My sister-in-law looked up my blog the other day, looking for info about my new book, and said it was “reallly old information”! Well, come on, it was July. That’s not so long. Or is it? In the blindingly fast world of the internet these days, it’s a geological age.

Sorry about that.

My second Toni Day mystery, Too Much Blood, was launched July 19. But it wasn’t available on line that soon. Apparently not all things happen instantaneously. People just had to keep trying until it showed up. The hard copies I ordered for book signings etc took much longer to arrive. (It really was a geological age.)

But now all is well. I had a book signing at Coldwater Creek last Saturday, which got into the paper only because I “friended” the Times News on Facebook. What about my publisher, you ask? I didn’t notice this with Murder Under the Microscope because I didn’t know any better and just waited for them to act; but this time I had arranged all kinds of events and iUniverse refused to even assign me a publicist until I had made all the payments and filled out yet another questionnaire! That’s not until November!

To put it mildly, Arrgh!

Enter Facebook.

I’ve spread myself all over it. I’m trying to go viral. I friend everybody I know and many I don’t. I share every entry I make on my Too Much Blood Facebook page. I took out ads for my local book signings, Coldwater Creek, the Thousand Springs Festival, and Barnes and Noble. You’ll find all my events listed on my Author Central page on amazon.com/author/janebennettmunro.

I’ve gotten lots of likes, many from people with really strange sounding names. I hope these aren’t members of some Satanic blood cult or something. I guess the title Too Much Blood could attract such folks.

I’ve been corresponding with another author, Bonnie Trachtenburg, another indie writer like me, and she’s given me some very sound advice and encouragement. I liked her books too, Wedlocked and Neurotically Yours. Rhonda’s reading them now.

Here’s a synopsis of Too Much Blood.

Pathologist Toni Day returns in this gory tale of sex, greed, and murder.  Jay Braithwaite Burke, a sleazy lawyer who embroiled the entire medical staff in a investment scam that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, declared bankruptcy and fled the state, has turned up dead, and Toni is called to do the autopsy. She finds that Jay bled to death due to an overdose of an anticoagulant drug.

Things become more complicated when Jay’s family moves in across the street, their house burns down, they all move in with Jay’s partner’s wife. Coincidentally, Jay’s law office also burns down, putting Jay’s partner, Lance, into the hospital with smoke inhalation.  Lance also dies mysteriously, and Toni and her partner, Mike Leonard, find at autopsy that Lance bled to death just like Jay.

In the meantime, Jay’s wife and her children become ill with a mysterious hemorrhagic illness, and they end up in the hospital. A series of house fires keeps the Burke family on the move until they finally end up at Toni’s house.

To complicate matters further, Christmas is coming, Toni thinks her husband is having an affair, her mother comes to visit, and a stepdaughter shows up she didn’t know she had.

Who’s setting the fires and why?  What’s causing the mysterious illness casting a bloody pall over the holiday season? Could they be related?  Do they have anything to do with the fortune hinted at in the two lawyers’ wills?

Toni finds that the answers lie in a plot that was hatched nearly two decades earlier; and in doing so, nearly loses both her house and her life.

Let me share with you the first review of Too Much Blood.

Too Much Blood

Jane Bennett Munro

iUniverse (2012)

ISBN 9781475929188

Reviewed by Charline Ratcliff for RebeccasReads (9/12)

“Too Much Blood” was an engrossing read, although it was most definitely written by someone with an extensive knowledge of human anatomy and conditions. Author Jane Bennett Munro (MD) is a semi-retired pathologist with over thirty years in the field, which gives her writing the exceptional realism that only comes from personal, hands on, experience. Don’t be worried though, Munro has written “Too Much Blood” in a very tasteful manner so while it’s extremely realistic it’s not over the top for those who, like me, are squeamish when it comes to reading murder mysteries.

Toni Day, the main character in “Too Much Blood” receives a call in the wee hours of the morning because Jay Braithwaite Burke, the local (and sleazy) attorney has been found deceased. Burke’s car was discovered in a small snow bank in the middle of a freeway and wouldn’t you know it, when the police opened the car up, there was Jay Braithwaite Burke, dead as a door nail, in the driver’s seat. Toni is required to perform an autopsy and the question of the day? Was Burke’s death due to natural causes or…was it a homicide?

A man died in his car in the middle of the night during a snow storm? Why wouldn’t his death be from natural causes?? Probably because nothing in life is ever quite that simple… I think I used the word “sleazy” when previously making reference to Burke and it’s an apt description. Apparently Mr. Burke was promoting a pretty impressive hedge fund and almost every single doctor who worked at Perrine Memorial Hospital invested in it. Unfortunately, when the economy tanked, so did his hedge fund and it was revealed shortly afterward to be a massive Ponzi scheme. Needless to say, after losing their shirts and then some, most of the town had reason to want Burke dead. Now it’s just a question of “who done it?”

I don’t want to give away any more of Munro’s tale – suffice it to say it was a great book. Munro writes with captivating flair and her storyline is believable and realistic. “Too Much Blood” reads like front page news and I’m certain that murder mystery fans of all ages will enjoy this title.

Attagirl, Charline! I hope everyone likes it as much as you did. My friend Lita liked it better than Murder Under the Microscope, and that’s good, because I personally feel that it’s a better book. The learning curve goes up.

Do you suppose Kirkus Reviews will give it a good review too?

Stay tuned.