Life Writ Large In Christmas Town

By Vicki Delany

I have a new book coming out next week.

What, another new book! you say.

Yup. Another one. My fourth this year. What can I say? I write a lot.

The first in my new Year Round Christmas series comes out on November 3rd. The book is titled Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen and it’s published by Berkley Prime Crime.

As you may be able to tell by the title of both the book and the series, it’s a Christmas book. Set in the town of Rudolph, New York, which calls itself America’s Christmas Town, the main character is one Merry Wilkinson, owner of Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, a shop on Jingle Bell Lane.

The Perfect Christmas Town?

Sounds twee?

Sure it is. And it’s supposed to be. It’s nothing but fun, and what’s wrong with that?

I’ve come to realize that cozy mysteries are about real people living real lives (except for that pesky murder bit), although writ large. Everything is exaggerated. The nosy neighbour is nosier, the ditzy friend is ditzier, the mean girl is meaner. And the handsome man is, well, handsomer. Even better if there are two of them.

Instead of one Christmas-themed shop (and don’t those seem to be everywhere these days) we have an entire town of them.

After putting in my time writing police procedurals and psychological thrillers, I’m having a lot of fun writing cozies. Keep it light, keep it funny, and have a good time with it.

What could possibly go wrong?

So, pull up a comfortable arm chair, light a blaze in the fire place, switch on the lights in the tree, put on that Bony M’s Christmas album, pour yourself a mug of hot toddy, nibble on another piece of shortbread, watch the snow falling outside your window, and enjoy the adventures of Merry and her gang in “America’s Christmas Town” when a spate of disasters, including the murder of a journalist form an international travel magazine threatens to turn Rudolph into the Ghost of Christmas Towns Past.

I’ll be launching the book at Different Drummer bookstore in Burlington Ontario, on Tuesday Nov 3rd, 7:00 pm; I’ll be signing at Books and Company in Picton, Ontario on Saturday the 7th;and I’ll be the guest author at Coffee and Crime at Mystery Lovers bookstore in Oakmont, PA on Saturday Nov. 14 at 10:00. Then on Nov 17th, I’m joining with my good friend RJ Harlick for a joint launch in Ottawa. I’ll be talking more about that next time, and how you definitely should be able to tell a book by its cover.