I'm pleased to welcome Victoria Hamilton to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Victoria writes the Merry Muffin Mystery series. THANKS FOR MUFFIN is the eighth book in the series and was released this week!
Kathy: In THANKS FOR MUFFIN Merry Wynter hosts the grand opening gala of the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts. If you were to host a gala and could get any artist you desired, who would be performing?
VH: It would really depend on the kind of event, I guess, but I have a few favorites that I would love to see live. I don't know if anyone has ever heard of an English artist by the name of Rumer - NOT Rumer Willis, just... Rumer. She has the voice of an angel, like Karen Carpenter, but with this lovely tone and smooth sweetness. Unfortunately she only tours in the UK, but look her up on YouTube. She did a whole album of Burt Bacharach songs, sanctioned and accompanied by Burt himself. Brilliant. Another artist is the best rock female vocalist of all time, Ann Wilson of Heart. She is still out there performing with her sister. I saw her and her band in concert in 1976 (!!! I was - ahem - VERY young!) and even though they were the opening act, they blew the main event out of the water. Would love to see her live again.
Kathy: A particularly nasty journalist posted a criticism of the gala and everything Merry was trying to accomplish. Have you ever received a particularly harsh review? How did you handle it?
VH: Yes, I have had numerous nasty/harsh reviews. Every writer/musician/artist has. They're hard to handle, so in most cases I just don't read reviews. I'd love to say I'm stronger than that, but a really bad one can take me away from my writing for a full day, and I can't afford that. But when I do by chance see one, I have a specific technique that helps a bit. I go to Amazon or Goodreads and look up my favorite writers - generally Sue Grafton or Sara Paretsky - and read their one and two star reviews. If superstar writers like that can get trashed by reviewers, then I'm in good company. It helps a tiny bit.
Kathy: You include delicious muffin recipes in the book. Are you an avid baker?
VH: Nope. LOL. But I used to be. I once baked a lot more than I do now, but I can't eat much of what I make, and I don't have family or friends that will take the stuff so... I bake occasionally.
Kathy: I enjoy all kinds, but I do love a good blueberry muffin. What's your favorite type of muffin?
VH: I made up a muffin recipe for one of the Merry Muffin books, Fit for the King muffins (the King = Elvis, of course) that are banana peanut butter chocolate chip muffins, and OMG, they are delicious! The blueberry sour cream coffee cake muffins in this book are also awesome!
Kathy: Was there a specific inspiration for this story?
VH: Not a specific inspiration, no. But I've thought a lot about the nastiness of some people in the public eye and wondered about their lives. Surely people like that would inspire enmity in a whole host of folks, and it would be complicated to investigate if they were murdered, sorting out their haters from suspects. That's where it came from.
Kathy: Are you able to share any future plans for Merry?
VH: Well, at the end of THANKS FOR MUFFIN I ask readers to sign up for my newsletter, because near Christmas I will be sharing CHRISTMAS AT WYNTER CASTLE, a short Christmas story set in the immediate aftermath of this book, and taking care of one character who I just couldn't fit into my plot. I hope readers enjoy it! I'll be sending it out in mid-December.
Kathy: Will you share any other upcoming books?
VH: Love to! I do actually have news to share. I am currently writing two books in my other series. I was planning to publish LADY ANNE AND THE WINTER WITCH (Lady Anne Mysteries #6) in spring of this next year, and MASHER OF CEREMONIES, Vintage Kitchen Mystery #13 in the fall, but given the settings of each - WINTER WITCH is set just after Christmas and MASHER OF CEREMONIES is set in late spring - I have reversed the order. For anyone who likes my Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, I've gone back to basics; MASHER OF CEREMONIES will come out in spring, as it is set at the annual May Queensville traditional Tea with the Queen event, where Queen Victoria shares tea with all who attend! LADY ANNE AND THE WINTER WITCH sees Lady Anne and her new husband Tony on their post-wedding trip north; they get snowed in at a Christmas house party where things are not jolly and bright! I'm having great fun writing the books, and hope readers enjoy them.
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Review
The Eighth Merry Muffin Mystery
After lots of hard work Merry Winter and her good friend Pish are ready for the grand opening gala of the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts. Held over the long Thanksgiving weekend the attendees and performers will arrive via luxury coaches from New York City, some returning after the opening night, others remaining for the long weekend. Locals will also attend, including a reporter from nearby Ridley Ridge. Unbeknownst to Merry, the reporter is the unsavory Dan Sooner who hates everything about the castle and its caretakers. During the event he antagonizes almost everyone and is nearly escorted from the event. It also appears that many of the guests seem to know each other and there are more ties to Autumn Valley and Ridley Ridge than expected. While too much liquor is imbibed, opening night seemed a success and the reviews are positive, except for Sooner's. While Merry broods about this her husband, former sheriff and current private detective, notices Sooner's vehicle is still in their parking lot. While leading some of her guests on a tour of the property Merry finds the missing man-dead. Murder free for two years Merry knows the murder must be solved before the weekend ends and media once again decries the murder castle. While she has every confidence in the new sheriff, she knows that she and her friends will also investigate as the sooner the killer is found the better!
I love the whole vibe of the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts and the fact that all genres of music are welcome with rap and opera combining for the gala as well as including Broadway stars as guests. Of course I despised Dan Sooner even before he came to the castle and before we knew about his past. A perfect victim, but sad that someone couldn't wait and took justice into their own hand thus ruining more than one life. I did catch the one very big clue left by the author, but until more facts were revealed I wasn't sure what that meant. The mystery was complex with more than one miscreant involved. I appreciated how Merry worked with law enforcement and the way Hannah's abilities were utilized. I've never been a fan of Lizzie and that continues with this book.
Artists, hangers on, and secrets from long ago combine making THANKS FOR MUFFIN and intriguing addition to this wonderful series. Hunker down as the weather cools and indulge in a delightful muffin or two. As for me, some of Pish's Thanksgiving Leftover Poutine is to die for...just not literally!
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Thanks for Muffin: A Merry Muffin Mystery by Victoria Hamilton
About Thanks for Muffin
8th in Series
Setting - Wynter Castle, Western New York State
Publisher: Beyond the Page
Publication Date: October 14, 2025
Number of Pages: 211 Paperback
When Merry Wynter’s festive gala takes a fatal turn, she’ll have to grill her guests to catch a killer . . .
After years of planning and hard work, Merry Wynter was finally ready to host the grand opening gala of the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts. With musicians, entertainers, members of the media and even influencers on the guest list, the event went off without a hitch—until a particularly nasty journalist posted a criticism of the gala and everything Merry was trying to accomplish. Still reeling from the review days later, Merry wasn’t sure what to feel when she discovered the reporter’s dead body on the grounds of Wynter Castle.
With many of her guests staying on at the castle for the weekend, Merry realizes they’ve got a murderer in their midst. Going from celebrating to sleuthing, she discreetly questions each of them, trying to weed out the culprit. She quickly learns that the victim had heated arguments with several of the people at the gala, and it turns out those people were all connected by a tragedy in the past. Certain the killer is among them, Merry will have to unearth the final clue that nails the killer—before the killer decides she’s getting too close .
About Victoria Hamilton
Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea Simpson. Victoria is the bestselling author of three mystery series: the Lady Anne Addison Mysteries, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, and the Merry Muffin Mysteries. She also wrote a Regency-set historical mystery series, starting with A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder.
Visit her website at victoriahamiltonmysteries.com and sign up for Victoria’s newsletter.
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