Talking with author Cristelle Comby and a Giveaway

Welcome to my Reading Nook, Cristelle Comby. Please make yourself at home and let my cabana boys/girls get you a drink.

Comfortable? Wonderful. Now let’s get started.

To get us started can you tell us a little about what you are working on or have coming out? 

I’ve just released my second book in my private detective’s series ‘the Neve & Egan cases’, Ruby Heart. I’m currently working on the next one in the series, Danse Macabre.

How would you describe yourself using only five words? 

If you were to ask my work colleagues, I suppose they’d say: Gets the job done quickly.

From a writer’s standpoint, I’ve been told that I : Use way too many adjectives.

Personally, I’d like to think I’m: Someone you can count on.

If you could write a warning label for yourself as a person or an author, what would it say? 

Very independent and strong-minded.

Do you have any guilty pleasures? 

Chocolate… and I was luckily enough to have been born and raised in Switzerland.

Name one thing readers would be surprised to know about you. 

I’ve studied stage theatre for many years. I’ve been in several plays and got a few jobs on TV.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

USA (west coast or Hawaii), Australia, New Zealand. Anywhere really, as long as people speak English and there’s a lot of sun.

How do you get yourself in the mood to write? 

I need to be on my own + I need time and silence. Oh, and a bottle of cold coke.

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing? 

In the summer, I enjoy writing on my terrace, while soaking up the sun. The problem is that I can barely see my screen, so I just type and type and correct my mistakes once I’m back inside. On colder days, I often write in bed, as it’s where I’m most comfortable.

I don’t have a particular schedule. I just write until I get tired.

Who are some of your favorite authors? 

I’m a huge fan of Jim Butcher, and his ‘Harry Dresden Files’ series. I’ve recently discovered Brandon Sanderson through his new book Steelheart, and I really want to try other books from him.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for? 

Can’t wait for the next Jim Butcher. I picked up a vampire book from the guy who wrote Game of Thrones, that I’m anxious to start. And I need to go watch the new Hunger Games film so I can finally read the second book in the series (I hate to do it the other way around).

Is there something special you do to celebrate when one of your books is released? 

I usually buy me a tonic Thai massage.

Do you have a favorite TV show you can't miss? 

It’s a very long list. The newest additions to it are The Blacklist, Almost Human and Sleepy Hollow.

If you could date any character from any book, who would it be and why-no it doesn't have to be from your books?

Christian Grey—I’m kidding!!!

No seriously, I wouldn’t mind some one-on-one time with Legolas and his cute pointy-ears. Or Mr Darcy… cultured, intelligent, rich.

What is the strangest source of writing inspiration you’ve ever had?

One of the ideas behind Ruby Heart came from a song I heard on the radio. I think I was at work, and for some obscure reason the French radio station I was listening to decided to play an old 60’s German song titled “Die Stiefel sind zum Wandern” by Conny Kampla. It’s the German version of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking”. It made me think of Germany, and many ideas sprout from there.

If your muse were to talk behind your back, what secrets would he/she tell?

Maybe she could tell you why she sends me so many dreams that are weird re-enactments of scenes from series and films I’ve seen. 

Anything else you want to add?

Thanks for having me. I hope you and your readers will enjoy my books. I’d love to hear what you thought of it, so drop by my website (www.cristelle-comby.com) to send me a note.

Ruby Heart

Available at Amazon

Available in Paperback 

Add to your Goodreads Shelf

When elderly client Doris Hargrave informs private investigator Alexandra Neve that her beloved antique ruby heart necklace has gone missing for the second time in a period of over sixty years, Alexandra knows this is no ordinary jewelry theft. The ruby heart is a family

heirloom and the only thing that connects an ailing Mrs Hargrave to her parents, who were murdered during the Holocaust.

To solve the case, Alexandra and her business partner, blind history professor Ashford Egan, must sift through obscure Holocaust documents to find out the truth. It’s that way that they learn of a secret World War II-era love affair which could hold the key to all the answers they are looking for. Meanwhile, Egan is under immense pressure from the university to quit his private investigating business, and Alexandra is afraid that a man she trusts will leave her. Again.

When Alexandra begins to receive anonymous threats and her flat is vandalized, this all becomes personal. Knowing that there is someone out there to hurt her, Alexandra vows to find that elusive ruby heart if it’s the last thing she ever does.

Excerpt:

Being a private investigator is nothing like as glamorous or exciting as books and films make it look. Some warning of those harsh facts before I opened my own Private Investigation agency is unlikely to have deterred me, but I wish we’d been a bit more perceptive about it all beforehand. “We” is myself and my former university lecturer, Professor Ashford Egan, now a good friend and colleague.

Although you could say I stumbled into the sleuthing world quite by accident, that accident was shocking and dramatic. I’d always led a very quiet, ordinary life, until the day my best friend was murdered.

That horror stopped short my meandering, easy life and so much changed. I had no idea this would result in my very first investigation, but it did. Egan and I put a stop to a Russian criminal syndicate — with its complicit upstanding British citizens — by delving into the murky worlds of human trafficking, arms dealing, murder and arson. Sounds horribly exciting and dangerous, doesn’t it? It was… to the point where I was nearly killed, not just once but twice, and Egan was kidnapped.

However, I have since discovered that the everyday life of a PI isn’t always so intense. Most of our cases involve suspicious spouses and lost items, or even worse… lost dogs. Life isn’t always like it is in books and films, so why should the job of PI be so? We can’t afford to refuse a client, even when the case is not as appealing as a mysterious unsolved murder or a missing painting on some tropical island. Our advert in the Yellow Pages claims, completely truthfully, that we provide “Comprehensive, all-round services. We diligently seek out the truth for our clients. Discretion assured.”

About the Author

Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, in Greater Geneva, where she still resides.

Thanks to her insatiable thirst for American and British action films and television dramas, her English is fluent.

She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting.

Ruby Heart is her second new-adult novel, and she’s hard at work on the next titles in the Neve & Egan series.

Website: http://cristelle-comby.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cristelle.comby

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Cristelle

Giveaway Information: Cristelle will be awarding a signed paperback of Ruby Heart plus a signed copy of book 1, Russian Dolls, to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. (US ONLY)

Please leave a comment or question for Cristelle as well as your email address in the comment box.

Then remember to follow the tour and leave additional comments; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/11/virtual-book-tour-ruby-heart-by.html