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Marlan Warren is a journalist, novelist, editor, playwright, screenwriter, blogger, website designer, and publicist. She is the author of the fictionalized memoir, Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged: All’s Not Fair in Love or War and the AIDS memoir, Rowing on a Corner. She reviews for Midwest Book Review. Marlan is also a filmmaker.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Barcham Books will kick off summer reading with "A Model Murder": Kindle Giveaway (7/1): "In strip clubs and law firms, no one can hear you scream."


Summary: On July 1, Barcham Books will gift summer readers with a free one-day-only Kindle download of Book 1 in th Alicia Allen Investigates trilogy, A Model Murder, riding on the law firm/strip club murder mystery’s June KDP success (over 4200 international downloads).




Title: A Model Murder (Book 1)
Series: Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy
Author: Celia Conrad
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Barcham Books
Release Date: Sept. 15, 2011
Paperback Pages: 341
ISBN-13: 978-0954623326
E-Book: Kindle
ASIN: B00A0OKLIC

"He told me he was used to getting what he wanted."—A Model Murder

On July 1, Barcham Books will kick off summer beach reading with a one-day e-book giveaway of A Model Murder through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select program.

"We're still in awe of the success of the first giveaway in early June," said British author Celia Conrad. "Almost 4300 downloads in three days exceeded expectations to say the least."

A Model Murder features the murder of a young Australian model moonlighting as a stripper in London, and the harassed-at-work woman lawyer who sets out to bring the murderer to justice.

"A Model Murder draws uncomfortable parallels between strip clubs 
and law firms where Neanderthals still roam the earth."
—Dancing in the Experience Lane, Open Salon

The story taps into darker truths that are taboo to talk about in polite society,” said Jane Hall at Barcham Books. “That’s why we decided to go with the marketing tag line: In strip clubs and law firms, no one can hear you scream.

After A Model Murder was released in 2011, real life incidents echoed its plot points, said Conrad: "Last April, a stripper was found murdered after work in Atlanta. And last year there was a gender discrimination lawsuit brought against a prominent American law firm by its women lawyers."

Hall gave KDP a big thumbs-up. “It would be nice if the numbers were dollars,” she said. “But we are pleased with the visibility and attention the giveaways stimulate."


Celia Conrad
Conrad toiled as a lawyer in London law firms and dabbled in modeling. “The novel is autobiographical in parts,” she said. “The legal profession is still male dominated despite what we are told about more women qualifying or reaching top jobs.” While modeling, Conrad met a young model who was working in a “hostess club” to supplement her income. Years later, those experiences found their way into A Model Murder.

“While researching, I went to clubs and spoke to women who worked there,” said Conrad. “They told me they had to generate money by being nice, but how ‘nice’ came from the top. Some women felt pressured, others did not, depending on the boss."

Conrad's then-agent Paul Marsh at the Marsh Agency encouraged her to write a crime fiction series about her legal experiences. The second book, Wilful Murder, takes Alicia to Australia amid a slew of murdered relatives over an inheritance. The third, Murder in Hand, leads the Anglo-Italian heroine into the dark underbelly of corruption in Sicily.

"Sadly, Paul passed away before A Model Murder was published. Then I lost my mother not long after, so the books never had a proper launch amid all the turmoil,” said Conrad. “Before he died, Paul had read all the books and was really happy with them. He believed Alicia is a great character—she is a tough little cookie—and deserved to find her audience. That endorsement has always pushed me on.”

Contact:
Celia Conrad | barchambooks@btconnect.com
Facebook | Celia Conrad Author | 

Publicist | Book Publicity by Marlan | Marlan Warren  | http://bookpublicitybymarlan.blogspot.com





















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