Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!
I am so excited to have Shelley visit today!!
The Making of a Destination Town
By Shelley Freydont
I’m not really a knitter, or a crocheter, baker, or quilter. I make a decent cup of coffee, and I can throw a casserole together if company calls. I can manage a little bit of all these activities, but what I really am is a holidayer.
Give me a holiday and I’ll celebrate it, I’ll even knit, quilt, cook or scrapbook for it. But mainly I’ll enjoy it. With friends and strangers. With bells on.
So when I started my new series I decided it would be about holidays. Holidays and small town living. That way it could incorporate all those arts and crafts that I dabble in but rarely finish and my favorite kind of people, opinionated, energetic and fiercely loyal.
And where could you find a better place to live than a town dedicated to the celebration of holidays? Celebration Bay is a destination town on the New York side of Lake Champlain. I decided on that location because it has snow in winter, I’m dreaming of that White Christmas, and water sports and parade weather for the Fourth of July. Can’t you smell the hot dogs and see the fireworks display over the lake?
Being a destination town, Celebration Bay has it all, the baker, the bookstore owner, the barista, the diner, a great little Italian cafe, a fabric store and a quilting club. And a big town square. All geared to making holidays fun and profitable.
Of course as with any town, Celebration Bay has its share of grinches and bah humbugs, but that just makes writing about it more fun.
But who could be the sleuth? An amateur in sleuthing but competent and industrious in her daily activities. The baker? The quilter? Someone who had lived in Celebration Bay all his or her life? Whose family had lived there for generations? That’s the kind of town it is. Proud of their history and their way of life.
Well, that would be fine, but what if the sleuth was an outsider? An outsider, an event planner from Manhattan, hired to coordinate the town’s holidays. Someone the town needs but doesn’t quite trust since, after all, she’s an outsider. And from New York City. Even the barista who has lived in town for twelve years is still considered a newcomer.
So Celebration Bay become a town that welcomes throngs of tourists year round, but closes ranks and sticks together when the going gets rough, as it sometimes does in small towns, especially when there is a murder to solve.
And where is this town? Somewhere up north. Made up of pieces of my favorite real towns. With a pinch of imagination thrown in. And always celebrating something.
And so I created my mystery setting. I wouldn’t try to cook it or knit it, but writing it is lots of fun. Like having a holiday everyday.
~Shelley
To find out more about Shelley and her books visit her webpage here.
Independence Slay
(A Celebration Bay Mystery)
3rd Book in The Series
Cozy Mystery
A Berkley Prime Crime Mystery (June 3, 2014)
The Berkley Publishing Group
Published by The Penguin Group
Cover Art by Robert Crawford
Cover Design by Lesley Worrell
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0425252567
E-Book File Size: 2297 KB
ASIN: B00EOARZFU
On the Fourth of July, Old Glory is flying high in Celebration Bay—until someone raises a red flag…
With Independence Day fast approaching, Liv Montgomery is swamped coordinating one of the town’s biggest festivals. In addition to the traditional July fourth events, the town stages a spooky Revolutionary War reenactment that can’t be missed. Every year, the ghost of local war hero Henry Gallantine—played by his eccentric descendant of the same name—appears at the top of the family mansion, kicking off the night’s revelries.
But Henry’s annual cameo goes awry after the ghost signals SOS instead of his traditional cue. When Liv rushes to the rescue, she finds Henry missing and a real dead body instead of a fake haunt. Now she will have to hunt down both a murderer and a missing person quickly before unwanted political fireworks ignite and someone else winds up as local history…
Dollycas’s Thoughts
What a great story! Released at the perfect time of year. Celebration Bay plays a bit with the historical facts but they throw quite a party. If it wasn’t for that pesky murder the celebration would have been prefect.
Again Liv has her hands full pulling things together for this huge festival but she has Ted by her side and he knows all the details by rote. This festival has been going on for years and new event coordinator Liv just needs to add a few of her touches plus some additional security. But even with the top-notch security team A.K. has put together not every incident can be averted.
Shelley Freydont has created another great mystery and all of out favorite characters are back including Whiskey and his wonderful Ah-Roo-Roos. I thought I had the guilty party pegged but those darn twists stumped me again. Hildy was my favorite new character this time. Her cleaning skills may be waning but she is sharp as a tack and isn’t afraid to pull out her shotgun to protect her employer or his treasures. Chaz, the wayward journalist, also returns but he clearly isn’t himself and Liv tries her best to find out what is wrong. The interplay between these two is a real treat to read.
I have really enjoyed this entire series. I can’t wait to gather with the gang in Celebration Bay again soon!
Thanks to the people at Penguin I have 2 copies to give away!
Contest is open to anyone over 18 years old
with a US or Canadian mailing address.
Duplicate entries will be deleted. Void where prohibited.
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Leave a comment for Shelley for 5 Bonus Entries !
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Contest Will End July 9, 2014 at 11:59 PM CST
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and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.
CLICK HERE FOR ENTRY FORM
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
I don’t think I have read any of your books but am looking forward to meeting the people of Celebration Bay. They sound lovely and I love cozy mysteries. Great post!!
This sounds like a great beach read for the upcoming holiday 🙂
I’m looking forward to reading this book as this is a new author for me.
Sounds like an interesting series, wonder how I missed it.
Sounds like a fun and interesting series.
I absolutely love this series, I can’t wait to read the newest installment !!
Looking forward to enjoying this one!
This sounds like a book I would enjoy very much!
This sounds like a book I would love very much!
Looks great, thank you for the chance 🙂
I think it would be fun to live in a town like Celebration Bay! Thank you for the chance to win!
Love finding new to me authors. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity.
What a wonderful feature. Celebration Bay would be special to visit and esperience.
I’ve not read any of your books but look forward to adding this one to my TBR stack.
I can’t wait to visit with everyone in Celebration Bay!
Shelley, I love what you’ve done with Celebration Bay and each time I read another installment, I fall in love with the town and its people … even the crusty ones 🙂 BTW … knitting and such are nothing more than the hands trying to give the mind something else to do when we aren’t killing folks 🙂
I find it interesting learning how a series came to be. This sounds fun, I’m definitely adding this series to my tbr list, thanks for the chance to win.
Wonderful review, sounds like a great series.
Great review and the right time of year for a cozy mystery.
sherry @ fundinmental
Love the name of the town ghost!! Frankly, I think it would be great to have a celebration vacation home, with storage for all the goodies needed for every vacation, and room for the whole family to gather for vacation celebrations!! I also expect everyone in town can see the fireworks from their own front porches. Great concept for a cozy!!
Once again Dollycas, a super review and guest author! I checked over at Shelley’s web page and found out that Foul Play at the Fair is the first one of this series. Going to give it a go with that one. Always like to start at the beginning of a cozy series. Thanks for a chance to win this installment.
Sandy in So. Cali
Shelley, you are welcome to the snow. I am happy living without it!
I would love to win a copy of this book.
This is such a fun series. Celebration Bay sure beats a MN winter.
Sounds like a real fun book. Thanks for the chance to win.
We have a couple be celebration days here in my hometown, too because it’s a tourist town. I wonder if we’ve ever had a murder during a celebration week.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
This series sounds awesome and the town sounds like a place I would like to live. 🙂
Celebration Bay is such a great setting for these books! Congrats on the new release and thanks for the chance to win!
It sounds like an enjoyable series, and I liked the author’s explanation of how she decided on the theme for the series. Who doesn’t like holidays!
This is one of my favorite mystery authors and I look forward to reading this.
This sounds like a really fun cozy mystery series. Thanks for having the giveaway.
Great idea for a fun cozy mystery series. Thanks for sharing the inforamtion on the background.
Shelley I enjoyed reading how you came up with holidays for the theme of this cozy mystery series. I like the name of the town Celebration Bay. Thank you for a chance to win.
I’m reading it right now!
Sounds like a great plot…I love stories like this.
sounds good.another fun read.
Celebration Bay sounds like the perfect destination for a great story, love it!
Those pictures have me remembering our first ever Independence Day in the States. We were on vacation and didn’t understand why all the flags were out.
What a great book to read during July. I love the storyline. Thanks for having the giveaway.
This sounds like such a great series! I love holiday cozies.
Can’t wait to read this. It sounds great !!
Sounds like a great read and this is my kind of town.
This book sounds like a good read.
sounds like a definite ‘must-add’ to my Wish List!!
congrats & continued success to Shelley!!!
thank you for the giveaway!!!
Great series!