January 9th, 2025 → 10:38 am @ Robin Donovan

(January 9, 2025)—Robin Leemann Donovan announces the launch of her forth cozy mystery novel, Does It Count As Saving A Life If You Just Don’t Kill Anyone?, published by Gracie Dancer, LLC.

Friends in real life, as well as avid supporters of each other’s books, Dominique and Robin decided to form the fictional team of Dominique and Donna to solve a mystery occurring on the ski slopes of Engelberg, Switzerland.

Dominique Gisin was the winner of the gold medal in the Downhill at the 2014 Olympics, tying with Slovenian Tina Maze. Her victory inspired many people all around the world especially because Dominique achieved it after an almost unprecedented injury record (i.e. four knee and five other operations) combined with many other setbacks. She has also won several World Cup races in the Downhill and Super-G disciplines and for many years she ranked in the top 10 skiers in the world in the Downhill discipline. Dominique also established herself in the world top 15 for three other alpine disciplines. She has authored several books on her journey to the top and currently works as a motivational speaker. She has also holds a commercial pilot’s license.

Robin Leemann Donovan is the author of the award-winning blog Menologues, a humorous, yet informative, look at the trials and tribulations of menopause by someone who’s been there. She was born and raised in New Jersey, but lived and worked in Connecticut for a number of years before moving to Nebraska in 1999 to work at the, then global company, Bozell. She recently retired and sold Bozell to a group of employees. Experiences from each place she lived have been incorporated into the heroine of her series, Donna Leigh. In this, her forth in the series, Donna Leigh shares the role of heroine with Dominique Gisin.

Donna Leigh is a menopausal former ad exec. When Donna is drawn into the friendship between her husband Jon and Olympic Gold Medalist, Dominique Gisin, she decides to explore her own Swiss ancestry. With the help of husband Jon and advice from
Dominique they are able to discover an existing family with blood ties to Donna. And so, the adventure begins.

As they continue to learn about Donna’s Swiss relatives, they are stunned by the fact that the family’s 16-year old daughter is beginning to pursue a ski racing career after overcoming some overwhelming physical odds. This can be no coincidence. It is arranged that Dominique will do some preliminary work with this young girl to help determine the best course for her to pursue. After a few weeks of working together, Dominique suggests that the Leighs travel to Switzerland to meet their relatives and watch this young athlete as she progresses through these early career stages toward her goal.

Shortly after arriving in Switzerland, there is a tragic accident on the slopes. Is it an accident or is it murder? Was the dead person the intended victim, or are some of the young racers at risk? Dominique and Donna team up to solve this puzzling and tragic event and restore tranquility to the majestic Mt. Titlis ski area in Engelberg.

As they work to solve the mystery, Dominique shares many of the fascinating insider details of training in order to become a world class ski racer.

The idea for The Donna Leigh Mystery series? was originally rooted in Donovan’s frustrations with the stereotypes about menopausal and post-menopausal women.

“As I continued on my own journey through menopause and I met many exceptional women along the way, I realized that the world was sadly mistaken about us. They needed to be told.

“Donna Leigh is a menopausal woman, but you don’t have to be menopausal to relate to her. She could be your mother or your aunt, but she could just as easily be your co-worker and friend. She’s not every menopausal woman, but she is representative of the dynamic and vivacious qualities that exist in the majority of menopausal women today.”

In this, her forth novel, Donovan celebrates the triumphs achievable by women in more than just her own now post-menopausal world. She illustrates how, in working together as a team, multi-generational women can make a significant impact in any number of endeavors. Donna Leigh, a post-menopausal sleuth and Dominique Gisin, a former world class athlete who has not yet reached middle age, combine their talents to assist Swiss police/polizei in solving a most challenging mystery. They do so in a way that immerses their audience in the world of training alpine athletes as well as that of amateur sleuthing, all the while providing entertainment and an abundance of laughter.

Does It Count As Saving A Life If You Just Don’t Kill Someone? is available for sale in paperback through the rldonovan.com or directly from Amazon Books.

About 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.

At Dominique’s request, 25% of all proceeds for this book will be donated to: Passion Schneesport for all the upcoming ski stars and their families.

Tags: author, cozy murder mystery, cozy mystery, Murder, murder mystery, mystery, novel, publish, writer