In the Key of Dead: A Miami Music Mystery
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Florida
Cozy Cat Press (July 17, 2023)
Paperback : 206 pages
Synopsis
Killer songs and a killer voice land Vy in yet another melodic murder mystery. Interlude Records has signed Vy to a long-anticipated record deal after years of rejections, but she never thought that murder would be part of the deal. Now, Vy finds herself, yet again, at the center of a murder investigation that may change the course of her music career.
It seems that someone doesn’t want Vy to record her album, and is doing everything to sabotage the release date, including murdering a key member of the production team. So Vy and her sister, Alexia, are back at it again—detecting in their own way. This time they’re using their quick-witted banter, and super sleuthing skills to ensure that Vy’s record makes it to the Billboard Top 100 list before the murderer makes it to the Miami Beach Police Department’s most wanted list.
They say the music industry is cutthroat, but Vy has never taken that statement literally. Could this be the strum of Vy’s guitar playing her last note IN THE KEY OF DEAD?
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Guest Post
I am named after my beautiful mother. I am the youngest of six. I was born into art. My mother is an amazing artist, composer, and musician. I remember sitting on the couch watching my mom’s fingers move graciously throughout the piano keys. It was mesmerizing for me. My mom taught me to play the piano when I was 12 years old. From then on, my love for music began, but my love was not for the piano, my love was simply listening to the music.
I am a storyteller in my song-writing. I am inspired by musicians like Rob Thomas, Pink and Jewel. I had a few lessons on my first, used and worn-out classical guitar, and started combining my own original poetry with some basic guitar melodies. That was the result of my debut album, “Train Ride.” As an independent artist, I have released an EP called “Little Box of Secrets.” My latest self-produced singles, Savannah and Bulletproof Queen, takes one on a journey from one extreme to the other.
Although the journey has been challenging, I am not ready to stop showing the people the world through my eyes. My lyrics portray the different journeys my life has taken me through; heartache, hardships, falling in love, and happiness. I want the people to feel what I felt, to see what I have seen, and to know what I have learned. I want my music to be the window to my soul for the world to peek in. It is more than just listening to the songs; it is breathing in the words. But my journey did not stop there.
I then decided to take my musical experiences and put it on paper. I published my first novel, through Cozy Cat Press, The Last Note: A Miami Music Mystery. Thanks to the success of my debut novel, I have once again, brought my characters back to life, in the sequel, In the Key of Dead: A Miami Music Mystery. I have currently started the third novel to the series. The novels appeal not only to those readers who love a good murder mystery coupled with humor, but ones who wish to become familiar with the world of a musical talent trying her best to come up through the ranks of bars to superstardom.
The process of arriving to where I am today, may sound smooth and straight-forward, but it was anything but. Musically, it has not been easy. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way. I was signed to an independent record label. I was naive back then, and I trusted too much. When I released my first CD, Train Ride, it was through the record label. I couldn’t really call it my baby, although the lyrics and the music were my stories, my journeys. I had no say when it came to producing it.
Throughout the five years that I was signed to that label, it became a battle that facilitated my loss in my positive energy. And after the contract expired, I had lost faith in myself. Luckily, I have my family, especially my mother and father (an angel now). They encouraged me to not give up on my dreams. To keep writing, to keep singing, to keep believing in myself. And although it was a struggle, because, in the end, I was the one who had to choose to get back up, I did get back up.
Then, I was able to record my EP record, Little Box of Secrets, and that was my baby. But my artistic journey does not stop there. I decided to push myself, a bit further and I choose to write a novel, a murder mystery novel, to be exact. Once completed and edited, I proposed my first novel to the writing world. One that I was very new to. I know the music world like the back of my hand, but when it came to publishers, and a writer, and all the elements in between, that was a completely different league. I received so many rejection letters that I was on the verge of not sending out any more query letters.
Then I attended a book signing for one of my favorite authors. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for her, I was the only person that attended the signing. I was able to sit with her for an hour and talk about my novel and the hardships. She said to me, “give yourself a deadline of a year before you resort to self-publishing. Do not give up just yet.”
So, when I left that signing, I calendared a year from that date. In six months, my novel was picked up by Cozy Cat Press. Since then, it has been an amazing ride, of learning, self-discovery, and excitement. I can’t wait to complete book three of the series. And I am happy to say that I have also started writing a psychological thriller. I wanted to experiment outside the cozy genre into more of an intense genre. I love challenging myself, and I love to step out of my comfort zone. To me, that’s living! As Tom Hank’s character said in A Legue of Their Own, “If it were easy, everybody would do it. Hard is what makes it great.”
About the Author
The Miami Music Mystery series’ main backdrop, the amazing city of Miami, Florida, is beloved and well-known to me. I was born and raised in Miami, and like the novel’s main character Vy, I am a singer/songwriter, Grammy-considered, independent artist. All things relating to music or literature are my passion.
Many years ago, I became an avid reader of cozy mysteries. The storylines were intriguing, engaging, and funny at the same time. I was so inspired by the authors, that I then decided to take my musical experiences, and put it on paper. I published my first novel, The Last Note, a Miami Music Mystery. Now, I have brought my characters back to life, in the sequel, In the Key of Dead, a Miami Music Mystery. The phobias, the dream sequences, and the quirkiness of the main characters, are all based on facts. I hope that I was able to, once again, show the readers of my novels, the love I have for Miami, the Cuban culture, my family, and music.
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Giveaway
About the Author
Richard Fulco’s first novel, There Is No End to This Slope (Wampus Multimedia), was published in 2014. His second novel, We Are All Together, will be published by Wampus Multimedia in October 2022. Richard received an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College, where he was the recipient of a MacArthur Scholarship. His plays have either been presented or developed at The New York International Fringe Festival, The Playwrights’ Center, The Flea, Here Arts Center, Chicago Dramatists, and The Dramatists Guild. Richard’s one-act play Swedish Fish was published by Heuer Publishing, and his stories, poetry, interviews, and reviews have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Failbetter, Across the Margin, Fiction Writers Review, and American Songwriter (among others). Richard is a member of the Pen American Center, where he is also a mentor in the Prison Writing Mentorship Program. For six years, he wrote about music on his blog, Riffraf. He teaches creative writing and English at an independent high school in New Jersey.
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