Hallopalooza!

Welcome to Hallopalooza! You've arrived at Stop #16 in the contest. Do you know what you're playing? Let me quote from Evelyn David.

Do you have plans for Halloween? How about an on-line mystery Scavenger Hunt with free prizes?

On Oct. 30, 2009 at 8 AM, the 1st Annual Stiletto Gang Hallopalooza begins. Or at
least we hope it's going to be an annual event. Everything depends on you, our
readers!

What is Hallopalooza? It's an on-line mystery scavenger hunt. Twenty-three
of the best, most interesting, coolest blogs on the net have agreed to participate. There will be lots of great prizes! Lots of fun! Lots of clues!

Yes, clues. The Stiletto Gang has written a short story - did I mention it's a murder mystery - just for the event?

How do you play?

Let's start with when you play - the Scavenger Hunt starts at 8 AM Eastern on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. It ends at 5 PM Eastern on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. Winners will be announced at noon eastern on Monday, Nov. 2, 2009.

What are you hunting? A killer! Okay, really you'll be hunting clues to the killer's identity and motive. You will move from blog to blog reading the mystery and gathering clues. Each blog will give you a link to the next blog in the Scavenger Hunt line-up.

You will start at The Stiletto Gang, then move to the next blog. There are 23 blogs in the chain. The winner is not the one who finishes first, just the one who finishes by the deadline with the correct answer. So you can come and go as you please during the three days of the event. Go Trick or Treating! Toilet paper a house! Party with goblins and witches! Then come back and celebrate with us.

What are the prizes? The Stiletto Gang is offering a grand prize of a $50 U.S. gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice - on-line or bricks & mortar. If you're not in the U.S., we'll send you an Amazon gift certificate and let you figure out how to use it.

If more than one person qualifies for the Grand Prize, then all winners will be put into a drawing for the $50 gift certificate. Runners-up will win an autographed book from a Stiletto Gang author, including Evelyn David's new book, Murder Takes the Cake. We will award up to a maximum of ten books. If there are more winners than books, we'll have a drawing among the Runners-up for the books.

And, here's the special part - you can win prizes on the individual blogs during the hunt too! The participating blogs will have contests/drawings for great stuff! Autographed books, promo items, and other "I won! I won!" things to make all your friends envious.

There is no charge to play or win. You don't have to buy anything. You just have to participate, solve the mystery, and tell us about it using the comment feature on The Stiletto Gang blog site or by sending an email to the Stiletto Gang at stilettogang@gmail.com.

***********

Happy Halloween! Here's your clue, and the link to the next stop. Then, continue reading to discover my giveaways for this event. Good luck!

***
Lesa's Book Critiques – post #16 http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com

The conservatory was supposed to be empty, but Milla knew she wasn't alone. Experience, training, or maybe just her "spidy-sense" urged her to take care.

She was glad that she had taken the time to slip her shoulder holster on under her leather jacket. She carried the same Glock 19 she'd used as a police detective. She clicked her flashlight off. Drawing her weapon, she moved away from the door and crouched down.

She sensed movement in the far right corner of the glass enclosure – the corner where Walter Jester had reportedly buried his "insurance." Waiting, she let her eyes adjust to the darkness.

A shuffling sound came from the same corner.

Moving slowly, she made her way down the path between the rows of leafy plants and exotic blooms. If she remembered correctly, the greenhouse was set out in a rectangular grid pattern – like city blocks. Someone was about two blocks south and a block east.

She was quiet, but not quiet enough. Something soft, plastic, dropped over her head, shoulders, and upper arms. Not only did the plastic blind her, but it also trapped her arms against her body.

She still clutched her gun, not that she'd be able to hit whoever was behind her. Of course they wouldn't necessarily know that. "Stop. Or I'll shoot."

There was a sharp pain in her side and all the muscles in her body contracted at once.

Damn. The next to last thought she had as she lay on the wet concrete floor was she was going soft with her cushy private eye job. Twenty years ago as a beat cop no one would have been able to get the drop on her. Her last thought was that she shouldn't have mentioned the gun.

Next Clue Location - http://www.ericaridley.com/blog


************************************

In celebration of Hallopalooza, I'm giving away books to two lucky winners. You could win a copy of Linda Wisdom's Hex in High Heels, or Sharon Fiffer's Scary Stuff. Just leave a comment on the Hallapalooza page here, with your email address, and tell me which book you'd like to win. I'll email the winners after 5 PM PT on November 1. And, have fun!