Victoria Hamilton's Blog, page 4

Coffee, Writing & Me

So, I've Been Busy...

I haven't updated this blog since... whoa, November 2017???

I've been just a little busy with a brand new project, a historical mystery series, which starts with A Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder.

Here is just a little taste...


I'll try to update more often...

LOL!!

Happy Holidays & Season's Readings!

Season's Readings from Killer Characters!
As you know, every 21st of the month I blog at Killer Characters, a fine group of my cozy mystery pals. This year, Season's Readings, our month of giveaways, runs from November 20th to December 19th, a chance to win wonderful prizes every single day! All you need to do is comment on each day's blog to enter. Winners will be announced on the page.

But I also have a couple of other fun giveaways planned as a guest blogger.

November 26th: I'll be appearing at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen with a fun and fabulous recipe and giveaway.

December 4th is my day at Karen Owen's Beyond the Bookmarks Facebook page and I'll also be hosting a giveaway that day to celebrate the season!

And don't forget... November 21st is my day on Killer Characters for Season's Readings!

So... Happy Holidays, all! Have a merry and safe holiday season.
(PS... I'll be updating these links with my own on the actual day!!)

Muffin to Fear Release Day!!

Muffin to Fear is available!!
I just LOVE release day... it never fails to excite me, seeing how my latest 'baby' will be received by readers!

And speaking of readers... I've been saving this story to share with you all until now!

I love reader mail; it is always a pleasure to hear from readers, and makes the whole experience so much more special. One day a month or so ago I received this lovely letter from a reader who is also a member of one of the noblest professions... she's a teacher! I'd like to share the letter with you, as well as her photo!

This is Jennifer Wright Owen, and here is what she had to say:




~::~

Dear Victoria,

Your Merry Muffin Mysteries are such a delight. I love the characters, especially Merry. Like Merry, Shiloh would call me 'plush size'. I really have gotten more than wonderful reading out of your books. When you list a clothing brand that Merry dons, I immediately put my book down and Google the name. Thanks to you, I now own several items from Kiyonna, including a plum color maxi-dress I wore to officiate a wedding of two dear friends.

Thank you for your terrific characters and story lines. Thank you for feeding my mystery habit (started by my granddaughter when she bought me a Nancy Drew book, when I was eight years old).

Can't wait for the next Merry Muffin Mystery (aleady pre-ordered from Amazon).

Kind regards,
Jennifer Owen
(I've attached a picture of me in my Kiyonna dress)

~::~
No, thank YOU Jennifer, and all the readers who make what I do such an honor and privilege. And thank you to all of you readers who have reached out over the years to tell me what the books mean to you.

Muffin to Fear - #5 of the Merry Muffin Mysteries!

Hello, my friends. How is your summer so far?
With two books releasing - Leave It to Cleaver on June 23rd and Muffin to Fear on July 25th - I've been uber busy with promotions.

And now is the time to start talking about Muffin to Fear!

Sunday, July 9th I'll be at my first blog stop, the wonderful Mystery Lovers Kitchen blog, with a delicious scone recipe and a fun giveaway!!

Don't miss it! I'll post the link tomorrow morning, and you really don't want to miss the giveaway!!


~::~


About Muffin to Fear:
In the latest from the national bestselling author of Much Ado About Muffin, newlywed baker Merry Wynter has some unwanted guests looking for ghosts at Wynter Castle…

   While Merry is distracted by her quickly planned marriage to Virgil Grace and a blissful honeymoon in New York, her friend Pish invites the ghost-hunting crew from the TV show Haunt Hunt to investigate Merry's home, Wynter Castle. Merry soon discovers that not only is the crew out of sync, there are so many feuds and squabbles, it's a miracle they get a show produced at all.

   It all goes from bad to worse when the show's psychics claim to have contact with people murdered on Merry's property. When two cast members are found dead, Merry and Virgil must figure out who’s picking off the Haunt Hunt team before their hard-earned happily ever after is cut short.


INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES!
Check out my website for buy links! Victoria Hamilton Mysteries 

Don't Miss this DEAL on Leave It to Cleaver!

Don't miss this deal... Canadian and International readers... on Amazon Canada, Kobo and some other international sites, Leave it to Cleaver (the ebook version only!!) is reduced to just 99 cents or $1.29!!!

Don't miss out!! It's #1 among Mysteries, Cozies and Culinary Mysteries right now, and #7 among ALL Mysteries and Thrillers!!

Amazon Canada

Apple iBooks

Google

Kobo

Get it quick!!


Number 1 among ALL Cozies today on Amazon Canada!

Don't Miss Today's DEAL on Leave It to Cleaver!

Today only... on Amazon Canada, Kobo and some other international sites, Leave it to Cleaver is reduced to just 99 cents or $1.29!!!

Don't miss out!! It's #1 among Mysteries, Cozies and Culinary Mysteries right now, and #7 among ALL Mysteries and Thrillers!!

Amazon Canada

Apple iBooks

Google

Kobo

Get it quick!!


Number 1 among ALL Cozies today on Amazon Canada!

Leave It To Cleaver

What a wonderful year I've been having so far! But you wouldn't be able to tell that by this blog! I came back and realized... I haven't posted anything since last December!

BAD author... ((rapping knuckles))

I'll try to be better.

So... the most excellent news is, my Vintage Kitchen Mysteries has found a home at Beyond the Page Publishing. In this brave new world of publication, this means little to the reader, because my books will still be available in print and ebook. (We're working on audio) You will notice a difference in size; we will be releasing in trade paperback size because... well, I don't know why, I just know that's what is happening.

But there is one BIG difference... the timeline of publication. I turned in the final draft on May 1st, I've already done the copyedits, and we expect the book to be out and available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other places by mid-June!

AND... I'm signing a contract to publish three more in the VKM series! No Grater Danger is the next title.

So I am blogging in some places right now, and doing some giveaways!

Don't miss out!

Today, May 28th, I am at Mystery Lovers Kitchen with a delicious recipe and a FUN giveaway. You'll love drinking your morning coffee or afternoon tea from this Cozy up to a great mystery! mug! Don't miss it!

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen - May 28th, 2017

Dru Ann Love's Day in the Life series! - June 21st.
(There will be a giveaway!!)

Inclusivity and the War on Christmas

When I was a kid, I went to school with a kid named George (not his real name) the son of our bus driver. Some days, George wouldn't come to school. Those days inevitably were the day of our Valentine's Day party, Hallowe'en party, and our Christmas Pageant.

George was Jehovah's Witness, whose faith members don't believe in celebrations like that.

Fast forward to today. The populations of the US and Canada are becoming more and more diverse, with Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, and representatives of many other cultures and faith groups. In the effort to follow two dictates, one of a separation of church and government, but also to foster inclusivity, schools no longer have Christmas Pageants, they have Winter Fests, or something like that. Stores urge their staff to wish everyone Happy Holidays, so as to include everyone , not just Christians.

And apparently, that is driving some people batty. Every year around this time people start griping about the War On Christmas. The memes start... you know the ones.

Like this:

Or this:

And there are the signs:


So, let's dissect what this is saying, shall we? To me, this is saying ' You MUST follow my dictates or you're not welcome in my home.' . Such a welcoming spirit.

I understand when adults lament that kids won't grow up with Christmas pageants and the like, but please realize... you're focusing on YOUR happy memories, not the memories they will make. In years to come they'll be every bit as fond of the memories of their Winter festival pageant.

And in the meantime? They won't be making a kid like George (and many others) feel unwelcome where they ought to feel welcome, in school, by focusing on one religion only, or any religion at all.

Tell me Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Peaceful Kwanzaa, and I will return whatever greeting you like. I'll NEVER tell you you can't say Merry Christmas if that's what you prefer. And in return when I say Happy Holidays, or Season's Greetings, I haven't joined some mythical War on Christmas, I'm just being me.

So... Happy Holidays, whatever you celebrate. I've got up a Christmas tree and will send out Christmas cards that probably say Happy Holidays to cover the gamut. And as for George? I'd wish him a wonderful day.

Gotta Love A Library Sale!

Hundreds of people, thousands of books, dozens of tables... it was a sea of books and readers. I was home!

On Friday I went to my city's library sale, an annual tradition that I don't always get to attend, but try to as often as possible. It takes place in a cavernous room most often used for agricultural displays, or home renovation displays. It echoes with voices and laughter and the line of people checking out with boxes and bags of books snakes back ten or twenty feet at its shortest. There are people  representing every age group, from a baby no more than a few days old carried by its mother in a snuggly front carrier, to an elderly woman shuffling along in a wheelchair.

There were moms with kids and thousands and thousands of children's and YA books - a sight I love to see. I was a huge reader as a child, and my advice always is, if you want to raise a writer, raise a reader. People eavesdropped on conversations and a stranger would shove a book across the table, with a surreptitious, 'I heard you were looking for this,' or 'how about this one?'

It was like coming home, finding my people. Hallelujah!

And I came away with gems. At a UBS or thrift shop the books would have cost me, conservatively, a hundred to two hundred bucks, but instead, it cost me twenty seven.

So... readers, never apologize for buying used books. Never be shy about it either. I got 3 Anne Perry books, a Diane Mott Davidson, and Ann Purser - whose books I have never read but look forward to trying - and more non-fiction historical books than I can hope to read! The picture doesn't even show the cookbooks I got.

It was a very good haul. The library cleared out their shelves and made some cash. A good day all around.