Guest Post – Ruff Drafts

Guest Post and Spotlight for The Jammed Judges

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Debbie

The Jammed Judges: Doro Banyon Historical Mysteries
by D.S. Lang

About The Jammed Judges

The Jammed Judges: Doro Banyon Historical Mysteries
Historical Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Ohio
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Debra Sue Lang (April 2, 2024)
Number of Pages – Approx. 310
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CSXQQQ81

Journey back to the Roaring Twenties in small-town America and join Doro Banyon, college librarian and armchair detective, as she confronts another mystery.

Spring in the air, and Doro is looking forward to her hometown’s May Day celebration. When her friend Aggie wins the baking contest, their celebration is short-lived because the two local lawmen—judges for the competition—fall ill after consuming extra portions of Aggie’s jam roll. Rumors run rampant, especially when the town doctor pinpoints the cause as arsenic poisoning.

With the constabulary down for the count, the two friends must unravel the mystery. As they study possibilities, Doro and Aggie find plenty of dangling threads and likely suspects. Is someone trying to make Aggie look bad or get even with her? Or do area bootleggers want the police out of their way while a big load of illegal liquor is transported through the area? Doro resolves to crack the case before more trouble hits town.

About D.S. Lang

D.S. Lang is a former teacher, tutor, mentor, and program manager. As an only child, she often created stories to entertain herself when she didn’t have her nose in a book. She is still making up stories, but now she puts them in writing.

She writes historical mysteries set in small-town America during the Roaring Twenties. Her books feature women amateur sleuths dedicated to solving crimes, along with a team of colorful characters—often including a local lawman.

GUEST POST

My Doro Banyon Cozy Historical Mystery series is set in small-town Ohio during the Roaring Twenties. The second book, The Murdered Matron, features a community Christmas party as part of the story, since Doro is on the committee. The third book, The Jammed Judges involves a May Days celebration with several old-fashioned events. Doro is enthusiastic about all of them!

Fairs and festivals are still popular in cities and town, but many vintage practices have virtually disappeared. One is the May basket.

When I was little, I read a story with May baskets in it and fell in love with the idea, so I convinced my mom that we should make several and give them to our neighbors and my grandparents. In Northwest Ohio, flowers are not plentiful at the start of May, but we assembled enough to fill pretty baskets. My efforts did not lead to a resurgence of the practice, but it was a lot of fun. The neighbors and my grandparents were pleased, and I enjoyed seeing the baskets in their homes! They seemed to be surprised, and I hope they were. Gifts, whether surprises or not, are always enjoyable, and who doesn’t want to bring a smile to someone’s face?

If you want to give a basket (or more), you will need inexpensive baskets or you can make a cone to hold the flowers. (Instructions are at the end.) Flowers are a must, but it is fun to add candy or other small gifts. Ribbon and colored tissue paper add festive touches.

A key to giving a May basket is to remain anonymous, so the giver puts the gift on the recipient’s front porch or door with no signed card or note. This can be tricky, especially if your neighbor or friend has a dog or a security camera. Another idea is to get to work early and put baskets on the desks of your co-workers, if you are employed in an office setting. For teachers, hanging a cone of flowers on your colleagues’ classroom doors is an alternative. The same idea could be used in work settings with locker rooms.

As you can probably tell, I am interested in bringing the practice back! Since I believe in practicing what I preach, I plan to make small baskets for some neighbors. I live in an apartment-style condo community, so leaving the baskets without getting caught should be easy. (I hope!) With the crazy weather in my area, I will purchase silk flowers, candy, seed packets (for the gardeners in the group), and gift bags or baskets. Then, I’ll tuck a “Happy May Day” note inside and leave the gifts late on April 30 or early on May 1, which is May Day.

You may be thinking of other celebrations on May 1. Since 1889, the day has been marked as International Workers Day (often called Labor/Labour Day outside the United States). Also, if you or someone you know is an American attorney, you probably are aware the American Bar Association has deemed May 1 as Law Day. Many other events and organizations mark the day, as well. Check the internet for plenty of them!

Instructions for making a flower cone:

Materials needed:

Sturdy paper.

Narrow ribbon.

Single hole punch.

Clear adhesive tape.

Scissors.

Gifts for inside the cone.

Colored tissue paper. (optional)

1-Begin with a square piece of paper (12” by 12” is a good size).

For a fancy look, cut scallops along the paper edges on two adjacent sides.

Plain colored paper is fine, but you can get pretty papers at craft stores.

2-Roll the straight edges together and secure with clear tape.

3-Using a small hole punch, make holes around the top edge of the cone.

4-Run ribbon through the holes and make a bow with a loop. (The loop should be long

enough to go over a doorknob.)

5-If you are using tissue paper, carefully tuck inside the cone.

6-Add flowers, candy, or other trinkets.

7-Since your recipients may not know about old-fashioned May baskets, tuck a note inside!

Remember, part of the fun is to remain anonymous, so “Happy May Day” or “A May basket

for you!” should suffice.

I’d love to know if you make the baskets and how they are received. Contact me at: DSLang@DSLangBooks.com. Or follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064024056297). I will have photos on my page on May 1, and you are welcome to share pictures of your baskets.

Happy May Day!

Author Links

GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21325652.D_S_Lang

Facebook https://facebook.com/p/Author-DS-Lang-100064024056297/

Website https://dslangbooks.com

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Apple – Kobo – Smashwords

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

April 4 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

April 5 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading – REVIEW

April 5 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

April 6 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT

April 6 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

April 7 – The Mystery Section – SPOTLIGHT

April 8 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 8 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

April 9 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 10 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 11 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 11 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 12 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST

April 12 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 13 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

April 13 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

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Blog Tour and Guest Post for The Snow Job: A Century Cottage Mystery by Dianne Ascroft

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Debbie

The Snow Job (Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries)
by Dianne Ascroft

About The Snow Job

The Snow Job (Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Fenwater, a fictional small town in the province of Ontario in Canada during the early 1980s.
Independently Published (December 13, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 310 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8871249321
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CQ3DJL3F

A Scottish shindig, a pretty pin, a cold corpse. When a well-liked and respected townsman is murdered on a snowy street in Fenwater, it’s up to Lois Stone to sift through a multitude of motives to find the killer.

Middle-aged widow Lois is beginning to feel part of the Fenwater community, and as winter sets in, she is getting ready for the town’s biggest Scottish event, the annual Burns Night supper. But when one of the committee members dies in suspicious circumstances, Lois has more to worry about than the fate of this year’s celebration. She tried unsuccessfully to revive the man and her friend Marge worked with him. So, they want to find his killer even though Lois promised her partner Bruce that she would stay out of police matters. But, what’s the harm in asking a few questions? Such as does someone want to safeguard their inheritance or give their business a boost? Will finding the motive for the murder lead them to the killer or maybe more?

And so begins a fortnight of slippery sidewalks, angst about ancestors, capable firemen and cunning firebugs, unreliable records, swirling Scottish music and swinging tartan kilts, calico cats and smouldering spooks set against the backdrop of snow glistening under streetlamps on serene streets, the comfort of ritual in a cold churchyard, the swish of skate blades in crisp night air and the tang of mouthwatering meatloaf in rural Canada in 1984.

The Century Cottage Mystery series is mainly set in rural Ontario, Canada during the early 1980s.

A tale for fans of Cindy Bell, Leighann Dobbs, Dianne Harman and Kathi Daley.

GUEST POST

Meet My Main Characters

by Dianne Ascroft

When I started writing the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series, I wanted to create heartwarming stories set in a fictional small town in Canada. I’m not interested in writing larger-than-life blockbusters with huge casts of characters and lots of flashy settings. I like to zero in close to tell stories about a small place with characters that live relatively ordinary lives. My characters should touch readers’ hearts so they will want to root for them.

The Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series revolves around a tight-knit bunch of friends. Lois Stone is at the centre of the group and she is definitely one of my favourite characters. A middle-aged widow, she has moved from the big city and is trying to adjust to life on her own in an historical “century cottage” with her two calico cats. She is quiet, dependable and trustworthy with firm standards. I wanted her to be believable: someone readers will like and relate to. Her struggle with grief after the death of her husband, and her determination not to retreat from life, despite her sadness and inherent shyness, are challenges that I think will resonate with many readers. Although she is quiet, she has a dry sense of humour, and her caring nature shines through her somewhat muted exterior. As she settles into her new life, her tranquility is often rocked by adventures and mysteries that she can’t ignore because her friend Marge won’t let her.

Marge Kirkwood is Lois’s closest friend and the complete opposite to Lois: outspoken, confident and extroverted. She’s the archivist at the local museum and she met Lois when they worked together at a Toronto library. They have been friends for years. The women now live a couple of blocks from each other, on the same street, in the fictional small town, Fenwater. Marge, a middle-aged divorcee, has returned to Fenwater, her home town, to keep an eye on her elderly mother, but she hasn’t settled down to a quiet life. She’s a dyed-blonde social butterfly and everyone in town knows and likes her. Marge supports Lois and makes sure that her friend doesn’t retreat from life now that she’s on her own. She provides Lois with a shoulder to cry on and is a rock to steady her in a crisis. She also ensures that Lois’s life is never dull though her friend often wonders whether this is a blessing or a curse. Marge can’t curb her curiosity and this frequently compels her to snoop into police investigations. When trouble finds the pair, it is usually due to something Marge has done.

Bruce Murray has known Marge since they were youngsters. The carpenter does furniture and house restoration work and has his own workshop beside his old farmhouse a short distance outside the town. In the first book in the series, A Timeless Celebration, Marge ropes him in on several occasions to use his carpentry skills to help Lois. After spending time with Bruce and getting to know him, Lois also forges a friendship with him. Although she is still dealing with her grief after the death of her husband, she finds Bruce’s softspoken manner and easy-going nature comfortable to be around. She comes to trust him and their friendship gradually grows into something more. Since Bruce isn’t one to say much, readers don’t always know what he’s thinking, but we do know that whatever he does, he always has Lois’s best interests at heart. The one subject that he is outspoken about is the women’s involvement in criminal investigations: he tries to discourage Lois from probing into them. He worries about the scrapes that the women get into because he couldn’t stand it if Lois got hurt. Nevertheless, Lois and Marge can count on him, and he has stepped in to help them catch criminals a time or two.

After this brief introduction to my main characters, I hope Lois, Marge and Bruce seem as real to you as they do to me. But, you might still wonder where they came from. In many ways, though not entirely, Lois Stone is like me. After years of doing detailed historical research for my previous historical fiction series, I decided that this cozy mystery series wouldn’t involve a huge amount of research. So, when I created Lois, I deliberately used some of my own traits, and likes and dislikes to bring her to life. That made it easy for me to make her believable, and since she has so much in common with me, we ‘hit it off’ and are great friends.

The rest of the characters in the series sort of popped out of my head to complement Lois and help me tell the stories. Some of their characteristics and quirks are inspired by real people but mostly they escaped from my imagination and are now running free to do whatever they please.

Marge was a fun character to create. Firstly, I wanted her to be the opposite of Lois in personality and looks to create some dramatic scenes and humorous moments in the stories as well as possible tensions between the two women. Marge is very loosely based on one of my mother’s good friends, who is one of the gutsiest women I’ve ever known. She’s not as brash as Marge, but she has a strong sense of fairness and justice, and she’s not afraid to enjoy life.

When I began to imagine the character who would be Lois’s romantic interest, I saw someone who was a mix of a middle-aged Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood. Bruce is tall and lean, with warm brown eyes and straight sandy hair. He has quiet self-assurance but is also friendly and approachable. To be Lois’s partner, he had to be competent, dependable and trustworthy. Bruce is a man of few words but we learn more about him in each novel.

I hope you have enjoyed meeting the main cast of Century Cottage Cozy mysteries. We hope you will join us in the books.

About Dianne Ascroft

Dianne Ascroft writes the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries, set in rural Canada, and The Yankee Years historical sagas, set in WWII Northern Ireland. She has a passion for Ireland and Canada, past and present. An ex-pat Canadian, Dianne lives on a small farm with her husband and an assortment of strong-willed animals.

Her previous fiction works include An Unbidden Visitor (a tale inspired by Fermanagh’s famous Coonian ghost); Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves: A Collection of Short Stories (contemporary tales), and an historical novel, Hitler and Mars Bars, which explores Operation Shamrock, a little known Irish Red Cross humanitarian endeavor.

Author Links

Website: http://www.dianneascroft.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DianneAscroftwriter/

Twitter/X: @DianneAscroft

Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/y1k5c3

Purchase Links: Books2Read Amazon

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

February 19 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

February 20 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

February 21 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

February 22 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

February 23 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT

February 23 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 24 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

February 25 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST

February 25 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST

February 26 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

February 27 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW

February 28 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 28 – Novels Alive – REVIEW

February 29 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

March 1 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT

March 2 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

March 2 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

March 3 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

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Blog Tour, Guest Post

Guest Post and Blog Tour for Sprites and Scuttlebutt: A Magical Mystery Book Club by Elizabeth Pantley

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Debbie

Sprites and Scuttlebutt: Magical Mystery Book Club
by Elizabeth Pantley

About Sprites and Scuttlebutt

Sprites and Scuttlebutt: Magical Mystery Book Club
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Independently Published (February 15, 2024)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CJ5K611Z

Would you join a book club that gets absorbed right into their cozy mysteries? These people did, and now they are hooked on traveling into books to become the amateur sleuths!

In this journey, the book club travels to the Kingdom of Everglow, where the royal family is rocked to the core when a key staff member falls dead at a community event. In the turmoil that follows, any evidence of what happened is destroyed, so they must go by the recollection of witnesses who were too busy enjoying the celebration to offer any valuable testimony. The royal family is further distressed when they return to the castle to see signs of a break in that somehow defied their complex security system. They wake the next day to discover that one member of the royal family has fallen into a deep, deathlike sleep.

Can the Snapdragon Inn Book Club uncover the plot behind this attack on the royal family? Can they find the antidote to wake the princess from her supernatural slumber? Can they bring peace back to the worried royal family and the frightened community? Let’s hope they can, since they must solve the mystery and reach The End to get out of the book and back to their home in Colorado.

GUEST POST

Could YOU Really Write a Cozy Mystery Book?

By Elizabeth Pantley
Author of the Magical Mystery Book Club series

Have you ever said to yourself, I read so many cozy mysteries. I wish I could write one! The thought percolates and grows, until you really want to give it a try. But how do you even begin?

There are many articles and books about the technical approach to writing. How to make a plot outline, build characters, create a setting. This article isn’t about any of that. It’s about getting off the ground and beginning to make your dream come true when you’ve never done anything like this before.

Everyone is different, of course. But if you’ve never written a book before, here are some tips for getting started from scratch.

First, You Read

Pick two or three of your favorite books and read them again. But his time, read to learn. Pay attention to more than just the story and take lots of notes. How does the author keep your attention from page to page? How does each chapter end, and each new one begin? What sentences grab you, make you laugh, or cause you to gasp? How does the dialog flow when characters are speaking versus the narration portions of the story? How does the author describe each new character – it’s more than listing height and eye color! How does the author describe the settings? What ways make it interesting to learn about a new character or place?

Examine your Reading History

What kind of books fill your collection? Plan to write a book in the genre of those you read most. If you mainly read books about witches, don’t write a book about dragons! Write what you know, and what you enjoy reading. Your book will have more meaning and writing will be easier.

Don’t Fight a Blank White Screen

It’s unlikely you’ll pen a bestseller from the first word on a blank page. It can be overwhelming to begin from nothing. A better plan might be to come up with a basic person and place, then a rough plot line.

Who is the main character? Where does she live? Who are the people in her circle of family and friends? Once you figure that out, plan a murder! That can be the fun part. Who gets murdered, why and who did it? Once you have these basics you can approach your book in a way that feels right to you. Some people enjoy a complete chapter-by-chapter outline, others prefer to be a “pantser” – writing page-by-page by the seat of their pants and letting their creativity flow.

Be Flexible

You might start out believing you’re a free-flowing writer but get stalled every day without a clear path. If that happens, try writing out your plot chapter by chapter and see how that feels. Until you begin you won ‘t really know what’s best for you.

To be a Writer you Must Write!

Set a plan or schedule for yourself. It might be an hour a day, or even just four hours over the weekends. Build a plan that works within your real life. If your goal is too lofty it might scare you away.

Then don’t be afraid to add more hours if things are going well and you have the time. The more you write, the easier it will get!

Read and Learn

Once you get rolling that’s the time to read some articles and books about writing a mystery. There’s so much to learn, so don’t get bogged down by doing too much research. Writing is your top priority. You can always edit later to make your manuscript better!

If you’re thinking it could take you a year to write a book, you’re right! It might take a year. But a year from now you’ll either have your book written, or you’ll still be thinking about maybe, someday you might write one. So, go ahead. Get started. Good luck!

About Elizabeth Pantley

Elizabeth Pantley is the author of fourteen fun, magical cozy mystery books, as well as the international bestselling No-Cry Solution parenting series.

She simultaneously writes well-loved cozy mysteries: The Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic book series and the Magical Mystery Book Club series.

Elizabeth lives in the Pacific Northwest, the gorgeous inspiration for the setting in many of her books.

Author Links
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24811.Elizabeth_Pantley
Website: https://www.nocrysolution.com/books/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DestinyFallsMysteryandMagic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/destinyfallsmystery/

Amazon Purchase Links: US CA UK AU
All the books in this series are now available as Audio Books!

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

February 19 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

February 19 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT

February 20 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST

February 20 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 21 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST

February 22 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 23 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

February 24 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT

February 24 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR GUEST POST

February 25 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

February 25 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 26 – Review Thick And Thin – REVIEW

February 26 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

February 27 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

February 27 – Nadaness In Motion – REVIEW

February 28 – ebook Addicts – REVIEW

February 28 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT

February 29 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

March 1 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

March 2 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

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Blog Tour, Guest Post

Guest Post and Blog Tour for Christmas in the Crosshairs by Deena Alexander

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Debbie

Christmas in the Crosshairs (Love Inspired Suspense)
by Deena Alexander

About Christmas in the Crosshairs

Christmas in the Crosshairs (Love Inspired Suspense)
Inspirational Romantic Suspense
Setting – Seaport, Long Island, New York
Love Inspired Suspense (November 28, 2023)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1335597794
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1335597793
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BTJ3BSJW

A baby in need of protection—

and a hitman in pursuit.

After evading an attack, defense attorney Adam Spencer is on the run from a dangerous hitman. The killer’s wife is Adam’s only hope at apprehending the criminal—until she lands in the hospital. Now he must depend on her twin sister, Jaelyn Reed, to find the answers they need…all while protecting the baby niece Jaelyn didn’t know she had. But with threats at every turn, trust may be the deadliest trap…

From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

GUEST POST

Canine Search and Rescue

Anyone who knows me knows I love big dogs. All animals, really, but I have a soft spot for big dogs. They are loving, loyal, and amazing companions. I’ve had at least one, sometimes as many as four dogs, ever since I was a teenager. One of the most amazing dogs I’ve ever had was my Bernese Mountain Dog/ Golden Retriever mix, Koda. I still miss her every day.

When I decided to write a story about a canine search and rescue team, she was the first dog that came to mind. Although he only makes a cameo appearance in Christmas in the Crosshairs, Shadow—a Bernese Mountain Dog who, with his handler, works for Seaport Fire & Rescue—is one of the main characters in my story Kidnapped in the Woods.

It wasn’t until I really dug into researching search and rescue dogs that I realized how many lives depend on them, or how many different kinds there are. There are dogs who track missing persons, dogs who search for those who are deceased, and even dogs who go into collapsed buildings to search for survivors, just to name a few. I find it amazing how loyal and dedicated these dogs are. So much so, that they can even become depressed when they don’t succeed. After so much research, I’ve come to appreciate them and their importance in our lives even more.

And talk about loyalty. Right now, I have an Akita, Fluffy, and she is incredible, one of the most loving, affectionate, and loyal dogs I’ve ever had. While researching the breed, I came across the story of Hachiko, a Japanese Akita who was probably the most loyal dog who ever lived. He used to wait at the train station every day for his owner to return from work. One day, his owner passed away while at work. And still, every single day for nine more years, Hachikō made the trip to the train station to wait for him to appear.

About Deena Alexander

Deena grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, where she met and married her high school sweetheart. She recently relocated to Florida with her husband, three kids, a son-in-law, and four dogs. Now she enjoys long walks in nature all year long, despite the occasional alligator or snake she sometimes encounters. Deena’s love for writing developed when her youngest son was born and didn’t sleep through the night, and she now works full-time as a writer and a freelance editor.

Author Links

Webpage: http://deenaalexander.com/index.html
Blog: http://deenaalexander.com/blog.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeenaAlexanderAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeenaAlexanderA
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20382104.Deena_Alexander
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/deena-alexander
Newsletter: https://gmail.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=d7e6e9ecdc0888d7324788ffc&id=42d52965df
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Deena-Alexander/author/B08C1VKZFZ

Purchase Links – Amazon B&N Kobo Harlequin Apple Google Play

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

November 28 – Maureen’s Musings – REVIEW

November 28 – Just Another Teen Reading Books – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST

November 29 – Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

November 29 – Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting – REVIEW

November 30 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY

November 30 – Diane’s Book Journal – SPOTLIGHT

December 1 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY

December 2 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT

December 3 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

December 3 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

December 4 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

December 5 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

December 6 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

December 6 – Sapphyria’s Books – REVIEW

December 7 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

December 7 – Novels Alive – REVIEW

December 8 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

December 8 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT

December 9 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT

December 10 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

December 11 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

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Guest Post and Blog Tour for Genie and the Ghost

Posted on November 11, 2023 by Debbie

Genie and the Ghost
(Genie and Adriana Darling Cozy Paranormal Ghost Mysteries)
by Carmen Radtke

About Genie and the Ghost

Genie and the Ghost (Genie and Adriana Darling Cozy Paranormal Ghost Mysteries)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
1st in the Series
Independently Published (September 18, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 218 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1916241077
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1916241077
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CHFZYLW6

New York jewelry designer Genie Darling has returned to her childhood home in quaint Cobblewood Cove for one reason only: to sort through generations of old family heirlooms and hand anything of historical interest over to the local museum.

But after a failed mugging attempt, and the appearance of a beautiful but ghostly young stranger in a vintage evening dress, Genie realises there’s something suspicious – and spooky – going on.

The glamorous and friendly spectre turns out to be Genie’s own great-great-aunt Adriana, who died in 1929 in mysterious circumstances.

When there are more attempts on Genie and her home and her main suspect dies in a suspicious accident, she decides to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Does it have anything to do with Adriana’s death and reappearance?

With her unflappable, pet-whispering aunt and cat Cleo by her side, Genie sets out to lay this ghost to rest by solving the mystery and unmasking the culprits.

But digging up the past can be deadly …

GUEST POST

What’s in a name? Everything!

I can’t recall the last day I opened my emails or newsfeed without discovering an offer to help me a) plot my next book in a day, b) write a book in a week, c) become a six-figure author (I wish!).

It’s relentless. It’s also not even remotely going to become part of my writer’s life.

To set the record straight, I admire authors who can write a good or even great book in a week. Edgar Wallace, one of the most prolific and successful early British writers of sensational gangster, detective, and adventure novels, before the term pulp fiction existed, sometimes finished a book in three or four days. I read once that those were novels he dictated to a secretary. His collected works are over 170 novels, plus plays and short stories!

If I’m lucky, I reach over 2000 words a day if I have no other writing jobs to do.

As for plotting a book in a day, that’s the easier part. My outlines aren’t overly detailed, and by the time I jot down my notes, I’ve been working on an idea in my head long enough to know most things.

Motive and murder method? Piece of cake, sometimes literally.

What trips me up are the names. They have to be right for the character or nothings falls into place.

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but there’s a huge difference between an Hercule Poirot and a Hercules Perry. Hercule is debonair, Hercules a man who could easily suffer from an inferiority complex or megalomania.

My first mystery series, inspired by a true event, has Alyssa Chalmers as a sleuth. Since her adventures are set in the early 1862, she needed a name that fit in with the era. It also had to suit her personality yet be something that could easily be confused with another name like Alice or Ellen, by men who underestimated or dismissed her. Not bothering to learn how a person is called, is a sign of disrespect, or a hint that something is amiss …

I was lucky with Genie and the Ghost because I knew their names. Geneviève aka Genie was equally proud of her first name and resigned to the problems the pronunciation would cause. She’s fiercely independent, yet loyal to her mother who changed the spelling of her own name from Amy to the much more glamorous Aimée.

I don’t know where the name Adriana came from. All I knew was that it was her – slightly different, yet easy to remember.

But the secondary characters kept on causing trouble. The septuagenarian Schuyler sisters went through a couple of metamorphoses. For a few days, they were called Moira and Maisie. That didn’t feel right though, and the names changed to Dora and Daisy. Yet again, that didn’t work for my imagination. Only when they became Primrose and Marigold could I finally come to grips with them.

Most cozy mysteries rely on lovingly crafted puns. They’re part of the fun. My excuse for not embracing that more in my books is that my novels straddle the line between classic mystery and cozy.

So far, I have lots of notes in various notebooks and files that include tantalizing names and bare bones of ideas. I only wish they’d also come with explanations because there hardly ever is any context.

It seems that Agatha Christie, whose works have been my constant companion since I was eleven years old, also tried out names. She made lists in her notebooks and would cross out everything she dismissed.

A few people have been asking me if I ever model my characters after people I know.

I don’t, usually. If I’m acquainted with a person, I’m too close to them to put them through the wringer. It’s different if I observe people I’ve never met before and know nothing about apart from what I can see or hear. Last summer I spotted a man with dollar bills stuck in his hat band. He’s a candidate for a novel character.

Like most writers, I also keep track of those who’ve done me wrong. In one way or another, justice shall be served on the page.

One area where names are no problem for me and characters are taken from real life, is when it comes to animals.

Before I typed the first word, I was well aware that there’s a cat in the Darling household, and that she plays an important part in the life of Genie and Adriana. I called her Cleo in memory of a kind and caring cozy mystery writer who sadly passed away in 2022. Barbara Silkstone was one of the first novelists to reach out to me because she loved my books. When her health deteriorated, her first thought was how to ensure that her cat Cleo would be taken care of.

In my Jack and Frances series, corgi Tinkerbell insisted on appearing unplanned in Murder Makes Waves. He instantly became one of my favorite characters and series regular. His namesake was a hospice dog I used to see every week on a zoom call with a writer’s group. The original Tink made the most of every single day, and so does my fictional Tinkerbell.

So, while I won’t ever write a whole novel in a week, and six-figure author sounds unlikely, I stick to my process. That includes grappling with names. After all, false starts happen to the best of us.

Shakespeare’s troubles with “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter” are one of my favorite parts in the romcom movie, “Shakespeare in Love”. Even though there’s no way I have of knowing if the bard had ever considered anything remotely outlandish for any of his plays, it sounds about right to me.

Ethel is a sitcom character. Juliet is a love interest for the ages.

And to me, Adriana will forever be a glamorous flapper living her best life almost a century after her demise.

About Carmen Radtke

Carmen has spent most of her life with ink on her fingers and a dangerously high pile of books and newspapers by her side.

She has worked as a newspaper reporter on two continents and always dreamt of becoming a novelist and screenwriter.

When she found herself crouched under her dining table, typing away on a novel between two earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, she realised she was hooked for life.

The shaken but stirring novel made it to the longlist of the Mslexia competition, and her next book and first mystery, The Case Of The Missing Bride, was a finalist in the Malice Domestic competition in a year without a winner. Since then she has penned several more cozy mysteries, including the Jack and Frances series set in the 1930s.

Genie and the Ghost is her first paranormal cozy mystery.

Carmen now lives in Italy with her human and her four-legged family.

Author Links

Website – https://www.carmenradtke.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Carmen-Radtke-1958399947738868/

Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/@CarmenRadtke1

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/carmenradtke

Purchase Link – Amazon

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

November 8 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

November 8 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

November 9 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

November 9 – Eskimo Princess Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

November 10 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

November 11 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

November 12 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

November 12 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

November 13 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

November 13 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

November 14 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW

November 14 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT

November 15 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

November 16 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

November 16 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

November 17 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

November 18 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

November 18 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

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Guest Post and Blog Tour for Mrs. Morris and the Wolfman (A Salem B and B Mystery) by Traci Wilton

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Debbie

Mrs. Morris and the Wolfman (A Salem B&B Mystery)
by Traci Wilton

About Mrs. Morris and the Wolfman

Mrs. Morris and the Wolfman (A Salem B&B Mystery)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Setting – Massachusetts
Kensington Cozies (August 22, 2023)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1496741374
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1496741370
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BNWG9V65

Saturday night at the movies has some added flair now that Darren and Elise Shultz are reopening one of Salem’s classic theaters. Charlene is delighted to help the couple with their venture, and Darren has lined up a cult classic double-header featuring Lon Chaney in The Wolfman. But things get hairier than expected when Elise starts to choke on her popcorn mid-movie—and once the lights go up,
she’s dead . . .

When tests reveal Elise’s popcorn was poisoned, Detective Sam Holden eyes her husband as the guilty party. Charlene doesn’t believe Darren would hurt his wife—even if his company’s specialty seasoned salts were sprinkled on the fatal snack. But who else had a motive to do something so unsavory? With a little help from Jack, the handsome ghost who haunts her B&B, Charlene delves into the ill-fated couple’s past. And the more she learns, the more Charlene wonders if this time, she’s bitten off more than she can chew . . .

GUEST POST

Drawing out Romance in a Cozy Mystery

Excerpt from Mrs. Morris and the Wolfman included

Even when one of the parties is a ghost, three is a crowd.

The premise of the Salem B&B series is that Charlene Morris, a widow, moves to Salem after the death of her soulmate to escape her overwhelming grief. Charlene isn’t interested in love, which was part of our plan as we plotted to keep her single. It used to be a saying that once you had your main character married, that was the death of the series.

There are certain expectations that a reader has when they pick up a cozy mystery—not to say that there aren’t exceptions, but for the most part a cozy is about an amateur sleuth that takes place in a small town, and things (like murder lol) keep happening to draw our protagonist in.

A hunky detective—we have Sam Holden, a Sam Elliott twin with the glorious mustache. We also have a ghost in the mansion, Dr. Jack Strathmore. Sam doesn’t believe in ghosts and can’t see Jack. Charlene and Silva the cat are the only ones who can.

Charlene, from Chicago, is very logical and the idea that her mansion is haunted is difficult to accept—but it’s true, so what is she supposed to do? As the series progresses, Jack eases Charlene’s grief with being a friend. Two years have passed since book one, and Charlene is just now willing to date Sam.

It’s complicated.

Sam can’t come to the bed and breakfast (for a sleepover, wink, wink) without upsetting Jack. Jack is a ghost and no matter how close he and Charlene are, it can never be more. We’ve drawn this out by putting in obstacles of Sam possibly moving away. Avery moving into the B&B. Guests all around. And Officer Jimenez at the Salem police department loathes Charlene. She is jealous but hasn’t said anything. And now that Charlene is considering a relationship with Sam, she worries about Jared. He was her everything and when he died, she was devastated. Dare she ever love anyone like that again?

Jack feels out of place, and very much like a third wheel. He loves Charlene with all of his heart. Sam also loves Charlene with everything in him.

We’ve had readers vote for Jack to become real and marry Charlene, while others are Team Sam all the way.

Do you have a favorite? I’d love to hear from you!

About Traci Wilton

From cozy mysteries to seaside romance, USA Today bestselling author Traci Hall writes stories that captivate her readers. As a hybrid author with over sixty published works, Ms. Hall has a favorite tale for everyone. Mystery lovers, check out her Scottish Shire series, set in the seaside town of Nairn, or the Salem B&B Mystery series, as Traci Wilton. Her latest project is an Irish Castle cozy as Ellie Brannigan. Whether it’s her ever-popular By the Sea romances, an Appletree Cove sweet romance, or a fun who-done-it, Traci finds her inspiration in sunny South Florida, living right near the ocean.

Author Links

Website https://www.tracihall.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tracie.hall.35/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/traciella/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Traciwiltonauthor/

Twitter https://twitter.com/tracihallauthor

Amazon https://amazon.com/author/tracihall

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tracihallauthor/

Kensington https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/author/traci-wilton/

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Apple – Kobo

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

October 2 – RUFF DRAFTS – AUTHOR GUEST POST

October 2 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

October 3 – Bigreadersite – REVIEW

October 3 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

October 4 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

October 4 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 5 – Mystery, Thrillers and Suspense – AUTHOR GUEST POST

October 5 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

October 5 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

October 6 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

October 6 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW

October 7 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST

October 7 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

October 8 – Baroness Book Trove – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

October 8 – The Mystery Section – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

October 9 – Brooke Blogs – RECIPE

October 9 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

October 10 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

October 10 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

October 11 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW

October 11 – Lady Hawkeye – RECIPE

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Guest Post and Blog Tour for Secrets and Scallywags: Magical Mystery Book Club

Posted on September 25, 2023 by Debbie

Secrets and Scallywags: Magical Mystery Book Club
by Elizabeth Pantley

About Secrets and Scallywags

Secrets and Scallywags: Magical Mystery Book Club
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Setting – A Small Oceanfront Community
Better Beginnings, Inc. (September 20, 2023)
Digital Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C494MPJ8

When this club selects a book, magic happens. They become the main characters in the story when the mystery comes to life.

This month’s book selection takes them to a charming island community that’s abuzz over a mysterious boat that washed ashore. Rumor has it that it’s the same pirate boat that sunk a year ago in the bay. The one that supposedly sank with treasure aboard.

When the club meets the ghosts of the men from the boat, they learn the astonishing secrets of the treasure. These ghosts can’t move on until it is found.

Can the motley group find the treasure and free the ghosts? They better, since it’s the only way they can exit the book and get back home.

GUEST POST

Where I Find Ideas to Write About

No matter where I am, book ideas grow. Every day brings ideas for characters, plots, and even villains.

Writing mysteries has changed the way I look at the world. It leads me to inspect what’s around me in a whole new way. In the past, I would read the paper and skim past certain articles, I would quickly change the channel past a murder case. Who wants to hear about a dead body found in the park? Well . . . mystery writers, that’s who! Now when I see that heading, I eagerly read to learn the who-done-it, the how-done-it, and the who-found-it!

Mysteries, even paranormal mysteries, are better if the storyline has some sense of possibility. It could really happen, so your story becomes more believable and more easily understood. Even in a magical community, if the reader finds the story possible, they can become more engrossed in solving the crime right along with the protagonist. So, the daily news stories I used to avoid become great research for the next scene or the next book.

Creating characters in fiction is the most fun I’ve had with writing. I’ll often use a person from my life experiences, a great movie, or a fascinating book, and plant the seeds of a character. Then, very quickly this person becomes real and begins to grow into a whole new being. As the story evolves, so does the character. Their personality and individual traits bloom on the page until they become very real.

Settings for my books often have their roots in life and cinema, also. It’s easier to base a setting on a real place as a starting point. From there you can remodel the location to suit the series, the story and the characters. The setting for my book club series originated in the mountains of Colorado. The gorgeous settings, the mysterious fog, and the interesting mountains and winding roads, made for a great place to begin each magical journey.

Book ideas start in life and often take a flying leap off the board from there. It is fun to examine the starting point of an idea and compare it to the completed work. Often you can still see the origin there, but sometimes the book has carried the idea off to a whole new fictional world.

About Elizabeth Pantley

Elizabeth Pantley is the international bestselling author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution and twelve other books for parents, published in over twenty languages.

She simultaneously writes well-loved cozy mysteries: The Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic book series and the Magical Mystery Book Club series.

Elizabeth lives in the Pacific Northwest, the gorgeous inspiration for the setting in many of her books.

Author Links
Website: https://www.nocrysolution.com/books/
Newsletter Sign-up: https://www.nocrysolution.com/mailing-list/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DestinyFallsMysteryandMagic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/destinyfallsmystery/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elizabeth-pantley

Purchase Links

Amazon Links: US CA UK AU

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

September 20 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

September 20 – Angel’s Guilty Pleasures – SPOTLIGHT

September 21 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST

September 21 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 22 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

September 22 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

September 23 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

September 23 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

September 24 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 24 – Bigreadersite – REVIIEW

September 25 – CelticLady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 25 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

September 26 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT

September 27 – Socrates Book Reviews – REVIEW

September 28 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT

September 28 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

September 29 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

September 30 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

October 1 – eBook Addicts – REVIEW

October 1 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT

October 2 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

October 3 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – CHARACTER GUEST POST

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Blog Tour and Guest Post for Have Yourself A Deadly Little Christmas, A Year-Round Christmas Mystery by Vicki Delany

Posted on September 21, 2023 by Debbie

Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas
(Year-Round Christmas Mystery)
by Vicki Delany

About Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas

Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas (Year-Round Christmas Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Setting – Rudolph New York
Crooked Lane Books (September 19, 2023)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1639104631
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1639104635
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BQLJWBN4

It’s beginning to look a lot like murder in the sixth installment of this charming cozy mystery series, perfect for fans of Donna Andrews and Jacqueline Frost.

It’s the beginning of December in Rudolph, New York, America’s Christmas Town, and business is brisk at Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, a gift and décor shop owned by Merry Wilkinson. The local amateur dramatic society is intensely preparing a special musical production of A Christmas Carol. But it’s not a happy set, as rivalries between cast and crew threaten the production.

Tensions come to a head when a member of the group is found dead shortly after a shopping excursion to Mrs. Claus’s Treasures. Was someone looking to cut out the competition? Everyone in the cast and crew is a potential suspect, including Aline, Merry’s mother, and Merry’s shop assistant Jackie O’Reilly, who was desperate for a starring role.

It could be curtains for Christmas—and for Merry—unless the killer can be ferreted out of the wings.

About Vicki Delany

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. Author of more than fifty books, she is currently writing the Tea by the Sea mysteries, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year-Round Christmas mysteries, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates). Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

GUEST POST

Too Much Christmas? Not in Rudolph, New York.

For Chicks on the Case

By Vicki Delany

Most of us would agree that Christmas can come too soon. We complain (I certainly do) about decorations in the stores and seasonal ads on TV before summer’s even over, never mind before Halloween.

But still, a lot of us do our shopping ahead of time. I know people who buy decorations for next year the week after this year’s Christmas, and who start shopping for gifts around the time they put away the New Years’ Decorations. It’s a wise woman (or man) who starts her baking in plenty of time. A traditional Christmas cake or old-fashioned English pudding, full of rum or brandy, or sometimes both, needs to be started months ahead to be perfect for the big day.

It’s precisely to help out those early birds that the town of Rudolph, New York celebrates Christmas all year round.

Don’t rush to your atlases or Google maps looking for Rudolph because I made it up. It’s the town at the center of my series, The Year-Round Christmas mysteries from Berkley and Crooked Lane.

Rudolph wants to be known as America’s Christmas Town and everything in Rudolph is about celebrating the holidays. All year round. They have a Santa Claus parade twice a year. The usual one the first Saturday in December, and then another for Christmas in July when Santa arrives by boat. (As featured in the third book in the series, Hark the Herald Angels Slay.)

In Rudolph everyone gets into the spirit of the thing. Victoria’s Bake Shoppe is famous for its gingerbread. There’s Candy Cane Sweets, the North Pole Ice Cream Parlour, The Elves Lunchbox, Cranberries Coffee Bar, Touch of Holly Restaurant, The Yuletide Inn, the Carolers Motel. (Looking at this list it seems as though the residents and visitors to Rudolph like to eat a lot.)

The series protagonist is Merry Wilkinson, owner of Mrs. Claus’s Treasures. Merry’s dad, Noel, is Santa Claus. Yes, Merry knows that he isn’t really Santa, but she does sometimes wonder. He has a way of knowing exactly what someone wants before even they do.

Rudolph, New York, wants to be known as America’s Christmas Town. Here, we celebrate Christmas all year round. In July, the town goes all out to take advantage of its prime location on the shores of Lake Ontario and its Christmas Town theme, when Santa arrives for his summer vacation in a grand boat parade. He sets up his umbrella on the beach to meet visiting children, and high school students dressed as vacationing elves serve as his attendants, as does Alan in his toymaker getup.

We might play at Christmas all year, but it’s the beginning of December when everything comes together. The hotels go all out with the decorations and seasonal activities, and the restaurants offer special menus featuring traditional holiday fare. Vicky’s bakery goes heavy on the mince tarts and gingerbread and even old-fashioned fruitcake of the sort that people buy and almost no one ever eats. (Although Vicky’s is fabulous!) The theater group always does a play with a holiday or Christmas theme, and it’s an important part of the town’s annual celebrations. Last year’s production of Miracle on 34th Street had been an enormous flop, or so I’d heard. Mom told me the company was desperate this year to recover from that disaster. They’d never attempted a musical, but encouraged by the new artistic director to be bigger and bolder than ever before, they were taking a chance with A Christmas Carol.

Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas, by Vicki Delany

Of course, it wouldn’t be a mystery novel without strife and conflict. And they find that, in abundance, as the town struggles to put on A Christmas Carol: The Musical.

Tell me, Chicks and friends, would you like to celebrate Christmas all year round? What would be the ideal length of the holiday season for you?

ABOUT THE BOOK: It’s the beginning of December in Rudolph, New York, America’s Christmas Town, and business is brisk at Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, a gift and décor shop owned by Merry Wilkinson. The local amateur dramatic society is intensely preparing a special musical production of A Christmas Carol. But it’s not a happy set, as rivalries between cast and crew threaten the production.

It could be curtains for Christmas—and for Merry—unless the killer can be ferreted out of the wings.

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than fifty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing the Tea by the Sea mysteries, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year-Round Christmas mysteries, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates).

Vicki is a past chair of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

Find Vicki at http://www.vickidelany.com

Facebook

Instagram: Vicki.Delany

You can sign up to receive Vicki’s quarterly newsletter at Vicki Delany – Canadian Author of Mystery Novels and Suspense Novels » Contact

Author Links

Website – www.vickidelany.com

Facebook – www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor;

Twitter: @vickidelany and@evagatesauthor

Instagram: vickidelany

Bookbub: Vicki Delany Books – BookBub

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org – PenguinRandomHouse

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

September 11 – Mystery, Thrillers and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

September 11 – Angel’s Guilty Pleasures – SPOTLIGHT

September 12 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST

September 12 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

September 13 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 13 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 14 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

September 14 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

September 14 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 15 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW

September 15 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 15 – Bigreadersite – REVIEW

September 16 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW

September 16 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

September 17 – Cozy Up WIth Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 17 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 18 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 18 – My Reading Journeys – CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 19 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

September 19 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

September 20 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

September 20 – Carla Loves to Read – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST

September 21 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW

September 21 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

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Guest Post and Blog Tour for Murder ala Mode, the first Coffee & Cream Mystery by Lena Gregory

Posted on August 11, 2023 by Debbie

Murder A La Mode (Coffee & Cream Cafe Mysteries)
by Lena Gregory

About Murder A La Mode

Murder A La Mode (Coffee & Cream Cafe Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – New York
Gemma Halliday Publishing (August 8, 2023)
Digital – Number of Pages 230
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C2LH144G

From author Lena Gregory comes a delicious new series that will warm your heart and leave you guessing until the very end…

When twenty-five-year-old Danika Delaney, black sheep of the Delaney clan, returns home to Long Island to take over Jimmie’s, her eccentric uncle’s old fashioned malt shop on eastern Long Island, she’s not exactly thrilled. But things start to look up when her uncle tells her she can do whatever she’d like with the shop, and it seems she might realize her dream of a small trendy café. That is, until she discovers the body of her ex-boyfriend’s estranged wife in a melted puddle of rocky road in the malt shop basement. With her two sidekicks, her sister and a good childhood friend, in tow, Dani searches for–or stumbles upon—one clue after another. But as she narrows down the suspect list, she realizes if she’s not careful she may end up in a puddle of her own…

About Lena Gregory

Lena grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, but she recently traded in cold, damp, gray winters for the warmth and sunshine of Central Florida, where she now lives with her husband, three kids, son-in-law, and four dogs. Her hobbies include spending time with family, reading, and walking. Her love for writing developed when her youngest son was born and didn’t sleep through the night. She works full time as a writer and a freelance editor and is a member of Sisters in Crime.

GUEST POST

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Lena Gregory

I love getting to know my readers, so please feel free to leave a comment letting me know a little something about you. Do you share any of my quirks?

My faith and my family are the most important things in my life.
I grew up on the south shore of eastern Long Island and spent most of my time attending dance classes or reading.
My husband and I recently relocated from Long Island to Central Florida. We have three amazing kids, ages thirty-two, twenty-four and twelve. Yes, my little guy came as quite a very happy surprise! And I am extremely family oriented. I enjoy nothing more than spending time with my husband and kids.
I absolutely love big dogs. At the moment, we have an Akita, a Weimaraner, and two Australian Shepherds.
I am a master at procrastination. I don’t have a lot of writing time, but sometimes, when I do sit down to write, I just can’t seem to get going. So I tell myself there are important things I have to do before I can start writing. The first of those is usually facebook, because there might be something interesting I “need” to know. I love to chat with readers, my agent, and other authors, so I often hang out there for a bit. Then I check all of my emails, because, you know, something really important that wasn’t there five minutes ago, might be there now. And then I head for twitter. By the time I finish all of that, I’m usually hungry so, I grab a snack, then finally sit down to get started.
One of my favorite things to do is take a long walk with my kids and take lots of pictures of nature.
I have worked many jobs, some I loved, others not as much. I was a dance teacher and choreographer for more than twenty years. When my daughter was in high school I choreographed and co-directed several high school musicals. I also worked in a deli, which will feature in a mystery I’m currently outlining. And I cleaned houses in the Hamptons, which gave me more material than you could imagine for a future cozy mystery series.
I am painfully shy. As much as I love socializing and even meeting new people, I do much better one on one than I do in a group.
I started writing my first novel when I was forty-five years old—in a notebook because I’d never heard of Microsoft Word and didn’t even know how to use email.
I am very high strung and rarely relax. I go from the time I get up until the time I go to bed. I talk fast, I move fast, and I always have a list a mile long of things I have to get finished in a day. Of course, I usually forget or misplace the list, so it doesn’t always help much.

Don’t forget to leave a comment and let me know if you share any of those same traits.

Author Links

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Website: http://www.lenagregory.com/
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Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Lena.Gregory.Author/?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LenaGregory03
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14956514.Lena_Gregory?from_search=true
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lenagregoryauth/

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MURDER A LA MODE TOUR PARTICIPANTS

August 8 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

August 8 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – REVIEW

August 9 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

August 9 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

August 10 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

August 10 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW

August 10 – MJB Reviewers – REVIEW, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY

August 11 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

August 11 – Christa Reads and Writes – SPOTLIGHT

August 12 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

August 12 – Socrates Book Reviews – REVIEW

August 13 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

August 13 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

August 14 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 15 – The Mystery Section – SPOTLIGHT

August 15 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW

August 16 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

August 16 – Jane Reads – CHARACTER GUEST POST

August 17 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST

August 17 – Mochas, Mysteries and Meows – CHARACTER GUEST POST

August 18 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

August 18 – Brooke Blogs – REVIEW, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY

August 19 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

August 20 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

August 21 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

August 21 – My Reading Journeys – SPOTLIGHT

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Blog Tour, Guest Post

Guest Post and Blog Tour for A Sour Note, a Music Box Mystery by Jill Piscitello

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Debbie

A Sour Note (A Music Box Mystery)
by Jill Piscitello

About A Sour Note

A Sour Note (A Music Box Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Hampton Beach, NH
Wild Rose Press (June 26, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 250 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1509249176
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509249176
Kindle ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C2ZH3XL2

On the heels of a public, broken engagement, Maeve Cleary returns to her childhood home in Hampton Beach, NH. When a dead body turns up behind her mother’s music school, three old friends land on the suspect list. Licking her wounds soon takes a back seat to outrunning the paparazzi who spin into a frenzy, casting her in a cloud of suspicion. Maeve juggles her high school sweetheart, a cousin with a touch of clairvoyance, a no-nonsense detective, and an apologetic, two-timing ex-fiancé. Will the negative publicity impact business at the Music Box— the very place she’d hoped to make a fresh start?

GUEST POST

What’s in a Name?

By: Jill Piscitello

What’s in a name? For this author, quite a bit. First, I make a painstaking effort to ensure I’ve never personally known any human with a name I’d like to use. I don’t base my characters on real people and aim to avoid such confusion. So how do I choose from the long and ever-growing list? Sometimes, when I hear a name, it immediately strikes as one I’d like to use for a character. But most often, the names that appear in my books are attached to a fond memory. For example, my friend grew up on Reynold’s Avenue. Reynold’s pops up in Homemakers’ Christmas as a catering business. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was a favorite childhood movie and led to the stepmother, Clarice, in Tinsel and Tea Cakes. I also paid homage to The Facts of Life’s Edna Garrett with Daphne Garrett, an employee at The Music Box.

Every once in a while, I’m forced to resort to countless websites offering names according to themes, cities, meanings, and years of popularity. But this search requires time far better spent writing. Without an existing attachment to the sound, meaning, or internal pull toward the name, I need to build and ingrain a connection before proceeding with the storyline.

There are unofficial rules to choosing a name. They should not look or sound similar to any other in the book, be easy to pronounce, fit a specific personality, and meet genre expectations. But I believe stepping outside the confines of a rule box is okay. I remember loving the name Aisling in Maeve Binchy’s Light a Penny Candle, but I had zero idea of the pronunciation. The word was lovely in print, and I needed no other reason to adore it. The name has stuck with me for 30+ years. I now know the correct pronunciation and will likely use it for a character that may or may not be Irish.

Naming fictional towns and business establishments such as restaurants, pose their own challenges. To date, I try to have fun with the process. One example is Dog Eared, the fictional used bookstore in Hampton, NH. For years, one of my first stops in Hampton was The Book Outlet. My daughter and I could get lost in there for hours. A Sour Note wasn’t complete without reference to this favorite diversion, and I wanted the fictional name to radiate the same joy we felt flipping through the many dog-eared pages of used books. The outlet has since closed, and we’re always searching for a new spot.

What makes a name special for most people? Often, a connection to family members is important. But a name can also relate to one’s culture or personal experience. Sometimes the goal is to convey meaning. But that grows tricky when multiple sources share different meanings for the same name. Depending on which website I visit, Jill might mean “youthful”, “child of the gods”, “girl”, and “sweetheart”. Given that I just stepped into the last year of my 40s, I’ll go with “youthful”.

When done well, naming a character has lasting, iconic, implications. Some authors craft such vivid, 3D, larger than life characters, their first and/or last names take on a life and definition of their own. Scrooge is synonymous with greed. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Don’t be a Scrooge”. Sherlock is often used to imply inept detective work, such as the inability to locate something in a drawer or coming to an obvious conclusion. “No kidding, Sherlock” is one common phrase. Wonka resulted in a line of chocolate products. Was Hannibal chosen because it rhymes with cannibal? Lolita now describes a young woman too alluring for her age. We’re unlikely to see anyone name their child Dracula or Frankenstein any time soon. Mr. Darcy pops up in more versions of books and movies than I dare to count. Holly Golightly is every bit as singsong as a name should be for such an enchanting character. For an author to create another Katniss, Hermione, or Gatsby, they’d likely appear more than presumptuous. I dared to name one heroine Scarlett, but mainstream popularity allowed me to do so.

Sometimes, authors write manuscripts around a moniker that catches their fancy. One of my works in progress demands to be finished if for no other reason than I love the name of my fictional town in Maine. Stay tuned.

Pseudonyms are another piece of the name game. When my first book was contracted, I struggled with whether or not to use my real name. Piscitello isn’t easy to spell or pronounce. Who would remember me? Did the name even fit my sweet, holiday romance genre? I knew a cozy mystery was in my future. Would something short and sweet be better? As previously noted, I prefer a personal connection and spent a good amount of time playing with names of grandmothers and great-grandmothers. My maiden name was taken by another author, so that option was kicked to the curb. I shared the struggle and a few viable, flowery options with my publisher who suggested I stick with my real name because it was, in fact, memorable. I’m still not sure if I made the correct decision, but here’s to no regrets.

About Jill Piscitello

Jill Piscitello is a teacher, author, and an avid fan of multiple literary genres. Although she divides her reading hours among several books at a time, a lighthearted story offering an escape from the real world can always be found on her nightstand.

A native of New England, Jill lives with her family and three well-loved cats. When not planning lessons or reading and writing, she can be found spending time with her family, trying out new restaurants, traveling, and going on light hikes.

Author Links

Website: https://jillpiscitello.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jillpiscitelloauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Piscj18

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jillpiscitellobooks/

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21978074.Jill_Piscitello

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jill-piscitello?list=author_books

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TOUR PARTICIPANTS

July 17 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

July 18 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW