Double or Muffin (A Merry Muffin Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Publisher: Beyond the Page (February 23, 2021)
Paperback: 234 pages

Synopsis

In the new Merry Muffin Mystery, baker Merry Wynter must solve a disturbing crime among opera singers before the culprit decides it’s curtains for her . . .

 

When a reality TV show for aspiring opera singers descends on Wynter Castle, Merry’s got her hands full catering to the endless demands of the distinguished judges and ambitious contestants. Then mysterious rumors about the cast and crew begin to surface, suggesting that some of their performances may be filled with false notes. When a dogged reporter with an eye for scandal who’s been covering the competition is attacked and left for dead, Merry’s determined to discover who orchestrated the heinous deed.

Her long list of suspects is filled with eccentric personalities, including a promiscuous tenor known for making unwanted overtures, a pampered young prodigy and her meddlesome mother, and a quiet up-and-comer whose shadowy uncle may have ties to the underworld. As the musical contest and Merry’s investigation near their finale, she’ll have to act fast to keep a conniving contestant from plotting out her final act . . .

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Guest Post

Belling the Cat

By: Victoria Hamilton

There is an old fable about a group of mice who decide that to lessen the danger of a mouse-hunting cat, they would need to tie a bell around his neck to warn them of his approach. There is a moral to the tale, of course, about how easy it is to come up with a plan, and how difficult it can be to find a way to accomplish it.

That is particularly apt for a writer of mysteries. We often start out knowing what we need a character to do, but too often we’re not sure if it’s possible. And if it is possible, how to achieve it.

Pre-internet I’d spend hours at the library researching one tiny detail at a time, and failing that on the phone trying to track down an expert who could (and would!) answer a question. We’re fortunate indeed to find ourselves now in the age of online research capability. A partial list of topics I researched while writing Double or Muffin, #7 in my Merry Muffin Mysteries, is revealing, to say the least. It includes, but is not limited to: towns in Lithuania, steroid use among opera singers, types of kitchen knives, how to supply a craft services table for a TV production crew and, last but not least, how to get a camera on a cat.

Yes, a camera.

On a cat.

How do you do it? Well, the amusing answer is ‘very carefully’, but there are ways and means. And YouTube videos. If you like cats and you’re interested, just look on YouTube for ‘cat’s eye view cameras’ or something similar and you will find cats set loose in the world with cameras mounted on their backs.

How does that come in to Double or Muffin? If you read the Merry Muffin Mysteries you are familiar with Becket, the outdoorsy wandering ginger cat who survived a year in the wild before Merry arrived at Wynter Castle. You’ll just have to read Double or Muffin to find out what adventure Becket gets into this time! He’s quite the hero of the story.

So, dear readers, what is the weirdest thing (that you can openly confess to) you’ve looked up online? Tell me, do!

About the Author

Victoria Hamilton is the bestselling author of several mystery series including the national bestselling Vintage Kitchen Mysteries and Merry Muffin Mysteries. She does, indeed, collect vintage kitchenware and bake muffins. She drinks tea and coffee on writing days, and wine other times. It doesn’t do to confuse days. She crochets (a little), paints (a little) and reads (a lot). A solitary being, she can be coaxed out of her writing cave for brownies and cat videos.

She started her writing life as Donna Lea Simpson, bestselling author of Regency Romances, paranormal historicals and historical mysteries, and still has a soft spot for the Regency period.

If you Google ‘Victoria Hamilton’, you will find listed first a famous actress who starred as the Queen Mother in the series The Crown and as Charlotte Brontë in ‘In Search of the Brontës’. That’s not the Victoria who writes mysteries.

No, really, it’s not!

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