I'm happy to allow MayBell Ferth to take over Cozy Up With Kathy today. You can find MayBell in the pages of "Killing the Carol" by Sam Cheever. This is just one of the stories found in DEADLY TRADITIONS: A COZY MYSTERY CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY.
My name is MayBell Ferth, and the cute little ball of fluff and attitude sitting on my lap is Shakespeare… Shakes for short. Shakes is a Pomeranian, a.k.a. the Pomeranian Devil. He’s also my best friend and my accomplice in crime-fighting and other things.
I come from a family of cops. My dad, the Lieutenant, is a fearsome creature with a soft spot for Shakes that he tries to hide. My brother Argh is a detective. Argh got his nickname as a kid when he had to wear an eyepatch due to reoccurring eye infections. Argh and I have an older brother and sister who are also cops.
I’m pretty sure that the very first Ferth to step off a ship onto terra firma in the New World was a cop of some sort. The Ferths have worn the impetus for protecting and serving as a badge of honor through countless generations.
Until me.
I’m not a cop. And, I’ll bet you an entire box of caramel-filled chocolates that you’ve never heard of my job before.
I started out as a Community Theatre actor. I gave that gig up because I couldn’t take the diva drama. I know, irony. But in my current career I’m a Professional Mourner. Yep, that’s a real thing. I actually get paid to cry at funerals and play whatever role the client wishes me to play. Bereaved girlfriend, gloating college rival, conniving ex-partner. I’ve played them all.
I love my job, even though it’s gotten me into a few “situations” since I started. One time, I was targeted by a killer while playing a grieving girlfriend and nearly got myself gacked before my PI boyfriend and I managed to stop the murderer.
Another time, an old rival of mine was killed and I was blamed for her death. It took some tricky maneuvering casket-side to suss that one out.
But the situation I’m currently in isn’t due to my Professional Mourning job. I signed up for Caroling in the Square, an event my theatre group holds every year around the holidays to entertain and promote our productions. From my perspective, there was only one way that was going to end.
Badly. Very badly.
Full disclosure, my singing voice sounds like a cross between a preschool brass band and cats mating in an alley. I didn’t want to join the event, but I succumbed to pressure from the group. Although I was pretty sure my singing would be the thing that ruined everybody’s Christmas, I hadn’t counted on the corpse in the alley.
Carol Ling wasn’t just the unlucky owner of a terrible name. She’d apparently also done something to annoy a killer. She’d met a terrible end in a stinky, garbage-infused alleyway. Long story short, it would be up to me, my dog, and my PI boyfriend to find her killer.
Admittedly, my police detective brother, Argh, was on the case. But I won’t lie. I plan to stick my nose into his investigation. I just can’t seem to help myself.
I’ll take my licks from my bossy older brother. We’ll all need to work together to figure out who killed the woman named after a fun Christmas activity. With the help of a certain adorable Pom, potential assistance from my monosyllabic dread-headed neighbor who lives in a medically-approved cannabis cloud, and the invaluable expertise of my PI boyfriend, Eddie, I fully intend to catch a killer.
I might not be a cop like the rest of my family, but I’ve got more detective than diva coursing through my veins.
Detective DNA wins out every time.
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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 100+ books.
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Review
DEADLY TRADITIONS: A COZY MYSTERY CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY
Christmas cookie contests, kidnapped Santas, gingerbread crises, and more await you in the stories of this new Christmas themed anthology. A professional mourner, retired opera singer, and wedding planner are just a few of the careers from which our protagonists hail and locations are just as varied including a retirement community in Minnesota and a yacht on the North Carolina coast.
I really enjoyed the stories, each of which is a quick read, easily finished before bed...or on a lunch break. I wasn't familiar with many of the authors, but I'll definitely be looking some up! Most of the stories seem to be inhabited by characters from full length books in
mystery series. Being unfamiliar with the background wasn't confusing and I didn't have a problem being thrown into their world, though some authors made it easier than others. I'm sure readers who follow the series will appreciate these stories even more.
DEADLY TRADITIONS: A COZY MYSTERY CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY is filled with fun, quick reads to get you into the holiday spirit.
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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
About Deadly Traditions
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
About the Authors
About 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.
About 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.
About 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.
About 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/.
About 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.
About 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
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Purchase Link - Amazon
I can hardly wait to learn more about the Pomeranian Devil and Argh! Thank you, Kathy, for hosting DEADLY TRADITIONS on your blog today!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by!
DeleteWhat a great group of authors in this book!
ReplyDelete