Jaymie Leighton Müller is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Masher of Ceremonies, the latest novel in the Vintage Kitchen mystery series.

Welcome, Jaymie. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

I am happy to live in Queensville, Michigan, on the lovely St. Clair River, the setting for the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, a cozy mystery series. Masher of Ceremonies is lucky #13! I’m a small-town girl who loves cooking, vintage kitchen stuff, romance novels and my friends. My sister Becca and I own a Queen Anne yellow brick house in town, but when I got married to the wonderful Jakob Mṻller and his adorable daughter Jocie, I moved into their log cabin style home in the country. See, Jakob is a farmer… a Christmas tree farmer! And a junk store owner! Could anything be more perfect? Everything would be, except I also have a fabulous skill in tripping over dead bodies.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

Victoria’s in control… or so she tells me. 😉

How did you evolve as the main character?

I’ve grown so much! When things started, Victoria caught me at a low point. I had just been ditched by a guy who cheated on me and had moved on to a gorgeous blonde and I was eating my heart out. I started writing a cookbook to keep myself busy, using vintage recipes from my grandmother’s handwritten cookbook. But if you keep your heart open, it heals. After dating a bit, I met Jakob, and life could not be better now.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

Oh, there are people! My sister Becca; we weren’t always super close, but since she opened an antique store in Queensville and got married to a great guy, we’ve gotten a lot closer. And my best friend, Valetta Nibley, the town pharmacist and the most wonderful person in the world; smart, kind, ambitious… she is the best. And my friend Mrs. Martha Stubbs; in her nineties, but still sharp as a tack! And of course my Jakob and Jocie, my twin hearts. I love my husband and kiddo so much; more than I ever thought possible.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

Well…! I’ve been volunteering at the annual Tea with the Queen festival since I was a teenager… a couple of decades now. We have a Queen Victoria impersonator and tourists are invited to enjoy tea with her on the lawn of a historic house on the Canadian Victoria Day weekend, which is the weekend before our Memorial Day weekend. But this year I’m in charge. And hoo boy, is it a lot of work! I’ve had to deal with disaster after disaster with the new owner of our venue, Stowe House. With blackmail and turmoil afoot, are we going to make it? I sure hope so.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

I want you to know… I don’t go out of my way to find dead bodies. I really don’t! But when I do, I can’t rest until I find out whodunnit. I hate injustice, and I know that unless the culprit is caught, no one will have peace. But I work with the police, not against them, and I think they appreciate it. In fact, I find that some police officers are becoming friends. They care; they really do. And so do I. Join me in figuring out this time… whodunnit?

And sometimes even more puzzling… why?

Thank you for answering my questions, Jaymie, and good luck to you and your author, Victoria Hamilton, with Masher of Ceremonies, the latest book in the Vintage Kitchen mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Jaymie and her author, Victoria Hamilton by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram and Substack pages. You can also follow her on BlueSky @mysteryvictoria.bsky.social

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon CA     AmazonUS      Kobo      Barnes & Noble      Smashwords     Google Play Books

About Victoria Hamilton: Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea Simpson. Victoria is the bestselling author of three mystery series, the Lady Anne Addison Mysteries, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, and the Merry Muffin Mysteries. She also writes a Regency-set historical mystery series, starting with A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder.