Heather Haven, writer

NEWS FLASH!

MY CUP RUNNETH OVER.

Murder is a Family Business has won the coveted CataNetwork Reviewers’ Choice Award for 2011. "CataNetwork reviewers consider your book one of the best that they have read and reviewed this year."

PLUS

A Wedding To Die For, 2nd book of the Alvarez Family mysteries, has been nominated for the Global eBook awards 2012.  It has also won the 'silver medal' from Preditors and Editors for best mystery, 2012 and was also a finalist for the EPIC eBook mystery of the year, 2012. It's doing very well!

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I'm happy to say the reviews for the first two books of the Alvarez Murder Mystery  Series, Murder is a Family Business and A Wedding to Die For, are terrific! Take a gander:

“Heather Haven makes a stellar debut in Murder is a Family Business.  With an engaging protagonist and a colorful cast, Haven provides a fresh voice in a crowded genre.  We will be hearing more from this talented newcomer. Highly recommended.”

Sheldon Siegel. New York Times Best Selling Author of Perfect Alibi.

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Heather Haven's writing is AWESOME! Yep. Awesome! She blends lots of mystery and suspense with humor and greatastic characters. It's quirky and it's twisty, and it's one that I am so happy to have had the chance to review. I highly recommend this book with 4 star praises. It's the start of a series that is SURE to be a hit selling one, and a series that I can't wait to collect and read more about this Latino WASP investigator! Well done, Heather! – Reviews by Molly

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"I fell in love with this book within the first few pages.  Family plays a huge part in the plot, and what a family it is.  Maybe that’s why I liked it so much – the characters are very reminiscent of my own family, at least personality wise. For me, this was a great book.  The writing was clever and I couldn’t stop laughing.  This is the perfect beach book.  And I’m actually pretty excited that the second book in the series comes out just as I’m planning to head to the beach in May.  I can’t wait to see the antics of the Alvarez family continue."    - Laura from The 100 Romances Project

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 "I got a real kick out of this thriller set in San Francisco and Silicon Valley....Reading about an intellectual property detective agency in a world where intellectual property theft is a big issue is new twist for a detective thriller. I enjoyed my trip into that world." - Catherine Evans Latta, author of Beirut Summer 

The Ebook and print are available at MuseItUp Publishing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other fine stores.

A brief synopsis is below. Chapter One of Murder is a Family Business in its entirety can be found on the excerpt page. 

Murder is a Family Business

Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez, doesn't think so. The 34-year old ½ Latina, ½ WASP and 100% detective has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch.  Of all the nerve.

Set in the present, the reader meets a family of detectives living in the Bay Area, The Alvarez Family. The Series centers around the quirky thirty-four-year old daughter, Lee Alvarez, a combination of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone and Janet Evanovitch’s Stephanie Plum. Completing the family is her Never-Had-A-Bad-Hair-Day aristocratic mother, Lila; computer genius brother, Richard; beloved uncle “Tio;” and her energetic orange and white cat, Tugger. Seemingly light and frothy on the surface, the novel explores familial love, the good, the bad and the annoying.

When this group is not solving murders, they run Discretionary Inquiries, a successful Silicon Valley agency that normally deals with the theft of computer software. The love, humor and camaraderie shared between this half Latino/half Palo Alto blueblood family is what, I believe, sets this series apart from others. Also, they represent the ingredients of today's mixed and unique family, which is a far cry from the traditional mother, father, and 2.4 kids of the past.  

Chapter one of Murder is a Family Business is on the Novels page, so please take a look. I can promise you a few laughs!  To get a preview of my book, click on the book trailer below. I had a lot of fun making this:

Murder is a Family Business Book Trailer 

A Wedding To Die For Book Trailer

"After reading Murder is a Family Business, I couldn't wait to read A Wedding to Die For, and I was not disappointed. Ms. Haven has created a wonderful ensemble cast in the Alvarez Family Murder mysteries. Liana (Lee) Alvarez is smart and funny. The book is well-paced, building the tension from the first page to the last, as she and her family stalk the killer and almost become the next victims. You'll go from edge-of-your seat suspense to rolling-on-the-floor laughter. Hang on to your derriere. If you have not read either of Ms. Haven's books, please do so. I highly recommend both." -  Rochelle Webber, author

  "Wonderfully fresh and funny!" - Meg Waite Clayton, author of The Wednesday Sisters and The Four Ms. Bradwells

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 A brief synopsis is below. Chapter One of A Wedding to Die For in its entirety can be found on the excerpt page. 

A Wedding to Die For

A groom arrested for murder can put a crimp in anybody’s wedding. So when the nuptials of Lee’s best friend are threatened, thirty-four-year old Lee Alvarez -- a combination of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone and Janet Evanovitch’s Stephanie Plum - heads to Mexico in search of the real killer. Not only is this half Latina, half WASP, and 100% detective thrown into the well-organized world of plundered Mesoamerican relics, but finds herself eating the best tasting tamales ever.

With the help of the rest of the Alvarez Family, Never-Had-A-Bad-Hair-Day blueblood mother, Lila Hamilton Alvarez, brother and computer genius, Richard; favorite uncle, “Tío” Mateo; and Tugger, her energetic orange and white cat, Lee stumbles across the man of her dreams. But is he too good to be true? Probably. So Lee tries to follow her own sage advice, ‘when Cupid’s wings start flapping, take cover.’ Good luck to her.

A Wedding To Die For is the second novel in a series of humorous murder mysteries involving the Alvarez Family, owners of Silicon Valley’s successful Discretionary Inquiries.

The Ebook and print are now available at MuseItUp Publishing  Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other fine stores.

The third novel of the series Death Runs in the Family, will be out May, 2012. I hope you look for it! 

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A little about me:

I am a story teller by nature and love the written word.  In my career, I've written short stories, novels, comedy acts, plays, television treatments, ad copy, commercials, and even ghost-wrote a book. 

One of my very first jobs as a writer was given to me by my then agent. It was that of writing a love story for a book published by Bantam called Moments of Love. I had a deadline of one week and then promptly came down with the flu. I wrote "The Sands of Time" with a temperature of 102 and delivered some pretty hot stuff because of it. The result is on the Short Stories page, along with a contest winning short short called "Socks." I'll be rotating my short stories from time to time because I just love writing them!

My two one-act plays, The Closet Corpse and Baltimore, farcical comedies both, were well received whenever and wherever they've been performed. I had the good fortune to have Baltimore done at Playwrights Horizon in New York City, shortly after The Closet Corpse premiered off-off B'Way, starring the very talented Sandy Faison, of Broadway's Annie fame. Both are featured on the plays page. 

 I'm glad you could visit. Please stay awhile. Thanks, Heather