I'm so happy to join Berkley Mystery in 

celebrating the release of  

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT

Book 4 in the Year-Round Christmas Mysteries

by Vicki Delany

Residents of Rudolph keep the spirit of Christmas alive year-round—but their joy is threatened when a group of grinches visits the town, in the charming fourth installment of the Year-Round Christmas series.

It's the week before Thanksgiving, and Merry Wilkinson, owner of Mrs. Claus's Treasures, is preparing for a weekend reunion of her mother's college friends. But when the group of women comes into Merry's shop, Merry is met with frosty attitudes and cold hearts.

The women argue amongst themselves constantly, and the bickering only intensifies after one of the friends is poisoned. With her father's role as Santa in danger due to his proximity to the crime, Merry will need to use all of her investigative gifts to wrap this mystery up and save Santa and her favorite holiday.

A WORD FROM VICKI

Favorite Holidays

By Vicki Delany

Everyone has a favorite holiday. I’d take a guess that for most people it’s Christmas. After all, we start the Christmas season not long after Halloween and drag it on into the second week of January.

And then, Christmas in July is another chance to do it all again!

Merry Wilkinson, the main character in my Year Round Christmas series from Penguin Random House, would never say it out loud but Christmas is NOT her favorite holiday.

Merry lives in Rudolph, New York where she owns a shop called Mrs. Claus’s Treasures situated on Jingle Bell Lane. She lusts (so far in vain) after the Santa Claus parade trophy. Her father, Noel, plays the town’s Santa Claus and her boyfriend acts as Santa’s head toymaker.

Don’t get me wrong, Merry loves Christmas. She wouldn’t survive long in America’s Christmas Town, as Rudolph desperately wants to be officially known, for long.

But for Merry, Christmas means work. 

The frantic shopping season of November/December, getting her float ready for the semi-annual Santa Claus parade (yes, they have one in July also), the influx of tourists. 

Then the post-holiday sales and trying to remember to have fun to celebrate the New Year. So by the time January rolls around, Merry’s had enough.

Thanksgiving is her one last chance to relax before the influx of the season.  Her parents always put on a turkey dinner with all the trimmings for whichever of their children happen to be around that year, and invite any stray friends they can find.

Thanksgiving is Merry’s favorite holiday: As she explains:

I love Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday. Don’t tell anyone in Rudolph, but I love Thanksgiving even more than Christmas. My mom and dad always make turkey with all the fixings – walnut and sage stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, a squash casserole, two types of pie. It’s my chance to take one last long deep breath before plunging head first into the madness of the holiday season.

I love Christmas too - my dad is Santa Claus after all - but now that I own the store, when Christmas Day itself arrives I’m totally exhausted. That’s a day to sit back, feet up, mug of hot chocolate in hand, open a few gifts at my parents’ house, and then have a hearty brunch and go to bed early before opening the shop the next morning for the after-Christmas sales.

                                                               Silent Night Deadly Night by Vicki Delany

This year, Merry’s mother has invited a group of her college friends for a reunion the weekend before Thanksgiving.  They start bickering as soon as they arrive in town, and no one is having a good time.

But Merry’s confident they’ll have gone home in time for her to celebrate Thanksgiving with those she loves.

Find out if Merry gets the Thanksgiving she wants in SILENT NIGHT ,DEADLY NIGHT, coming August 27 from Berkley.

Tell me, dear reader, what’s YOUR favorite holiday?  For me: Christmas.

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT

is available now

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