It's not every day you meet an amateur sleuth... with fangs.
Like any traveling circus, Zin's Circus of Unusual Creatures has hair-raising acts and fried food on sticks.
But it's also got an aura-spotting centaur, a chain-smoking unicorn, and an omelet-addicted dragon. Oh, and a body in the center ring.
After far too many buckets of wine, Duncan -- aka "Brutus Fangwrath, Deadliest Dragon in the West" -- wakes one morning to find his best friend Porter Kohl isn't just sleeping off a hangover. He's been murdered.
Suspicion for the crime quickly turns to the circus's new hire, Cordelia Quinn. After all, she desperately wanted Porter's job and she's got loads of circumstantial evidence stacked against her.
But Duncan's not so sure.
When it looks like Cordelia's murderous fate is sealed, that she might be sent off to the Pits, and that no one else is willing to uncover the truth, it's up to Duncan to ponder the puzzling clues, prove Cordelia's innocence, and pry open a troubling secret along the way.
As soon as he's done with his omelet, that is.
If you like comic fantasy whodunnits that combine laughs with murderous mayhem and mythical beasts, you'll love Hoard It All Before, the first of The Circus of Unusual Creatures Mysteries!
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Set in a 1930s that's just a tad different than what you're used to, The Circus of Unusual Creatures is a delightfully humorous cozy fantasy series that features a detecting dragon, an aura-spotting centaur, a chain-smoking unicorn, and plenty of other quirky characters getting into all kinds of trouble as they stumble their way through clues, crimes, and perfectly cooked omelets.
If you like comic fantasy whodunnits you'll love, not only this silly story, but also the other books currently in the series: Tipping the Scales, Fangs a Million, Beast or Famine, and Too Claws for Comfort.
What readers are saying...
"Very funny and laughs out loud will be heard when reading it...this was so good l read it in one sitting couldn't put it down!"
"What a truly FUN, lighthearted read, full of fantastical and lovable characters!"
"I loved the humour... I loved the way the story was written. The characters are very believable, and the way the mystery unravels is very well crafted..."
Story Note: While these lighthearted stories are mostly clean, the do have a lusty, chain-smoking unicorn who makes more than a few naughty innuendos, a dragon who drinks, a tiny bit of mild swearing, and (obviously) there's a murder or two along the way.
Painter, Tammie: -
Author of humorous fantasy whodunits full of mythical misfits and magical mishaps.
THE RAMBLING BIO AND OFFER OF FREE STUFF...
Many moons ago I was a scientist in a neuroscience lab where I got to play with brains and illegal drugs. Now, I take wickedly strong tea and turn it into comic fantasy whodunits full of mythical misfits and magical mishaps that I hope give you a giggle.
My tales run the gamut from the ever-expanding Cassie Black Trilogy with its wryly humorous paranormal mysteries to the comical cozy fantasy mysteries in The Circus of Unusual Creatures, and from light-hearted novellas celebrating my love of books to short fiction in which I really flex my myth-loving and humor-craving muscles!
When I'm not creating worlds or killing off characters, I can be found gardening, planning my next travel adventure, concocting some sort of mess in the kitchen, or working as an unpaid servant to three cats and a guinea pig.
Want to learn more and get free stuff? Then be sure to pop by TammiePainter.com to see everything I'm up to and to grab your free copy of "Mrs. Morris Meets Death," a humorous tale of mortality, time management, cruise ships, and romance novels.
THE QUICK AS YOU CAN STORY BEHIND MY BOOKS...
My fascination for myths, history, and how they interweave inspired my two historical fantasy series, The Osteria Chronicles and my second series, Domna.
But all those ancient myths and angst-ridden heroes got a bit too serious for someone with a strange sense of humor and odd way of looking at the world.
So, while sitting at my grandmother's funeral, my brain came up with an idea for a contemporary fantasy trilogy that's filled with magic, mystery, snarky humor, and the dead who just won't stay dead. That idea turned into The Cassie Black Trilogy, which has turned into a fan favorite.
Then, because writer brains are weird, a simple elephant story I had in mind somehow morphed into a "hilarious" cozy fantasy series with a detecting dragon. So, if you like comic fantasy whodunits that mix in laughs with murderous mayhem, mythical beasts, and a staggering variety of omelets, you'll want to check out my Circus of Unusual Creatures mysteries!
My Books
THE CASSIE BLACK TRILOGY (a laugh-out-loud paranormal mystery sort of thing)
The Undead Mr Tenpenny
The Uncanny Raven Winston
The Untangled Cassie Black
The Unusual Mayor Marheart (coming s...
