Kemper Donovan returns to Avon to celebrate the release of his new book, Loose Lips. 

Knives Out meets high seas intrigue on a literary cruise to nowhere in this intelligent, wildly funny locked room mystery for fans of Richard Osman, Anthony Horowitz, Nita Prose, and Agatha Christie!  The USA Today bestselling host of the “All About Agatha” podcast injects the spark and fizz of a Golden Age murder mystery into the present-day, as the ghostwriter’s skills are put to the test aboard a bestselling author’s decidedly insalubrious cruise.

About Loose Lips:

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. So goes the adage, but sometimes, even a first-rate ghostwriter and successful mystery author needs to make a buck. Even if that means setting foot on a cruise ship, something she vowed she’d never do. To top it off, the “Get Lit Cruise” is being organized by Payton Garrett, a very popular, bestselling author—and the ghostwriter’s long-time frenemy from back in their MFA days.

Over the years, Payton has reinvented herself. She gained a wife while ditching her journalist husband—who is also on board. And she’s acquired a rabid following who eagerly snapped up the invitations sent to a select few of her newsletter subscribers. The guests, all female, will receive personalized instruction from experts in five different writing genres, while basking in Payton’s reflected glow.

Between mentoring guests, flirting with Payton’s ex, and taking bets on how long before someone performs a reenactment of Titanic’s “I’m flying!” scene (answer: not long enough), there’s plenty to keep a ghostwriter occupied. But there’s one activity nobody expected: solving a murder.

When an attendee is found dead under suspicious circumstances and several others suffer symptoms of poisoning, there are numerous motives and suspects to choose from. But could it be that the victim wasn’t even the intended target? As the body count rises along with onboard tensions, no one is safe—except, perhaps, for a killer whose scruples have long abandoned ship. And of course, like every well-plotted mystery, this one has an extra twist . . .

About the author: Kemper Donovan is a full-time writer and author of The Busy Body from Kensington Publishing Corp. Previously he published the standalone novel The Decent Proposal (HarperCollins). He is also the host of the podcast All About Agatha, dedicated to all things Agatha Christie, in which guise he has been featured in the L.A. Times, made appearances on BBC TV and Radio New Zealand, and written for agathachristie.com, the Agatha Christie estate’s official website. Kemper attended Stanford University and Harvard Law School, and lives in Southern California with his husband and two daughters. Visit www.kemperdonovan.com, @allaboutthedame on Twitter, @allaboutagatha on Instagram, and kemperdonovanbooks on Facebook.

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Books will be for sale at this event.