News Flash: The lucky winners are Janet Spaeth, Sara Hyman, and Mary Sylvester. Congratulations, and please check your email, ladies!
Edith/Maddie, just back to north of Boston from Cape Cod. I worked really hard writing during my solo retreat, but I also soaked up the sounds, smells, and tastes of the Cape – and took notes, of course, because the next Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery (#6) will be set during May.
Now I’m so excited to present not one but two new covers! Yes, I have a double book release in late September, a true embarrassment of riches . Let’s start with Murder in a Cape Cottage, Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries #4.
Isn’t it pretty? Here’s the blurb: ʼTis the day after Christmas, following a wicked-busy time of year for Mac’s bike shop. It’s just as well her Cozy Capers Book Group’s new pick is a nerve-soothing coloring book mystery, especially when she has last-minute wedding planning to do. But all pre-wedding jitters fade into the background when Mac and her fiancé, Tim, begin a cottage renovation project and open up a wall to find a skeleton—sitting on a stool, dressed in an old-fashioned bridal gown.
As Mac delves into the decades-old mystery with the help of librarian Flo and her book group, she discovers a story of star-crossed lovers and feuding families worthy of the bard himself. Yet this tale has a modern-day villain still lurking in Mac’s quaint seaside town, ready to make this a murderous New Year’s Eve . . .
Yes, a skeleton in the wall! I’ve always wanted to write a book featuring that kind of decades-old victim and all the mystery surrounding who she was. This story also features a ticking clock. Mac has five days to solve the murder before her New Year’s Eve wedding. Murder in a Cape Cottage releases September 27 and is available for preorder wherever books are sold. Just a reminder – my publisher looks closely at preorders, as one factor to determine if the series should continue. I’d appreciate your preorder if you can swing it.
In addition to Murder in a Cape Cottage, I have “Scarfed Down,” a Country Store Mysteries novella in Christmas Scarf Murder. Including novellas by Carlene O’Connor and Peggy Ehrhart along with mine, the collection also releases on September 27. It has a great cover, too.
Here’s the blurb for my story:
It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas at Pans ‘N Pancakes, as twelve days of menu specials dazzle hungry locals. But the festivities go cold the instant a diner dies while knitting a brilliant green scarf. With Aunt Adele tied into a murder investigation, it’s all on Robbie Jordan to find out who’s really been naughty or nice in South Lick, Indiana.
And I happen to have a stack of advance copies of the collection burning up space in my office.
So, readers: What’s your favorite holiday dish, sweet or savory? What about a holiday garment you haul out every year that you might not wear at any other time? I’ll pick three (sorry, US only) to receive a copy of the collection.
My family loves my lasagna at Christmas, and I have to say it makes Christmas dinner a lot simpler. We always make an assortment of cookies for later and to send home with everyone. I love to wear Christmas sweaters and tops during the month of December, and my favorite has battery-powered lights! Those are great covers, features my favorite color, blue.
My favorite holiday dish is brisket in gravy which we don’t tend to make much because we’re eating lighter.
My favorite holiday dish is cornbread dressing. Our tradition is turkey and dressing for Christmas and Thanksgiving.
I will have to say it is mashed potatoes. That’s the dish I look most forward to. Pie? Nah, I’ll have another helping of the potatoes. My granddaughter is the same way. I have a couple of Christmassy sweatshirts but most often I’ll go with a bright red sweater.
Love the covers!
Love the book covers!! My favorite holiday dish is the cranberry walnut stuffing! So good. I also enjoy all the yummy sweet treats!
Thanks for the chance!!
favorite holiday dish – pecan pie holiday garment – not really a garment, but a blanket that comes out as soon as the weather gets chilly
For Thanksgiving, I try to have turkey. Since I’m by myself, I do a turkey leg or thigh and have leftovers for sandwiches. I have the Cape Cod book ordered but would love to have the collection. Thanks for the chance.
I love my aunts pralines during the holidays! The only time she makes them is thanksgiving and Christmas. I don’t have anything special I wear, but growing up my grandmother always bought my Christmas dress.
Turkey! Pretty much the only time I have it is at the holidays and I just really love it. I don’t dress up for holidays so I don’t have anything to drag out that I only wear then unless you count my Grinch t-shirts.:)
My sister-in-law makes a cranberry mousse only for Christmas. It is well worth the wait for this once a year treat.
Nothing is better than Christmas cookies!!
I love to make Seven Layer cookies as well as my Grandmother’s Pumpkin bread recipe. I only make these around Christmas. Since I am disabled, I do not have that many holiday sweatshirts as I did when I was working. I have a lot of snowman ones since I can wear them throughout winter. I love your new covers. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful blog. God bless you.
I am not sure if this will be a duplicate. I am having issues with my posts posting. I make Seven Layer Cookies and my Grandmother’s pumpkin bread around Christmas. I do not make them at any other time of the year. I do not have any Christmas outfits any longer due to not working. I have snowman sweatshirts that I can wear thoughout the winter season. I love the two covers. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
My favorite dish is sweet. I love Christmas Cookies especially Homemade Orange Cookies.
Would love to read & review this book in print format. I think this book sounds and looks amazing and look forward to reading the book in print format
My favorite holiday is sweet and it is Pumpkin Pie. For Christmas I have a Dark Blue Vest with snowflakes on it.
Tamales is a must have in my household during the Holiday. Our cultural tradition. Yummmm, yummmy!
I don’t have any particular garments for the holidays, but I do like lefse spread with butter and sugar!
Cranberry pecan tassies – a bit fiddly to make, so definitely a once-per-year treat.
Sweet potato casserole for me. How great is it that your book covers match up with the season of release!
Growing up I had a regular menu for the holidays with turkey. But neither of my kids like turkey. Eventually I realized that the important thing was for us to have a nice meal together. So, I started cooking something for my husband and me and we did take out (of their choice, usually fried mozzarella sticks and burgers) for the kids. Everyone was happy and we had a pleasant meal.
Favorite holiday dish — the Christmas cookies that we make and give each year. Saving some for the house. I love wearing my Christmas sweaters, Have a few and they always cheer me up.
I have a sweet potato casserole that is my own magical mix. My family adores it! So for the hokidays, I use my kitchen witch magic and create the casserole no one has been able to recreate. I also have my grandmother’s pumpkin spice cake recipe (I’ve added my magic to it as well) that everyone asks for.
As for what I’ll wear only at the holidays? I have a red & green tub full of holiday magic! Enough to wear a different one from Thanksgiving to New Years. Why pick just one? But if I had to? It be my Snoopy Christmas sweater.
Favorite holiday dish is sweet potato casserole and favorite holiday item to wear is my Peanuts Christmas T-shirt.
I like my ugly Christmas sweater which has birdhouses with Christmas stockings because it is warm.
The lucky winners are Janet Spaeth, Sara Hyman, and Mary Sylvester. Congratulations, and please check your email, ladies!
No holiday garment except for Halloween as a Witch. But I love my Cornbread dressing that was my grandmother’s and I stuff the turkey with.