From The Liar’s Diary, by Patry Francis

There was so much talk about the new music teacher that her coming was almost anticlimactic. However, I would soon learn that Ali Mather never allowed herself to be upstaged — not even by her own advance publicity. The very first day of classes, she wrinkled her nose when a student called her Mrs. Mather. “Please,” she said. “Call me Ali.” Well, you can bet our principal, Simon Murphy, straightened her out on that one. On the second day of school, the words MRS. MATHER appeared in huge block letters on the blackboard. Smiling ironically, Ali corrected herself: the students were to call her Mrs. Mather as Mr. Murphy requested.

Excerpted from The Liar’s Diary, by Patry Francis.

February is a month that just asks for a murder novel, doesn’t it? And it’s almost here.
I’ve been doing the dance breaks for a while here, and have meant to do a fiction break. So, the first fiction break here at Koreanish is part of an online book tour organized to support Patry Francis’ debut novel. The Liar’s Diary is a novel taken from the diaries of two very different women — one a school secretary, the good girl, the other, the new art teacher, a “bad” one, and one of them has been murdered. One is telling the truth, the other is a liar, and the key to the murderer’s identity is in one of their diaries.

Patry is currently fighting a battle against cancer and is unable to tour to support her novel, and my friend Susan Henderson at Litpark has organized a group of over 300 blogs to support her book’s publication today. I’m happy to join in. I wish Patry a quick recovery, and a successful debut.

Check out the Liar’s Diary. If you order it direct from Penguin at this link, you’ll save 15% (after you add the book to your cart, just enter the word PATRY in the coupon code field and click ‘update cart’ to activate the discount).