The Holiday Photo Murder

Posted on November 12, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Jeanne Quigley, author of The Holiday Photo Murder, a Robyn Cavanagh mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to share with us a bit about writing her first Christmas-themed mystery.

Welcome, Jeanne. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

I had a fantastic time writing my first Christmas-themed mystery, The Holiday Photo Murder. We all have our holiday traditions—decorating the tree, lighting the menorah, cooking special meals and baking once-a-year treats—that we look forward to celebrating every December. I included some of these customs in the story for readers’ enjoyment and the benefit of my sleuth, Robyn Cavanagh. Because in The Holiday Photo Murder, the clues to solve the murder are found among the cookies and candies, the Christmas trees and wreathes, and the glittering decorations hung with care. Robyn, however, has work to do before she can hang her own stocking on Christmas Eve.

The story begins with a staple of the season: a holiday party. Held annually by publisher Natalie Hoffmann at her estate, Bookends, the gathering of community leaders, publishing executives, and Natalie’s friends is an elegant affair, not a raucous shindig with everyone wearing antler headbands and singing “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Robyn, a portrait photographer, is hired to create a portfolio of party images, starting with reception line photos of Natalie with each guest. Robyn arrives at Bookends excited for the opportunity to make a good impression. She succeeds, until Natalie’s longtime companion, influential real estate developer Russell Nowak, is found dead on the back lawn. Nowak was assaulted with the iron poker from the fire pit.

Robyn’s photography job comes to a sudden end, and she immediately switches into sleuth mode to figure out whose Christmas present should be wrapped in an arrest warrant. Though the case dampens her holiday spirit, Robyn grabs moments to enjoy the season as she investigates Russell’s death. Selecting a Christmas tree is a favorite tradition for many, including Robyn, who accompanies her friend Will Vonderlin to local farm Linden Acres to select a tree for his home. Time spent with Will turns into an opportunity for Robyn to chat with a married couple who were at Natalie’s party. Searching for clues while debating the merits of a Norway spruce versus a Douglas fir is unconventional, but when there’s a murder to solve, Robyn takes advantage of every opportunity to play detective.

Robyn built her photography business on a house of Christmas cards. It’s a strong foundation, and she adds to it with a session with a party guest. This job, though, has greater significance than the typical sessions Robyn has with families in matching Christmas sweaters or pajamas. Impressing the client—a famous author—with a gorgeous portfolio of photos would be a boon for Robyn’s career. The author also may be a source of useful information for Robyn’s investigation. So while she’s snapping photos in the author’s living room, Robyn asks discreet questions about the woman’s party observations. She needs to be careful, however; the woman is conducting her own research on the murder case. Is this simple writer’s curiosity, or is the author, who is accustomed to seeing her name on best-seller lists, trying to figure out where she lands on Robyn’s roster of suspects? Has this woman been naughty or nice?

It wouldn’t be the holiday season without plenty of treats to indulge the sweet tooth. Robyn partakes of both while making her rounds. She happily samples fresh-baked Christmas cookies during a visit to George Moody, a central figure in the case. Later, Robyn pops in at the Candy Gal to talk with owner Alana Karras. The shop is a visual and olfactory feast of sweets wrapped in shiny holiday packages. Robyn appreciates the gift to her senses, but treasures the nugget of information Alana shares on the suspicion-raising conversation she had with several guests at Natalie’s party. In a second visit to the Candy Gal, Robyn gathers a potential break-in-the-case morsel when she falls into conversation by the display of chocolate Santas. Oh, the mighty power of chocolate…

Have you heard of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, an Italian tradition celebrated on Christmas Eve with various fish and seafood dishes? The Irish-American Cavanaghs have adapted the tradition into a Feast of the Seven Potatoes. Christmas Eve is delightfully wacky in their home, with everything from a bowl of potato chips to a platter of twice-baked spuds with all the toppings. There are also threats of boxed mash potatoes making an appearance and perhaps a German dish prepared by Will. It’s fun, it’s family, it’s the perfect addition to my first Christmas cozy mystery.

I’m sorry the book can’t play Christmas tunes, fill your home with the aroma of baking cookies and the fragrance of fresh-cut evergreens, offer the flavor of peppermint sticks, or twinkle with multi-colored lights. The Holiday Photo Murder does hold many delights of the season, however, and I hope you enjoy reading the latest Robyn Cavanagh mystery as much as I took pleasure in writing the story. Happy holidays to you all!

Thank you for sharing this with us, Jeanne, and good luck with The Holiday Photo Murder, the latest book in the Robyn Cavanagh mystery series. Readers can learn more about Jeanne Quigley by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook and Instagram pages.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

 Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Kobo   Apple 

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About Jeanne Quigley: Jeanne is the author of the Veronica Walsh Mysteries and the Robyn Cavanagh Mysteries. Unlike her fictional sleuths, she has never been a soap opera star, accountant, or professional photographer, but she has worked in the music industry, for an educational publisher, and in a county agency. She lives in New York’s historic Hudson Valley.

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Claws for Concern

Posted on November 11, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Lesley A Diehl, author of Claws for Concern, the latest novel in the Maddie Sparks mysteries series, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today.

Welcome, Lesley.

Tell us about your novel. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

Claws for Concern is the third novel in the Maddie Sparks mysteries. The series features Maddie Sparks, a woman somewhere over seventy (she won’t say how much over!) who works with her partner, Zack Montgomery, an ex-county sheriff, in his private detective agency. In this third book of the series, Maddie’s younger son is accused of murdering one of his clients. To identify the killer, Maddie finds she must explore her son’s past friendships and find the old classmate that hates her son enough to murder his client and pin the killing on him.

Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?

I often think about my old high school classmates and wonder how they’re changed over the years. At a class reunion, it became clear that most of the past animosities were gone, swept away by time, the fading of memories and the intervening lives that we live. However, I also wondered if some individuals could hold on to strong feelings especially those that began much earlier in their lives such as rejection by a parent followed by rejections by friends. Could such an early emotional assault set an individual up to process the typical events of childhood and adolescence as repeated insults to self-worth that might breed anger and hatred leading to self-loathing and then to murder? In most cases, the answer would be no, but what about this one case? Therein begins one friend’s determination to punish those who wronged her, past and present and the idea for a central event in Claws for Concern.

Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?

In all my cozy mysteries, murder is always personal, and often the motivation for it lies in family issues because families always mean strong feelings, often of love, sometimes of love rejected, sibling rivalry, competition, a search for independence from parents and other emotions that arise out of close relationships that are long term and that continue through the stages of children’s lives as they grow into adults. The dysfunctional family is a favourite topic in many British mysteries, which I love because the search for the killer is so internal to the family dynamics. Not only is there a poignancy associated with the murderer who is a family member, but the family members and friends also are wounded by the identity of the killer. The ties between victim and perpetrator are strong, the tension compelling. Although my mysteries are cozy, family dynamics always play a part.

How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones? If so, why are you partial to them?

In many ways my characters parallel my own life, not so much in terms of events or personality, but certainly age. I began writing when I was middle aged and so were my protagonists. Now that I am older, so is my recent protagonist, Maddie Sparks. Along with being a woman of a certain age, Maddie also shares with me her passion for writing, her love of a man who came into her life when she was older, a rescue cat, and life in a small village in Upstate New York. Like Maddie Sparks, I too have fallen in love with Zack Montgomery, the man she’s to marry. I loved writing the character of Jane, Maddie’s best friend because Jane is so sassy, so full of ideas and so certain her plans will work out, even if often they don’t. Jane is never deterred by reality. There is a special place in my heart for Spike, Maddie’s rescue cat who often manages to help bring the murderer to justice simply by being catlike. I’ve always had cats in my life, but the current feline member of our family is special. She’s a rescued tuxedo who came into our home to be a foster and has stayed permanently. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?

The village that Maddie has lived in for most of her adult life is modelled on the place where my husband and I live. It is not a carbon copy of our village, but close enough that I only have to describe its location in a river valley, the stream, woods and pastures nearby and the resilient people who choose to live in a place where you have to drive up a mountain to get to a place to buy groceries and other supplies. It becomes difficult in winter as Maddie learns when she decides to drive her friend Jane to a nearby city and an unexpected snowstorm rolls in. And like my village, Maddie’s is lovely in any season—summer hiking, raking leaves on a warm day in the fall, cuddling next to a fire on a cold winter’s day with someone you love, and welcoming the different hues of green as spring takes a hold of the land with iris, lilacs and daffodils in bloom.

What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?

There is no formal research that goes into my work, only a long life lived fully embracing the people I’ve known and the rural life I’ve loved.

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

I have enjoyed writing this series and hope readers find it funny and the characters charming. The setting, including Maddie’s cottage and Maddie herself, is close to my heart because it springs from my own life in a small Upstate New York Village (not that we get many murders here!). Maddie is a role model for all mature women who aren’t content to sit and watch the world go by but want to engage with it and make an impact on it. Maddie thought love had passed her by, but she discovered she was wrong when she met Zack Montgomery who not only filled her heart but was the inspiration for her new adventure writing romance novels. While her snoopiness may annoy and sometimes terrify him as they pursue a killer, he admires and respects her mind. Plus, he is one handsome dude. Who wouldn’t want a life like Maddie’s?

Thank you for answering my questions, Lesley, and good luck with Claws for Concern, the latest book in the Maddie Sparks mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Lesley A Diehl by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads and Amazon pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon      Barnes and Noble     Bookshop

About Lesley A Diehl: Cows, Lesley learned growing up on a farm, have a twisted sense of humor. They chased her when she herded them in for milking, and one ate the lovely red mitten her grandmother knitted for her. Determining that agriculture wasn’t a good career choice, instead, she uses her country roots and her training as a psychologist to concoct stories designed to make people laugh in the face of murder. Unusual protagonists appear in many of Lesley’s works, including Desdemona, the crime-fighting potbellied pig, a hobo turned county sheriff and Lesley’s zany back-home-on-the-farm relatives (The Killer Wore Cranberry, all six anthologies). She is the author of several cozy mystery series (The Eve Appel Mysteries, Laura Murphy Mysteries, The Big Lake Murder Mysteries and her newest from Camel Press, Maddie Sparks Mysteries, featuring a senior sleuth and her rescue cat). Her cozy mysteries have won several Readers’ Favorite Awards and a short story Sleuthfest Award.

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One Gold Ring is out now

Posted on November 7, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Last year I had an idea for a Christmas novella but I didn’t write the novella then. Instead, I wrote a short story for A Right Cozy Christmas Crime, a collection of Christmas themed cozy mysteries. In my story, The Gifts Grab, the Community Christmas Charity Evening is in full swing at the local market, and middle-aged librarian Lois Stone is enjoying the sights, sounds and scents of Christmas until she hears her best friend Marge’s wail of frustration. A 1914 silver-plated slipper-shaped pin cushion and a pair of 1941 women’s crystal heeled pumps have gone missing from the museum’s stall. Festive fun will have to wait for Lois as it won’t look much like Christmas until she helps her friend find the thief and retrieve the museum treasures.

Two years ago, I wrote Mistletoe and Murder, a Christmas novella that featured Lois Stone’s friend Marge. When Lois and Marge attend the Fenwater Association Christmas party in the town’s lovely Hawick Hotel, Marge gets more than she bargained for: a bothersome blast from the past, and a corpse under a chandelier.

I enjoy writing Christmas themed cozy mysteries and the idea for this year’s story has been brewing for a year now. I’ve been waiting for the right time to slip it into the Century Cottage series. I think it’s now time so I finally sat down and penned One Gold Ring. Lois and her partner Bruce have been getting closer during the couple of years since they first met so it’s time for Bruce to think about proposing. He asks Marge to meet him at the Honey Pot diner to show her the ring and get her reassurance about his choice. But a few moments of Marge’s inattention could scupper Bruce’s plans for a romantic Christmas proposal. A cunning thief seizes the opportunity Marge’s lapse affords to snatch Bruce’s family heirloom. Soon afterwards Lois arrives and joins Marge and Bruce in the search for the ring. Three heads may be better than one or two but Lois can’t find out that it’s her engagement ring they are hunting for. Will they keep the upcoming proposal a secret and find the ring in time for that romantic Christmas proposal?

One Gold Ring was released this week and you can find it here

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Rock a Bye Bye Baby

Posted on November 5, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Debbie De Louise, author of Rock a Bye Bye Baby, a Cobble Cove mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to share with us why she writes multiple series and why she thinks you should read them.

Welcome, Debbie. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

Rock a Bye Bye Baby is my sixth Cobble Cove cozy mystery published by Solstice publishing, and I write two other series. Why do I write multiple series? It all started with my A Stone’s Throw, the first book of my Cobble Cove series. I hadn’t intended to write it as a cozy, no less the first of a series. I considered it a romantic suspense novel, but readers reviewed it as a cozy. They may have gotten that impression because the book is set in a small town, features a librarian, library cat, and an inn.

Always hoping to satisfy my readers, I decided to go with the cozy theme and wrote the second book in the series, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, a Christmas mystery. Thus, followed Written in Stone, Love on the Rocks, No Gravestone Unturned, and my new release, Rock a Bye Bye Baby. Notice that I alternate rocks and stones in the titles with a play on popular phrases. I only deviated from this with the short story collection, Sneaky’s Supernatural Mystery and Other Cobble Cove Stories.

So why did I write another series? It wasn’t because I was bored with the plots or characters. On the contrary, I’d grown fond of the Cobble Cove residents and had introduced more active roles for the pets in the book starting in the fourth book of the series, Love on the Rocks, when I introduced a calico cat shortly before I rescued one in real life.

The Buttercup Bend series came about after I signed with a new publisher, Next Chapter (then Creativia). The Case of the Cat Crazy Lady, my first Buttercup Bend mystery, started with a different title but, after sharing it with beta readers, I changed it. Although I had ideas for the following titles in the series, it wasn’t until after I published The Case of the Parrot Loving Professor that I decided to feature a different animal in each book and that the murder would be tied to the person who owned or cared for that animal. For instance, in The Case of the Llama Raising Librarian, a llama-raising librarian was murdered. In The Case of the Whale Watching Wedding Planner, a wedding planner who worked part-time on whale-watching cruises was the victim. You get the idea and can figure out the theme of The Case of the Reptile Rescuing Receptionist.

I thought two series would be more than enough for me to write, but then I came up with an idea for a third: Murder at Meadows Lake Clubhouse: the first Soup the Supernatural Kitten Mystery. This book was the first one I wrote in my new home in South Carolina. I set it in that state with the main character moving there after having lost her husband and beloved cat. Widow Rose finds a talking ginger cat in Meadows Lake who introduces herself as Soup and helps her solve a murder in that community. She also meets two eligible men, a realtor and a sheriff. Soup is based on the ginger cat my family adopted in South Carolina. My daughter named her Soup, and I used the name for the character cat in the series.

Now that I’ve introduced you to my three series, why do I think you should consider reading them? First, if you like cozies and animals, you’ll enjoy these stories. It’s not necessary to read any of the books in order, although some people prefer to start with the first of each series to follow the development of the characters. Second, each series has interesting, quirky characters. In the Cobble Cove series, Alicia is a librarian and co-author of a mystery series along with her husband, John. Her best friend, Abigail (known as Gilly by her friends), gets Alicia involved in solving crimes despite John and Sheriff Ramsay’s objections. Gilly, a divorcee with three sons, takes over the local inn after she marries the sheriff. There are quite a few regular characters in the series including library employees, John’s father Mac, and his wife Betty who has a sad backstory. And, of course, Sneaky the library cat, Fido the golden retriever who plays a big role in the first book, and KittyKai who enters the series in the fourth book. Gilly also brings her beagle, Ruby, when she moves to Cobble Cove.

The regular Buttercup Bend characters include Cathy, the co-owner of a pet rescue center and cemetery with her brother Doug. Cathy lives with her grandmother Florence next door to Doug and his wife. Doug is the Cobble Cove mail carrier. Cathy also works part-time for the Buttercup Bugle newspaper as a photographer. She dropped out of college when her parents were killed in a car accident in which she was injured and left with a permanent scar on her cheek that she hides with her hair. She overcomes her shyness when her friend, Nancy, helps her discover her secret interest in solving mysteries, and the two sleuth together. They also share an interest in three eligible men – Cathy’s gardener, the veterinarian for her pet rescue, and the deputy sheriff.

I already mentioned widow Rose from Soup the Supernatural Kitten Mysteries and the other regular characters featured in the first book. I left out female detective, Dixie, who moves into Meadows Lake and befriends Rose. Dixie becomes like a daughter to Rose and helps her face some of her fears. She, like the other characters in the series, are unaware that Rose’s new cat, Soup, can talk and has other supernatural abilities. Rose, like Soup, has psychic powers that she hasn’t developed but begins to use them to solve crimes.

I hope this overview of my three series whets your appetite to read them. I’m currently working on the next Buttercup Bend and the next Soup the Supernatural Kitten books, but I plan to go back to Cobble Cove after I complete them and even left a teaser at the end of Rock a Bye Bye Baby.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Debbie, and good luck with Rock a Bye Bye Baby, the latest book in the Cobble Cove mystery series. Readers can learn more about Debbie De Louise by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, AllAuthor, Bookbub, LinkedIn and Instagram pages. Readers can also follow her on Twitter/X.

The book is available online at  Amazon

About Debbie De Louise: Debbie is an award-winning author and retired reference librarian. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters-in-Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Cat Writers’ Association, and the South Carolina Writers Association. She’s published over twenty  books including three cozy mystery series, a romance, standalone mysteries, a time-travel novel, and a collection of cat poems. Her stories and poetry appear in over a dozen anthologies. Originally from Long Island, she moved to South Carolina where she now lives with her husband, daughter, and three cats. 

Posted in Archives, November 2025 | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Without a Shadow of Doubt

Posted on November 4, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Olivia Penn from Without a Shadow of Doubt, an Olivia Penn mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to tell us how she went from writing advice columns to investigating crime scenes.

Welcome, Olivia. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

When I first started my career as a journalist for a Mid-Atlantic regional paper, I assumed my work would be all hard deadlines and reporter’s notebooks. As a bright-eyed graduate, I thought I’d be chasing stories about zoning board disputes, local fairs, and, maybe occasionally, something juicy enough to make the front page.

I never imagined I’d become “Dear Ms. Penn,” the advice columnist people now turn to for advice from breakups to breakdowns. That opportunity arrived in the most unexpected way. One of my editors suggested I try my hand at writing the feature, and the column took off almost immediately. I received so many questions from readers that what was intended as a weekly column soon became a daily feature and my main gig. I wrote about heartbreak and career woes with as much honesty and humor as I could manage. Readers responded, and before I knew it, my column was picked up by a larger paper, then syndicated. Somewhere along the way, I traded press passes for a steady stream of letters beginning with, “Dear Ms. Penn, I don’t know what to do …”

A little over a year ago, I was given a promotion, and I was on my way to New York to be closer to the larger media and publishing outlets. Fate, however, had other plans, and circumstances changed. Life has a way of humbling even the best-laid strategies, and I found myself back in my hometown of Apple Station, Virginia. It’s a place that smells like fresh-cut grass in spring and fireplaces in winter. Porch swings are almost a requirement, and gossip makes the rounds quicker than hummingbirds at full feeders.

Of course, I couldn’t just abandon my pen. I still write my national advice column, but I also picked up a little side gig: a pro bono weekly column for the Apple Station Times. Around here, people don’t write me to ask whether they should break up with their boyfriend or quit their job. Instead, I’m doling out recipes for triple berry pie and passing along my grandmother’s tips for using vinegar for everything from shining windows to keeping ants out of the sugar bowl. It’s folksy, practical, and I absolutely love doing it.

But here’s the part I never, ever expected about moving home: murder. Four times I’ve been drawn into investigations I had no intention of joining. Not as a detective, mind you, but as someone whose life or friends got tangled in knots the police couldn’t easily untie.

I’ve learned that the same skills that serve me as an advice columnist come in handy when faced with crime. You learn to read between the lines of a letter, to notice what someone isn’t saying as much as what they are. You develop patience, listening carefully instead of rushing to judgment. And maybe most importantly, you recognize that every problem, whether it’s a troubled relationship or a suspicious alibi, comes down to human nature. People want to be understood, and people want to be believed.

In Apple Station, those skills have helped me ask the right questions at the right time, sometimes nudging the truth into the light. Still, I’d never call myself a sleuth. Solving crimes has been less about playing detective and more about refusing to look away when things don’t add up.

That said, I hope those days are behind me. Crime may make for compelling headlines, but it’s not something anyone wishes on their doorstep. This weekend, I’m planning to attend the Highland Games here in town, and I’m looking forward to bagpipes, caber tosses, and shortbread cookies. No mysteries allowed.

At least, that’s the plan.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Olivia, and good luck to you and your author, Kathleen Bailey, with Without a Shadow of Doubt, the latest book in the Olivia Penn mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Olivia and her author, Kathleen Bailey by visiting the author’s website and. her Instagram, BookBub and Goodreads pages.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

Amazon   All Retailers

About Kathleen Bailey: Kathleen is the award-winning author of The Olivia Penn Mystery Series. She writes mysteries with heart and humor that keep to the traditional and cozy sides of crime. For over twenty years, she worked as a pediatric physical therapist with children who have special needs, drawing on degrees in English, psychology, and physical therapy. She now writes in Virginia with her feline assistant, who insists on supervising every draft. When she’s not writing, Kathleen can usually be found covered in cat hair, surrounded by far too many sticky notes, and plotting new twists to keep readers guessing. She is a member of Sisters in Crime.

Posted in November 2025 | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Deadly Secrets at Ballyford Castle

Posted on October 30, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Ellen Butler, author of Deadly Secrets at Ballyford Castle, the latest novel in the Ariadne Winter mysteries series, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today.

Welcome, Ellen.

Tell us about your novel. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

Glamorous 1950s journalist Ariadne Winter chases murder from Newport to Ireland, uncovering secrets, lies, and danger in a stylish mystery series where every clue counts.

Deadly Secrets at Ballyford Castle is the second book in the Ariadne Winter mysteries.

From Paris runways to Irish ruins, danger follows journalist Ariadne Winter.
When a body turns up at her cousin’s engagement party, Ariadne suspects foul play. Digging into the O’Connell family’s secrets, she uncovers a dark legacy—and a killer who’ll do anything to keep it buried. Even if it means silencing her.

Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?

In 2023, I visited Ireland with my husband. We took a castles and manors driving tour around the southern part of the island. The highlight was visiting Kilkenny Castle, once the home of James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond, 7th Chief Butler of Ireland. However, it wasn’t my husband’s ancestral home that inspired Deadly Secrets at Ballyford Castle, but rather a charming manor house hotel nestled beside the ruins of Ballinalacken Castle near the Cliffs of Moher. Rising above the hotel on an outcrop stands Ballinalacken Castle, a 15th-century tower house. On our first evening, the hotel’s owner took a small group of guests into the crumbling stone castle. The highlight of the tour was the climb up to the top and out onto the narrow archer’s platform. Looking down, I realized how easy it would be to push someone over the edge, and my mystery writer’s brain went into overdrive. I adored Ireland so much; I decided to set Ariadne’s next adventure there.

Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story?

There are a number of themes in the story. Family duty versus personal desire runs throughout the story. Then there’s the theme of women navigating societal expectations—Julia dreams of a fairy-tale engagement but soon discovers that marrying into nobility means a lifetime of scrutiny and compromise. Ariadne is single and independent an oddity in the 1950s where women of her “class” were expected to marry and have children. The novel also explores class and heritage.

How do you create your characters?

Characters often come to me in dreams. As I weave the storyline, I am also creating a bible of backstory for my characters that you may or may not see come out on the page. The backstory helps me to determine a character’s motivation for their behaviour, language, and action. 

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?

I generally tend to write in locations that I have visited. Therefore, when I write about them, I’ve firsthand knowledge of the look and feel of the location, so it is easy for me to place the reader there.

What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?

I’m a research junky and when I’m writing historical fiction, I tend to do as much research as I can. If possible, I conduct interviews of first-hand or second-hand accounts of the locations where I’m setting the story. In addition, I will read non-fiction books and diaries, if they are available, and newspapers from the time. I also do extensive internet research which can often help me locate primary resources.

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

If you enjoy the twists and turns of Agatha Christie style novels with the fashions of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, then Ariadne Winter will be right up your alley.

Thank you for answering my questions, Ellen, and good luck with Deadly Secrets at Ballyford Castle, the latest book in the Ariadne Winter mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Ellen Butler by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Instagram, BookBub and Goodreads pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon    B&N     Kobo   Apple 

About Ellen Butler: Ellenis the international bestselling author of the Karina Cardinal mystery series. Her experiences working on Capitol Hill and at a medical association in Washington, D.C. inspired the mystery-action series. Publishers Weekly called the Karina Cardinal mysteries, “intelligent escapism.” Butler also writes the Ariadne Winter historical mysteries as well as historical spy fiction. The Brass Compass has won multiple awards for historical fiction including: a Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird  Book Award, Indie Reader Discovery Award, and a Readers’ Favorite Silver Medal. The second book in the duology, Operation Blackbird: A Cold War Spy Novel, is inspired by true events, and won a Next Generation Indie Book Award gold medal for historical fiction.

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What Lucy Heard author interviewed

Posted on October 28, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Nancy Lynn Jarvis, author of What Lucy Heard, a PIP Inc. mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to tell us why she enjoyed writing this novel and the previous ones in the series.

Welcome, Nancy. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series; six in the PIP Inc. Mysteries series; a stand-alone novel about octogenarians who decide to save their mobile home park from foreclosure by robbing the bank that holds the mortgage and using their ill-gotten money to pay off their debt; and done a little guidebook about hosting Airbnb. I also convinced 128 cozy mystery writers to submit recipes from their books for a cookbook titled “Cozy Food,” and had the great pleasure of editing two short story anthologies, “Santa Cruz Weird” and “Santa Cruz Ghost Stories.” Whew.

Every time I finish a book, I think putting it together was the most fun I’ve had in my many years as a writer. But I must admit writing mysteries is the most personally entertaining of all genres I’ve faced. “What Lucy Heard,” my latest release, is no exception. 

What makes each book so entertaining for me to write is that I get to explore topics or events that interest me and introduce characters whose lives are fun to mess with, and occasionally end. Sometimes my villains become so sympathetic to me that as I write them, I’m secretly hoping they’ll figure out a way to escape justice.  I’ve only let that happen once…well maybe twice. Sort of.

My books have complicated plots; I love twists and red herrings. I take great pleasure in seeing if I can give readers all the information that they need to solve the crime while keeping them off balance. I admit, though, I broke that rule in one book when I wanted readers to solve the mystery one chapter before my protagonist did. My goal was to make them scream, “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you realize the danger you’re in? You’re going to get yourself killed!”

Enough reminiscing, though. What made “What Lucy Heard” so much fun for me to write? I got to play with a murder suspect who had motive and opportunity, whose fingerprints were on the murder weapon, and who several reliable witnesses placed at the scene of the crime. Open and shut, right? My protagonist, Pat Pirard, didn’t think so, at least not at first. Perhaps her clever mind saw something others didn’t. Or not. What fun I had teasing Pat.

I’m a political junkie who keeps up with current news. As I listened to breaking news stories earlier this year, I was able to add subtle references to them in the book. The cover of the book features a Cybertruck. When I was deciding what sort of vehicle the accused murderer should drive, something which matters for the story, I picked a Cybertruck not only because it’s quiet but also because that vehicle was so prominent in the news in the days of Elon Musk.

 At one point in the story Pat, the former Santa Cruz County Law Librarian who has become an unlicensed private investigator to keep her and her dalmatian, Dot, and her ginger tabby, Lord Peter Wimsey—yes, a definite nod to the famed Dorthy Sayers detective—housed and fed after she was downsized out of her job, is coyly asking a suspect if it’s possible to make a text message disappear. She knows the answer, but she wants to see if they do. Her suspect says it’s easy if you use something like Signal to do it. I came up with that particular app after the news was all about a reporter accidently being included in a hi-level phone conversation he shouldn’t have heard and that a feature of the app was that conversations could be made to disappear.

 I used other prominent events, too, but if I told you what they were here, they would become spoiler alerts which I don’t want to give you because “What Lucy Heard” is a great mystery for you to solve and the title alone is a major clue.

The murder victim was a serial philanderer which gave me many suspects to play with since there were numerous people who had reason to want him dead. If that storyline reminds you of anything in the news today, it’s probably not a coincidence. And the book ends with the protagonist asking her husband what will happen to the killer. He responds that rule of law must be followed or we have nothing, also a significant topic in the news today.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Nancy, and good luck with What Lucy Heard, the latest book in the PIP Inc. mystery series. Readers can learn more about Nancy Lynn Jarvis by visiting the author’s website and Goodreads and Amazon author pages

The book is available online at Amazon.

About Nancy Lynn Jarvis: Nancy wore many hats before she started writing cozy mysteries. After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, she worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News, as a librarian, as the business manager for Shakespeare/Santa Cruz, and as a Realtor.

Nancy’s work history reflects her philosophy: people should try something radically different every few years, a philosophy she applies to her writing, as well. She has written seven Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries; six PIP Inc. Mysteries; a stand-alone novel “Mags and the AARP Gang” about a group of octogenarian bank robbers; edited “Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes,” and short story anthologies, “Santa Cruz Weird,” and “Santa Cruz Ghost Stories.” She also has an ebook on Amazon which she keeps adding to as she writes more short stories.

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Murder by the Millions

Posted on October 22, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Daryl Wood Gerber, author of Murder by the Millions, the latest novel in the Literary Dining mysteries series, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today.

Welcome, Daryl.

Tell us about your novel. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

Murder by the Millions is the second in the Literary Dining Mysteries. In the first, Murder on the Page, protagonist Allie Catt, a caterer, helps her friend Tegan, a bookstore clerk, when Tegan’s aunt (who owns the bookstore) is murdered. They put on a memorial featuring the aunt’s favorite book, Pride and Prejudice, and ask people to dress up for the period. Allie makes foods pertinent to the era. In the end, Allie, Tegan, and her half-sister come up with the idea to continue to throw literary dining parties based on classic novels.

In Murder by the Millions, the featured book is The Great Gatsby. A wealthy stranger comes to town with the intention to build a mall. Allie doesn’t want Bramblewood (a town near Asheville, NC) to lose its charm. However, the stranger befriends her and asks her to cater a soiree for the town. When Allie finds him dead, she becomes the main suspect.

Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?

My mind. Truly. I love The Great Gatsby and thought it would be fun to have a parallel story with a mysterious stranger who is building “something” to woo the woman he loves. Like Gatsby, he is an antihero with a past.

Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?

In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is flawed. He believes in the American Dream and has an unwavering love for Daisy. In some ways he is so unassuming that it’s endearing. The lead character in Murder by the Millions possesses a similar naivete. I wanted to explore his fixation, while at the same time I wanted Allie to have to defend herself and her reputation. She must use her wiles. She will come out the victor.

How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones? If so, why are you partial to them?

I’m like any mother. I love all my children. My favorite ones always happen to be my protagonists, of course. I want them to succeed. I want them to use their brains. I want them to learn about themselves and the world as they solve crimes. Anyone who is willing to learn and change and grow is a hero in my mind.

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?

I created a map of Bramblewood to orient the reader. Then I populated it with shops and streets and activities. As I build it, it comes alive to me. When I visited Asheville before writing the series, I explored a number of nearby towns. This one, in essence, resembles Black Mountain, but Bramblewood lies to the west of Asheville and is located in the mountains.

What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?

I studied up on Asheville, when the town was created and what kind of people and entrepreneurs populated it. For this novel, I studied about artifacts found in the North Carolina location. I read The Great Gatsby a couple of times. I even went to the musical, The Great Gatsby, on Broadway to get more of a feel of the period and the costumes. I researched the food that Allie makes for the party, and I developed recipes based on recipes from that time period including pineapple upside down cake. It was a bunch of fun!

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

I hope they will enjoy the quotations included at the beginning of each chapter. I pulled quotations that moved me. They might not relate to that particular chapter, but they should orient the reader to the text in The Great Gatsby and hopefully enlighten them as to some of the characters as well as to the narrator. Maybe they’ll even want to read the book, if they haven’t.

Thanks for today’s opportunity!

Thank you for answering my questions, Daryl, and good luck with Murder by the Millions, the latest book in the Literary Dining mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Daryl Wood Gerber by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Bookbub, Instagram, Goodreads, YouTube and TikTok pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

AMAZON    BARNES AND NOBLE     BOOKSHOP.ORG    KOBO      MYSTERIOUS GALAXY

About Daryl Wood Gerber: Daryl is the Agatha Award-winning, nationally bestselling author of the Literary Dining Mysteries, the Fairy Garden Mysteries, the French Bistro Mysteries, and the Cookbook Nook Mysteries, as well as the Cheese Shop Mysteries written under the name Avery Aames. She also writes standalone suspense novels and the Aspen Adams Novels of Suspense. Prior to her career as a novelist, she was an actress with roles in television shows including “Murder, She Wrote,” and she wrote for the popular TV sitcom “Out of this World.” Originally from the Bay Area, she now lives in Southern California, where she likes to cook, garden, and spend time with her frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky.

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Merry Merry Merry Murder

Posted on October 21, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Paty Jager, author of Merry Merry Merry Murder, a Cuddle Farm mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to tell us a bit about setting her book in a small town.

Welcome, Paty. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

It’s true that writers bring a little bit of themselves or their surroundings into their work.

When I came up with the idea for the Cuddle Farm Mysteries, I knew it would be set in a small town. All of my mystery series are set in rural, small towns. It’s where I grew up and have lived most of my adult life. It’s what I know.

There is nothing like everyone knowing everything about you and you knowing a lot about everyone else. It keeps people, mostly, honest. Or it keeps them the main source of rumors. 😉

This gossip and knowing a lot about everyone is what makes writing mysteries in small towns so much fun. The amateur sleuth is usually more in the know than law enforcement, which makes them the best person to dig for the truth.

My fictional small town is a facsimile of the town where my husband and I are retiring to. I love the beautiful downtown area, the river that flows through the middle of the town, and they have a large central park with a pavilion where events are held throughout the year. All of these elements are in my fictional town.

My main character, Andi Clark, likes to take her dogs to the park for walks. Then she takes them to the Bow Wow Brew, a coffee shop across the street from the park. People can get coffee and sandwiches inside or sit in a covered patio with dog-friendly tables, benches, and water bowls. They also serve pup cups (ice cream cones made from dog-friendly ingredients with whipped cream in them) and dog cookies. This is one of the main places that Andi and her dogs meet up with Andi’s friends. I’ve populated the town with a number of coffee spots, but then in the real town, there are at least 6.

I enjoy coming up with names for businesses. One of my fictional businesses is Cheesy Pie. If you didn’t already guess, it’s a pizza place that you can order and eat in. Their famous pizza is the Everything But The Kitchen Sink. It has everything you could ever ask for on a pizza, all on one pizza. It’s Andi’s brother’s favorite pizza.

The town, I’m sort of replicating, has a grand, old hotel that was built in the 1800s when the gold from the surrounding mountains was flowing through the town. I have a similar hotel with an expensive restaurant in my book. It’s called the Auburn House. The town’s name is Auburn, and it’s set in Baker County, Oregon. If you are from Oregon or even the NE corner of Oregon, you’ll know the town I’m using as my blueprint for Auburn.

I’m hoping that with all the other small towns around the real town that I will also have places for Andi to travel a bit and get caught up in murders that aren’t right in her backyard. Or I should say, pasture.

She lives on her family’s sheep farm twenty miles outside of Auburn. Her family has been raising sheep and making yarn and garments from that yarn for three generations. The fourth generation, Andi’s nephew, has started weaving like his uncle, Andi’s brother, Rudy.  While everyone in her family, except her brother-in-law, either spin, weave, knit, or crochet, Andi keeps the books for the Weber family business and helps with selling the crafted items and with the sheep when needed.

Because she and the Cuddle therapy animals travel around to different places during the week, she just pops into the shop a couple of times a week to take care of the bookkeeping. It’s just enough numbers work to keep her brain happy, and she doesn’t have to hang out too long with her older sister.

Andi can’t remember when things changed, but she does have vague memories of her and her sister playing and having fun. Unfortunately, those are fading memories. Her sister and her best friend have been mean to Andi since she started school. The two would find ways to make her life miserable. Luckily, she hadn’t been a normal student. She was what they called a nerd. She and four other girls were at the top of their classes in mathematics and science. The boys were jealous of them, and the other girls called them weirdos. But they banded together and cheered each other on when they did well academically. 

After high school, Andi went on to college and received an accounting degree. That’s when she met her husband. Mick swept her off her feet, and they traveled the world as he worked for dignitaries and she helped him with accounting discrepancies.

But all of that ended with Mick’s accidental death. Andi didn’t feel like traipsing all around the world anymore. She headed back home to Auburn.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Paty, and good luck with Merry Merry Merry Murder, the first book in the Cuddle Farm mystery series. Readers can learn more about Paty Jager by visiting the author’s website and her Bookbub, Pinterest, Instragam, TikTok and Goodreads pages.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

 Amazon – B&N

About Paty Jager: Paty Jager is an award-winning author of murder mysteries, western romance, and action-adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes in eastern Oregon, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

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Thanks for Muffin

Posted on October 17, 2025 by Dianne Ascroft

Victoria Hamilton, author of Thanks for Muffin, the latest novel in the Merry Muffin mysteries series, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today.

Welcome, Victoria.

Tell us about your novel. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

Thanks for Muffin is Merry Muffin Mysteries #8. A long-standing storyline I have developed in this series about a woman (Merry Wynter) who inherited a real castle in Western New York from the Wynter branch of her family, concerns her figuring out how to make enough money to keep the castle. Merry and her friend, Pish Lincoln, have been developing it into a performing arts center, and in Thanks for Muffin it is finally the grand gala opening weekend for the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts. She has gathered together a group of folks who will be staying over the long Thanksgiving Weekend after the gala. Of course, this being a murder mystery, there is a body involved and a murder to investigate!

Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?

You know, there is such a huge trend in social media and the media period for a kind of sabotage story; bloggers, influencers and podcasters try to find a dark or seedy ‘angle’ to any event. I started with that idea, but it evolved over time and soon it became evident to me that there was more to the death in the story; there was a connecting thread to some of the people gathered together. Kind of an Agatha Christie twist! There was nothing Dame Agatha liked better than having a secret connection among suspects in the murder mystery, and that’s what Thanks for Muffin became!

Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?

In a sense there is a theme. There’s an old saying that I once used as a title for an (unpublished) mystery I wrote a long time ago. Old Sins Have Long Shadows. Meaning… some awful things from the past linger and come back to haunt people.

How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones? If so, why are you partial to them?

Variety, so they say, is the spice of life. In a mystery series I like to create a cast of characters with diversity, differences in life experience, outlook, and more. Among my favorite characters in the Merry Muffin Mysteries is Hannah Moore, the wheelchair bound local librarian in Autumn Vale. As I’ve gotten to know her over the series arc, I appreciate her outlook on life, her sense of humor, and her refusal to let her challenges define her.

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?

I’ve had great fun writing about the two towns of Autumn Vale and Ridley Ridge in the Merry Muffin Mysteries. Autumn Vale is sunny and sweet, with fun people, moving with the times and very progressive. Ridley Ridge is, as Merry puts it, the place where fun goes to die. I picture a gloomy place, where the citizens are morose and complaining, stuck in a time warp, everything worn down and troublesome. Even the diner waitresses keep leaving town!

I’m not sure where the idea for this dichotomy came from. It was like a contrast between goodness and light, and darkness and depression. The two places embody the theme of acceptance and rejection; Merry has been desperately trying for years to gain acceptance in her community. In Thanks for Muffin she thinks she’s finally made it, but has she? There are still dark Ridley Ridge forces out to destroy what she is trying to create!

What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?

There is always research for any novel, no matter what kind. In the Merry Muffin Mysteries I’ve spent a lot of time researching opera, which has led to me learning to appreciate it very much! I’m not knowledgeable, but I do enjoy it and include it in every book. I’ll be publishing a playlist to go along with Thanks for Muffin, of not just opera, but jazz and American standards, too, so watch for that on my social media pages!

But also for the last couple of books in the series I had to research dome theaters… fascinating stuff! They provide a perfect atmosphere for performance space because the sight lines are excellent; no columns or structural beams!

It’s a good thing I love research of almost any kind.

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

If you’re looking for an atmospheric fallish vibe, something to go along with the season, Thanks for Muffin, set over the long American Thanksgiving weekend is perfect! I hope readers will enjoy it and drop me a line to tell me what they think! Looking forward to hearing from readers.

Thank you for answering my questions, Victoria, and good luck with Thanks for Muffin, the latest book in the Merry Muffin mystery series.

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

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon.com – Amazon.ca – Barnes & Noble – Kobo – Smashwords

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.

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