New Release & Excerpt – ‘Tis the Season to be Scary by Vicki Delany
Synopsis
It’s Halloween, and the townsfolk of Rudolph, New York, are donning masks and costumes for the Yuletide Inn’s grand fundraising gala to support the local hospital. Shop owner Merry Wilkinson has yet another treat to celebrate: Her best friend, Vicky Casey, has a new cookbook set to publish. Vicky’s publishers, a prominent critic of her book, and a former opera star, rumored to have been involved with Merry’s mother, are all set to attend the gala.
As the drinks flow, the guests dance, and the canapes are served, things begin spiraling out of control. The book critic makes a scene, and tensions begin to rise. Then Merry realizes that she is not the only one who never actually paid for a gala ticket. But when someone drops dead after eating a cake pop from the lavish dessert buffet, everything comes to a head, and all eyes turn to Vicky, who made the treats. As it turns out, Vicky’s book might be doomed before it hits the shelves.
With her friend’s name and livelihood at stake and the fundraiser in serious danger, Merry must keep her wits about her. Surely she’s only imagining the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge watching her from the shadows.
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Excerpt
It might be approaching Halloween, but the focus of the window display at Mrs. Claus’s Treasures was Holiday Recipes from America’s Christmas Town, by Vicky Casey.
Numerous copies were arranged exactly so, surrounded by Christmas-themed linens and table settings. Baked treats featured in the book-sprayed with resin to keep them from going bad-were laid out on red-and-gold plates and a three-tiered stand decorated with a festive wintery scene. A stuffed Mrs. Claus, glasses perched on the end of her pointed nose, relaxed in her rocking chair with a copy of the book open on her lap, a mince tart and a cup of tea on the table next to her, and a stuffed reindeer reading over each shoulder.
“I’m so excited.” Vicky Casey performed a little dance. “I could just burst.”
“Wouldn’t that make a mess,” Jackie O’Reilly said.
We stood on the sidewalk outside Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, the Christmas decor shop owned by me, Merry Wilkinson, admiring the new display. I don’t normally stock books, other than a handful of children’s holiday classics for one-stop shopping, but as Vicky was my best friend, and had been so since we were very young, I would do everything I could to help promote this book. She’d worked so long and so hard on it, she deserved all the success she could get. Although I’d admit it only to myself, I played a large part in the creation of it, simply by constantly encouraging her to get it done-what other people might call nagging.
“It looks good,” Vicky said. “More than good. But good doesn’t translate to sales. What if everyone admires the cover and then walks on past?”
“Some people will,” I said. “Maybe they’ll feel the overwhelming need to have a mince tart, at that very moment, and go straight to the bakery. That’s another win.” An arrangement of mince tarts, delicate fluted pastry sprinkled with a touch of sugar, one cut open to expose the fruit-stuffed interior, were the featured item on the book’s cover.
“I feel the overwhelming need to have a mince tart myself,” Jackie said. “Will there be any at your launch party tomorrow?”
“Of course,” Vicky replied.
“Then I’d better get there early. I wouldn’t want to miss out. As for the book, are you offering a friends and family discount?”
“I’m not offering anything, Jackie,” Vicky said. “The bookstore will be selling the books, not me.”
“What about stock on hand at the bakery? You’ll have some there, won’t you?”
“You don’t need a friends and family discount,” I said. “No one is getting one. The author’s margin on any book is extremely small, and Vicky’s put so much time and effort into this. You get your regular staff discount here, so you can buy it from me.”
“That so-called staff discount is miserly,” Jackie sniffed. ”As I might have mentioned on prior occasions. Whatever. I’ll eat my discount in mince tarts and gingerbread at your party. Speaking of that, are you sure tomorrow’s the best night for it?” Jackie said before I could stop her. “The day after the big Halloween gala?”
Vicky’s face fell. “Not entirely thrilled about that, no, but my agent and editor are coming and that’s the only day they both could make it.”
“Everyone who’s anyone in town’s going to be at the gala. People might not want to come out two nights in a row.” Vicky’s face fell further.
“It’ll be fine.” I stepped in before Jackie could continue to spread gloom all around her. The situation was not ideal, but it was the best Vicky could manage. “Vicky’s catering the dessert buffet tonight. That’ll allow us to remind everyone of the launch party and give it, and the book, a publicity boost.”
“If you say so,” Jackie said.
“I do,” I said.
“I’d better get going. I have to go home and change. Kyle’s going to be the official press photographer tonight, and he got me in for free. The invitation said everyone was to come in mask and costume, and Kyle and I have great ones. What are you going to go as?”
“It’ll be a surprise.”
“Meaning Mrs. Claus again.”
About the Author
Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than fifty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy.
She is a past chair of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. She is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. Vicki lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
