Calamity at the Continental Club by Colleen J. Shogan – Guest Post + 2 Giveaways

Calamity at the Continental Club by Colleen J. Shogan - Guest Post + 2 Giveaways

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I received this book for free from a book tour. This review is voluntary. My opinion is not influenced in any way.

Calamity at the Continental Club by Colleen J. Shogan – Guest Post + 2 GiveawaysCalamity at the Continental Club by Colleen J. Shogan
Series: Washington Whodunit #3
Published by Camel Press on July 15, 2017
Genres: Mystery
Pages: 264
Format: eARC
Source: a book tour
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The Mayflower Society is about to hold its annual meeting at Washington D.C.’s swanky gathering place for the elite, the Continental Club. That means Kit Marshall’s upper-crust future in-laws, Buffy and Winston Hollingsworth, are coming for a visit. Annoyed that Kit has not set a date to marry Doug, Buffy wants her to commit to a high society wedding at the club. Kit, though chief of staff for a congresswoman, feels uncomfortable with Buffy and Winston’s crowd.

Kit receives an unexpected reprieve in the form of murder. En route to her morning jog, she encounters the corpse of the leader of the Mayflower Society, conservative multimedia tycoon Grayson Bancroft. On the security cameras, no one was seen entering or leaving the club, which means the culprit had to be an overnight guest. Little love was lost on Bancroft, but the police have their prime suspect: Doug’s father.

Buffy and Winston, formerly disdainful of Kit’s sleuthing, urge her to investigate. With her future in-laws’ freedom and reputations at stake, Kit sets out once again to solve a murder mystery, this time aided by her fiancé Doug in addition to her friends Meg and Trevor and her dog Clarence. Her search for clues will take her from the club to the Smithsonian Museum, the National Archives, and Mount Vernon.

Book 3 of the Washington Whodunit series, which began with Stabbing in the Senate and continued with Homicide in the House.


Mixing It Up

Calamity at the Continental Club, the third book in the Washington Whodunit series, is set at a fictitious social club in Washington. Due in part to my day job as a senior executive at the Library of Congress, I’m a member of D.C.’s Cosmos Club, which has been in existence since 1878. After joining, it didn’t take me very long to devise a plot for murder with Cosmos as the primary setting.

Private social clubs are an important part of the society scene in our nation’s capital. In addition to Cosmos, entities such as the Metropolitan, Army-Navy, the University, and the National Press Clubs maintain refined atmospheres for face-to-face meetings, power breakfasts, and entertainment. This is where D.C. business is often conducted, within private and comfortable surroundings to facilitate deal-making and honest exchange.

What a better challenge for my sleuth, Kit Marshall, than solving a murder mystery in unfamiliar territory! Kit is uncomfortable at the prestigious and sometimes pretentious Continental Club. She’s a Capitol Hill staffer steeped in politics, not high-browed intellectual pursuits. Circumstances bring her to this situation, and she needs to figure out a way to solve a puzzling locked-room mystery.

Setting a story at a prominent D.C. social club makes for entertaining characters. Kit is used to elected Members of Congress, not rich philanthropists, business tycoons, and best-selling authors. The twist in Kit’s surroundings allows for relationships between the main characters in my series to develop in unpredictable ways, too.

Just like the previous mysteries in my series, I hope readers learn something interesting about the locations featured throughout the story. In addition to the primary setting of the made-up Continental Club, Kit explores other famous D.C. cultural institutions such as the National Archives, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Each location features prominently in the mystery’s evolution and eventual resolution.

Capitol Hill is Kit’s natural home, but it’s not a bad idea to take main characters out of familiar settings and place them in diverse, challenging situations. That keeps a series alive – and hopefully maintains the attention of a dedicated reader base!


My Thoughts

Calamity at the Continental Club by Colleen J. Shogan is another great mystery in the Washington Whodunit series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in the series. I couldn’t wait to catch up with Kit in this one.

The mystery was spot-on, with twists and turns that kept me guessing. I love the story between Kit and Doug as well. Romance is always a welcome addition in mysteries I read. Besides great characters, what really gets me in this series is the amazing setting. I have visited Washington, DC before, and it makes me happy to have the opportunity to visit again through Kit’s eyes.

With a mystery that doesn’t stop, enjoyable characters, and the perfect setting, Calamity at the Continental Club is just the book to get lost in for a few hours. Once you start reading it, you won’t want to put it down.


Giveaways!

There are two wonderful giveaways to celebrate the release of Calamity at the Continental Club! First, there is a tourwide Rafflecopter giveaway. Colleen J. Shogan is also giving away an ebook of Calamity at the Continental Club just for readers of Brooke Blogs! Thank you, Colleen. 🙂

To enter to win the ebook:
1) Share this post to your social media using one or more of the buttons located at the top and bottom of the post.
2) Comment on this post and let me know why you would like to read this ebook.
3) Fill out this Google Form to be entered.

A winner for the ebook will be randomly selected from all eligible entries on August 4, 2017. Thank you for entering, and best of luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Colleen J. Shogan

Author Colleen J. Shogan

Colleen Shogan has been reading mysteries since the age of six. A political scientist by training, Colleen has taught American politics at Yale, George Mason, Georgetown, and Penn. She previously worked in the United States Senate and for the Congressional Research Service. She’s currently a senior executive at the Library of Congress, working on great outreach initiatives such as the National Book Festival. She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband Rob Raffety and their beagle mutt, Conan.

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10 comments / Add your comment below

  1. As someone unfamiliar with the American form of politics and voting method this would be something of an eye-opener!

  2. I like that the setting for this book is Washington DC. I enjoyed the description of the book and I’m looking forward to reading it.

  3. Great cover! Calamity at the Continental Club sounds great! Adding to my want list 🙂 Thanks!

  4. I would love to read Calamity at the Continental Club, it sounds like a wonderful murder mystery!

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