Released on = April 15, 2007, 8:51 am

Press Release Author = biffmitchell.com

Industry = Entertainment

Press Release Summary = Biff Mitchell's latest novel is about murder and mayhem in
the world's biggest Gothic cathedral, which is actually the headquarters for a
corporate empire that sells cloned fast food. The story behind the novel is the
subject of Mitchell's blog Murder by Burger.

Press Release Body = (Fredericton, April 7, 2007) After completing his fourth novel,
Murder by Burger, over the Easter weekend, author Biff Mitchell has started a blog
for his surreal mystery story set in a city permanently under a cloud of fog because
of global warming.

"I wanted a setting that would reflect the detachment of the characters and their
world from the rest of the world," said Mitchell. "In Murder by Burger, worship of
the almighty dollar is taken to the extreme by turning the headquarters building of
the world's largest corporation - Barto Burger - into the world's biggest cathedral
and having its employees dress in monk's robes."

Barto Burger has created the ultimate consumer product - the cloned hamburger. And
it's not just a hamburger made of cloned beef and vegetables; it's a single piece of
food that's cloned in its entirety from the world's most perfect burger. Bite the
bun, you taste the whole burger; bite the meat, you taste the whole burger.

"We're already cloning cattle and vegetables," said Mitchell. "This is just the next
step . cloning the entire end product and doing away with all the expenses of
growing plants and raising cattle."

But something goes wrong. The president of the company Gansheng Barto is found
slumped up against the wall in his austere quarters after eating himself to death
with cloned burgers. Another man is found dead in a medieval washroom after eating
himself to death on toothpicks. Boston Jonson, Consultative Investigator, is brought
in to make a referral. Does it go to the police, or does it go to a shaman? All hell
breaks loose when Boston uncovers an insidious plot.

"It's a murder mystery," said Mitchell. "But it's also a spoof on corporations and
frivolous use of science."

Mitchell started Murder by Burger in 2004 but took a two-year leave from it to work
on short fiction and marketing for his other books. "I was about sixty pages into
it," said Mitchell, "when everything just seemed to stop, so I started working on
short fiction and a marketing book for writers. I also spent more time marketing my
previous novels and getting my name 'out there'."

"I started back on Murder by Burger shortly after Christmas," said Mitchell. "Now,
I'm just a few pages away from finishing the first draft. It's gone in some
different directions than I'd originally planned, but that seems to happen in all of
my novels."

This April, Mitchell started a blog devoted entirely to Murder by Burger. "I still
have a lot of work to do on the novel," said Mitchell. "Revision is where the real
writing starts, but I can still begin promoting the book through the blog."

"Murder by Burger has a tremendous amount of back story," said Mitchell. "I ran an
auction on eBay to find a character to murder in the story. Some people thought I
was crazy. Who knows? Maybe they were right, but the auction got me radio interviews
across the US and coverage in a number of newspapers. Too bad I didn't have a novel
ready to go at the time. People were asking for it in bookstores."

You can read the blog at http://murderbyburger.blogspot.com.

About Biff Mitchell
Biff Mitchell is the author Heavy Load (a laundromance), The War Bug, a cyberpunk
satire set on the Internet 200 years in the future, Team Player, a satire on the IT
industry, Surfing in Catal Hyuk, a collection of short stories, and eMarketing Tools
for Writers, 2nd Edition. He has two novellas, Smoke Break and The Baton available
through Echelon Press. Mitchell also has stories appearing in the Twisted Tails
anthologies available through Double Dragon. Mitchell will be teaching a course on
mystery and suspense writing at the Maritime Writers Workshop at the University of
New Brunswick in July, 2007. For more information about Biff Mitchell and his
writing, visit http://www.biffmitchell.com.


Web Site = http://www.biffmitchell.com

Contact Details = Biff Mitchell
506-455-3678
biff@biffmitchell.com