I'm pleased to welcome Samantha Davies to Cozy Up With Kathy today. You can find Samantha on the pages of the Samantha Davies Mystery series by S. A. Kazlo. Mistletoe, Mutts and Murder is the sixth book in the series and was released last week.
Hi, Samantha Davies here. My Southern Belle cousin, Candie Parker-Hogan and I live in a small town, Wings Falls, in upstate New York. We're more like sisters than cousins, both of us not having any siblings. Candie was raised by our Memaw and Grandpop Parker in Hainted Hollar, Tennessee after her parents were killed in a car accident. I spent my childhood summers with her running through the fields of our grandparents’ farm or hanging out in the barn’s hayloft, she playing with her Barbie dolls and me scribbling stories in my diary. Needless to say, she’s the fashionista, who never found a rhinestone she didn’t like. I tell her that her middle name is “bling”. I’m the storyteller who prefers yoga pants and tee-shirts.
Despite our differences, we both share a love for hooking. No not that kind of hooking but rug hooking. Every Monday morning, we gather with our fellow rug hookers, the Loopy Ladies, at the Ewe and Me Woolery. We hook, eat, gab and eat some more. It’s a fun group of ladies who range in age from their twenties to our oldest member, Gladys O’Malley, who if I had to guess was in her eighties, although she’d never tell. These ladies are more than just fellow hookers but are dear friends. They helped me about five years ago when I was going through a divorce from my husband of twenty-five years, George or as Candie calls him “an egg-sucking hound dog”. George and I co-own a funeral parlor together, the Do Drop Inn Funeral Parlor, which I financed for him when we were first married through an inheritance I received from an uncle. Apparently, he was doing the horizontal mambo with the secretary of business when I thought he was on late night body pickups. Silly me.
But maybe dumping George was the best thing I ever did because now I have a wonderful boyfriend, Hank Johnson. Not that I was looking for someone to take George’s place. Oh, no. I was quite happy snuggling on my sofa with my reddish-brown dachshund, Porkchop. In fact, he was a lot smarter concerning George than I was. He’d growl whenever George came near me. I should have taken that as a hint. But to get back to Hank, we didn’t meet on one of today’s popular dating apps and being in my mid-fifties, I feel is way past the age of hooking up with guys in bars. Nope, we met over a dead body and not one in the Do Drop, either. Nope, I found the owner of Wings Falls local pet shelter murdered when I stopped by to donate a bag of dog food that Porkchop had turned his nose up at. Hank happened to be one of the responding officers when I called the Wing Falls Police station. He was new to the force having transferred up from Albany to enjoy a quieter town. Unfortunately, my childhood nemesis, Sergeant Joe Peters, also arrived at the scene of the crime. He tried everything he could to pin the murder on me just because when we were in kindergarten together, I reported him to the teacher for peeing in the sand box. Really, who’d want to play in the sandbox after that. Joe has now taken to calling me a “Murder magnet” as I have developed the bad habit of stumbling across dead bodies. And much to Hank’s chagrin, I get involved in trying to solve these murders.
Hank loves me anyway even though I know I’ve caused him more than a few sleepless nights. Porkchop and he are now best buddies and that scores high on my checklist for a significant other.
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Mistletoe, Mutts, and Murder (Samantha Davies Mysteries) by S.A. Kazlo
About Mistletoe, Mutts, and Murder
Cozy Mystery 6th in Series
Setting - Wings Falls, New York, a small town in upstate New York about 45 minutes north of Albany
Publisher: Gemma Halliday Publishing (December 3, 2024)
Christmas is coming and children’s book author, Samantha Davies, and her lovable dachshund, Porkchop, are caught up in the holiday festivities in beautiful upstate New York. Sam’s parents, Chuck and Barbara, who have been enjoying their retired life in sunny Florida, have flown into Wings Falls to spend the holidays with Sam and meet her new boyfriend, Detective Hank Johnson. Sam is also busy hosting this year’s Christmas party for the Loopy Ladies, Sam’s rug hooking group.
The Loopy Ladies know how to party and are enjoying an evening eating, drinking, and making merry... until Santa crashes the party. Unfortunately, this Santa is Sam’s next-door neighbor who her parents have had a long-running feud with. When not playing the local mall’s not-so-jolly old St. Nick, Leo Sayers is a newspaper reporter, and he announces to the group that he's written a damning article accusing Sam’s dad and his close friend, Herb Feinstein, of some very shady dealings in their past. To preserve peace on earth—and among the Loopy Ladies—Chuck and Herb escort Leo from the party.
Only, not long after being sent on his way, Santa is found dead—lying in the snow, run over by a plastic reindeer, with a string of Christmas lights around his neck! Are Sam’s father and Herb now on the naughty list? If Sam can’t prove them innocent of murdering Santa, she's afraid their stockings will contain handcuffs and a one-way ticket to prison this year!
About S.A. Kazlo
Syrl, a retired teacher, lives in upstate New York with her husband and two lively dachshunds. She writes the Samantha Davies Mystery series, featuring Samantha Davies and her loveable dachshund, Porkchop. When not writing she is busy hooking, rug hooking that is, and enjoying her family. Her newest book, number six in the series is, Mistletoe, Mutts and Murder.
Author Links:
Website - https://www.sakazlo.com/
Blog - https://www.sakazlo.com/blog
Twitter-@sakazlo
Instagram- sakazlo
Facebook- sakazlo
Linkedin- sakazlo
Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N - Smashwords - Kobo -
Sounds like a fun read.
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