FOCUS ON BOOKS SERIES: AUTHOR REED STIRLING AND MYSTERY NOVEL: A BOUQUET OF DARTS

 

Focus on Books Series

Hello and welcome to FOCUS on BOOKS, a series sparked by my love of reading. We explore fascinating, familiar, and new worlds created by authors. 

Every third Wednesday of the month, join us for a celebration of storytelling—spotlighting books, conversing with guest authors, and sharing my reading recommendations.  Giveaways, surprises, and games will add to the fun.

Please welcome accomplished author Reed Stirling. He said,"Intrigue is my primary interest, with romantic entanglement an integral part of the action." 

You will find this in Reed's latest release, A Bouquet of Darts.

A Bouquet of Darts by Reed Stirling
A European Travel Mystery

Reed, thank you for being my guest this month on the Focused on Books series. I love the premise of your mystery novel. What sparked this book filled with intrigue and romance?

Thank you, Janet. The reason I wrote a Bouquet of Darts is because travel inspires. Put a group of people with common interests into a confined space, for instance, a tourist boat plying the canals in the Netherlands, introduce conflicting points of view, and what results is potential for an interesting plot. Add Eros, the mischievous mythological god of love with his gold and lead-tipped arrows, and the plot thickens. Insights into the nature of love from different perspectives could develop thematically. A year ago, I entertained these thoughts over a beer on the outer deck as our boat sailed out of Amsterdam. 

I agree, travel does inspire an interesting plot! This one sounds like a fun, entertaining read.

BACK OF THE BOOK--A Bouquet of Darts

Leaving Amsterdam, twenty engaging personalities begin a seven-day bike and barge excursion through the Netherlands. Allegiances form, love interests develop, conflicts arise, and a cyclist’s lifeless body mars their arrival in Maastricht.

      Who is responsible? The insulted chef? An angry deckhand? The most antagonized among the guests? Everyone onboard, the result of a well-wrought plot?

Eros? Could the culprit be the god of love whose arrows never miss their mark and whose intentions never falter?

Click the link to download A Bouquet of Darts at major online booksellers. 

Also available in Paperback.

 Buy link

ABOUT AUTHOR REED STIRLING

Reed Stirling lives in Cowichan Bay, BC, and writes when not painting landscapes, or travelling, or taking coffee at The Drumroaster, a local café where physics and metaphysics clash daily. Before retiring and taking up writing fiction as a past time, he taught English Literature. Several talented students of his have gone on to become successful writers. He is a member of the Cowichan Writers Association and the B.C. Federation of Writers. Book We Love Inc. has published his novels.

Author Reed Stirling

Shades Of Persephone, published in 2019, is a literary mystery set in Greece.

Lighting The Lamp, a fictional memoir, was published in March 2020.

Séjour Saint-Louis (2021) is set in Montreal and dramatizes family conflicts.

The Palimpsest Murders (2023) is a European travel mystery set in the Lowlands.

A Bouquet of Darts, featuring Eros the god of love, was published in 2024. 

Reed Stirling’s shorter work has appeared over the years in a variety of publications including Hackwriters Magazine, Dis(s)ent, The Danforth Review, Fickle Muses, The Fieldstone Review, Humanist Perspectives, StepAway Magazine, and Mediterranean Poetry. 

 Click here to read Reed's guest blog post in 2020

To all who celebrate, Happy Easter and Joyous Passover from J.Q. Rose!!