Hallopalooza Is Coming!

On Oct. 30, 2009 at 8 AM, the 1st Annual Stiletto Gang Hallopalooza begins. Or at least we hope it's going to be an annual event. Everything depends on you, our readers!

What is Hallopalooza? It's an on-line mystery scavenger hunt. Twenty-three of the best, most interesting, coolest blogs on the net have agreed to participate. There will be lots of great prizes! Lots of fun! Lot's of clues!

Yes, clues. The Stiletto Gang has written a short story – did I mention it's a murder mystery - just for the event.

How do you play? Thanks for asking.

Let's start with when you play – the Scavenger Hunt starts at 8 AM Eastern on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. It ends at 5 PM Eastern on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. Winners will be announced at noon eastern on Monday, Nov. 2, 2009.

What are you hunting? A killer! Okay, really you'll be hunting clues to the killer's identity and motive. You will move from blog to blog reading the mystery and gathering clues. Each blog will give you a link to the next blog in the Scavenger Hunt line-up. You will start here, at The Stiletto Gang, then move to the next blog. There are 23 blogs in the chain. The winner is not the one who finishes first, just the one who finishes by the deadline with the correct answer. So you can come and go as you please during the three days of the event. Go Trick or Treating! Toliet paper a house! Party with goblins and witches! Then come back and celebrate with us.

What are the prizes? The Stiletto Gang is offering a grand prize of a $50 U.S. gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice – on-line or bricks & mortar. If you're not in the U.S., we'll send you an Amazon gift certificate and let you figure out how to use it.

If more than one person qualifies for the Grand Prize, then all winners will be put into a drawing for the $50 gift certificate. Runners-up will win an autographed book from a Stiletto Gang author. We will award up to a maximum of ten books. If there are more winners than books, we'll have a drawing among the Runners-up for the books.

And, here's the special part – you can win prizes on the individual blogs during the hunt too! The participating blogs will have contests/drawings for great stuff! Autographed books, promo items, and other "I won! I won!" things to make all your friends envious.

There is no charge to play or win. You don't have to buy anything. You just have to participate, solve the mystery, and tell us about it using the comment feature here on The Stiletto Gang blog site or by sending an email via the contact link to the right.

Watch for more details as Halloween draws near. If you want to map out your route ahead of time – check out the following blogs, in addition to The Stiletto Gang (that's us):

1. Jungle Red http://www.jungleredwriters.com/
2. Marilyn's Musings http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/
3. Meanderings & Muses http://meanderingsandmuses.blogspot.com/
4. America Comes Alive http://www.americacomesalive.com/blog/
5. Type M for Murder http://typem4murder.blogspot.com/
6. Boomer Chick http://www.overthehillchick.blogspot.com/
7. Yeah, But Houdini Didn't Have These Hips http://sarahlynn.blogspot.com/
8. Ellen Byerrum http://ellenbyerrum.livejournal.com/
9. Nancy Cohen http://mysterygal.bravejournal.com/
10. Write It Anyway http://writeitanyway.blogspot.com/
11. The Blog Cabin http://www.timothyhallinan.com/blog/
12. Lipstick Chronicles http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com/
13. The Lady Killers http://theladykillers.typepad.com/the_lady_killers/
14. The Killer Coffee Club http://killercoffeeclub.weebly.com/
15. Lesa"s Book Critiques http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/
16. Erica Ridley http://www.ericaridley.com/blog/
17. Fang Place http://fangplace.blogspot.com/
18. Morgan Mandel http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/
19. Mysterious Musings http://www.juliabuckley.blogspot.com/
20. Mystery Fanfare http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/
21. Poe's Deadly Daughters http://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/
22. WOOF http://www.woofersclub.blogspot.com/
23. The Book Resort http://thebookresort.blogspot.com/

Gather your sleuthing clothes – Hallopalooza is coming!

Evelyn David