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You are here: Home / Books / 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 | Book Review

September 21, 2022 · 17 Comments

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 | Book Review

Book Reviews· Books· Cozy Mystery

Thanks for sharing!

Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for 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. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!

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

Deadly Traditions: A Cozy Mystery Christmas Anthology
Cozy Mysteries
Grace Abraham Publishing (September 27, 2022)
Number of Pages TBA

 

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

My Review of Deadly Traditions: A Cozy Mystery Christmas Anthology

Are you ready for Christmas? Of course you are….Christmas books that is! Deadly Traditions will definitely get you in the mood for the season of cozy Christmas mysteries. It’s the perfect way to enjoy Christmas in short blocks of time. 

This Christmas anthology contains twelve Christmas-themed short stories. As a whole, I found Deadly Traditions to be a delightful read.. There were only a couple of stories I didn’t finish because they just weren’t for me; however, the others were so enjoyable that it made me give this book 5 stars. Several of the stories were very entertaining and had characters I really liked from the authors’ other cozy mysteries; so, since I haven’t read them yet, I’ll be putting them in my TBR pile!

Each story has a unique mystery which is easily solved over the course of just a few chapters, so you’re not going to get anything unnecessary thrown into these stories. There are lots of clues, lots of Christmas decorations, lots of parties, lots of cookies…you get my point. The stories are well-written, and they certainly gave me a cozy Christmas feeling. I’m ready to put up the tree, but no one in the house will let me since it’s only September. 

If you love Christmas and you love cozy mystery books, I think you’ll definitely be entertained by Deadly Traditions.

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 it’s where 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 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!

Purchase Link – Amazon

Enter the giveaway

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Deadly Traditions 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

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Thanks for sharing!
« A Night to Remember by Danny and Wanda Pelfrey | Author Interview
What Not to Wear to a Graveyard (A Resale Boutique Mystery) by Debra Sennefelder Cozy Mystery Book Blast »

Comments

  1. Bea LaRocca says

    September 21, 2022 at 1:15 pm

    Thank you for sharing the authors’ bios and anthology details, Deadly Traditions sounds like an excellent collection of holiday cozy mystery stories and I am looking forward to reading them all

    Reply
    • Bea LaRocca says

      September 21, 2022 at 1:18 pm

      Thank you for sharing your wonderful review as well

      Reply
  2. Marisela Zuniga says

    September 21, 2022 at 6:32 pm

    This looks really good

    Reply
  3. Sarah L says

    September 22, 2022 at 2:11 am

    Looks like a fun book.
    Thanks for the contest.

    Reply
  4. Nancy says

    September 22, 2022 at 9:28 am

    I like to rad holiday themed books and short stories around Christmas time.

    Reply
  5. Amelia says

    September 24, 2022 at 2:45 pm

    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Jeanna Massman says

    September 24, 2022 at 6:14 pm

    I love the cover. It sets the tone for the book.

    Reply
  7. Helen says

    September 24, 2022 at 6:39 pm

    I love Christmas and cozy mysteries. This is the perfect book for me.

    Reply
  8. Sarah L says

    September 25, 2022 at 1:13 am

    Do you listen to music when you write?

    Reply
  9. heather says

    September 25, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    This sounds like a really great read and one that I would really like to read.

    Reply
  10. Sarah L says

    September 26, 2022 at 1:54 am

    Where is your favorite place to write?

    Reply
  11. L.C. says

    September 27, 2022 at 3:18 am

    I like my cozies with a splash of paranormal, but I’m open to holidays.

    Reply
  12. Debbi Wellenstein says

    September 27, 2022 at 1:31 pm

    The book looks great. I love the cover!

    Reply
  13. Ann Fantom says

    September 27, 2022 at 9:42 pm

    This sounds like an interesting book and I also like the cover.

    Reply
  14. Cynthia C says

    September 28, 2022 at 1:28 pm

    Sounds like it would be fun to read.

    Reply
  15. Sarah L says

    September 29, 2022 at 2:28 am

    Do you have characters living in your head?

    Reply
  16. Sarah L says

    September 30, 2022 at 3:15 am

    LAST DAY
    Thanks for the contest.

    Reply

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