Today I'm joining Berkley Mystery

in hosting author

Laura Childs

and her new release

EGGS ON ICE

Book 8 in the Cackleberry Club Mysteries

The Christmas season at the Cackleberry Club café is marred by murder in the latest book in the New York Times bestselling series.

Some say that casting crusty attorney Allen Sharpe as Scrooge in the Kindred Players production of "A Christmas Carol" is just playing to type. He's not the most beloved man in town. In fact, you'd have a dickens of a time finding someone who liked him. Still it's a shock when the Ghost of Christmas Past stabs him during the first rehearsal. Suzanne, co-owner of the Cackleberry Club café, Kindred's favorite combination diner, craft store and bookshop, chases the murderer out of the building but loses him in the alley. 

As the days pass the list of suspects grows longer. Is it the disgruntled partner? The former secretary whom Sharpe sexually harrassed? Or is it fellow owner of the Cackleberry Club, Toni's almost ex-husband, Junior? The women of the Cackleberry Club are determined to find the killer before he can add another victim to his Christmas list.

Guest Post for Laura Childs, New York Times

bestselling author of Eggs on Ice

A sense of Adventure.

I believe that life is lots more fun when it’s a bucket of crazy. Like the time I applied to the FBI. Or did a three-day Outward Bound solo in the Boundary Waters Canoe area. Or taught my Quarter Horse how to jump fences. Or learned whitewater canoeing. Or skied the back bowls in Vail. Or when I started a major ad agency when I was barely thirty.

It gets better. A couple years ago I tiptoed down a path in an Indonesian jungle (disregarding warning signs about poisonous cobras) to get a look at the temple where Margaret Mead did her early research. Then I flew in a single engine plane inside the Grand Canyon and landed on the snow-covered rim.

I possess what you’d probably call a spirit of adventure. And while I don’t want to reveal some of these follies to my life insurance agent, I definitely try to stick as much joie de vie as possible into my mysteries!

Because mysteries should be mysterious, laugh-out-loud fun and over-the-top exciting. And I truly believe from the bottom of my adrenaline-charged heart that a cozy mystery needs to deliver random blips of pulse-pounding excitement to its reader. Have you ever heard of a thrillzy? Well, I coined that term and it’s exactly the kind of books that I write. Cozy mysteries with the breakneck pace of a thriller.

I mean, it’s fabulous to have knitting and tea drinking and hobbies and crafts in a mystery – in fact, most of those past-times are my stock in trade. But I also love to flip the script and add a ginormous helping of car chases, fires, explosions, ghostly specters, romance, and crazy BFF capers.

And that’s exactly what I deliver in Eggs on Ice, my brand new Cackleberry Club Mystery.

Here’s the Cliff’s Notes on it:

As the Kindred Players hold their first dress rehearsal for A Christmas Carol, a ghost wafts onstage and murders the star of the show. Shocked from her perch in the wings, Suzanne Dietz, co-owner of the Cackleberry Club, chases this spooky specter through the shadowy backstage of the theatre, but loses him when he escapes into a snowstorm. Feeling angry and threatened, Suzanne honchos her own shadow investigation and ends up juggling multiple suspects that include the mayor of small town Kindred, a strange visiting minister, a former female employee of the victim, and the play’s director. True to character, Suzanne also deals with holiday tea parties, a second murder, a devastating fire, and a terrifying car crash – all while maintaining a sizzling romance with the town doctor. Eggs on Ice offers laugh out loud humor, cozy moments, and recipes that include Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork, Elvis French Toast, Pumpkin Breakfast Casserole, and Church Basement Funeral Bars.

Have a terrific holiday and be sure to take some time for yourself and cozy up with a cup of tea and a mystery!

Love,

Laura

Laura Childs is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of the Scrapbooking Mysteries, Tea Shop Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Recently, Book Riot named her mysteries to their list of “25 of the All Time Best Cozy Mystery Series.” In her previous life Laura was CEO of her own marketing firm, authored several screenplays, and produced a reality TV show. She is married to Dr. Bob, a professor of Chinese art history, enjoys travel, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

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!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

1 lucky reader will win a print copy of

EGGS ON ICE

USA only

Enter using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post

📚📖📚📖📚

MY REVIEW

I’ve come to eggspect a lot from books by author Laura Childs. She’s certainly a master of her craft. In this eighth book of her Cackleberry Club Mysteries, Ms. Childs does not disappoint.

EGGS ON ICE wastes no time jumping into the thick of things. With a murder happening right off the bat, readers will hit the ground running in this tale. And what an original murder it is! There are a ton of witnesses who saw nothing (You’ll see for yourself when you read it). And speaking of original, the way the killer was “taken down” was simply awesome.

I love the characters in this series. They’re such a quirky group. Among the mystery and mayhem, a few of them always make me laugh out loud. This book is no different.  

This is an eggcellent time of year to read a Christmas cozy mystery. Why not make it EGGS ON ICE?

GOOD LUCK!

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