have been highly unlikely to happen in an earlier Britain.
Màiri’s story begins in August 1970, which was a very exciting time to be a woman – the world was opening up to us and we really believed that we could be agents of massive positive change.
The craziness of the Swinging Sixties was a memory, not how we lived our lives. We had sensible goals: family, work, community, education, style, self-realisation, prosperity, spirituality.
We were all mad for education in the Britain of the 1970s and that is reflected in Màiri’s attitudes; she is a child of her era.
Death of a Taxman
Kate wants you to know that you can pick up “Death of a Taxman” FOR FREE!:
All 3 books in the Death In Paris Trilogy are free to Readers Club members
If you enjoy this first book and want more, please email me at : Kate@katedarroch.com
to get the other books and more Free Gifts
Màiri Maguire is a Scots Irish school teacher who works at top schools all over the world, encountering crime everywhere she goes. Fortunately, she solves murders as efficiently as she teaches. In this series, Màiri solves crimes in Paris (France), Istanbul (Turkey), Brussels (Belgium), San Francisco and Las Vegas. In between bringing baddies to justice Màiri frequently returns to her home in Glasgow, Scotland, to eat brandy snaps with her sisters Morag and Katriona, eat ‘talie ice cream with her friends, and play with her nephew Niall
Specials: Click their covers to read more!
You might have heard of me.
I’m Amethyst King, the 26-year-old who wrote that viral article about drinking celery juice for 30 days.
Sure, I’m a little embarrassed that everyone knows about the inner workings of my digestive tract for the last month, but I’m one step closer to getting a promotion and finally pleasing my incredibly opinionated, high status parents.
But my next assignment is a little different: speaking my truth for 30 days. Now I have to say exactly what’s on my mind, all the time. Maybe that wouldn’t be so hard if I didn’t dream of quitting my job and pursuing a career in calligraphy.
CLICK HERE to READ MORE!
She thought she was running out of time…
Marin Walker has lived her entire life in Cornwall in the UK. She’s engaged to the same boy she’s been dating since she was fourteen and she works as travel blogger, covering her hometown. Marin has also been waiting since she was a child for a kidney transplant she desperately needs, due to the same genetic disease that took her mother. But thanks to her extremely rare blood type, she’s never been sure she would get her chance… Until she gets a call from a transplant coordinator in the US. There is man there with her same rare blood type and she needs to get on a plane bound for Wintervale, Vermont right away.
CLICK HERE to READ MORE!
