Cozy Mystery "Murder Most Academic" Debuts an Academic with a Past

NORTH TRURO, MA, March 13, 2013 (Press-News.org) Mainly Murder Press, LLC, and author Alicia Stone announce the publication of Murder Most Academic, the first in a mystery series about fictional history professor Trinity Pierce.

"My best friend was a madam, so I have a substantial understanding of the mid-level escort services in cities like Boston," says author Stone. "And it occurred to me that it might make an interesting backdrop for a mystery series. Because the activity is illegal, there's always a bit of an edge of danger, and the resources that a madam has are significant. So giving my protagonist that world as a past ensures that there will always be engrossing plot points."

Pierce worked as a call girl for three years in order to pay for her mother's permanent hospitalization in an expensive psychiatric institution outside of Boston. Now the holder of a PhD (and possessing health insurance), she is fulfilling her career dream teaching history on tenure-track at Morehouse College.

Mainly Murder publisher Judith Ivie says, "Those of us who came of age during the Sexual Revolution know that it became perfectly acceptable to grant sexual favors indiscriminately, but it was never okay to accept payment for sex, however upscale the transaction. (Witness serial girlfriend Carrie Bradshaw's moral dilemma on Sex and the City when a visiting architect leaves an envelope full of cash on the bedside table.) In MMP's new novella, Murder Most Academic, author Alicia Stone offers an intriguing look into society's continuing bias toward call girls—even those who go on to distinguished careers in business and academia—who face the same emotional and financial challenges that confront the rest of us."

Murder Most Academic is available in both paperback and ebook formats from local independent booksellers and online (http://tinyurl.com/a5x8mbj).

About the publisher: Mainly Murder Press was created to offer mystery fans the best of today's new authors in this popular genre. Here you will find exciting new voices to get to know and enjoy, whether you are seeking cozies, quirky character studies, hard-boiled detectives, or lively amateur sleuths. Originally focused on novels by New England authors and set in this part of the country, we have now broadened our geographical horizons to include other locales. More information at http://mainlymurderpress.com.

About the author: Alicia Stone is one of the pseudonyms of an award-winning novelist, playwright, and poet who lives in an old sea-captain's house in North Truro village on Cape Cod—with a cat, two lovebirds, and thousands of books. Her work has been translated into 12 languages and has appeared in 15 countries. More information at http://www.AliciaStone.com