The Snow Job (Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries)
by Dianne Ascroft
It is my pleasure to welcome Lois Stone from Dianne Ascroft’s Century Cottage Cozy Mystery Series.
Welcome Lois, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hello, there. I’m Lois Stone. I guess you could call me middle-aged – I’m under 55 but not by much. As a librarian, I love books and I work part-time at our town library. It’s strange to refer to it as ‘our town’ as I only moved from the big city of Toronto to Fenwater last summer – just over six months ago. I bought a beautiful grey stone ‘century cottage’ and I share it with my two calico cats, Ribbons and Raggs. My husband, James, died just over three years ago and, although I’m making an effort to move on with my life, I still miss him. I live a fairly quiet life. I enjoy reading and going for walks. I’m also a keen baker. I’ll make anything with apple and cinnamon in the recipe and I also love trying out new muffin recipes.
What makes you laugh?
My good friend Marge makes me laugh. She’s the exact opposite of me: outspoken and extroverted. I never know what she’ll do or say next so I have to be on my toes to keep up with her.
Are you afraid of anything?
When my friend Marge drags me into investigating crimes, I’m afraid of lots of things. I’m afraid of getting caught when we snoop into places where we shouldn’t be. I’m afraid the criminals we run into are not very nice guys and we’ll get hurt. And I’m also afraid I’ll let down my partner Bruce. I promised him that I wouldn’t get involved in any more criminal investigations but I can’t seem to keep that promise. I’m doing my best but you just don’t know how persistent my friend Marge can be.
Do you have a special talent or gift?
I’m not sure that I do. I often think that everyone around me is more competent at everything than me. You wouldn’t believe the situations I’ve needed to be rescued from when Marge and I were investigating crimes.
But, I am one of the few people who can see Beldie, the resident ghost in my historical stone house. Beldie is a goat who belonged to the original owner of the house. With the help of my friend Marge, I recently figured out why I can see my ghost. I guess having a ghost in your house, especially one as unpredictable as mine, could be a liability but Beldie has come to my rescue more than once so I wouldn’t want to be without her. Besides, those strange goat eyes of hers are kind of cute.
Tell us about your family.
I guess you could say my family is rather small. I’m a widow and I live on my own with my two calico cats, Ribbons and Raggs. As I mentioned, my husband James died about three years ago. We didn’t have any children. My mother and step-father live a couple of hours away from me in Toronto but I don’t see them too often. My father and I were close when he was alive but my mother isn’t the easiest person to get along with. I started dating my partner Bruce a few months ago and we are getting closer all the time so maybe I should include him as family too.
Who is the most important person in your life?
I can’t really pin it down to just one person. Marge Kirkwood is my closest friend. She’s the same age as me and she’s from Fenwater. She’s been divorced for years and she returned to her hometown last year to keep an eye on her elderly mother. She’s the archivist at the local museum and we met when we worked together at a Toronto library. We now live a couple of blocks from each other on the same street. She and I have been friends for years, and I guess you could say, we’re unlikely friends as she’s the complete opposite to me. She’s outspoken, confident and extroverted. A real social butterfly and she has introduced me to just about everyone in town. She’s been a great support to me since James died but she also lands me in trouble at times. This mainly happens when she gets us involved in police investigations and we end up in over our heads.
As I’ve mentioned, I have a man in my life too. After spending time with Bruce and getting to know him, a friendship grew between us and it gradually developed into more. We’re taking our time as I miss James and am still coming to terms with his death. But I’m really fond of Bruce and am glad we’re together. He’s so softspoken and easy-going. I love being around him. He isn’t one to say much so I don’t always know what he’s thinking, but I trust him. The one subject that he is outspoken about though is my involvement in criminal investigations. He asked me to promise I wouldn’t get involved in any more of them. He worries about the scrapes that Marge and I get into. I know he couldn’t stand it if I got hurt. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t let Marge and I down, and he has stepped in to help us catch criminals a time or two. I think he sees it as saving our necks.
What is your most embarrassing moment?
I’m not sure what the most embarrassing one was but there was one incident last fall that I’d rather forget. Marge and I were delving into what happened to an historic quilt that went missing and she persuaded me to help her search a seamstress’s shop for it. When an opportunity presented itself, we got the key to the shop from the owner – so we didn’t break into the shop. Mind you, we were snooping and weren’t there for the reason we told her we were. Meanwhile a police officer who was patrolling the main street spotted us in the shop and he thought we had broken in. We had to go down to the police station with him to straighten out the whole thing. I can’t help blushing now every time I meet Constable Riley on the street.
What do you do for fun?
I’m a keen baker and am always taking a batch of muffins or a cake out of the oven. My friends, especially Bruce, often seem to drop over just when something is ready to eat. I don’t mind. I love spending time with my friends though I do sometimes enjoy a quiet night in with my cats and a good book too.
Tell me about your author.
Dianne is very like me in many ways and there’s a reason for that. After years of doing detailed historical research for her previous historical fiction series, she decided that our cozy mystery series wouldn’t involve a huge amount of research. So, when she created me, she used some of her own traits, and likes and dislikes to bring me to life. Since she has so much in common with me, we ‘hit it off’ and are great friends.
Do you like the way they write you?
I like the plots that Dianne dreams up. It’s still early days since she released The Snow Job, but she’s already busy sketching the plots for Book 4, and also for a Christmas short story in the series for an anthology which will be released in September and I’m excited about the ideas she has for both these stories.
You can’t really blame her though for some of the situations I end up in. That’s mostly Marge’s doing. Dianne would be happy if I solved crimes without putting myself in danger. I have to admit that Marge sometimes scares me silly with the things she drags me into, but I think we’re developing a knack for solving crimes and I couldn’t be happier than when we catch a criminal. So I hope Dianne keeps putting me in the path of mysteries to solve.
Thank you, Lois, for visiting today.
Keep reading for information about The Snow Job and about the mystery finds herself wrapped up in now.
About The Snow Job
The Snow Job (Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Fenwater, a fictional small town in the province of Ontario in Canada during the early 1980s.
Independently Published (December 13, 2023)
Paperback : 310 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8871249321
Digital ASIN : B0CQ3DJL3F
A Scottish shindig, a pretty pin, a cold corpse. When a well-liked and respected townsman is murdered on a snowy street in Fenwater, it’s up to Lois Stone to sift through a multitude of motives to find the killer.
Middle-aged widow Lois is beginning to feel part of the Fenwater community, and as winter sets in, she is getting ready for the town’s biggest Scottish event, the annual Burns Night supper. But when one of the committee members dies in suspicious circumstances, Lois has more to worry about than the fate of this year’s celebration. She tried unsuccessfully to revive the man and her friend Marge worked with him. So, they want to find his killer even though Lois promised her partner Bruce that she would stay out of police matters. But, what’s the harm in asking a few questions? Such as does someone want to safeguard their inheritance or give their business a boost? Will finding the motive for the murder lead them to the killer or maybe more?
And so begins a fortnight of slippery sidewalks, angst about ancestors, capable firemen and cunning firebugs, unreliable records, swirling Scottish music and swinging tartan kilts, calico cats and smouldering spooks set against the backdrop of snow glistening under streetlamps on serene streets, the comfort of ritual in a cold churchyard, the swish of skate blades in crisp night air and the tang of mouthwatering meatloaf in rural Canada in 1984.
The Century Cottage Mystery series is mainly set in rural Ontario, Canada during the early 1980s.
A tale for fans of Cindy Bell, Leighann Dobbs, Dianne Harman and Kathi Daley.
Great Escapes Praise for The Snow Job (Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries)
by Dianne AscroftThe setting is wonderfully developed in The Snow Job. There’s something to be said for solving crimes without all the technology of today! This was a fun wintery read!
~Sarah Can’t Stop Reading BooksThe Snow Job is a small-town cozy mystery set in Canada with interesting characters and a murder to solve. But is that the only mystery to uncover? You’ll have to read it to find out!
~Novels AliveThe Snow Job by Dianne Ascroft is an easygoing cozy mystery that combines several engaging elements, including Scottish celebrations that this American enjoyed learning about.
~Reading Is My SuperPower
About Dianne Ascroft
Dianne Ascroft writes the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries, set in rural Canada, and The Yankee Years historical sagas, set in WWII Northern Ireland. She has a passion for Ireland and Canada, past and present. An ex-pat Canadian, Dianne lives on a small farm with her husband and an assortment of strong-willed animals.
Her previous fiction works include An Unbidden Visitor (a tale inspired by Fermanagh’s famous Coonian ghost); Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves: A Collection of Short Stories (contemporary tales), and a historical novel, Hitler and Mars Bars, which explores Operation Shamrock, a little known Irish Red Cross humanitarian endeavor.
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Thanks for hosting Lois on your blog today, Lori. I think she really enjoyed it.
Dianne Ascroft
Sounds like a great cozy.
This sounds like fun. I love the animals on the cover.
The Snow Job sounds intriguing. Cute cover too.
Thanks Rita, Bonnie and CarolK. I hope you will enjoy the book.
Dianne