The Snow Job (Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Fenwater, a fictional small town in the province of Ontario in Canada during the early 1980s.
Independently Published (December 13, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 310 pages

Synopsis

A Scottish shindig, a pretty pin, a cold corpse. When a well-liked and respected townsman is murdered on a snowy street in Fenwater, it’s up to Lois Stone to sift through a multitude of motives to find the killer.

Middle-aged widow Lois is beginning to feel part of the Fenwater community, and as winter sets in, she is getting ready for the town’s biggest Scottish event, the annual Burns Night supper. But when one of the committee members dies in suspicious circumstances, Lois has more to worry about than the fate of this year’s celebration. She tried unsuccessfully to revive the man and her friend Marge worked with him. So, they want to find his killer even though Lois promised her partner Bruce that she would stay out of police matters. But, what’s the harm in asking a few questions? Such as does someone want to safeguard their inheritance or give their business a boost? Will finding the motive for the murder lead them to the killer or maybe more?

And so begins a fortnight of slippery sidewalks, angst about ancestors, capable firemen and cunning firebugs, unreliable records, swirling Scottish music and swinging tartan kilts, calico cats and smouldering spooks set against the backdrop of snow glistening under streetlamps on serene streets, the comfort of ritual in a cold churchyard, the swish of skate blades in crisp night air and the tang of mouthwatering meatloaf in rural Canada in 1984.

The Century Cottage Mystery series is mainly set in rural Ontario, Canada during the early 1980s.

A tale for fans of Cindy Bell, Leighann Dobbs, Dianne Harman and Kathi Daley.

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Guest Post

Burns Night in Fenwater

Hello! Thanks for inviting me to drop in. I’m Dianne Ascroft and I write the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series. The books are set in Fenwater, a fictional small town in rural Ontario, Canada that was founded by immigrants from Scotland during the early 1800s. The residents of the town have a strong connection with its Scottish heritage and everything Scottish is important to them so the annual Burns Night supper is the biggest event on their calendar.

If you have any Scottish ancestry, you may have attended a Burns Night supper. But, for those who haven’t, what is it? A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the Scottish poet Robert Burns or Rabbie Burns as he is more commonly known.

Burns Night is celebrated each year in Scotland and in Scottish communities worldwide to honour Rabbie Burns, and it has also become a chance to celebrate all things Scottish – sort of like St Patrick’s Day without the green beer. With Fenwater’s heritage, it’s only natural that Burns Night is a big event for them.

So, who was Rabbie Burns? He was a poet and song lyricist from Ayrshire in the southwest of Scotland, who was born on January 25, 1759. Only 37 when he died in 1796, he is regarded as the most prominent poet to have written in Scots, a UK regional dialect that is now recognised as a minority language. You probably know at least one of his works even if you are not familiar with Scottish poets. Does New Year’s Eve and “Auld Lang Syne” ring any bells for you?

Burns suppers are normally held on or near the poet’s birthdate, which has come to be known as Burns Night. The first Burns supper was held in 1801, and in the more than 200 years since then, new traditions have been added to the event, but the aim is the same: to pay tribute to Scotland’s national poet.

The first supper was a memorial dinner organised by nine of Burns’s friends on July 21, 1801, the fiftieth anniversary of his death. It was held at Burns Cottage in Ayrshire, where the poet was born. Although those present at the first supper didn’t foresee it, the supper has become an annual occurrence and Burns Clubs have been founded throughout Scotland and further afield.

Burns Night is steeped in respectful tradition but there are elements of fun and humour to the proceedings too. So, what happens at a Burns Night supper? There’s a traditional meal which consists of tatties (potatoes), neeps (turnips), and haggis, which was a favourite dish of the poet. Are you wondering what haggis is? Haggis is made from a sheep’s liver, lungs, and heart and mixed with suet and oatmeal. It may not sound particularly appetising to some of you, but it really is tasty – sort of like a spicier minced beef. There are also vegetarian versions available. Guests are piped in to the dining room and a Scottish grace is said. The haggis is then piped in with great ceremony and before the meal commences a guest recites Burns’ poem the ‘Address to a Haggis’, which extols how wonderful haggis is.

After the meal there are several toasts and speeches. The most important is the Immortal Memory, which is a speech commemorating Burns and his life followed by a toast to the poet.

The Address to the Lassies is a thank you to the women who prepared the meal, and in recent times, the speaker often includes humorous opinions about women in general. One of the women present makes the Reply to the Laddies, rebutting the comments made about women.

The evening is formal but fun with good food, good whiskey and good company.

Lois Stone, the main character in my Century Cottage Cozy mysteries series, has Scottish ancestry that she doesn’t really want to talk about but she can’t avoid the Scottish side of her town’s identity as she plays the bagpipes in the local pipe band. As The Snow Job, Book 3 in the series, opens the band is getting ready to play at the Burns Night supper and Lois is actually looking forward to the event. She’ll wear her band uniform, which includes a tartan kilt, to the supper and she will be surrounded by friends and neighbours as they toast the haggis and Burns’ memory. It’s the sort of event that really makes her feel like part of her community.

Preparations for the supper are going well until one of the Burns Night committee members dies in suspicious circumstances the week before the event. Lois’s friend Connie finds the victim lying in the snow and Lois rushes to help her, trying to revive him until the ambulance arrives. Although Lois is sad when she hears later that he died, she doesn’t expect to have any involvement in finding out what happened to him. But her friend Marge has other ideas. The victim volunteered at the museum where Marge works and she wants to see justice done for him. So, she urges Lois to help her find his killer. Lois is reluctant as she promised her partner Bruce that she would stay out of police matters. But Marge is persuasive and what’s the harm in asking a few questions? So, Lois puts aside all thoughts of preparing to perform at the Burns Night supper with the band and puts her energy into helping Marge find the killer. What could possibly go wrong?

About the Author

Dianne Ascroft writes the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries, set in rural Canada, and The Yankee Years historical sagas, set in WWII Northern Ireland. She has a passion for Ireland and Canada, past and present. An ex-pat Canadian, Dianne lives on a small farm with her husband and an assortment of strong-willed animals.

Her previous fiction works include An Unbidden Visitor (a tale inspired by Fermanagh’s famous Coonian ghost); Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves: A Collection of Short Stories (contemporary tales), and an historical novel, Hitler and Mars Bars, which explores Operation Shamrock, a little known Irish Red Cross humanitarian endeavor.

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