Guest Post & Giveaway – A Tisket A Tasket Not Another Casket by Heather Weidner
A Tisket A Tasket Not Another Casket: A Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mystery
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Virginia
Publisher : Level Best Books (January 14, 2025)
Print length : 277 pages
Synopsis
Excitement is in the air as everyone in Mermaid Bay is preparing for the Christmas season. This year promises to be more dazzling than ever when the business council sponsors a competition for the town’s lucrative summer fireworks contract. The quaint little beach town is ready to be wowed with choreographed shows and drone action that light up the night sky.
Instead of goodwill and sparkles, two of the teams take the competition to new lows with corporate espionage, feuds, and sabotage, and Jade and her team at ‘Tis the Season are ground zero for all the explosive action. When one of the competitors turns up murdered near Jade’s shop, she has to solve the mystery before the holidays are ruined.
Amazon
Guest Post
What I Learned from Scooby-Doo about Writing Mysteries and Life
My love for mysteries started with 70s Saturday morning cartoons like “Scooby-Doo,” “The Funky Phantom,” “Speed Buggy,” and “Josie and the Pussycats.” Overly sweetened cereal, Pop-Tarts, and Saturday morning cartoons were a weekly ritual, and I learned a lot about the mystery genre and life from them. (The Cartoon Network or cable wasn’t around then. Cartoons rarely aired any time except on Saturday mornings, so it was a weekly ritual.)
- Kids like me could be crime or problem-solvers. In all of the episodes, the gang figured it out and brought the villain to justice (before the adults did).
- Use what you have available to you. Your wits and creativity go a long way in sleuthing.
- Keep your eyes open and look for clues. Many times, they’re in plain sight.
- These kids had the freedom (and a van) to travel to different places. (My mother would have never let me ride around in a van with a bunch of teens solving crimes.) They were so cool.
- If you don’t know or understand something, ask questions.
- If you’re clever, alert, and situationally aware, you can gather information and put the puzzle pieces together.
- Don’t ever stop exploring or learning. We all need to be lifelong learners.
- Everybody needs a pal or best friend (or a few). They are our sounding boards and support. We all need someone to go into a spooky old house, cave, or dungeon with.
- Even if something is scary, you can face it. Shag and Scoob were not the bravest creatures, but they always mustered their gumption to trudge on.
- Do the right thing. Stand up for the underdog and seek truth.
About the Author
Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Pearly Girls Mysteries, the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, The Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and The Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries.
Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, and Murder by the Glass, and she has non-fiction pieces in Promophobia and The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers’ Cookbook.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime: National, Central Virginia, Chessie, Guppies, and Grand Canyon Writers, International Thriller Writers, and James River Writers, and she blogs regularly with the Writers Who Kill.
Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.
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