Song Girl: A Mystery in Two Verses by Keith Hirshland

Publisher:  Beacon Publishing Group (January 21, 2022)
Categories: Mystery Thriller, Detective/Police Procedural
Tour Dates April and May, 2022
ISBN: 978-1949472400
Available in Print and ebook, 388 pages

Description Song Girl by Keith Hirshland

Detective Marc Allen is ready to leave the Raleigh, North Carolina, Police Department. Two murders that happened on his watch have apparently been solved thanks to a suicide note confession written by a distraught father. But Allen isn’t buying it. He’s convinced that the man’s adopted daughter, Teri Hickox, is the one responsible for the heinous crimes. With his personal life a muddle and his professional career unsettled he decides the best thing for him is a change of scenery.

The detective, now in Colorado Springs, is working new cases and making new friends. One of those friends is Hannah Hunt who, after suffering a freak accident, finds herself only able to speak in song titles. Another is a mysterious drifter who lives out of an old Dodge van and goes by “the champ”. But as Allen builds a new future, events unfold showing him that he can’t escape his past.

Song Girl is…

Part sequel to The Flower Girl Murder

Part stand-alone mystery

All entertaining

Praise for Song Girl by Keith Hirshland

”A well-written mystery”-The Hollywood Digest

“Highly enjoyable! Engaging from start to finish.”-The Entrepreneur Magazine

Praise for Flower Girl Murder by Keith Hirshland

“I had to dig my teeth in the first pages but once I did, I was on a twisty turning ride. This one turned out to be worth the ride.  A fast-paced story with great characters. The plot had some twists making it entertaining.  As the bodies begin piling up it’s a race to solve the mystery.  I enjoyed reading ‘The Flower Girl Murder’. and look forward to reading more from this author. “-My Reading Journeys

The Flower Girl Murder is an exciting police procedural/crime mystery story that has realistic characters; witty dialogue and interactions; rich descriptions of the setting that transports the reader to Raleigh, NC, Reno, NV, and Aspen, CO; a fascinating behind the scenes intertwining of police procedural and investigative techniques and the news station on-air news stories and CTA (call to action) segments; and a multi-layered storyline that draws the reader into the interconnection between the main characters as the pieces of the murder investigations puzzle comes together and is solved.
The Flower Girl Murder is the kind of mystery that easily keeps the reader captivated, guessing, on their toes, and wanting more!”-Kathleen, Jersey Girl Book Reviews

“This is a great story and one that after I got into it I couldn’t put it down. I like how the deaths were linked. There were lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing along the way. This is one mystery I would recommend checking out”- JBronder Book Reviews

“There was a lot of action, intrigue, and suspense to keep me entertained. The who done it kept echoing in my mind…guessing happened a lot. Keith Hirshland is a talented writer. He made it impossible to stop reading his book. The detective is a determined fellow who gives his all into solving his investigations. I really liked this character. Overall, this was a great read. I recommend it to all.”-Urban Book Reviews

Awards and Recognition for Keith Hirshland

Book Talk Radio Club Book of the Year 2020 (Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis)

Top Shelf Award First Place (mystery) for Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis

New Apple Awards Solo Medalist True Crime Category (Big Flies)

Shelf Abound Award Winner Indie Book Competition (Big Flies)

Interview Keith Hirshland

Hi Keith, welcome to Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus

TR: Please tell us something about ‘Song Girl’ that is not in the book.

KH: My original idea for Song Girl was for the Hannah Hunt character to be able only to speak in song lyrics and not song titles. To that end I did hours and hours of research, bought several books about song lyrics including The Beatles Lyrics, Paul Simon Lyrics 1964-2008, The 100 Greatest Songs of All Time, Country Music’s Greatest Song Lyrics, and more. I highlighted lyrics which I thought would work as lines of dialogue and then went about giving them to Hannah. More than halfway through the process I decided I better check and see the proper way to give credit to the publishers and lyricists at the end of the book. I spoke to an entertainment lawyer (who happens to be my older brother) who stopped me in my tracks telling me using song lyrics, unless they are in the public domain, in my book (or any book) is strictly forbidden and could be the cause of numerous and expensive lawsuits. I was beside myself and thought I might have to scrap the entire project until he went on to say song titles are fair game. So back to work I went changing Hannah’s dialogue from lyrics to titles.

TR: Are any of your characters based on real-life friends or acquaintances in ‘Song Girl’?

KH: I am extremely fortunate to have friends who have been generous is the fact that they have allowed me to use their names in my books. I don’t think any of my characters are in Song Girl are “based on” those folks but they certainly take on characteristics of each person. The Teri Hickox character is based on the real-life tenant my wife and I had in our North Carolina home but only to the extent that she, through her father, rented the home from us. The embellishment is fiction.

TR: When writing fiction, what comes first, the character’s name or their personality/faults, etc?

KH: The latter. I seem to work on developing what type of character each person in my book will be. Once I have a general idea then I find myself applying certain qualities, quirks, emotions, and actions. I have found one of the hardest things for me in writing fiction is coming up with character names. That’s why I am so very thankful when I make a request of a friend or colleague and the answer comes back as “yes”.

TR: Which character do you love to hate in ‘Song Girl’?

KH: Personally, I can’t love to hate Teri Hickox enough. The girl just doesn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities. Except, maybe, for the fact that at one point in the book she is reluctant about hurting a puppy.

TR: What is your favorite scene in the book? Why?

KH: Wow. I hate to use a cliché but that’s sort of like asking me to tell you which of my children is my favorite (insert smiley face emoji). But since you’re asking me to pick one, I think I’ll go with the scene in the book in which Lucas Haynes tells his son how they came about naming him Rampart. But if you ask me the same question tomorrow, I’ll probably give you a different answer.

TR: Tell us about your cover. Did you design it yourself?

KH: I did not. The creative folks at Beacon Publishing Group came up with the cover design for Song Girl and, while I know I’m prejudice, I think it’s beautiful. I did (with help from my mother-in-law) design the cover for my previous book, Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis and the artists at Beacon used that design. I tried the same thing for Song Girl featuring music notes and using a gun for the “r” in Girl but thankfully they decided to go in a different, and better, direction.

TR: What are you currently working on?

KH: Right now, I’d say I’m about 2/3rds of the way through the first draft of the sequel to Murphy Murphy. This one is tentatively titled, Murphy Murphy and the Case of the Commission on Cliches. In “Serious Crisis” I attempted to include as many redundancies and redundant phrases in the manuscript and, as you can guess, this one is chalk full of cliches. But I’m already thinking about the next Marc Allen book and eventually I will write the third installment of the Murphy Murphy trilogy in which our intrepid detective aligns himself in some way, shape, or fashion, with the Pun Police.

TR: Is there a question that you would have liked me or another blogger to ask but didn’t?

KH: I can’t think of one but I would like to acknowledge all the people who help in this endeavor. I mentioned Beacon Publishing Group and the entire team there headed by Bobby Collins. My editor, the beta readers, and most of all my wife whose full-throated support of my work has been phenomenal. Thank you, Teddy for your thoughtful questions and your support of writers in general and my work specifically. You’re a peach.

About Keith Hirshland

Keith Hirshland is an Emmy Award–winning sports television producer with more than three decades of experience producing live and pre-recorded programs that aired on ESPN and ESPN2. Among the first forty people to be hired by the Golf Channel in 1994, Hirshland was in the middle of the action when that network debuted in 1995. He provided his talents for Golf Channel, as its live tournament producer, for two decades.

Cover Me Boys, I’m Going In: Tales of the Tube from a Broadcast Brat is a memoir about his experiences in the television industry. Published by Beacon Publishing Group, Cover Me Boys was recognized as the Book Talk Radio Club Memoir of the Year. Hirshland’s second book, and first work of fiction, Big Flies, was published in 2016 and is the recipient of the New Apple Awards “Solo Medalist” in the True Crime Category. Hirshland followed that success with his third book, The Flower Girl Murder. In 2020 Beacon Publishing Group released Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis, Hirshland’s third mystery novel. It was a Top Shelf Magazine First Place award winner and was named the Book Talk Radio Club Book of the Year for 2020.

Song Girl Hirshland’s fifth book is the sequel to The Flower Girl Murder and was released in January of 2022.  All five books are available at www.keithhirshland.com,  Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other bookstores.

Keith Hirshland lives in Colorado with his wife and their Pyredoodle Mac.

Website: https://www.keithhirshland.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/khhauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KeithHirshlandAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/khhauthor/?hl=en

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