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MURDER AT LEISURE DREAMS book tour includes an author interview. Comment, share, learn about the author, subscribe.
Book Details
Murder at Leisure Dreams: Galapagos (Giovanna Rogers Mysteries)
Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Galapagos
Publisher : Milford House Press
Publication date : June 26, 2025
Print length : 340 pages
Digital ASIN : B0FFR9Y2GW
Giovanna Rogers restarts her career as expatriate manager of the new Leisure Dreams resort hotel on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos. Due to her youth and limited proficiency in Spanish, she struggles to gain the respect of her staff and the company’s executives. She has to prove to them that she got the job because of merit, not because the CEO is a family friend. And prove to herself that she can overcome a past business failure and make the hotel a success.
When the story opens, Giovanna and her staff prepare for the hotel’s grand opening. Friends, family, and corporate bigwigs fly in for the event. Renowned documentary producer Claire Costello and her film crew have arrived; Giovanna has the staff send a bottle of champagne to Claire’s room to welcome the VIP guest. The next morning, Claire is found dead in her bed; the cause of death is apparent poisoning. Now Giovanna must work with her boyfriend, local police detective Victor Zuniga, to solve the case while juggling the details of the grand opening and controlling the narrative around the mysterious demise of a VIP guest on the property.
Complications in her relationship arise when Giovanna’s ex-boyfriend decides to join her family to attend the grand opening. Her best friend and several of her employees have a history with Claire. And Claire’s team is somewhat dysfunctional, keeping secrets and telling contradictory stories. Despite Giovanna’s efforts to maintain normalcy and apprehend the culprit, things continue to worsen.
About Sharon Marchisello
SHARON MARCHISELLO is the author of two other mysteries published by Milford House, the fiction imprint of Sunbury Press: Going Home (2014) and Secrets of the Galapagos (2019), which is the prequel to Murder at Leisure Dreams – Galapagos. She also writes the DeeLo Myer Cat Rescue Mysteries from Level Best Books. Besides novels, Sharon has published short stories in anthologies and online magazines; one was a 2022 Derringer finalist. She has written travel articles, training manuals, screenplays, book reviews, and a nonfiction book (Live Well, Grow Wealth – 2018). She earned a Bachelor’s degree in French from the University of Houston and a Master’s in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California. She is an active member of Sisters in Crime, the Atlanta Writers Club, and the Hometown Novel Writers Association. Retired after 27 years with Delta Air Lines, Sharon now lives in Peachtree City, Georgia. She serves on the boards of the Fayette Humane Society, Hometown Novel Writers Association, and the Friends of the Peachtree City Library.
She loves to travel, including a trip to the Galapagos Islands in 2014.
Author Links:
Website: https://smarchisello.wordpress.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SLMarchisello
Twitter/X https://twitter.com/slmarchisello
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4297807.Sharon_Marchisello
Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonmarchisello
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/slmarchisello/
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/sharon-marchisello
Purchase link:
Interview questions:
What is your favorite part of this book and why?
My favorite part is when Giovanna gives Claire Costello’s film crew a tour of the resort grounds, and Maria Vasquez, the local news reporter, tags along.
She’s become quite annoying with her questions about Claire’s death; she’s somewhat accusatory, trying to put words in their mouths.
The group heads down to the dock, and while they’re admiring a majestic sea turtle swimming by, Maria suddenly tumbles into the bay. She flounders around, screaming that she can’t swim, so Giovanna tosses her a life buoy and reels her in. Giovanna didn’t see what exactly happened, but she suspects the cameraman tripped Maria.
If you could spend time with a character from your book, who would it be? And what would you do during that day?
I’d like to spend time with Michelle, Giovanna’s paternal grandmother.
Michelle has a rather colorful past, which is only alluded to in this book.
(There’s more in the prequel, Secrets of the Galapagos.) Michelle speaks three languages fluently (unusual for an American who doesn’t have immigrant parents), loves to travel the world, and married for the first (and only) time when she was almost forty. What would we do together?
Probably take a nature hike in the Galapagos.
What books/authors have most inspired you?
I love to read, so that’s a hard question. I gain inspiration from almost every book I enjoy, every author I hear speak. I’m probably one of the only female mystery writers who didn’t read Nancy Drew. When I was in graduate school, one of my professors was a big proponent of genre fiction, particularly mysteries. But I resisted reading and writing mysteries for a long time. Until one day, I got an idea for a murder mystery… and it was so much fun to write.
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
When I first started writing, most of my characters were based on real people or composites of people I knew. But more and more, they come entirely from my imagination. A few resemble composites of people I’ve known. In this story, Giovanna and Victor are completely fictional, as are most of the other characters. The villain in Secrets of the Galapagos, Jerome Haddad, was a composite of several sleazy guys I’ve known.
What made you want to become a writer?
I can’t remember ever not wanting to be a writer. I used to tell myself stories before I learned my alphabet. And my mother read to me, which helped. When I’d lie awake at night, trying to fall asleep, I’d make up sequels to the books she’d read to me, with new adventures for the characters. I love creating a world where I’m in control. Bad things happen to bad people (and some of them resemble people who have been mean to me). The heroine can be prettier, smarter, and more successful than I am, always delivering that zinger I wished I’d said at just the right time. And of course, justice is served.
MURDER AT LEISURE DREAMS TOUR PARTICIPANTS
August 25 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
August 26 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
August 27 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
August 27 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
August 28 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
August 28 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
August 29 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – SPOTLIGHT
August 30 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW
August 30 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
August 31 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 1 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 1 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 2 – Salty Inspirations – CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 3 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 4 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – AUTHOR GUEST POST
September 5 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – SPOTLIGHT
September 6 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
September 7 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
