Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Thanks for Muffin: A Merry Muffin Mystery by Victoria Hamilton. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Thanks for Muffin: A Merry Muffin Mystery
by Victoria Hamilton
Thanks for Muffin: A Merry Muffin Mystery
Contemporary Cozy Mystery
8th in Series
Setting – Wynter Castle, Western New York State
Publisher : Beyond the Page
Publication date : October 14, 2025
Number of Pages: 211
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.
Character Guest Post: My Life in Autumn Vale, NY
Hey, cozy mystery lovers!
Pleased to meet you. I’m Merry Grace Wynter, the STAR (ahem… can I call myself that?) of the Merry Muffin Mysteries cozy mystery series.
How did I get here?
So, I now live near Autumn Vale, New York, a beautiful sunny village about halfway between Rochester and Buffalo in Western New York state. But it wasn’t always so. I’m a big city gal, born and raised in my favorite city on earth, the one, the only, New York, New York, the place so nice they named it twice.
About five years ago though, I was in a bind. I’d lost my job as assistant to a very difficult high fashion model, was accused of stealing a necklace from her (which I did NOT do) and had been, for six months, trying to settle from afar an inheritance I had been surprised by. A lawyer had advised me that I inherited Wynter Castle (!!) from a long-lost great uncle.
Given my life was in the Dumpster, I decided to give up my apartment and skulk out of the city in a rental car. I didn’t even tell my best friends, Pish Lincoln and Shilo Dinnegan. I don’t know why. I didn’t want the fuss, I guess, because I was confused, tired, upset. So off I skulked.
And stumbled into a murder mystery at the gorgeous pile I inherited, a real 19th century American castle built by my robber baron great some-number-of-times grandfather, left to me by the last Wynter, my great uncle Melvyn! And I do mean stumbled. Or almost, anyway. Someone was digging holes all over my property, holes that would have to be filled if I was going to sell the Wynter Castle, the only sensible thing to do.
Right?
Except… there ended up being a body in the bottom of one of those holes. I solved the murder (well, with a little help 😉) after meeting handsome sheriff Virgil Grace, and a wonderful bunch of folks, including Doc English, the only person who really knew my great uncle Melvyn Wynter (they were war buddies) and my best source of family knowledge.
And then we solved another murder, and I met more of the awesome people of Autumn Vale, and a few of the not-so-awesome people of nearby Ridley Ridge.
I learned more about my family, why my mother never brought me back to Wynter Castle after a visit once when I was a little kid. I learned about my father and my grandfather, and my family history. I fell in love, first with the people of Autumn Vale, then with the castle, and then…
Well, fast forward five years and a few (solved!) murders, and I’m married to that handsome sheriff. Also, my friend Pish Lincoln and I have transformed Wynter Castle and the property it’s on to an event space. It’s fabulous! And we hadn’t had a murder for two whole years until…
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Come visit Autumn Vale and Wynter Castle and I’ll show you around this beautiful place and introduce you to the sweetest people I’ve ever met. When bad things happen, the good people of Autumn Vale, as well as the visitors I host at Wynter Castle, band together to find a solution.
With a little help, also, from my cat, Becket, my other link to my great uncle Melvyn.
Come visit… I promise you’ll want to stay, like I did.
In my latest adventure, Thanks for Muffin, I host a big party of folks over the long Thanksgiving Weekend after our grand gala to open the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts. Unfortunately, there’s always someone who wants to spoil things, but then that guy goes missing and… oops.
‘Nuff said.
Come for the mystery, stay for the recipes! Because I love to cook, I promise you at least one recipe in every book will be for mouthwatering muffins like you’ve never tasted! (And recipes for other stuff, too! Maybe, just maybe, a recipe for something cool to make with your Thanksgiving leftovers?)
Come visit!
With love,
Merry Grace Wynter.
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.
Social Media Links:
Website: http://www.VictoriaHamiltonMysteries.com (Sign up for her newsletter for all the latest!)
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaHamiltonMysteryAuthor
On BlueSky: @mysteryvictoria.bsky.social Check out my ‘Cozy Mystery Authors’ Starter Pack on BlueSky!
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mysteryauthorvictoriahamilton/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/598635.Victoria_Hamilton
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Victoria-Hamilton/e/B007T7LGAU
Purchase Links:
Amazon.com – Amazon.ca – Barnes & Noble – Kobo – Smashwords
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Thanks for Muffin TOUR PARTICIPANTS
October 10 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
October 10 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW
October 10 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT
October 11 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
October 11 – @bibliophile_foodie – REVIEW
October 11 – FUONLYKNEW – RECIPE
October 12 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 12 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 13 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
October 13 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – RECIPE
October 13 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
October 14 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 14 – Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder – REVIEW, RECIPE
October 14 – Bigreadersite – REVIEW
October 15 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 15 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW, RECIPE
October 15 – Baroness Book Trove – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 16 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
October 16 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 16 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
October 17 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 17 – Cozy Up WIth Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 18 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 18 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 19 – Teatime and Books – SPOTLIGHT
October 19 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews SPOTLIGHT
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