Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas (Year-Round Christmas Mystery) by Vicki Delany. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas (Year-Round Christmas Mystery)
by Vicki Delany
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.
My review of Have Yourself A Deadly Little Christmas
Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas is the sixth book in the Year-Round Christmas Mystery series by Vicki Delaney. However, it’s the first one I’ve read in this series! After the first five, it went away for a little while, but readers wanted it back. I can see why! Who wouldn’t want to spend at least part of the Christmas season in a town called Rudolph, NY? Add the fact that Rudolph is America’s Christmas town with Christmas-themed shops like the one Merry Wilkinson runs, Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, and it’s a holiday lovers dream.
Merry, the main character in this series, and her St. Bernard Matterhorn (Mattie) live in an old house that’s been turned into apartments with a landlady who has a network of “spies” all over town. Want to know what’s what? Talk to her! Merry’s dad is the former mayor and Santa lookalike, and her mom is a former opera star.
As a former opera star, Merry’s mom is helping with the town’s annual Christmas play. This year, they’re performing A Christmas Carol…a musical version. As the case normally is in theater, not all of the actors are happy. Shocker, right? I mean, I can attest to the fact that people with artistic personalities have a tendency to overreact and lose their tempers. Don’t judge me! I come from a long line of people who overreact! Just because we overreact, doesn’t mean we go around killing people! Thank goodness! But, someone kills the actress playing Mrs. Cratchit right in Merry’s store! Will Merry listen to the police and not investigate the crime? Of course not!
Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas is such a delightful cozy mystery book. I love the main characters, though in the beginning, Merry’s mom got on my nerves a little…probably because I’m a little diva-ish too. She totally grew on me though. Though this is the first book I’ve read in the series, I could easily figure out who’s who and what’s what in Rudolph. There are characters who you’d want as your best friend, some are quirky, others crabby. It’s a very well-rounded cast of characters.
Rudolph is such a cozy town! Delany describes the town so well that you can easily imagine walking down very snowy sidewalks and stopping in at the shops and eateries. The mystery is well-plotted, and multiple suspects make it hard to decide whodunit!
I highly recommend Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas because it’s got a variety of well-written characters, a cozy Christmas town, and a puzzling mystery!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
Author Guest post: Favourite Holidays
Everyone has a favourite holiday. I’d take a guess that for most people it’s Christmas. After all, we start the Christmas season not long after Halloween and drag it on into the second week of January.
And then, Christmas in July is another chance to do it all again!
Merry Wilkinson, the main character in my Year Round Christmas series from Penguin Random House and Crooked Lane books, would never say it out loud but Christmas is NOT her favourite holiday.
Merry lives in Rudolph, New York where she owns a shop called Mrs. Claus’s Treasures situated on Jingle Bell Lane. She lusts (so far in vain) after the Santa Claus parade trophy. Her father, Noel, plays the town’s Santa Claus and her boyfriend acts as Santa’s head toymaker.
Don’t get me wrong, Merry loves Christmas. She wouldn’t survive long in America’s Christmas Town, as Rudolph desperately wants to be officially known, for long.
But for Merry Christmas means work.
The frantic shopping season of November/December, getting her float ready for the semi-annual Santa Claus parade (yes, they have one in July also), the influx of tourists.
This year, Merry’s mother, Aline, a former soloist with the Metropolitan Opera has, despite her better judgement, been persuaded to get involved in the town’s amateur theatrical production of the musical version of A Christmas Carol.
All is not well on the set. Tensions are running high as members of the cast argue for bigger and better parts, more songs, more stage time. They argue over costumes and whether the handsome young newcomer would be better suited to the role of Scrooge than the long-timer. Maybe even, someone suggests, Scrooge should be played by a woman.
When one of the members of the dramatic society is murdered in her own shop, Merry is dragged into an investigation that threatens to put a real damper on her holiday celebrations. Find out if Merry is able to solve the mystery, get the play put on in time, and save Christmas in Rudolph New York, in the sixth Year-Round Christmas mystery, HAVE YOURSELF A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS from Crooked Lane Books.
Tell me, dear reader, what’s YOUR favourite holiday? For me: Christmas.
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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Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas TOUR PARTICIPANTS
September 11 – Mystery, Thrillers and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT
September 11 – Angel’s Guilty Pleasures – SPOTLIGHT
September 12 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
September 12 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT
September 13 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 13 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 14 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT
September 14 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
September 14 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 15 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW
September 15 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 15 – Bigreadersite – REVIEW
September 16 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW
September 16 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
September 17 – Cozy Up WIth Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 17 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 18 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 18 – My Reading Journeys – CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 19 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
September 19 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
September 20 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW
September 20 – Carla Loves to Read – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
September 21 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW
September 21 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST
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Thanks very much for having me here today, Christy. I’m delighted you enjoyed the book.
You’re welcome! I’m looking forward to reading more!
Sounds like a book I will enjoy.
Great author! I love cozy mysteries! Thanks for the chance!
Christmas books are one of my favorite genres!
I love a good Christmas book.