Need a Scottish Fix? #FridayFiveChallenge Hamish Macbeth #Mystery, Would You BUY or PASS?

This fun feature is a mini workshop. We look at book covers just from their thumbnail pictures at online selling book sites and make quick fire buying decisions. We look from a READER’S Point of View and this exercise is very EYE OPENING.

From the book cover we will browse the book description, price and some of the reviews BUT we only have 5 MINUTES.

WE PLAY POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

Join in and see where it leads.

Grab a coffee and spend 5 Minutes on this exercise.

This week my search term was “Scotland”, as I’m off for a weekend in Glasgow visiting my dear friend Barb Taub and her “wee hobbit hoose.”

Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Book Description

Now that Priscilla Halburton-Smythe has agreed to marry him, Police Sergeant Hamish Macbeth can’t imagine a more perfect life. There’s not much crime in his remote Scottish village of Lochdubh, nothing much at all to do but fish, drink coffee, and slouch around. And now to spend time with lovely Priscilla.

But his days aren’t as tranquil as his dreams. For one thing, Priscilla’s renovation schemes are driving him out of his cottage. Not to mention her ambitious plans for his career as a policeman away from Lochdubh. This might be a good time to find out why Peter Hynd’s arrival in nearby Drim was causing so much trouble.

An attractive, unmarried man with an independent income would always attract attention in such a small place. But this time Hynd’s arrival seems to have caused bitter rivalry among the women of Drim. Hamish finds their petty fights amusing and a clever excuse to avoid Priscilla and her schemes for a new electric stove (to replace his beloved woodburning appliance), a posh new bathroom, and virtuous nutrition. Amusing, that is, until death threats, physical abuse, and murder make statistical history in one of Scotland’s most picture postcard-perfect towns.

Price; £4.99 kindle, second hand hard covers from £2.81. $5.93 or a second hand copy from $4

Number of reviews; 44 Amazon Uk, 70 Amazon US

Would I buy or Pass?….Buy a second hand copy.

Analysis

The piper on the cover screams Scotland as does a name of Hamish Macbeth, an easy option for soaking up some Scottish charm.

Over to you….

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Get yourself a cuppa and give yourself 5 minutes.

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions from small postage stamp size book covers (Thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they really spend making that buying decision?

AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?

My Friday Five Challenge is this….. IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES….

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description for this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)

Share your post, use #FridayFiveChallenge @rosieamber1 and I’ll help share all relevant posts.

Here are links to other bloggers taking the challenge today.

Shelley searched for Witches and found Moon Bayou by J.R Rain

Cathy found a murder mystery Hunting The Crows by Iain Cameron

IT’S BACK! #FridayFiveChallenge Would you BUY or PASS? Agatha Raisin and the Day The Floods Came

The #FridayFiveChallenge is back!

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This fun feature is a mini workshop. We look at book covers just from their thumbnail pictures at online selling book sites and make quick fire buying decisions. We look from a READERS Point of View and this exercise is very EYE OPENING.

From the book cover we will browse the book description, price and some of the reviews BUT we only have 5 MINUTES.

WE PLAY POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

Join in and see where it leads.

Grab a coffee and spend 5 Minutes on this exercise.

Here’s the challenge

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description for this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision) blog about it, tweet it with #FridayFiveChallenge @rosieamber1 and I’ll help share.

SO recently the flooding in Northern England has been in the news, so I put “Flooding” into the Amazon book search. This is the book I chose.

Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Book Description

Drowned brides are like buses: nothing for ages, then two come along at the same time . . . ! Abandoned by husband James, Agatha hops on a plane to the South Pacific, hoping to mend her broken heart. But there she meets a happy honeymooning couple, for whom disaster strikes when, tragically, the bride drowns. Back home, alarm bells start ringing for Agatha when a woman, dressed in a wedding gown, is swept down river. The police say suicide, but Agatha, spurred on by recent memories, particularly her own disastrous marriage, sets out to prove them wrong.

Genre; MURDER MYSTERY

Customer Reviews; 84 on Amazon UK, 72 on Amazon US

Price; Kindle £4.99 or from £0.42 used Hardcover. $7.37 Kindle or from $0.01 used

Some review quotes;

‘The detective novels of M C Beaton, a master of outrageous black comedy, have reached cult status.’ (Anne Robinson The Times)

Agatha is like Miss Marple with a drinking problem, a pack-a-day habit and major man lust. In fact, I think she could be living my dream life. (Entertainment Weekly)

Would I BUY or PASS?….. BUY

Analysis

It’s January, cold wet and dark here in England, I’m looking for a fun book and although this is murder mystery it looks like it will make me laugh. The book cover is simple but effective, a cork board of holiday postcards and notes fits the book description of our heroine hopping on a plane to the South Pacific. The water drips on the top card remind us that water is heavily involved in the plot, even the picture postcard shows a storm, but this only really shows when the cover is enlarged. the Kindle price is high for today’s competitive buyers market, so I might look at the used option.

Here are links to other bloggers taking up the challenge today.

Liz has looked at A Year Of Taking Chances by Lucy Diamond

Shelley has searched for Vampire Action with STAR by Theresa Oliver

Cathy has found a post apocalyptic book HOME by Tom Abrahams

Barb has found a travel memoir –Two Old Fools On A Camel by Victoria Twead.