Welcome Back — Tina Kashian

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Sallycootie is the winner of Tina’s book! Sally watch for an email from Tina! I’m so glad Tina Kashian could return to talk about her mouthwatering Kebab Kitchen mystery series! Look for a giveaway below.

Tina: I grew up in a family-owned restaurant in New Jersey, and my Kebab Kitchen Mystery Series is set in a Mediterranean restaurant at the Jersey shore. In One Feta in the Grave, Lucy Berberian is a recovering lawyer who returns to Ocean Crest, NJ and her family’s restaurant, Kebab Kitchen. To celebrate a successful summer season, the town plans a beach festival. But things soon take a turn for the worse when an arrogant businessman gets in a screaming match with Lucy’s best friend, Katie, over a sand castle contest. And when the same businessman is found shot dead under the boardwalk, things don’t look good for Katie. It’s up to Lucy to investigate before the wrong person gets skewered.

Many scenes in the series take place on the Jersey Shore boardwalk. I’ve vacationed at the Jersey Shore as a kid and we continue to visit with my two girls every summer. We can’t imagine a beach vacation without going to one of the eateries, enjoying frozen custard, or riding the boardwalk Ferris wheel and roller coaster, and even splashing in the water parks.

Which made me wonder about the history of the boardwalk. After a bit of research, I learned that a fellow by the name of Andrew Boardman was credited with coming up with the idea of the first boardwalk back in 1870. Boardman built the original boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ, along the ocean front to keep visitors from tracking in sand on the train or in fancy hotels. Over the years, the boardwalk took off and expanded and became an Atlantic City tourist attraction.

The idea of the boardwalk must have spread to the neighboring beach towns of Ocean City, NJ and Wildwood, NJ—two of my favorite Jersey Shore towns. My fictitious town of Ocean Crest is a combination of these two towns. Both have sprawling boardwalks with dozens of eateries, shops, and amusement piers that have become iconic. Both Ocean City and Wildwood each have beachfront boardwalks that stretch 2 ½ miles. They are a one-of-a kind experience and we love visiting every year.

My amateur sleuth, Lucy Berberian, jogs the Ocean Crest boardwalk three times a week. Working with food all day makes exercise a necessity. Her encounters with boardwalk T-shirt and novelty shop owners, tattoo parlors, and a psychic medium all make for interesting witnesses and suspects.

Here’s some pictures I took of the Wildwood, NJ boardwalk from last summer. You can see the eclectic mix of shops and entertainment.

 

This is the famous Wildwood tramcar that passengers can ride up and down the boardwalk.

The amusement pier with the large Ferris wheel.

Giveaway! Win a signed, print copy of the first book in my Kebab Kitchen mystery series, Hummus and Homicide (U.S. residents only).

Readers: Where is your favorite place to vacation? Please comment for a chance to win!

One Feta in the Grave:

As summer comes to an end in her Jersey Shore town, Lucy Berberian continues to manage her family’s Mediterranean restaurant. The Kebab Kitchen also has a food tent at this year’s beach festival. But now a local businessman is under the boardwalk—dead by the sea . . .

With a sand castle contest and live music, Ocean Crest bids a bittersweet farewell to tourist season. Summer will return next year . . . but Archie Kincaid won’t. The full-of-himself store owner has been fatally shot, soon after a screaming match with Lucy’s best friend. Katie’s far from the only suspect, though, since Archie had some bitter rivals—as well as some relationships no one knew about. It’s up to Lucy to look into some seedy characters and solve the case before the wrong person gets skewered . . .Recipes included!

 “A delectable read.” —Bestselling author Shelley Freydont

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2UxFd8q

iBooks: https://apple.co/2B9EAsI

Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/2Bbbuta

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2C8zA9M

Google Books: https://bit.ly/2RTDl8r

Tina Kashian is an attorney and a former mechanical engineer whose love of reading for pleasure helped her get through years of academia. Tina spent her childhood summers at the Jersey shore building sandcastles, boogie boarding, and riding the boardwalk Ferris wheel. She also grew up in the restaurant business, as her Armenian parents owned a restaurant for thirty years. Tina still lives in New Jersey with her supportive husband and two daughters. Please visit her website at http://www.tinakashian.com to join her newsletter, receive delicious recipes, enter contests, and more!

You can also connect with Tina at:

Website: http://www.tinakashian.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TinaKashianAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TinaKashian1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinakashian/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published by Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Mystery series.

39 Thoughts

  1. Tina, your series sounds like lots of fun! I love your latest book cover (and the cat with attitude 🙂 My favorite vacation spot? The coast of Maine. Anywhere on the coast of Maine! Endless opportunities for photography, lobster lunches, and walks along the rocky shore. Thanks for your great post.

    1. The coat of Maine is beautiful! I was there many, many years ago with my family. Walks along the rocky shore and lobster sound wonderful. Thanks for commenting.

  2. I have never traveled to the New Jersey shore, but it seems like it would be a wonderful vacation! I love the beach and all those shops, restaurants, and entertainment would be fun!

    1. The Jersey Shore is a fun vacation spot, especially with the kids. I also love to travel to other locations and we plan to make a trip to Boston this summer.

  3. I love this series, and I’m looking forward to reading One Feta in the Grave! Although I like going to the beach, my favorite place to vacation is the Texas Hill Country.

    1. Hi Christi! Texas Hill Country sounds like a great place to vacation. My friend lives in TX, but in Lubbock, and spent time with her a few years back.

  4. My family loves to vacation anywhere their is a major league baseball stadium or even minor league. Living in Ohio we are fortunate to have two major league teams, Cleveland Indians and Cincinnatti Reds as well as many minor league teams. We are very near Pennsylvania and can visit teams there on a long weekend.

    1. My husband is a big baseball fan and he played all through high school and some college. He was sad when my oldest daughter stopped playing softball because he assistant coach. Now they play soccer. Oh well! Thanks for stopping by!

    1. Thank you so much for inviting me as a guest, Sherry! I do love spending time and vacationing at beaches, no matter where they are located. I like the water and the sound of the ocean is always calming. Thanks again!

  6. Oooh, I would love to win One Feta in the Grave. It sounds so intriguing. For 27 years, I traveled to Peru each year for time in the mountains, but now I love southern Arizona. I love the hot, hot WX and gorgeous mesas. It helps that my daughter lives in Phoenix. 😉

    1. I’ve never been to Peru, but I’ve heard it’s beautiful. I love warm weather, too, and Arizona sounds lovely, especially this time of year. It snowed yesterday in New Jersey.

  7. I love going to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg TN. So much to do there and they are only a couple hours from home.

    1. Hi Edith! Thank you for inviting me back. Santa Barbara sounds very nice. I wish I was going with you! It’s cold here and I’m counting the days until spring. Have a great trip!

  9. Welcome to the blog! I love the Jersey Shore, though I’ve spent more time in MD and Delaware. Rehbobeth and Dewey Beach are favorites. Congratulations on the new book!

    1. The Delaware and Maryland beaches are lovely. I’ve never been to Rehbobeth, but my friends go ever year and say it’s a fun vacation. Thank you!

  10. I live in NJ but we do ‘t go to the shore much anymore. Mostly we go to Lititz, PA.

    1. Great place! I live in Lancaster and love Lititz. Oh, Aaron’s Books and Cafe Chocolate are the best!

  11. Love going to Yellowstone National Park! We went for our first time last year and realized we couldn’t get enough so as soon as we got home we started planning another trip for this year. We have so many wonderful wonders of natre in this great country of ours. Thankfully our forefathers were smart enough to make some of them into national parks to preserve them for generations to come. This year we will be not only going back to see the wonders of Yellowstone but other national parks along the way. We are so excited and continue to research and plan every detail of this years trip.

    The photos made me think of when we lived in California. Dad was stationed at Fort Ord and we took a day trip over to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

    Thank you for the wonderful chance to win a copy of “Hummus and Homicide”. I’d love the opportunity to read it.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

    1. Hi Kay! We drove cross country as kids in a motor home and visited Yellowstone. It’s amazing. I agree with you about how beautiful our country is. We have everything, beaches, mountains, plains, desserts and more. Driving was a great way to visit many of the National Parks. I hope to take my kids to Yellowstone one day.

  12. I like to vacation in Las Vegas. There is so much to do and see there. It’s always fun.
    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

  13. Congratulations, Tina, on your latest book. It sounds like fun. I remember traveling from central Pennsylvania to the “shore.” We never called it the beach. We used to go to Wildwood, NJ. Fun memories of walking on the boardwalk. And to think, the boardwalk was named after a man named Boardman and not because of the boards it was constructed of.

    1. Hi Grace. We love Wildwood and it’s not a far drive for us, a little over an hour. I didn’t know the boardwalk was named after a man named Boardman either until I researched it.

  14. I live not far from Santa Monica, but I don’t make it down there that regularly. Sadly. But I will vacation just about anywhere.

  15. What a great post. Brings back memories from many years ago. When my husband first joined the Air Force he went to Tech School at Ft. Monmouth, NJ and we lived in Long Branch. We grew up near Lake Michigan so were used to the water but not the ocean, and the boardwalks were just great, spent many a Sunday day. Now my favorite place to vacation is beside the pond in my backyard, hopefully with some great-grandkids around. Congrats on the latest book and thanks for the giveaway.

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