A Day in the Life of Savannah Webb by Cheryl Hollon

I’m nervous. Yep, I never imagined that I would be judging the glass category at the annual Spinnaker Art Festival. It’s a world famous highly-competitive art venue that has been going on for decades right on the waterfront in St. Petersburg, FL. I think the committee wants everyone to think they chose me in tribute to my dad, John Webb. He was one of the original organizers of the festival and enjoyed bringing new talent into the area. Secretly, I believe they want to rub Frank Lattimer’s nose in his own political shenanigans and are using my appointment as a perfect opportunity to snub him again.

Another explanation for my uneasiness is that my former mentor, Keith Irving, will be in town and it will be strange to see him as a colleague. We’re going to meet at 3 Daughters Brewing tonight to share some craft beer and catch up on news from Seattle. I still miss glass blowing in an itchy scratchy sort of way, but introducing students to stained glass in my family’s shop has been immensely rewarding.

My main reason for meeting Keith is to get some pointers on judging the high quality glass exhibits in the festival. What does he look for? How does he approach narrowing down the selection to a manageable few? How does he choose a winner? In any case, I’m sure he’ll give me the same kind of patient, straightforward logical advice I didn’t follow when I was his student. The difference this time – I’m going to listen.

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Shards of Murder is the second book in the Webb’s Glass Shop Mystery series, published by Kensington Books, February 2016.

When a glass-making competition turns deadly, glass shop owner Savannah Webb must search for a window into a criminal’s mind. . .

As the new proprietor of Webb’s Glass Shop, Savannah has been appointed to fill her late father’s shoes as a judge for the Spinnaker Arts Festival, held in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. With her innovative glass works, the clear winner is Megan Loyola, a student of Savannah’s former mentor.

But when Megan doesn’t show up to accept her $25,000 award, rumors start flying. And when Savannah discovers the woman’s dead body on festival grounds, the police immediately suspect her of murder. To keep from appearing before a judge herself, Savannah sorts through the broken pieces of glass scattered around the victim for clues as to who took this killer competition too far. . .

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All comments are welcomed.

About the author
Cheryl Hollon writes full time after she left an engineering career designing and building military flight simulators in amazing countries such as England, Wales, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and India. Fulfilling the dream of a lifetime, she combines her love of writing with a passion for creating glass art. In the small glass studio behind the house, Cheryl and her husband George design, create, and produce fused glass, stained glass and painted glass artworks.

You can visit Cheryl and her books at www.cherylhollon.com, on Facebook and on Twitter.

Giveaway: Leave comment below for your chance to win a signed copy of Shards of Murder along with a pair of handcrafted glass earrings created by Cheryl and her husband George. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. The giveaway will end March 2, 2016 at 12 AM EST. Good luck everyone!