February 12th, 2025 → 4:38 pm @ Robin Donovan
KAREN’S KILLER BOOK BENCH: Welcome to Karen’s Killer Book Bench, where readers can discover talented new authors and take a peek inside their wonderful books. This is not an age-filtered site, so all book peeks are PG-13 or better. Come back and visit often. Happy reading!
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DOES IT COUNT AS SAVING A LIFE IF YOU JUST DON’T KILL SOMEONE?: With Olympic Downhill Champion, Dominique Gisin
The Donna Leigh Mysteries Book Four
BY ROBIN LEEMANN DONOVAN
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DOES IT COUNT AS SAVING A LIFE IF YOU JUST DON’T KILL SOMEONE?: With Olympic Downhill Champion, Dominique Gisin
The Donna Leigh Mysteries Book Four
BY ROBIN LEEMANN DONOVAN
BLURB
When do a retired Omaha ad agency owner and a Swiss Olympic Downhill Gold Medalist team up to solve a perplexing conundrum, and one that involves a mysterious death at a Swiss ski resort?
When it’s the infamous amateur sleuth Donna Leigh and her friend and Olympic Gold Medalist, Dominique Gisin.
Donna Leigh and her husband strike up an online friendship with Dominique which leads to a deep exploration of Donna’s Swiss roots. This search leads them to a young Olympic hopeful and an inevitable trip to Switzerland that immerses them in the world of ski racing.
Shortly after arriving in Switzerland, a tragedy occurs on Mt. Titlis and Donna and Dominique are there as witnesses when a death with heavy ties to the U.S. occurs.
It only makes sense that the pair team up with Donna’s sleuthing experience and knowledge of investigating in the U.S. and Dominique’s in-depth knowledge of everything Swiss and skiing. Working with some polizei and a few U.S. friends as resources, Dominique and Donna follow a trail of intrigue and even danger through the Alps and simultaneously through the U.S.
Their search for clues combined with Dominique’s work in training the young racing hopeful will have you on the edge of your seat, when you’re not laughing uproariously at the antics of the Americans as they make their way through the Alps.
At Dominique’s request, 25% of all proceeds for the book will go to Passion Schneesport for all the upcoming ski stars and their families passionschneesport.ch.
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DOES IT COUNT AS SAVING A LIFE IF YOU JUST DON’T KILL SOMEONE?: With Olympic Downhill Champion, Dominique Gisin
The Donna Leigh Mysteries Book Four
BY ROBIN LEEMANN DONOVAN
EXCERPT
I took advantage of a quiet moment to question Dominique on her earlier conversation with Lyra. “What could possibly make her unhappy today?”
“Do you remember one of the later racers, a young girl named Etta who fell on her second run?” I nodded.
“Lyra said that she injured her knee in that fall. And Lyra is concerned it could end her racing career. I thought this would be the time to share my own story of injuries from falls, my numerous surgeries and the work it took to get back into prime racing shape. I never shared that with her earlier so as not to frighten her unnecessarily.”
“And that is a powerful story, indeed. But now I can’t help wondering, what on earth in that story made her laugh?”
“Two things. Her initial laugh was when I shared the part about putting Topfen curd cheese on my knee to stop the swelling. If you remember, Donna, I recommended to Jon that he put this cheese on your knee when you injured your, MCL, PCL and meniscus while trying to avoid hitting a couple of novice skiers a few years ago.”
“I’ll never forget that. At first we thought you were kidding, but it was amazing how well it worked to help with the swelling. And, I have to say, we were the laughing stock at a whole bunch of dinner parties while trying to explain my healing process. We had to prove it, with the help of Google, on several occasions. I’m so glad you were there to help Lyra through her fears right then and there.”
“Yes, that was fortunate.”
“So, what else made her laugh?”
“When we spoke of the injured skier, Lyra asked me if I thought she had a ‘spirit animal’ that would help her in her recovery. It was such an intuitive comment, so I asked if she had one. We both laughed when Lyra acknowledged that her ‘spirit’ animal was a peregrine falcon. That was a surprise, so many of us choose feline ‘spirit’ animals. But Lyra set me straight, she said peregrine falcons live in Switzerland and are the fastest animals in the world. She also asked me ‘and sometimes, don’t you just feel as though you’re flying?’ This kid has a good head on her shoulders!”
And her concern for her fellow racer is also an excellent sign. Any racer out for just themselves is truly not destined for greatness – at least not in the hearts of the people. Lyra has a good heart and that will upset her at times, but ultimately it will serve her well.”
And there it was. I was getting another lesson in being a top-level athlete. I may have intuited some of these things, but hearing them directly from Dominique made them so much more real.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS…
About Collaborator Dominique Gisin…
At the age of 17 Dominique had already endured 4 knee surgeries and had been written off by most coaches, advisors, experts and even doctors. But Dominique Gisin won the Olympic Gold in 2014 in Sochi, along with many other top racing achievements. She is the author of the book Making it Happen From Engelberg to Sochi and she and her sister Michelle along with her long-time performance and sports psychologist, Dr. Christian Marcolli created the book A True Athlete. Dominique currently works as a motivational speaker and she holds a commercial pilot’s license.
Dominique hails from an athletic family. Her sister, Michelle is also a Olympic gold medal winner and her brother, Marc, has been quite successful in the World Cup. Dominique graduated from the Sports School in Engelberg, the home of an inordinately large number of Olympic medalists. She was raised in Engadin, and currently resides in Engelberg.
About Author Robin Leemann Donovan…
Robin Leemann Donovan is the author of the blog, Menologues, which is a humorous yet informative look at the trials and tribulations of menopause by someone who’s been there. Menologues has been republished on two commercial sites: Vibrant Nation and Alltop, and has won regional honors for social media.
Donovan was born and raised in New Jersey, but lived and worked in Connecticut for a number of years before moving to Nebraska in 1999. Starting her career as a high school English teacher, Donovan moved into advertising in the early 80s. In 1999, she accepted a job offer from the legendary Bozell, a global ad agency that was founded in Omaha. In late 2001, she and three colleagues purchased the original Omaha office of Bozell from its New York based parent company. In 2021 she was named an Enterprising Woman of the Year by the national publication Enterprising Women. In December of 2023, Donovan sold Bozell to a group of employees and retired to focus on murder mysteries and French Bulldogs not to mention, a bit of skiing.
Donovan lives with her husband and two French Bulldogs, Frank and Ellie in their homes in Omaha, Nebraska and Eden, Utah.
At Dominique’s request, 25% of all proceeds for the book will go to Passion Schneesport for all the upcoming ski stars and their families passionschneesport.ch.
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