The Historic Driskill Hotel by Kathleen Kaska



            Welcome to day eight of Kathleen Kaska’s blog tour “Travels to Austin: A Trip Back in Time.” She’s celebrating the upcoming release of her fourth Sydney Lockhart mystery, Murder at the Driskill (Austin, Texas) by writing about famous, infamous, and legendary locales in Texas’ state capital whose promo campaign is “Keep Austin Weird.” At the end of the tour, she’ll give away a signed copy of the book. To be eligible, leave a comment here and on each of the precious seven blogs. The links are below.
            Today’s blog features the Driskill Hotel.
            Murder at the Driskill showcases the glorious Driskill Hotel in the heart of downtown Austin. Protagonist Sydney Lockhart and her detective boyfriend, Ralph Dixon, often meet at the hotel’s bar after a long day of investigating. During one of these casual evenings, a future gubernatorial candidate is murdered in one of the hotel’s suites.
            It was easy to describe the hotel scenes because the Driskill’s bar was one of my local hangouts when I lived in Austin. Living the Capital City, I never had a need to stay at the hotel, but while researching the story, I took a couple of private tours. Not only did I see several gorgeous suites, I also learned about ghosts who make the hotel their permanent home; the famous people who have stayed there; and a lot of the hotel’s history in general.
            If you ever find yourself in Austin, I recommend checking into the Driskill Hotel for a night or two of luxury. Sydney’s cousin, Ruth Echland, would also highly recommend it despite discovering some extremely odd visitors in her suite on more than one occasion.
            In previous blogs, I’ve offered excerpts. But this time you’ll have to read the book to find out who Ruth encounters.

Visit these blog links for the entire blog tour:
11/24/ Condo Douglas kicked off my blog tour at: http://condascreativecenter.blogspot.com

11/25 Next you’ll find me at Lois Winston’s blog: http://anatasiapollack.blogspot.com/ 

11/26 Look for me at Cyndi Pauwel’s blog, CP at Large: http://cpatlarge.blogspot.com

11/28 Visit me at Helena Fairfax’s blog at: http://helenafairfax.com

11/29 Visit me at Lynn Cahoon’s place at: http:lynncahoo.com/blog

11/30 Visit me at Sheila Webster Boneham’s blog, Sheila Writes at: http://sheilaboneham.blogspot.com

12/01 Visit at Jenny Milchman’s blog, Made it Moments: http://www.jennymilchman.com/blog/topics/made-it-moments

Now here’s a taste of Murder at the Driskill:

            You’d think that newspaper reporter Sydney Lockhart, comfortable at home in Austin, Texas, could stay away from hotels and murders therein. But when she and her detective boyfriend, Ralph Dixon, hang out a shingle for their new detective agency, they immediately land a high-profile case, which sends them to the swanky Driskill Hotel. Businessman Stringer Maynard has invited them to a party to meet his partner/brother-in-law, Leland Tatum, who’s about to announce his candidacy for governor. Maynard needs their help because Tatum is hanging out with the wrong crowd and jeopardizing his chances for winning the election. Before Sydney can finish her first martini, a gunshot sounds and Leland Tatum is found murdered in a suite down the hall.

Bio:

Kathleen Kaska writes the award-winning Sydney Lockhart mysteries. Her first two books Murder at the Arlington and Murder at the Luther, were selected as bonus-books for the Pulpwood Queens Book Group, the largest book group in the country. Kaska also writes the Classic Triviography Mystery Series. Her Alfred Hitchcock and the Sherlock Holmes trivia books were finalists for the 2013 EPIC award in nonfiction. Her nonfiction book, The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story (University Press of Florida) was published in 2012.
Here's the buy link:

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Driskill-Sydney-Lockhart-Mystery/dp/0990565599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416841609&sr=8-1&keywords=Murder+at+the+Driskill

Web page: http://www.kathleenkaska.com
Blog spot: http://www.kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot.com/






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