by Amanda Flower

Prose and Cons will be my twentieth published book, and I knew that I wanted to do something special with its release to celebrate that accomplishment. There are giveaways, promotions, and parties that I could throw to celebrate. I’m doing all of those, but I wanted to do more. I’ve been given my greatest dream come true to be a published mystery author. I wanted to giveback to show the readers and the world how grateful I am. That’s where the idea for the Prose and Cons Giveback came from. While driving from my job as a librarian one evening, I was thinking of what I could do and it hit me that a giveback was the perfect idea. My publisher, Berkley/Penguin Random House, and my literary agency were very supportive of the idea and told me to go for it. With their support, I decided that I would donate one dollar for every copy of Prose and Cons sold by December 20 no matter the format (print, e-book, or audio) to a local charity.

It took me no time at all to decide on the Landing as my local charity. The Landing is food pantry in Akron, Ohio under the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank. The pantry is open every Friday evening year round in the basement of Akron Christian Reformed Church and provides food for individuals and families in need on the Westside of Akron. On a budget of roughly $200 per week, the pantry feeds over sixty families with amounts to food for over one hundred individuals. In addition to the food the pantry supplies for the families to take home, it also provides a hot meal every Friday night for those who come to the pantry to pick up their food. I’ve been there. I’ve seen what the volunteers do. I’ve seen the connections that the volunteers and the people who need the help have made. I know that money will be used for those who need it most.

Amanda Flower

I also chose the Landing because my sister-in-law and brother, Nicole and Andrew Flower, manage and operate the Landing. They have been doing this on a volunteer basis for over five years. They spend nearly every Friday night there.

I hope you will join me in supporting this worthwhile cause! And I hope Prose and Cons, the second in the Magical Bookshop Mysteries, makes you smile and laugh. In this story, my sleuth Violet Waverly is solving a murder that happens during a poetry reading, and her magical bookshop points her to the works of Edgar Allan Poe to solve the crime.

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Buy a mystery and help feed a community! Purchase any edition of Prose and Cons, between now and Tuesday, December 20, 2016, and Amanda will donate $1 for every book sold to the Landing food pantry located in Akron, Ohio. The Learned Owl, an independent bookstore in Hudson, Ohio, is also making a $1 donation to the Landing for every copy the bookstore sells. The Owl offers PERSONALIZED AND SIGNED copies on the novel and can ship anywhere.

Learned Owl | Amazon | B&N | Books-A-Million | CBD

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. KRL will be reviewing & giving away a copy of Prose and Cons next month.

Amanda Flower is a national bestselling and Agatha Award winning mystery author. She also writes mysteries as USA Today bestselling author Isabella Alan. In addition to being an author, Amanda is librarian in Northeast Ohio. Follow Amanda on Social Media at: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.