Liza O'Connor shares her cursed series

Liza O'Connor shares her cursed series

I confess, I can never tell which books of mine are going to sell well.

A Fortune to Die For is about a New Jersey gal who goes out with a girlfriend to NYC and get's pressured into buying a lottery ticket. Unfortunately, she wins and in a very short time her life begins to crumble apart. (That actually happens to a lot of the real lottery winners.) She gets two types of mail: Begathons and Threats. In all cases, people she has never met wants her to pay for whatever they need, and when she ignores them, some become deadly.

When a cute police officer sorts through her box of hate mail, he discovers several letters are from a serial killer that has been killing lottery receipients all over the country. The cop gets her in touch with the FBI and they get her a new identity and send her off to Iowa.

I have relatives in Iowa. Nice place. Did you know back in the early 19th century during prohibition that Iowa had plenty of Mafia dons.  

Now in current day, we don't expect lovely Iowa to still have mafia dons. So did they force their sons to open an Ice Cream Parlor, or did these fellows just hide in plan sight, operating a legal business that protected their less than legal operations. 

In my book, it is the latter.

I expected it to be a grand book, only it turned out that no promotion site would promote it,

After two years, it only has 14 reviews.
However, everyone who reviewed it, liked it.

Thus, it has a 4.7 ranking, but readers have been few and far between. Honestly, I began to think I had a mafia curse...

But that's just crazy! Right? The real mafia is gone now, right?

So I started tweeking stuff.

First, I removed 'Mafia' from the title, hoping someone would become enchanted before they realized some of the characters were in fact mafia. 

Didn't work....

Next, I performed a major upgrade to the cover. Now perhaps the big promoters would take it.
Nope, Nyet, Nine!

Now as we all know, if book one fails, so does the entire series. Only I had never conceived book one would fail. It's a mix of humor and danger, in what I thought was a lovely balance.


Since they were already written, I went ahead and published book 2&3. (I had left tendrils for another novel but my heart was crushed so I returned to other series.)

It's been two years now since I released these books, but I still love them, so allow me to attempt to entice you once again with some review clips from those who wrote reviews over the last two years for A Fortune to Die For.



Oh, and it has been suggest that I don't have a Mafia curse, I have a Lottery curse on these books.

5 star Review Clips for A Fortune to Die For @Liza0Connor Romantic comedy, where poor Megan trips from one trap into another, is the start of an intriguing new series.

The start of an intriguing new series.

Yet another winner by Liza O’Connor

I love the heroine most…just the right mix of strong and vulnerable

@Liza0Connor always has a great sense of humor

Just the right mix of… determined & cautious

Just the right mix of…crazy & relatable

Steve makes a great hero too, one I’d readily swoon over.

Steve… conscientious, caring, clever and charming

Ms. O'Connor's stories always feature a happy ending

Mystery, suspense, humor and genuinely nice characters

This is a great read. You will not be able to put it down (I couldn't)

O'Connor's stories always feature a happy ending

If you like your books with mystery, suspense, humor and genuinely nice characters who only want to help others... this is a great read.

A young woman reluctantly wins a fortune in a lottery.

I loved the twist in the ending

Liza has created wonderfully quirky characters

A fast-paced story with the perfect mix of suspense & sass

Pretty powerful message mixed in with mayhem and love!

enjoyed it from the first page to the last.

If you like gorgeous FBI agents you will love this story

If you like female leads with hearts of gold & enough sass to spark a fire you will enjoy this book

Liza O’Connor pulls you into the heart of the tale from early on

Her characters entertain, engage and have you on their side

The plot of A Fortune to Die For is full of twists & turns

I was cheering Megan on all the way as she struggled against circumstance and destiny.

As always, you can count on a great time reading

Humor. Suspense. A hot hero and a feisty heroine, with a dash of well developed side characters

One heck of a fun and entertaining ride. Nicely done!

A thrilling start to a new series

Liza O'Connor combines humor, a serial killer, the Iowa Mafia & a hunky FBI agent for a 'couldn't put it down' story

The story has twists you'll never expect

AMAZON

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LIZA O'CONNOR

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37+ books

A FORTUNE TO DIE FOR

Book 1 of The White Oak-Mafia Series

AUTHOR: Liza O’Connor

GENRE:  Contemporary Mafia Suspense Thiller (with touches of humor)

Megan Clarke had a good life until she wins the Mega Times Lottery and discovers the prize comes with a curse. Worse than the many money-hungry suitors, a serial killer has her in his sight. She changes her name and moves to Iowa with plans to buy their last major forest of white oaks and turn it into a State Park. Unfortunately, the Lottery Curse doesn't stop at state lines and someone there wants her dead, as well. Good thing a disturbingly handsome law officer is just as determined to keep her alive.

Megan Clarke set the package on her kitchen counter with great care. “It’s probably nothing,” she chided herself. Opening a letter that came in the same mail delivery, she changed her mind as she read another threat to kill her. She hurried to the phone and hit her speed dial for the local cops. Her hands shook despite her mental self-assurances that everything was okay.

A female voice answered the phone. “Danville Police.”

Recognizing Margaret’s voice, she replied, “Hi, this is Megan. Is Sergeant Adams around?”

“No, he’s on vacation. You get another death threat?”

“Yeah, but there’s also a package. I know it’s stupid, but I’m afraid to open it.”

A heavy sigh sounded over the phone. “I swear, all your troubles since you won the lottery has made me afraid to even play scratch-offs. Hold on.” 

Megan pushed her blond hair behind her ears. The craziest part about her winning the Mega Times Lottery was she never played games of chance—thought it a great waste of money. She had already become a millionaire by her own efforts. Why did she want to be richer? She had more than enough. 

Then one day, while in a New York shop buying lunch, her friend, Terry, a bona fide lottery junkie, had insisted she buy a ticket. “It only cost a dollar. Stop being a miser!” 

Not wishing to argue, she passed the clerk a dollar. “Just give me a random number,” she instructed the fellow, then frowned as her friend filled out ten cards. “You do realize if I win, you have to take the money,” Megan warned.

Terry stared at her with rounded eyes. “No way! You can’t give away your good luck. If you win it, you have to keep it. Otherwise, you and the recipient will have bad luck the rest of your lives.”

So when the stupid ticket turned out to be the only winning number for a $987-million-dollar pot, all the bad luck stayed with her alone. Honestly, she wouldn’t wish her “new” life on a dog, nevertheless her best friend.

Since she was a financial expert, she took the $463 million upfront and invested half of it, planning to donate the other half to charities. Only problem was, whenever she delved into various charities, she didn’t like the way they used their money, so thus far, she’d only managed to give away a few million.

“Miss Clarke, I’m Detective Steve Williams,” a pleasant voice came over the phone. “How may I help you?”

“I received a package today. It has a name and address I don’t recognize.”

Complete silence answered her.

“Are you still there?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m just a little confused. Marge said you had a letter threatening your life.”

“Yes. I have one of those, too. It doesn’t have a return address. Nor is it signed. But the letter and the package came in the same post.”

“So you think the package may be from the sender of the death threat?”

“This one or one of the hundred other angry letters I’ve received.”

“Mind if I stop by and take a look?”

Mind? Why did he think she was calling? If only Sergeant Adams were there. “I’d greatly appreciate it.”

AMAZON ~ GOODREADS

Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats, left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast. There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street while her psychotic husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell in love with her new life where people behaved nicely. But all those bad behaviors has given her lots of fodder for her humorous books. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.

You have been warned.

AMAZON ✯ WEBSITE ✯ FACEBOOK ✯ GOODREADS ✯ TWITTER

Mostly humorous books by Liza:

Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. And there’s a ghost cat that roams about the book as well. (Humorous Contemporary Romance)

Saving Casey— Cass wakes up in the body of a troubled teen who has burned every bridge imaginable. Her only choice is to turn this life around, but that’s much harder than she ever imagined.

Untamed & Unabashed—The youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia, tells her story. A faithful spinoff from Pride & Prejudice. Warning: Lydia does not behave.

A Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)

Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic proportions.

Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s impossible.

Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint comes to reason.

Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a great one.

The Hardest Love — Is to love oneself. Sam’s story.

The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late Victorian/Mystery/Romance)

The Troublesome Apprentice — The greatest sleuth in Victorian England hires a young man who turns out to be a young woman.

The Missing Partner — Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian England goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100 servants. Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.

A Right to Love — A romantic detour for Jacko. Want to see how amply rewarded Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from Bedlam? 

The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.

Well Kept Secrets — The problems with secrets is that they always come to light, no matter how you wish to silence them.

Pack of Trouble — Changes are a part of life, but these changes almost kill Vic.

The Darkest Days — Muddled cases make Vic very grumpy.

As many of you know, I like to share bits of research I've gathered while writing my stories.  Which I'll be doing over the next few weeks. We'll begin with: Are there really Mafia in Iowa? We'll move on to Are there bears in Iowa? Not only do I answer that, I then compare the non-existent bears in Iowa to those in NJ in the next blog To prove my idiocy, I share the time I flew the bird at a real mafia thug.  (NJ has lots of them) And finally, to increase your vocabulary, I share some Mafia Lingo.

So Check my Blog Page for 
A Fortune to Die For