Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas - An Interview, Review, & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Vicky Delany back to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Vicky writes the Year-Round Christmas Mystery series. HAVE YOURSELF A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS is the sixth book in the series and will be released this week!

Kathy: In HAVE YOURSELF A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS the local amateur dramatic society is preparing a special musical production of A Christmas Carol. I love this short story and enjoy its many adaptations. Indeed, one of my favorite versions is a musical one-The Muppet Christmas Carol. What's your favorite version?

VD: My favorite is absolutely The Muppet Christmas Carol. We watch it regularly in my family and I’m happy to say that last Christmas I watched it with my grandchildren. So much fun. We have lines we regularly quote to each other. “Heat wave!” “You are such an idiot” in that exasperated voice.

Kathy: Have you ever been involved with a community theatre or dramatic society?

VD: Never.

Kathy: Was there a specific inspiration for this story?

VD: Nothing more than wanting to centre the story around a theatrical production which I thought would give a lot of range for conflict. I chose the musical version of A Christmas Carol specifically to give Merry’s mother, Aline, a big part in the book. She’s a retired Metropolitan opera soloist and I love playing her over-the-top diva-ness against Merry’s dad’s small-town personality and showing how opposites really can attract. 

Kathy: Christmas is my favorite holiday and I enjoy shopping throughout the year. If there's a Christmas shop I'll be a customer, no matter if it's December, July, or March! Do you scout out Christmas shops no matter the season?

VD: I’m more of a Holiday season only celebrator. I do my shopping in late November/early December. The tree goes up some time after December 20. As for Christmas shops, I like browsing, but I don’t seek them out. 

Kathy: Are you able to share any future plans for Merry Wilkinson?

VD: At the moment, no. She’ll just keep running her shop and hanging out with her family and friends. And solve the occasional murder. Change is coming, however, to her friend Vicky Casey in the next book. So stay tuned!


Kathy: Will you share any other upcoming books?

VD: Happy to. The nineth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop book will be released in January, and it’s titled THE SIGN OF FOUR SPIRITS, so named because the inciting incident takes place at a seance. And then the eleventh Lighthouse Library book, by me as Eva Gates, will be out in June. It’s A STRANGER IN THE LIBRARY.

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Review

HAVE YOURSELF A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS by Vicki Delany

The Sixth Year-Round Christmas Mystery

Christmas is coming and Rudolph, NY is gearing up for its busiest season. The Year-Round Christmas town is counting on its production of a musical version of "A Christmas Carol" to make up for last year's debacle. With Merry’s mother, former opera star Aline Wilkinson, providing musical direction as well as performing, shows are quickly being sold out. But all is not Christmassy cheer with the amateur company. The new artistic director is throwing her money around, but making enemies with longstanding members, including the director and wardrobe mistress, and Tiny Tim is being played by a ten year old bully! The less Merry has to do with the amateur production the better, but when Mrs. Cratchit is murdered in her shop, she can’t help but get involved.

 

Christmas, theatre, and murder - three of my favorite things. I was filled with nostalgia when I discovered Rudolph's theatre group was putting on a production of a musical version of "A Christmas Carol" because decades ago I played Belle in a community theatre production. Having worked in theatre in my younger days I had to smile at the goings on of this group. With varying degrees of talent, inflated egos, and limited budget, community theatre makes the perfect ground for murder!

The fact that the victim may not have been the intended target leads to all manner of possibilities creating a thoroughly enjoyable mystery. I loved how Merry fully intended to leave the murder investigation to the professionals, but, well, things happen. While many of the characters are quite brusque, the relationships between Merry and Alan as well as Merry's parents are loving and wonderful to see.

A Christmas murder with theatrical flair, HAVE YOURSELF A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS is a holiday treat good year-round.

 

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 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

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.

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 

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