About the Book
Deadly Traditions: A Cozy Mystery Christmas Anthology by Justine Maxwell, Gayle Leeson, Estelle Richards, Erin Scoggins, Sage So, Dianne Ascroft, Ellie Ballard, Melicity Pope, Mollie Cox Bryan, and Sam Cheever
Have yourself a DEADLY little Christmas.Celebrate the holidays with mistletoe, mayhem, and murder. Join your favorite authors as they cozy up by the fire with twelve festive short mysteries that feature treasured holiday traditions. Serve up a slice of fatal fruitcake and deck the halls with danger, because the holiday season has never been so much fun.
This original collection is available for a limited time
only, so grab your copy today.
Includes:
A Pickle in a Pear Tree by Erin Scoggins
Mistletoe and Murder by Dianne Ascroft
O Deadly Night by Estelle Richards
Larceny and Gingerbread Lattes by Justine Maxwell
Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas by Gayle Leeson
~~ Amazon ~~
Guest Post by Mollie Cox Bryan
Meet Irene Calhoun
Irene Calhoun here. I own the Mourning Arts shop in Victoria Town, Va,, a place I’m happy to call my home. A well-preserved Victorian Town, we are well known for our architecture and our authentic shops. For example, if you want a fan or a corset, made in an authentic manner, Victoria Town has the shop for you. Of course, one can’t really speak of Victorian culture without looking deeply at their mourning traditions. That’s where I come in.
My recently departed husband left the shop to me. I must admit this is not the path I cut out for myself as a young woman, but love will find you in odd places. I have found my own way in the shop, now I’m designing mourning clothes, with a bit of a modern twist. I also must admit a fascination with mourning jewelry. We have quite a collection of jet, lover’s eyes, and hair-jewlery. Some modern people think of making jewelry from a deceased person's hair macabre, but the Victorians found it very comforting.
As a historic town that has reinvented itself into a tourist mecca, we are steeped in tradition and tourist events. One of our busiest times of the year is Christmas, of course. The Sweet Victoria Bed and Breakfast always has a fancy Christmas tea, which is one of my favorite events. Many of the other businesses build their promotions around it. Fans & Feathers offers a special fan one would just use for tea parties, for example. And Cee-Cee’s Chocolate offers Christmas tea-infused chocolates in gorgeous tin containers.
Our popularity is a mixed blessing. We are well known for
our heartfelt hospitality. But at the same time, it can be overwhelming. One of
the measures we’ve taken is having some self-care events for ourselves before a
big event. One of those events is a card-making party for the local business
owners. It’s a way to get creative and have fun, let loose a bit, before the
tourist descend on us. This year, I’m hosting at Mourning Arts. It’s my first
year and I’m a little nervous about it. I don’t know why. I mean, it’s a crafty
party. We’ll have goodies and make cards. What could go wrong?
About the Authors
Gayle Leeson
Gayle Leeson is a
pseudonym for Gayle Trent. Gayle has also written as Amanda Lee. She is
currently writing the Kinsey Falls chick-lit/women's fiction series, the Down
South Cafe cozy mystery series, and the Ghostly Fashionista cozy mystery
series. Her book KILLER WEDDING CAKE won the Bronze Medal in the 20th
Anniversary IPPY Awards. Gayle lives in Southwest Virginia with her family and enjoys
hearing from readers.
Mollie Cox Bryan
Mollie Cox Bryan
writes cozy mysteries with edge. She's the author of several bestselling
mystery series, also writing under the pen name Maggie Blackburn. Her books
have been selected as finalists for an Agatha Award and a Daphne du Maurier
Award and as a Top 10 Beach Reads by Woman's World. She has also been
short-listed for the Virginia Library People's Choice Award. She's also penned
a historical fiction: MEMORY OF LIGHT: AN AFTERMATH OF GETTYSBURG. She's the
mother of two nearly perfect daughters, each pursuing careers in music.
Erin Scoggins
USA Today
Bestselling Author Erin Scoggins is a long-time Southerner with a fondness for
offbeat humor and fresh fried chicken. After fifteen years in marketing with a
Fortune 500 company, she traded her MBA for fictional crime scenes and feisty
small-town families. She writes fun, flirty mysteries that are celebrations of
food, family, and the killer South.
Visit her at
www.erinscoggins.com for book news and shenanigans.
Estelle Richards
Estelle Richards lives in the beautiful American Southwest
and writes cozy mysteries. Connect with Estelle at estellerichards.com or on
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/estellerichardswriter/.
Justine Maxwell
Justine Maxwell writes cozy mysteries with brave heroines,
strong family bonds, and a touch of romance. She has degrees in psychology from
Northern Arizona University and Grand Canyon University. She hopes to one day
become a reclusive author in a mountain cabin near Flagstaff, AZ. Until then,
she'll be a busy mom of four small children and one (allegedly) hypoallergenic
pup, writing in the midst of chaos.
Wendy H. Jones
International Award Winning Author Wendy H. Jones lives in
Scotland, and her police procedural series featuring DI Shona McKenzie are
set. Wendy has led a varied and adventurous life. Her love for adventure led to
her joining the Royal Navy to undertake nurse training. After six years in the
Navy, she joined the Army where she served as an Officer for a further 17 years.
Killer's Countdown was her first novel and the first book in the Shona McKenzie
Mysteries. Killer's Crew won the Books Go Social Book of the Year 2017. The
seventh book in the series. Killer's Curse will be released early august 2020.
The Dagger's Curse, the first book in The Fergus and Flora Mysteries, was a
finalist in the Woman Alive Magazine Readers Choice Award Book of the Year.
Turning to humorous crime the Cass Claymore Investigates series was born. She
is also a highly successful marketer and is currently in the process of
rereleasing her completely updated marketing book Marketing Matters. This will
be part of the Writing Matters Series following the release of Motivation
Matters. She is also the author of the Bertie the Buffalo picture book and
associated soft toy and colouring book. Wendy is delighted to be one of the
authors in two anthologies aimed at empowering women - The Power of Why, and
Women Win Against All Odds. She is proud to be the President of the Scottish
Association of Writers and is the host of The Writing and Marketing Show
podcast, a writing and marketing coach. and CEO of Writing Matters online
writing school, Authorpreneur Accelerator Academy.
Dianne Ascroft
Dianne Ascroft is a Canadian writer living in Britain. Since
moving to Britain in 1990 she has lived in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Online she can be found at http://www.dianneascroft.com.
She writes cozy mystery, historical and contemporary
fiction, often with an Irish connection. Her non-fiction articles and short
stories have been printed in Canadian and Irish magazines and regional
newspapers including the Toronto Star, Ireland's Own, Senior Times, Celtic
Connection and Irish Connections Canada.
She was co-editor of The Fermanagh Miscellany, the Fermanagh
Authors' Association's yearly anthology for several years and she also
contributes material to other local history and writers' anthologies.
Dianne is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors,
Sisters in Crime, Historical Novel Society, Writers Abroad, Fermanagh Authors'
Association and Fermanagh Writers.
Dianne started life in a quiet residential neighbourhood in
the buzzing city of Toronto and has progressively moved to smaller places
through the years. She now lives on a small farm in Northern Ireland with her
husband and an assortment of strong willed animals. If she ever decides to
write her autobiography the working title will be 'Downsizing'.
Sam Cheever
USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Sam
Cheever writes mystery and suspense, creating stories that draw you in and keep
you eagerly turning pages. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue,
and unique and exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author of 80+
books.
NEWSLETTER: Join Sam's Monthly newsletter and get a FREE
book! You can also keep up with her appearances, enjoy special content, and get
previews of her upcoming work! https://www.samcheever.com/newsletter.html.
TEXT NEWS ALERTS: Or if you'd rather not receive a monthly
newsletter, you can sign up for text alerts and just receive a brief text when
Sam's launching a new release or appearing somewhere fun. Just text SAMNEWS to
781-728-9542 to be added!
ONLINE HOT SPOTS: To find out more about Sam and her work,
please pay her a visit: Her website: https://www.samcheever.com; Her blog:
https://www.samcheever.com/blog; and Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor. She looks forward to chatting with
you!
Giveaway
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
September 20 – Reading Authors Network
– SPOTLIGHT
September 20 – #BRVL Book Review
Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
September 20 – Ascroft, eh?
– CHARACTER INTERVIEW
September 21 – Island Confidential
– SPOTLIGHT
September 21 – Lady Hawkeye
– SPOTLIGHT
September 21 – Christy's Cozy Corners
– REVIEW
September 22 – Reading Is My SuperPower
– REVIEW
September 22 – Baroness Book Trove
– SPOTLIGHT
September 23 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 23 – Literary Gold
– SPOTLIGHT
September 23 – fundinmental
– AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 24 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 24 – Mystery Review Crew
– CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 24 – Ruff Drafts
– SPOTLIGHT
September 25 – The Mystery Section – GUEST POST
September 25 – FUONLYKNEW
– SPOTLIGHT
September 26 – Maureen's Musing – SPOTLIGHT
September 26 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
September 26 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 27 – Brooke Blogs
– SPOTLIGHT
September 27 – Sapphyria's Books
– REVIEW
September 27 – Escape With Dollycas Into
A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
September 28 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – SPOTLIGHT
September 28 – Novels Alive
– REVIEW – SPOTLIGHT
September 29 – I Read What You Write
– REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 29 – My Journey Back
– CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 29 – Novels Alive
– REVIEW – SPOTLIGHT
Sounds good.
ReplyDeleteThere seems like a lot of good stories here.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting DEADLY TRADITIONS today! <3
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletethis book sounds great!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this guest post, authors' bios and book details, this sounds like an exciting collection of holiday cozy mysteries and I am looking forward to reading all of the stories
ReplyDeletefestive
ReplyDeleteLooks like a lot of good stories.
ReplyDeleteDeadly Traditions sounds like a wonderfully thrilling collection of holiday mysteries for me to enjoy and I like the cover!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing it with me and have a fabulous day!
This sounds like a great anthology!
ReplyDelete