Death Bee Comes Her

Aired Jul 27, 2021

🐝🐝🐝 ⒹⒺⒶⓉⒽ ⒷⒺⒺ ⒸⓄⓂⒺⓈ 🐝🐝🐝

With her Let It Bee honey boutique buzzing along nicely, life is as sweet as nectar for Wren Johnson—until she takes a morning walk along the Pacific beach with her Havana Brown cat, Everett, and stumbles upon the body of Agnes Snow, the cranky queen of the local craft fairs, stiff as driftwood. More unfortunate? Clutched in the victim’s fist is a label from Wren’s homemade beeswax-and-honey lip balm. Which makes Officer Jim Hampton focus his dreamy-blue Paul Newman eyes on Wren as suspect number one. With fabulous feline support from Everett, Wren must comb the town for clues and clear her name before someone else gets stung.

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YouTube Livestream Hosted by Angela Maria Hart and Ben

Angela: It makes me so happy when I see them pop up like that; it makes me want to cry. Oh, my gosh, they’re already here!

Ben: Aww, they’re already here hanging out waiting for us to start talking. I always love it.

Angela: It’s so sweet; I mean, it’s seriously, the love of this cozy community is just amazing; it makes me so happy.

Ben: It is, totally, just so happy.

Angela: Oh! We are live, there we go!

Ben: (waving) Hi!

Angela: (waving) Hi! Welcome to tonight’s Book Club! I love how as soon as we do this, that’s exactly when the emails are like, “Let’s do a little ding” and I thought I’d already x’d out of it.

(Angela & Ben hold up a paperback copy of Death Bee Comes Her by Nancy Coco)

Ben: Yes, we’re ready to talk.

Angela: I am so excited because Ben is back! Y’all, I love him; he is one of the sweetest human beings on the face of the earth. He is so amazing, and he just told me he’s going to be studying for his master’s in library sciences. You’re going to be the perfect librarian. I would go to the library to go hang out with you.

Ben: (big smile) That’s what I want to hear, thank you.

Angela: So, if you guys are not already following him, because he’s so positive on his Instagram and Twitter, you’ve got to do it because he’s just, he’s awesome. I love him. So, I’m giving you the shoutout for tonight. I’m like, “Welcome Back, Ben!” (big smile)

Ben: Thank you. It’s always an honor to be here with you; so, thank you so much. I’m excited for tonight.

Angela: Oh, my goodness. I love the background, too. He’s got this, he’s so prepared, it just looks so cool. The best I could come up with (turns and points to bookshelf) was my Etsy, my little fake flower for the bee; that was all I could get.

Ben: I love that! I love that it’s on the books; so, I love that, the little bee, aww.

Angela: I wanted to do something in honor of this, but it’s so funny because I’m not EpiPen allergic to bees, but I am allergic to bees, so I don’t have a lot of bee paraphernalia to decorate the apartment with.

Ben: That’s understandable; it’s understandable.

Angela: I was like, “The most I did was get this mug from Sweet Water Décor.”

Ben: That is cute.

Angela: It has bees on it!

Ben: That is cute; those little bees, aww.

Angela: But now I feel like I’ve got to get some more like honey-themed bee products going after this (holds up a paperback copy of Death Bee Comes Her).

Ben: (big smile, nodding) Uh-huh.

Angela: I know. So, our book is of the Oregon Honeycomb Mystery series. So, we have Death Bee Comes Her, and I’ve been using the bee emoji, and I’ve been loving doing that.

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: So, now, we have next month, it’s going to be Books Can Be Deceiving (by Jenn McKinlay) so maybe I can use the book (emoji) instead.

Ben: Yeah, use the little dual book stack (emoji).

Angela: Oh, my goodness, the comments are all popping up. Welcome to tonight’s livestream! You guys are so amazing for being here. I’ve been loving, you guys have been posting so many photos for our book of the month and I swear I start getting teary-eyed with happiness because I’m like, “Oh, my gosh, they’re reading their postings!” So, thank you so much for joining us tonight. I cannot begin to express just how much you guys mean to me, I really can’t. This is just amazing to see the turnout like this.

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Angela: I hope you guys like the book. I mean, where do you want to start? Because we were talking off camera, there’s a lot to unpack with this book. So, where would you like to start?

Ben: (big smile, laughing) I guess the beginning.

Angela: (laughing, big smile) Okay.

Ben: I guess we can start, yeah, start off like finding the body right away.

Angela: Yeah, can we also acknowledge, I’m just going to say, that the cozy companion is a cat, Everett. The body was found by the cozy companion.

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Angela: This cat is a sleuther because he also finds the second body.

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: So, while we have a protagonist, Wren, I’m kind of saying Everett’s the sleuther of the book.

Ben: (laughing) He’s doing most of the work; good for him.

Angela: I mean, yeah, so, I’m giving Everett a little extra shoutout there, a little high-five to his paw. You got to love how I’m trying to figure out, like, how do you give Everett a high-five because I didn’t know about his cat breed either.

Ben: (shaking his head) No, me neither, no.

Angela: I was like between the comments I’ve been seeing are the bees in the store where she has a wall that has the clear glass so people can see the bees at work and the cat; like, those seem to be the two most popular comments that I’ve been seeing the last couple of days.

Ben: Yeah, I had to look up Havana Brown because I had not heard of that breed, and they look so cute though, yeah.

Angela: Hey! Oh, my gosh, you guys are so cute with the comments; it’s going to be hard to keep up with them. (displays and responds to comment by Colleen C “My daughter agrees. Everett is a great sleuth!”)

Yes, thank you! Okay, other people are agreeing Everett is the sleuth.

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Christina Choi-Pearce) “Everett was the hero of the book.” I mean, we never actually found out one of the things when Wren was hidden or not hidden but stuck in the shed.

Ben: The shed.

Angela: Yeah, I mean, Everett was there too, right? Like, he escaped. He was the sleuther who knew how to get out.

Ben: Yeah, I’m pretty sure, I’m pretty sure they were like a raccoon buzz, but I was like, “No, he was meowing; it sounded like his own,” I mean, we didn’t hear it, but it read like his meow.”

Angela: I’m hoping it was the meow. So, I read it first then I listened to the audio because, again, I love you guys, so I was putting together the envelopes for the bookmarks and stickers because I got new stickers (holds up a large round sticker for The Cozy Mystery Book Club with logo MoriarTEA) and I was putting a couple of them in the envelopes. We got the new stickers and I put on the audio so I could listen to it as I did that and I was like, “I’m getting so cozy right now! We got the cozy swag, got the cozy book,” and so I’m listening to it, and the narrator did the same meow and I go, “Okay,” because then she would change it up for the other cats and the other things.

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh.

Angela: So, I’m going, “It seemed like it was Everett.”

Ben: Yeah, yeah, he had things to do.

Angela: (displays and responds to comments by Jeanne Epstein “Who would nail a cat into a box? That made me RAGE.” & Stephanie Aurelio “That scene was upsetting!”) Yeah, I love how we’re already getting in there; like, who would put a cat in a box? That’s uh, no. (makes a cringeworthy face)

Ben: (shaking his head) That’s so rude; it’s so rude.

Angela: I’m not going to lie. I was genuinely concerned about this cat. So, Nancy Coco is a cozy mystery writer; she has other series, and she knows the cozy-mystery rules, what readers want, but I did get nervous going, “Okay, she knows not to kill the cozy companion. She knows not to get rid of the cat,” but I was still worried about the cat.

Ben: Yeah, I was a little worried too. (laughing)

Angela: I mean, I think she knew not to do that, but at the same time there was that little nagging because they had gotten the warning pinned to the door about the hanging cat.

Ben: Yeah!

Angela: I’m going, “Oh, my gosh is Everett, okay? Is Everett, okay?” and so I’m going, “Please don’t break the cozy mystery rules and hurt the companion! Please don’t do that.”

Ben: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Angela: So, I’m like, “Thank you, Nancy Coco, you didn’t break my heart.”

Ben: (laughing) We’re okay, we’re okay.

Angela: Oh, my goodness, so many things are popping up. (displays and responds to comment by Summer Hedrick “Halloweentown was great”) Yeah, it’s so funny; so, y’all have been voting for the next batch of books, so the next one is going to be Class Reunions Are Murder (by Libby Klein) for September because everyone wants the back-to-school theme.

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: And it was funny with, I tried to have the other options that you guys had requested in regards to Halloween because people wanted the paranormal, and right now for October, the paranormal book seems to be winning and, so, because you guys are voting on October and this one was the Halloween-themed book, I’m going, “Hmmm, this is an interesting connection here; this one works out for you guys.”

Ben: Yeah, yeah.

Angela: I know, it’s one of those, “It’s hot outside, it’s definitely the middle of summer, but I want my pumpkin spice now.”

Ben: Yeah, exactly, exactly. I mean, what, only like a couple more weeks until PSLs are out?

Angela: Well, Starbucks has been doing their shortages; they’ve been out of so many things. I don’t know if you’ve experienced that or if you guys in the comment section are Starbucks aficionados, but they’ve been out of so many different things that my store, I’m kind of going, “When you get your supply chains, please have your pumpkin scone, I want that.”

Ben: Ah, pumpkin scone.

Angela: Oh, my goodness. (responds to comments) Yeah, I think the Halloween season definitely added something to this, so, I’m glad you guys seem to agree with that. I saw someone mention the Halloweentown movies. I loved that that was part of the narrative.

Ben: Yeah, I hadn’t talked about those movies for a while so that made me kind of happy. I was all about them growing up; watching every time they were on.

Angela: Oh, my goodness, I think that was one of the reasons why I ended up getting Disney Plus, because I got the Free Trial and then they (Halloweentown) popped up on the feed, and I’m pretty sure I just got so excited as I’m trying to hold it back, it’s like, “Oh, my goodness, Halloweentown!” I like fangirled.

Ben: Aww.

Angela: And what’s her name, the lead actress? She has an Etsy Store and so, someday, I’m going to get one of the sweatshirts; it says something about “Nobody Wants To Be Ordinary” it has the key phrase from the movie. I’m going to get that! Someday, that’s going to be mine because Halloweentown is awesome.

Ben: I didn’t know she had an Etsy Store. Okay, I’m going to have to look this up; this is, okay.

Angela: I love that movie and that entire series. I don’t understand the fourth one, how they got the different actress.

Ben: (shaking his head & waving his hands) We don’t talk about that one; it’s okay.

Angela: No, I’m kind of going, “Ugh! Stop after the third one.”

Ben: Yeah, yeah, it’s unfortunate; stop after the third one.

Angela: Yeah, I know, right! Same thing with Game of Thrones, they canceled it before, you know, what happened with that; and what was the other people, The 100, same thing happened.

Ben: Just unfortunate.

Angela: I’d rather say that than deal with the aftermath.

Ben: Yeah, yeah.

Angela: This one, we have a second book coming out. We just looked it up together as we were off camera.

Ben: Uh-huh.

Angela: The second book in this series is coming out March 29, 2022. People were talking about the loose ends in this series so, hopefully, it’ll be answered in book two.

Ben: Hopefully, hopefully, we need answers; so, yes.

Angela: And the reason why I’m starting there is because when we find the body, I feel as if I still have questions when we find the body with Agnes. So, we have Wren, who was walking her cat on a leash,

Ben: Love it, love it.

Angela: which I think is hysterical and amazing. I have, one of my notes is, “how this cat does not seem like a cat.”

Ben: No, no, it’s pretty much a dog-cat kind of thing; like he’s, yeah.

Angela: He’s got the leash. He wants to go to the beach. He liked it when it was raining; that was the one that made me write that in my notebook. I’m going, “Okay, this is where you’re going into the Cat Hall of Fame right here” because my mom had a cat when I was growing up and that thing “No!” like even if water spilled on the floor, she would not put her paw there. So, Everett was just amazing. Everett was the one who found the body, but the body had the lip balm label from Wren’s store, but we never found out what happened to that lip balm or her purse or why she wasn’t wearing a jacket.

Ben: Yeah, why wasn’t she wearing a jacket?

Angela: That was one of the things that she referenced when she found the body going, “Oh, a woman her age shouldn’t be wearing the puffer jacket or something like this,” and we never found out about that.

Ben: Well, yeah, you never found out how it really was tampered with either; really, like, I’m still, “Yeah.”

Angela: Yes, I saw people are talking about Everett. Yeah, I had to look up the breed because I couldn’t picture that one in my head. I don’t know that much about cats. I have a dog as you can hear him barking underneath little yipping. So, I know more about dogs than I do about cats; but now, I am definitely kind of falling into the fandom for the Havana Cats; that seems like an amazing breed.

Ben: Yeah, yeah.

Angela: (displays and responds to comments by Crystal Tea Knits “I want to try that lip balm recipe” & LB “Cozies need quirky characters, right? So, Everett was a quirky cat”)

Yes, you want to try the lip balm. Everett was a quirky character.

Ben: (nodding)Yes.

Angela: So, we were talking a little bit though off camera. So, when she finds the body, the first person who comes upon her is Jim! Your favorite person in the world!

Ben: (shakes his head & places a palm on the side of his face)I know. I was telling you off camera how I did not like Jim at all. I don’t know. I know he has beautiful eyes. What was it? Uh, Paul Newman eyes, but I did not care for him at all.

Angela: So, she finds the body and he immediately wants her to be a person of interest? This poor thing. So, Wren, our protagonist, our leading lady sleuth finds the body and because the lip balm was involved, she is the prime suspect.

Ben: (quizzical expression) It’s just, like, why would you murder your clientele? I never get that; that’s bad for business. Well, not too bad because remember that one lady who was buying all the lip balm up? (laughing).

Angela: That was one of my unanswered questions. Did she ever get her inventory?

Ben: Did she get it back? Did that lady buy all that lot up? She wasn’t going to pay for it.

Angela: It was like five hundred dollars! It was going to be a big order.

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh.

Angela: I was genuinely concerned, my goodness. Yeah, so, she’s the leading suspect and I, honestly, thought her aunt would’ve been sort of this, like, you could have flipped this so the aunt was the sleuther of the story because the aunt is the nemesis, the rival that, “Oh, I’m going to compete against you for our random crafting-sewing competition for our church bake-off.” I don’t even know what competition they were competing in, but they were competing in crafting and I kind of thought she was the more likely suspect but, apparently, Wren was the suspect that the police were going with.

Ben: It just makes zero sense and I just remember there was a scene where, we’re jumping ahead, but when she was being lined up and then they wanted to arrest her, but then like they didn’t have enough evidence. I was like, “I’m sure you would’ve figured that before you had her lined up.” To me, it just seemed like she was just pegged for the killer, and he just was not letting go of that at all.

Angela: I love the comments popping up! I mean, he’s definitely the love interest; he’s trying, but he was lacking. He was falling short for me.

Ben: Yeah.

Photo by @cozyuptocrime

Angela: With the lineup and everything else, it was just really cringy. When he ever took, so, I was mad on her behalf. He goes to her store and says to people who are shopping and have goods in their cart, “You’ve got to leave them; just drop whatever you have, you’ve got to exit, we’re closing down the store.” I mean, he was directly impacting her income, what was going on, her name in the town. He put her in the squad car and did the head thing she said about trying to put her in there. He really didn’t do her any favors across the board.

Ben: He was practically dragging her to his car like she’s going to bolt or something; it’s a small town, like, where is she going to go?

Angela: I was so mad on her behalf and then when she visits her apartment later, or at least the flat above the shop, it’s a mess! It’s completely just clothes all over the place. They, apparently, flipped the bed because they wanted to look under the mattress. I mean, the thing was disheveled and, so, his team did that. He didn’t make sure they cleaned up. He didn’t make sure that she came home to something that didn’t feel like her home had been violated.

Ben: Yeah, it was totally violated. They could have casually looked; you don’t have to fling stuff or like pull stuff out of doors and just throw it on the ground; it’s, yeah, (shaking his head) yeah.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Stephanie Aurelio) “So, what was up with the random college friend she went on three dates with then he disappeared?”

Ben: (with a questionable look, throws his hands up in the air) Uh-huh, (laughing) Conrad, right? Yeah. Conrad, yeah.

Angela: Yep,I just saw the question and it went away. (displays and responds to comment by LB) I saw “this was the first cozy mystery where the characters set up a Murder Board” that is in my notebook because I love that! I was so excited. I’m going, “This is just like Agatha Raisin!”

Ben: Yes! That’s what I was thinking about, too!

Angela: I was fangirling. I’m going, “Oh, my gosh, this is what they do in Hallmark mysteries.”

Ben: I love a murder. I love a Murder Board. I love it.

Angela: Oh, right, and I love that the friend, the worker, has the kids who are in elementary school, so the reason for the Murder Board was they already had all the crafts there.

Ben: Yeah, just lucky like that was the reason.

Angela: I mean, (laughing) I don’t have kids, but I could probably do a Murder Board, tomorrow.

Ben: (laughing) Same here.

Angela: (laughing) I don’t really need the excuse of having kids in elementary school; like, I could probably do it. But it was just so funny, I thought, that was great that they actually did that because I’m with you; you read cozy mysteries and you, as the reader, might be doing it yourself, like, “Okay, this is so and so, here’s a motive.” But usually, in the book, they don’t do that; so, yeah, that was the first time for me, I’m pretty sure, too.

Ben: It was a nice touch, I liked it a lot.

Angela: And, so, you guys are going at that, I know, that was a little tangent moment. But the Conrad relationship, I think I mentioned this when we were just chatting off camera. So, the college crush, this guy, he comes into town, and she’s definitely kind of having that, “Oh, yes, I remember you. I was crushing on you when you had a girlfriend,” and then as soon as she needs him because everyone thinks she’s the killer, he abandons her! He just is like, “Hey, good luck, peace out.” So, I’m not really rooting for him as the love interest either.

Ben: He’s like, “I don’t need this drama; got to go.”

Angela: Other people are thinking the same thing, right. Okay, yeah, I just saw this, and so this is my other question. She said it twice because they did go out; the first time when she was in the zombie makeup, and then they had an actual date where, you know, they did that little dot-dot-dot of, “Oh, he might have kissed her goodnight.” And, yeah, he does introduce her to the son, but he didn’t mention he had the son! And she says on the two dates, how they caught up, and how they were totally in sync again, and she learned all about what his life had been like. Clearly, he didn’t tell you all about his life if he didn’t mention his child.

Ben: That is a big part of his life and that’s probably something he should have mentioned right away; at least in the first hour, I would think. Like, “It’s your kid.”

Angela: That’s not exactly the surprise, I mean, people lie about their height or weight or something; you don’t lie about having a child.

Ben: No, no, you don’t.

Angela: There are things, the usual things, that people talk about, but having a kid should not be a surprise; that is a human being.

Ben: (nodding) No, no.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Summer Hedrick “She goes on date with her zombie makeup on!”) I know, she went on her date with the zombie makeup. I thought that was great because he called her pretty and she’s going, “How do you know I’m pretty?”

Ben: (laughing)

Angela: How did he know she was pretty? I love how we just spiraled with so many different things going on; and we were talking, when I asked you where you wanted to start with the beginning. So, one of the things that happened at the beginning, and then we had a second occurrence that went way different was Josie with our 911 operator; the friend who disappeared for a solid chunk of the book, and then reappeared, then went away again, and then came back. So, the first time, with the 911 call because, naturally, when you call 911, you’re going to talk to your former best friend.

Ben: Obviously.

Angela: The second time she calls, Josie has her turn over a dead body, swipe her hand into his mouth to try and make an airway passage, and then she’s just about to tell her to do CPR when the cops come in.

Ben: (shaking his head)

Angela: Is that an actual protocol thing that they have you doing?

Ben: I don’t know. I don’t think so. I mean, don’t they tell you just not to touch the body or not to move anything?

Angela: Yeah.

Ben: I would think that would be the protocol.

Angela: I was kind of suspicious of Josie because of that!

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: I was wondering what was going on with this because the first time she’s on 911 with doing the dispatcher thing, that’s not how it played out; she didn’t tell her to do any of those things.

Ben: (shaking his head) Yeah, no.

Angela: So, the reason why I mentioned that is when we were talking about starting at the beginning, she’s just sort of on the phone with her.

Ben: Yeah, (holds hand up to the side of his face to gesture speaking into a phone) she’s like, “Hey, oh, how’s it going? You started working at the dispatch?”

Angela: (laughing)

Ben: I’m like, “There’s a dead body here,” like mention there’s a dead body.

Angela: They were talking about her clothing, “Oh, she looks like she belongs to a country club,” and then the second time around, “Hey, you going to put your finger in his mouth? Are you going to do this?” Totally different! So, I wasn’t really sure what was going on with the Josie storyline.

Ben: (shaking his head)

Angela: So, we meet Josie, and yeah (Max barking) even Max was like, “What’s going on there?”

Ben: Exactly.

Angela: The other thing was, so, we were talking about this before, I wanted this guy to reappear just because I thought it was funny. So, we had surfer-dude EMT, who’s just in love with her chocolate sale; he just loves her chocolate and the candy. Every time he opens his mouth, because, clearly, when there’s a dead body, you’re talking about your favorite candy.

Ben: Yeah, yeah.

Angela: And, so, he wanted a discount on the candy when he came to the store. I kind of wanted him to come back to the store and give us information about something. I really wanted to see surfer dude again; just throwing that out there.

Ben: Hopefully, next time there’s a dead body, hopefully, yeah, he’ll appear again. He’s a fun little side character.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Stephanie Aurelio “And then her aunt went missing while Josie was with her”)

Oh, my gosh, yeah! Yeah, Josie, I kind of thought there was something suspicious going on there.

(displays and responds to comment by Summer Hendrick “I’d love to see the supervisors face when they listened to the recordings”)

Okay, thank you so much. You guys are validating what I was saying.

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh.

Angela: Because that never came up! Nobody suspected her and she did what she asked! I am sorry but if I see a dead body, I’m not putting my finger in his mouth.

Ben: (shaking his head) No. If there’s a pool of blood and the body’s laying down, I’m just going to be like, “Yeah, that person’s probably dead. I don’t need to do anything.”

Angela: I’m not going to be doing that! I’m going to be screaming my head off calling 911 repeatedly.

Ben: (laughing)

Angela: I’m going to be going downstairs alerting the neighbors to go get help in case the murderer is still nearby! I mean, again, I’d be grabbing a knife just in case the murderer’s still there; she’s doing the weird windpipe thing.

Ben: Should we talk about why they were there when they found the dead body, too?

Angela: I mean,Everett, again, is our sleuther. Yes, would you like to? Please do.

Ben: Okay, so, you’re sneaking into this house looking for Everett because Everett went missing this time not that other time and, okay, I just want to know, “Why weren’t you wearing gloves if you’re being sneaky?”

Angela: (laughing) That’s one of my notes! She asked about his ski masks!

Ben: Yeah! Yeah!

Angela: She asked about ski masks and didn’t think about a glove.

Ben: That’s one thing that comes into play with fingerprints later. They find, I’m like, “You’re touching things! You never were there before so, of course, they’re going to find your fingerprints and, of course, it’s going to pin you for more things. They were investigating the Snow’s residence and they found Mr. Snow; so, he was the second body.

Angela: I lost my mind with that because the police, apparently, they fingerprinted everything in that house.

Ben: (nodding)

Photo by @mysterymanon

Angela: I also want to know, he goes, “There are three sets of fingerprints.” So, we know that one of them was Agnes, the victim; the second one, because they brought her down. I’m assuming somewhere along the way they had her fingerprinted even though we didn’t learn about that.

Ben: Yeah, yeah.

Angela: I’m just going to assume that’s how they knew it was Wren unless she had some childhood indiscretion we never knew about. And then they say he’s assuming the third set belongs to the aunt; she was married! “Why didn’t you assume that the third set might have belonged to the husband?”

Ben: Why wouldn’t his fingerprints be anywhere? I guess if he never touched that book, but.

Angela: I was just kind of curious how he made the assumption that, clearly, “The aunt is the one,” but how many things did they fingerprint? I mean, what are their teams doing because they turned her entire apartment upside down, and they’re turning their house upside down. How many people are employed in this small-town police department?

Ben: Apparently, a lot because, yeah, I saw someone commented how fast it was, too. I’m like, “Yeah, I would think it would take a while to process this all.”

Angela: (displays comment by Stephanie Aurelio “How fast is the lab in this tiny town??”)

Ben: (responds to comment) Like, no, yeah, there it is. (nodding) How fast?

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Sandra Zack “Gloves should be obvious!”)

Okay, everyone’s with you, “the gloves should be obvious,” yeah. I lost my mind because the aunt is asking about, “Should we wear ski masks or would that draw too much attention?” You remember ski masks, but you don’t remember gloves?

Ben: If you have a murder board, I feel like you would know to wear gloves.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Manon “Does anyone know who sent that envelope of powdered sugar”)

Okay, thank you. We have another question that is in my notes. Who sent the envelope of the powdered sugar?

Ben: (shaking his head)

Angela: Does anyone know?

Ben: I don’t know.

Angela: When we had our big revelation with the killers, we’ll talk about that in a second, neither of them talked about how they kind of framed her, neither of them talked about stealing Everett, or putting a cat in a box.

Ben: Yeah, yeah.

Angela: I want to know more about this; same thing with the hairpin, which one of them did that?

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: I needed a little bit more information about what the killers actually did.

Ben: Yeah, they didn’t really wrap them up. I mean, I guess you’re left to guess that they did, but they didn’t explicitly say they did all those things. So, unless someone else is running around doing these things, too.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Lyn McEnaney “The police department were able to put someone on her front door and her back door and at the hospital for the aunt! That’s a lot.”)

Yep, so, someone else is acknowledging the police department. Thank you! Loose ends, galore. You got to kind of know that Mildred was one of the killers or at least involved with the plot because as soon as she identified Wren as having spoken to Agnes, when she died, handing her the murder weapon of the lip balm, nobody but the killer or someone involved with the killer would identify her.

Ben: (nodding) You’d know.

Angela: You kind of knew like Mildred was involved to some degree. We didn’t know about the husband or potential other killers; we didn’t know about that second murder yet, but when she identified Wren, she was kind of a given, right?

Ben: Yeah, yeah. I’m still trying to think if I had a blackmail book, well, I would leave it in a safe, wouldn’t you? Like, just not have it laying around. I don’t know.

Angela: Again, I have another question about that because she, actually, wasn’t doing anything wrong; she was making crafts and selling them.

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh, yeah.

Angela: I am so blown away by that because same thing with this having a separate bank account and the husband being blown away by that. Really? She has a separate office of crafts, not in her home; she has a separate office downtown in the main area of the city or town, or however you want to say it, she has her own separate office; that seemed pretty professional and legitimate to me like, “Of course, she’s selling her crafts.”

Ben: Yeah, yeah, legitimate.

Angela: Why is this such a surprise?

Ben: Yeah, why would the assumption just be blackmail?

Angela: I mean, to me, like, of course, if she’s that talented, she’s even going to teach a class at the local.

Ben: Craft store, yeah.

Angela: The local Michael’s store. I don’t know if they gave the name of the store, but, clearly, this woman’s talented so, of course, she’s selling the things she’s making. How is that such a shock?

Ben: Yeah, and why would you think she’d be cheating with your husband and then murder her without confronting her?

Angela: I thought it was hysterical the way she goes, “And she just laughed at me.” I’m like, “Yeah, because it was so absurd, that’s why she’s laughing at you about your affair.”

Ben: Yeah, they’re like, “Oh, sure.”

Angela: I do want to know, I kind of thought there was something that could have been a little thread that could have been pulled upon because with Agnes always knowing what Eloise was going to do, that would’ve been interesting. Like, “Oh, maybe, she planted something on her laptop to see what she’s keystroke-doing,” or something like that. I could kind of wanted to see something in regards to Agnes actually doing something to warrant being a victim because we never really got the sense that she deserved it in any way, shape, or form.

Ben: (shaking his head) No! Not at all, yeah. It just seems like a misunderstanding.

Angela: Yeah!

Ben: on Mildred’s part and, unfortunately, that ended like that; it’s just sad.

Angela: I mean, again, nobody ever deserves this,

Ben: No, no.

Angela: it’s one of the things that tends to happen with cozy mysteries; it’s usually this horrible person who’s upsetting everyone in town and making so many enemies then you never know which suspect it is. You get to follow that sort of mystery and this lady never really seemed to do anything to warrant having a suspect image of her; the most was the Garden Club with wanting to stay president.

Ben: I would’ve liked that turn; if it was for that reason, that would’ve been fun.

Angela: I wanted them to pull on that thread with the Garden Club because it’s alluded to like, “What’s going on with the Garden Club?” I mean, maybe, that’s in the second book

Ben: I hope so.

Angela: because, apparently, there’s a lot of mysterious things with a Garden Club member.

Ben: I want to know more, yes.

Angela: Especially with Rhonda, apparently, the woman who wanted to out her as president; apparently, she was a big bold personality. So, Rhonda was a potential suspect of, “Oh, maybe, she’s the murderer,” but nothing ever came of Rhonda. So, maybe, book two?

Ben: Maybe, book two.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Stephanie Aurelio “Yeah, why didn’t Mildred confront her husband instead of the craft lady? And he could tell her the truth? Murder avoided.”)

Yes.

Ben: Yeah, oh, Mildred.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Summer Hedrick) “Who needs a craft cabin?”

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class “And if things were a-okay with the husband, why keep that account a secret?”)

Yeah, okay! So, everyone with the comments, everyone’s seems to be on the same place.

Okay. (displays and reads comment by Colleen C) “My daughter wants to mention wasn’t it crazy that Wren was jumping on rooftops to escape her house?!”

(big smile, nodding)

Ben: Yes! (laughing)

Angela: She does have a great point. I just saw the other comment (displays comment by Jeanne Epstein agreeing with Colleen C’s daughter) I’m like, “She does.” She’s like, “Oh! if Everett can do it, so can I.”

Ben: (shaking his head) “Everett’s a cat, Wren!” (laughing)

Angela: I’m sorry, Max is able to do things in this house, he’s very agile, but I’m not going to attempt to jump up and down on the coach the way he does. I’d kill myself.

Ben: Yeah, don’t do that. Yeah, don’t do that.

Angela: There was that thing on Heroes, a very throwback type of reference, where one of the heroes, she was able to see something and then replicate it; that’s not something that most people can do. Just because you see someone do something, it doesn’t mean you can do it.  So, trying to act like the cat, I very much would not try and (shakes her head).

Ben: If I tried to jump on the roof, I would fall down. So, yeah, I’m not going to. I’m not that agile as a cat.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Crystal Tea Knits “She’s Catwoman!”)

I just saw this comment.

Ben: She’s a cat woman.

Angela: I think the aunt is the cat woman. What did she have, three cats? and then she wanted to put them in a basket for her Halloween costume.

Ben: Yeah! Like in a backpack!

Angela: I, honestly, love the fact that she was housing the Havana cats. I thought that was amazing. I think the aunt is the cat woman because even she said she was wearing clothing with cat embroidered into it.

Ben: I need that, yes.

Angela: Oh, my goodness. I love how I’m like, “I don’t even know where I am in my notes.” Yeah, even with, did we ever figure out, so, Everett was in the box; at least, we’re going to assume it was Everett in the box.

Ben: Yeah, I’m going to assume it was Everett.

Angela: How did they get Everett? So, this is my question, “Did Everett actually leave?” – “Did they scoop him up or did someone go in and grab him to put him in the box?” I mean, “How did they get Everett?” And when he was supposed to testify, which I think is, I don’t even know how to describe it.

Ben: That was the best scene, “Let’s have Everett testify.”

Angela: And she kept saying it.

Ben: Yeah, she was repeating it over and over, and I was, ugh, she’s going to be the lady like, “My cat knows the killer!” (laughing)

Angela: You watch Psych, right?

Ben: No, I have not watched Psych.

Angela: Oh, okay. In the first season they’re trying to get in on a murder and he claims the cat saw the killing, therefore, the cat was the one who was his, again, he’s the fake psychic, he’s like, “The cat is my link to the murder!” And, so, he’s running around, he calls him, “The little boy cat.” He’s like, “The little boy cat says this,” and, so, he’s putting him in the front seat of the car. For some reason, I just got a flash of that episode. Someday, you’ll watch, and you’ll get it.

Photo by @ilikeoldbooks1213

Ben: I’ll have to watch it and I’ll be like, “Angela, that’s it.” But, yeah, she kept on repeating, “He’s going to testify.”  I was like, “He’s a cat, though, Wren.”

Angela: But he didn’t respond to the guy.

Ben: No, he was just lying there, curled up, and he was like, “eh!”

Angela: (big smile) Everyone in the comments, “Thank You.” I asked on Instagram for people. I think someone actually had the same note. So, I don’t want to mispronounce, Jeja, j-e-j-a admirerofwordsandcoffee, she had that in the Instagram question. She’s like, “We have to talk about Everett who’s supposed to testify.” I just want to give her a shoutout because, yeah, I don’t know how your cat is supposed to, I mean, he can’t exactly do the swear-in when he goes to the court.

Ben: I would’ve loved that.

Angela: I don’t know because she said it multiple times. I’ve heard of stories. There was an episode of Monk where the monkey didn’t like bald men because a bald man killed his master. But, again, they’re not relying on the monkey to be the hardcore evidence.

Ben: No, no. (shaking his head) “Oh, Everett.” I didn’t think that much about, yeah, I’m guessing they just scooped him up and took him and put him in that box, I guess. I don’t see him wandering off on his own, so, yeah.

Angela: But how did they get him? Because he was upstairs in the apartment, I’m pretty sure, right?

Ben: I guess, if she didn’t lock the door, they could have snuck in because, remember, I think Jim mentioned to make sure the door was locked and she’s like, “I don’t lock it during business hours.” So, maybe, they snuck in and grabbed him and put him in a box.

Angela: So, you just reminded me of the other thing that kind of drove me a little batty. So, the lawyer and the cop were saying, “You got to have someone with you 24/7,” – “I don’t need anyone 24/7” – and then the second that someone’s not with her when she goes to the bank to drop off the money that’s when something happens; so, I’m like, “Please lock your door. Please stay inside. Why are you doing this to me, Wren?”

Ben: Ah, Wren.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Manon “Lol, I also suspected the lawyer by the end”)

Oh! You suspected the lawyer.

Ben: Yeah!

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Colleen C “It seemed like he regretted taking her case!”)

He probably did, right, because she’s calling him at 6:00 AM; he just has to roll out of bed. I mean, how many times did she say, “I have to call my lawyer?”

Ben: A lot and he’s doing it pro bono so he’s doing it for free.

Angela: So, that was, again, one of my questions, “Why is he doing it pro bono?” because it has to do with something quote-unquote “political” but (raises an eyebrow and her shoulder to gesture questioning his motive)

Ben: It was with the Snow family, right?

Angela: Yeah.

Ben: I got the sense that they didn’t like them and that’s why they’re doing it but, maybe, I’m wrong.

Angela: I wanted more information on why they were doing this pro bono because that was very suspicious and weird to me.

Ben: It was weird, and I was like, “Yeah.” He probably regretted all the phone calls.

Angela: Because even one time, he made a reference and I caught it, and I sort of loved it. He’s like, “Yeah, I got to go talk to a paying client now, bye.”

Ben: (laughing) Yeah.

Angela: Because at least if he was a love interest or something, you could kind of understand why he was going out of his way, but I didn’t really get the love-interest vibe from him.

Ben: (shaking his head)No.

Angela: Even though she said he was handsome, other people were like, “Oh!”

Ben: He was handsome, yeah.

Angela: Yeah, I love how I just found it and it’s an entire page in my notebook. (holds up notebook & shows a full page of notes) Why is he doing this pro bono?

Ben: Yeah, yeah, he must have regretted that after the third or fourth phone call.

Angela: So, this is random. Again, I thought he was a fun character, so even though I didn’t like him, it was entertaining to me. I love Porsche, so, again, my thought process was, “Oh, here’s a character I enjoy!” I enjoy Porsche. So, this isn’t a totally tangent thought, but I loved her. I thought she was adorable.

Ben: Yes, yes, she brought all the energy I needed. So, her costume, she was Wednesday Adams. She was also

Angela: Morticia.

Ben: Morticia, yeah.

Angela: She was the Bride of Chucky or something.

Ben: She was theBride of Chucky, yes! She was the Bride of Chucky. I like that everyone in town was dressed up. And then you had when Wren got called in for the lineup, everyone had to clean their faces up because everyone was like, you know, the hour of makeup went to waste, it’s just (shaking his head).

Angela: I would’ve been so mad because it was only in the middle of the day and she’s going, “I still have to go back to work.”

Ben: They could have done it later on; it would’ve been nice. I mean, it’s a small town, “You could’ve waited for everyone to be off of work and then do that.”

Angela: I, again, Jim and they were prepared for the makeup, too!Police stations, I don’t think, have the creams and the face cloths like that.

Ben: (shaking his head) No, no.

Angela: Did someone just go out to CVS and buy that for them?

Ben: So, they knew they were inconveniencing them, which is rude. It’s so rude, “You could’ve waited a couple of hours, so they were done with work,” and then been like, “Okay, come in.”

Angela: Again, it’s a small town; you know they’re not going anywhere.

Ben: Yeah, exactly!

Angela: I don’t know. I love that, though, because she wasn’t just, what was the zombie one, because she wasn’t just Dorothy, she was Zombie Dorothy.

Ben: Yeah, I think she was Zombie Dorothy.

Angela: Oh, my goodness, so cute.

Ben: And costume, so, about that frenemy that was just casually mentioned, and then nothing happened with her.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Colleen C “How did they have the energy to do full zombie makeup like every day??”)

I just saw this comment because I completely agree doing a full face of makeup is a lot. I do not know how you would have the energy to do that for an entire Halloweentown week.

Ben: (shaking his head)

Angela: Kudos, if this is an actual thing occurring somewhere in Oregon, like, honest-to-goodness, I don’t even do the full face of makeup; I do that like, what, twice a month, maybe? I could never do it seven days in a row! Oh, my goodness.

Ben: It’s a lot of work; waking up early just to do your makeup.

Angela: I, honestly, yeah, I don’t know how she would do that because that seems, I also don’t know how you’d be creative enough to do seven days of costumes because,usually,you’re trying to figure out just one.

Ben: By day two or three, I’d be like, “Okay I’m going to find something easy to do.”

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Manon “It seemed like Wren only slept 4 hours per night”)

Yes, it did seem like she was only sleeping a little bit because they actually had her do the timeline of, “Oh, yeah, I was awake until 1:00 AM doing the candles and then I woke up at six or seven,” or something, and I’m going, “That’s really not your whole eight hours of sleep there.”

Ben: No, no, that’s (shaking his head)

Angela: I was like, “How much caffeine?” because she wasn’t drinking coffee. Porsche was the coffee drinker and so was Jim; so, she wasn’t gulping down the caffeine.

Ben: Wren was just on her natural own energy.

Angela: I love Porsche. I thought she was so cute, and I made a little random note, this has nothing to do with anything, but I just thought she was so sweet when she was passing out candy and she’s going, when the kid says trick-or-treat, she’s like, “I want to trick” and the kid goes, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” – “I want a trick!” For some reason, I got the biggest kick out of her and her dialogue whenever she said something or had a scene, I just loved her; there was just something so endearing.

Ben: She just had this really good natural energy which I appreciated because I felt like Wren was high and low a little bit.

Angela: Yeah.

Ben: Porsche kind of grounded everyone.

Angela: I thought she had kind of that, again, she was the one who had the Murder Board, she kind of had that incentive, “You’re still going to go sleuthing, right?” “You’re still going to look into this.” I think she had that agency that the protagonist sleuther usually has; so, I kind of got to give her credit on that side.

Ben: She was into true crime, too, right?

Angela: (nodding with a big smile)

Ben: I think she mentioned that, yeah.

Angela: Yeah, I just got the biggest kick out of her because she went above and beyond, too, with helping out with the store because Wren, I don’t know what was going on, because she, clearly, the store was supposed to open at 10:00 AM. She said that multiple times, but I don’t know how that store was open at 10:00 AM because she was all over the place.

Ben: No, and then they kept on closing, like, “How are they supposed to (sell stuff)?”

Angela: (laughing, reads comment by Shaylee Mann)I just saw this pop-up, “Wren is a mess.”

Ben: (laughing) “Wren is a mess.”

Angela: I mean, yeah, what was it? She mentioned at one point she had the Business Plan. I’m like, “I do not see you as a planner at all,” because she mentions selling stuff online. I’m going, “You can’t even have inventory for your store right now, what are you talking about selling online?”

Ben: Yeah, that’s way too ambitious, but sure.

Angela: I mean, granted, I would love for that to be the case. I think the whole idea of bees being a part of the environment and being crucial is super important. I would love for this to be an actual thing where she sells online, but she seems so far away for that to even be an idea. I wasn’t really following her logic for a lot of it because I love the idea of the bee wall, which sounds awesome, and a part of me would be fascinated and, also, really scared and horrified because I would be like, “If this thing gets out, I’m going to get hurt.” But she said it wasn’t, actually, producing honey, or it wouldn’t produce honey for a long time.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: So, it seems like she was working towards stuff, but she wasn’t there yet. She was kind of getting there.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: She’s a work-in-progress.

Ben: Yeah, yeah, starting off.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Jeja “A little late but glad to be here”)

(big smile) Oh, hey, “Welcome!” Yes, I, actually, mentioned you a little earlier. I was saying how you were the one who mentioned Everett was the one who was supposed to testify.

Ben: (smiling & nodding)

Angela: Shoutout!

Ben: (clapping)

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Amy Hueston) “Coffee comment.”

(displays and responds to comment by Victoria Hamel “That always happens in cozies, they are running around and not at their stores, lol”)

Yeah, it’s true; there are some cozy mysteries where you’re going, “You have a job? Do you make money? How do you exist?”

Ben: Sometimes, I push that aside, I’m like, “It’s okay, they’re solving the murder.” But sometimes you’re like, “What is really happening with your store?” Especially, like, having all your product taken from the cops and then no comment about it coming back and like, yeah.

Angela: Well, so, we also have to talk about the other potential suspect, she’s a candle shop maker, but people don’t like her candles, and then she decides she wants to sell her candles in her store. What is going on there?

Ben: Was her name Diana? Denise? I forget her name.

Angela: That sounds about right. (laughing)

Ben: It was with a D, I think, yeah.

Angela: We meet the girl at the crafting store who’s the cashier checkout girl. We meet her and then we never see her again. We meet the surfer guy who’s the AMT, we never see him again.

Ben: I’m going to keep on bringing Frankie up, too; that frenemy, Frankie, who wore the good witch outfit.

Angela: Yeah, so, what’s going on with her? She wants to buy the store next door. She wants the exact next store building.

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh. I hope that’s in book two. I hope she pops up there.

Angela: That seems like it’s a recipe for disaster, if you want your school nemesis to be right next door.

Ben: Linda, Linda, okay. Colleen mentioned Linda; that’s yeah.

Angela: Colleen is always on her game.

Ben: She’s on it. Thank you, Colleen. Where did Diana come from? I don’t know.

Angela: She might have been the cashier checkout girl. I lose track of names after a certain point when there’s like one too many characters that you never see again.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: That happens a lot with cozy mysteries where they’ll introduce someone just to have that little, “Here’s a little piece of information to move you along with the mystery.” And then you’re going, “Is this person important? How do you come back into play?” and you miss out on two other characters who just popped up, in the meantime.

Ben: Yeah, questioning that. Linda, okay, yeah.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Victoria Hamel “That lady isn’t making her candles. I think she is buying them from Amazon or something”)

(surprised expression) You think she’s buying them! Ah!

Ben: Oh!

Angela: That would be fun, I love that! Oh, that would be interesting. That was, actually, one of those, I’m trying to remember if there’s an actual book in the series with it, because I’m picturing the movie with Alison Sweeney when she did the Hannah Swensen series for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. The girl opened a bakery, but she was selling store-bought because she didn’t know how to bake. You just reminded me of that; maybe, that’s going on with the candles. Hmm, that would be intriguing.

Ben: It would be, would be.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Colleen C) “We did meet a lot of people at the craft store.”

Ben: It was busy, it was busy.

Angela: Because I don’t think we ever met the manager lady again either, did we?

Ben: (shaking his head)

Angela: She gave all this Intel and then she went away.

Ben: Yeah, I think she was just casually there, and then just like Josie, just popping in and popping out.

Angela: So, you and your reference to Frankie.

Ben: Uh-huh.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Shaylee Mann) “So, can we talk about how Frankie was never in town but, all of a sudden, was also conveniently dressed as her counterpart.” Yes.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: So, she dressed as Glinda the Good Witch, and she’s the actual, that was perfect timing. I think Nancy Coco was trying to do something there with that.

Ben: That scene, I love that scene.

Angela: And then the next day, she’s like, “I’m not going to dress up as Glinda. I’m Barbie.”

Ben: She should have! She should have dressed up as Glinda and done much better, and been like, “This is how you do Glinda.”

Angela: ButI kind of admit part of me is curious about this because Wren was the bad one in that; usually, it’s supposed to be the other way around.

Ben: Uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah.

Angela: I’m just saying if you’re going for imagery and symbolism, my library of sciences guy (Ben) knows that. (laughing)

Ben: (laughing) I’m glad you mentioned it. I didn’t even think about that; it makes perfect sense now, yeah, yeah.

Angela: I mean, is she trying to say something? Does Wren have a mischievous side we don’t know about?

Ben: Uh, she has a past we haven’t really heard much about.

Angela: We know nothing about her past, really.

Ben: (shaking his head)

Angela: Because she seems like she kind of dropped into the local town because she says she was there for high school for three years and then she went to college. She did some sort of beekeeping apprenticeship, which is something I never heard of.

Ben: Yeah, that’s pretty awesome; that’s pretty awesome.

Angela: But she did two years; she did a year doing something else as well.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: So, she’s in her late twenties or, I was going to say, “The dog’s going to bark.” I heard someone in the hallway make a noise. (Max barking) I’m like, “He’s going to bark at someone.”

But yeah, she doesn’t really seem to have the community roots. I mean, again, I love Porsche. I don’t know how that sort of hookup happened in regards to she made a reference to her needing flexible hours and that’s how their friendship came into being. But other than the person who works for her, she doesn’t really have a lot of people nearby who she can turn to; even just, who recognize her. I mean, granted, I live in the city, so the people at Starbucks, they know my name because it’s on the cup. But you recognize people, so even if you don’t know names, you’re like, “Oh, yeah, Hi, how are you doing?” sort of just have that passing by. But she didn’t have any of that, really.

Ben: No, no, she had no roots at all. No.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Michelle “It was weird that she had this nemesis but only was at the high school for a year”)

Yeah, she wasn’t really there; they said she was only in town for a little bit but, apparently, she was there long enough.

Ben: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Angela: I’m kind of curious what she did to warrant that meeting.

Ben: With that nemesis.

Angela: I mean, especially, if it’s the prom queen. If you’re going to, you know, get on someone’s bad side, don’t make it be the most popular person in your grade.

Ben: Yeah, yeah.I hope she does buy that shop next to her; it’s going to be awesome.

Angela: Well, I’m kind of wondering, though, if she’s dressed as Glinda, maybe, she has a good side. Maybe, there’s something going on there.

Ben: Maybe, Wren wronged her, and she’s just holding onto that grudge years and years later, you know.

Angela: I mean, granted, I got to admit, I’m in my late twenties, there are still people from high school I would not want to see or talk to. I’m going to be honest, yeah. I founded a book club; clearly, I’m the bookish sword. I was not prom queen, but I wouldn’t want to see some people. I understand that, but I’m not going, “Oh, my nemesis!”

Ben: Well, to call them out in a coffee shop? (laughing)

Angela: I mean, she was, actually, legitimately, kind of provoking, and there was an argumentative sort of vibe going on there. You couldn’t at least pretend? Because then Porsche’s the one who says, “Let’s kill them with kindness,” and I’m going, “She already kind of did the opposite of that.”

Ben: Yeah, yeah. We can’t come back from that.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Lara Z “The people in this town were a bit friendlier than in the last book, but not super friendly”)

What was this one? Oh, yes, people in town were definitely friendlier than in the last one. I don’t know if you read our Amanda Flower book last month, Farm to Trouble.

Ben: Farm to Trouble, yeah.

Angela: I sort of just fumbled over that. I tweet and post about that book for an entire month straight and then I mess up the title. I’m like, “Of course, I do.” But, yeah, last month, they were so mean to the protagonist; at least this month, they still went to the store, even though she was a suspect.

Ben: Yeah, yeah.

Angela: I’ll give you that one.

Ben: I mean, yeah, she started a business even though she was a prime suspect and her store was closed down a lot, too. So, people were still coming, people were still coming.

Angela: It reminded me of, so, you know how people hate-watch something like, “Ugh! I hated this book but I’m going to watch the movie now anyway.” Because people were walking by her store looking in like, “What’s going on in there?” And then I almost felt as if they were guilt tripped into buying stuff.

Ben: Yeah, if you make eye contact, they’re like, “Oh, well, I guess I got to buy something now.”

Angela: I thought that was great because she’s going, “There’s nobody outside except for walking by my store; so, clearly, they’re intrigued by something.”

(reading comments) Yeah, this town was nicer, granted, but the bar was really low, though, in comparison. The last time that poor heroine, I mean, honest-to-goodness, if Amanda Flower wants to keep her in that town, I wish her the best because that was awful. This time around at least they welcomed her, sort of, you know, they let her get her business off the ground. At least she had people to turn to; last month, that poor thing, I know she’s a fictional character, but I feel bad for her.

Ben: True, I mean, Wren had Porsche and her aunt and

Angela: Josie, who I suspected.

Ben: (rolls his eyes) Josie. Well, and then, also, there’s her reporter friend, Alicia?

Angela: Yeah!

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: What was going on there? Because she ditched her; she stood her up when she was in the lineup, but did she ever tell her why she stood her up?

Ben: (shaking his head) I don’t think she did. I think Alicia was just another character thrown in there, too.

Angela: Yeah. (displays comment by Anna R “Did that lady ever come buy the $500 worth of lip balms?”)

Ben: The five hundred dollars, yes.

Angela: I need to know that, because I love how I’m trying to figure out how to say this politely, because there is this weird obsession that people have with murder. I mean, just go into Netflix, and see what they have in regards to true crime; it’s kind of horrifying but, at the same time, those things are trending most of the time.

Ben: Yeah, most of the time, all the podcasts and everything, yeah, poured into it.

Angela: There’s this weird intrigue surrounding murder history and I mean, again, Jack the Ripper is still famous and there are still adaptations and everything else. And, so, those people were intrigued; they did want to buy her inventory. We never find out if she gets her inventory back.

Ben: No, and that’s like the five hundred dollars plus whatever else they took, too.

Angela: They said they took a third of her inventory and those things are handmade, handcrafted; everything in the store is handcrafted. I mean, that’s not exactly something you can replace overnight.

Ben: No, no, and if you’re a small business like, yeah, being closed for how many days in a row she was closed? It’s just terrible.

Angela: I blame Jim.

Ben: Jim. I don’t like him as a love interest and as a cop either.

Angela: He was the love interest, but I just didn’t get that vibe because he was so weird with her.

Ben: He was so mean. I was like, “How can he be a love interest?” Like, that’s terrible, no.

Angela: Because you didn’t even get the whole, again, I’m romance genre, I’ve been doing my dissertation on the romance genre for years now. I know romances. There are the ones where it’s going, “Oh, even though you’re my secretary and I don’t want you to be in my life, but because I’m so attracted to you, I’m going to keep you here, regardless, because I have those feelings and I don’t want you to go anywhere.” I could have understood if he was keeping her on the case because he wanted to keep her close because he’s intrigued by her, he wants to get to know her more, but he didn’t even give me that.

Ben: No, there were no like frenemies, enemy-to-lover thing; that was not going on, he was just mean, and he was just doing the things to put her out of business, too. I feel he could have gone easier with ways of doing things and not have jeopardized her business.

Angela: Oh! Comments are popping up! There are so many comments.

Ben: (nodding in response to a comment) The wedding.

Angela: So, every month, I go through the comments and then I’ll randomly select the Winner for the Giveaway. This month it is Live and Let Chai, Bree Baker, and this is thanks to Poisoned Pen Press. But I never see all the comments live and then when I go back and read them, I’m going, “Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe someone mentioned this! Oh, I should have said that one!” So, I love your comments, I’m going to get to read them all later, so, if I don’t see them right now, I apologize, but I know you guys are commenting like crazy and it’s amazing, and I love it so much.

Ben: I love it, too. I love it.

Angela: So, I’m going to try and go back up a little bit, but it is hard to follow all of them because you guys are commenting a lot, but I love that.

(displays comment by Amy Pacer “The wedding candles!!!! That was the greatest mystery in the book”)

Ben: (nodding)The wedding candles, exactly. What happened with those?

Angela: That lady was so cute, but the thing is she’s in the middle of talking to her, making a connection, trying to figure out, “Do you want a mason jar? Do you want this?” Then, all of a sudden, she passes the girl off to Porsche and walks away.

Ben: So, “Bye.”

Angela: She leaves, and we never see her again.

Ben: No, no, and it was like thirty miles away, too; it wasn’t like it was in town.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Crystal Tea Knits “And did she make all those candles for the wedding?”)

Okay, other people are wondering the same thing, like, “What happened to this wedding?”

(displays and responds to comment by Lyn McEnaney “And she heard glass breaking when they were taking it, so there’s how much of it ruined?”)

Yes, Thank You! This is a good part, too, because she heard glass being broken and she said they were throwing things into garbage bags. Your handcrafted, perfectly-placed inventory just getting tossed about?!

Ben: Would they not be nice and put it in a box? Like, I don’t know.

Angela: Well, I mean, just to hear the crashing, and I’m also someone who’s very germophobic and sensitive to things; like, if I put something down, I want to make sure I find it exactly where I left it. And, so, when she went back into her home and saw it completely torn apart, I would’ve been crying. I would’ve been really sort of traumatized by that; so, I give her a lot of credit with this one. I think that there could have been a lot of emotional backlash or things to be explored there, but the fact that they tore apart her home and her store, like, the two things she spent the most time in and working on, ugh!

Ben: Like, when they really didn’t need to, too, they could have done it nicely. I feel like you don’t need to tear someone’s place apart.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Michelle) Thank you, I totally forgot about this, “Jim came to her house and made coffee without permission.”

Ben: (smiling & nodding)

Angela: “There’s a sense of entitlement there, Jim.”

Ben: (shaking his head)

Angela: I forgot about that one.

(laughing, displays and reads comment by Susan Elizabeth) “We’ll just blame Jim for everything!”

Ben: Yes, exactly! (laughing)

Angela: I mean, because Matt on the phone said, “Don’t let them start doing anything.” She’s like, “Too late, they’ve already started.” She didn’t put up a fight. They were all over her.

Ben: No, and they took her work laptop; they took a lot of things from her.

Angela: That was in my notes because she had to go get a secondhand one; that’s rough. I mean, if someone took mine, that had all of her information.

Ben: What were they going to find on there?

Angela: I felt really uncomfortable with them taking the laptop. I could understand if they went through the store because, again, that’s where her stuff was kept.

Ben: All her stuff is, like, all the stuff to make poison would be there, I guess.

Angela: The laptop was up in her apartment; that just seemed like a little much to me.

Ben: I feel like warrants would have certain things to get to; like, would a judge be like, “Yeah, take the laptop.” I don’t know but I’m thinking too much into this; mostly, because I don’t like Jim, so I’m like, “No.”

Angela: (laughing) Okay, so, (displays and reads comment by Regina) “I didn’t feel the connection between Jim and Wren,” Thank you! Thank you, Regina.

(displays and responds to comment by Crystal Tea Knits “I’d give the cops a bill for the damage”) What was it the aunt said, “Send them your drycleaning bill.”

Ben: Exactly.

Angela: That’s true.

(displays comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class “Lawyer boy needs to sue the cops for damages!”)

Ben: Yeah, have the cops pay for that loan like laptop, gosh.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Renee “Book 2 takes place in May. I sadly doubt we’ll hear about the wedding”)

Oh, wait, we’re not going to get to find out about the wedding candles; that’s sad. I’m worried about that bride. I don’t think she got her candles.

Ben: It seemed it was, yeah, an unusual time for the business.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Lyn McEnaney) “Jim feels like he can get away with anything because of his Paul Newman eyes.”

Ben: Ah! Those eyes; everything can happen for him. (laughing)

Angela: (laughing) There’s a scene, I’m trying to remember which part in the book or where it occurred in the book, but she stands up to him and there’s that sort of frustrated anger and she goes, “I felt a spark.” I’m going, “You did? You felt a spark?”

Ben: (laughing)

Angela: She had to tell me she felt a spark because I didn’t sense that tension between them. I didn’t get that vibe at all. I mean, the fact that she had to clarify, “Oh, I felt a spark,” eh.

Ben: I do not like this. I don’t want them together. She needs to find someone else.

Angela: Can we also just talk about the fact how he thought, what’s her name, Betsy? Is that the sister’s name? So, Ben had a sister, and he thought the sister might have been the killer because their parents passed away and Ben that’s the husband’s name, right? Because I know you.

Ben: Is it Bernie?

Angela: It begins with B, right?

Ben: I think it’s Bernie.

Angela: I’ve just got Ben on my mind because you’re so awesome.

Ben: I’m like, “I don’t have a sister.”

Angela: No. So, what’s the sister’s name? I forget her name.

Ben: Is it Betsy? I think it’s Betsy.

Angela: I thought it was, I could be wrong. It’s possible. It’s very possible.

Ben: Throwaway character.

Angela: Because, again, we never see her again.

Ben: (reads comment)Betty! Betty.

Angela: Thank you!

Ben: Thank you, Stephanie (Aurelio).

Angela: You guys are awesome. I love you guys.

Ben: They’re on it. They’re on it.

Angela: Thank you so much. Yeah, so, he thinks that she’s the killer and so, naturally, he wants her to go hang out with her, turn on the phone and record her, and he’s telling her not to do any sleuthing, but then he wants her to go sleuth

Ben: (shaking his head)

Angela: with the potential killer because that’s what you do with someone whom you have a crush on; you want to send them in harm’s way, naturally.

Ben: Sure, let’s do that.

Angela: So, can we just talk about that for a second. What was going on?

Ben: I don’t know; it just seemed like a wrong scene.

Angela: (displays comment by Stephanie Aurelio “Betty!”) Thank you for knowing the name was Betty.

(displays another comment by Stephanie Aurelio “Who seemed perfectly nice”) She did seem perfectly nice.

Ben: Yeah!

Angela: She did seem very polite in the café. I had no problems with her. I thought she was nice.

Ben: That was the same cafe with Frankie; that’s right, that’s right.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Colleen C) You just “kept picturing Bernie Sanders.”

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: Oh, I think, I swear the last meme treatment where he had the mittens and the chair

Ben: Sitting in the chair. (laughing)

Angela: that is now ingrained in my brain. I don’t know what it is about that meme, but every time I hear his name, now, that is the first thought I have.

Ben: Because you can just kind of feel it; you’re all like, “Yeah!”

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Anna R)

Oh, my goodness,“Jim is not a good detective!” I don’t think he’s a good detective either because, clearly, the two people who you’ve called “amateur sleuths” and tell them “Not to get involved” they figured out within the span of what, two pages, that she wasn’t the killer.

Ben: Yeah, he could have easily asked her questions. I mean, I don’t know why. He was just pulling Wren into the station all the time. He could have easily pulled Betty into the station, too.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Michelle) “Such a weird tonal shift asking for Wren’s help.” Thank you!

Ben: (nodding)That was such a weird scene.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Manon) Oh, my goodness, this is cute, “We need a Bernie Sanders cozy series.”

Ben: Yes!

Angela: That would be amazing. I’ve always been entertained by him. He also has really great one-liners; there could tons of puns going on.

Ben: I can see his series in Vermont; it would be perfect with him.

Angela: That would be amazing. I love how I’m like, “I’d read that!” Last month, it came up with one of the side characters that she was into birdwatching. I’m like, “I would read the bird watching.” We found a couple of mysteries, and I’m like, “I would totally go read them.” I want someone to write one. I need more information on this. Now, we’ve got the Bernie Sanders. I’m like, “We’re coming up with all the cozy mystery ideas!” So, for the cozy writers watching, “You’ve got to have a notepad ready.”

Ben: We will gladly read them, so, “Please!”

Angela: I just found my note about ski masks because, again, I was so upset, like, “You remember ski masks but not gloves.”

Ben: But not gloves; you have a Murder Board and not remember to bring gloves.

Angela: I love how I flip the page and his name is right at the top; oh, goodness. Well, that’s one of the things though, too. I’m not going to blame Nancy Coco, but I think that’s one of the things for readers; they always tell you for the writing side of things to not have the same letter for characters because people will get confused. Maybe, that’s why, because the Betty, Bernie.

Ben: Bernie, yes.

Angela: Is there another B in there somewhere? Probably. And, so, on Instagram, hookedoncozymysteries and then mysterymanon, I know you’re here, I saw you pop up, they also mentioned we needed to talk about the loose ends and there were so many questions. So, what were the other loose ends? Are there any other questions around the loose ends? because there were definitely quite a few of them.

Ben: There were a lot.

Angela: I’m still hung up on the hatpin because, first of all, where did that come from? We never find out which one of the killers put that there. Did anyone figure out the hatpin thing? That was my loose end where I’m like, “Okay, I need to follow this thread. I know it’s hanging there, but is there another spool somewhere?”

Ben: You know, that and, also, about Everett being locked up in the box. I’m still confused about that whole scene, too. I mean, I get they wanted her there to find the arsenic in there but, I mean, why put him in the box? Why just have them in there? I don’t know, it’s just so weird.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Manon) Yes, you were “hung up on Everett’s threat and kidnapping.” I am still so concerned about that cat; again, I knew that Nancy Coco knew cozy mysteries, and she knew not to kill the cat, but I was still concerned about this cat.

Ben: I was very worried.

Angela: As I pause, I think that there’s something about animals, in general, because animals are so innocent and sweet. They really are, but with cozy mystery readers, there’s definitely an affinity and an extra warmth. So, the fact that there was a hanging cat as an image for her warning, that was really hard because that’s really uncomfortable and sad and just awful.

Ben: Well, I mean, they know she has a cat, too. You’re going to remember the lady walking her cat around the town; it’s just like, yeah, “You could have had a different warning and not have put that.” (shaking his head)

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Coffee Music Mania “I couldn’t focus on anything once Everett had been kidnapped”)

See, this is what I mentioned before, off camera, because, again, I have a dog, he is my baby, I love him so much. If he ever went missing, I would tear this apartment building inside and out. I would not be doing anything until he was found.

Ben: That’s what I was worried about, too. I was like, “Why isn’t she looking for him right now?” You know, “He’s missing.”

Angela: She posted something on social media or their local town message board or something. I would be out there with a flashlight! I would be yelling the name!

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: I would describe him. Oh, my goodness, I would not, she also goes to work the next day, and she is still in full makeup.

Ben: I would’ve put flyers up. Yeah, I would’ve been casing the town looking for him everywhere; not just, you know.

Angela: I would’ve not, she went back to her normal life when this was occurring. I mean, again, I want to know wherever it was in between because there was no way he was in that box for x-amount of time.

Ben: No.

Angela: Nancy Coco would’ve lost the cat at that point So, where is he between them? I have questions.

(displays and responds to comment by Amy Pacer “OMG – someone giving the Aunt a phone – forgot that one, too!!”)

Yes, thank you. That was one of my other ones, someone giving, I mentioned this before off camera. If I saw someone, I would call 911. I wouldn’t give you my phone and walk away. I have so many photos of my dog on there. I have all my contacts on there. Who is just going to randomly have an extra phone to leave behind?

Photo by @bookswithshayydeni

Ben: No one.

Angela: So, do we know how the aunt got the cell phone?

Ben: I don’t think so.

Angela: Because I love how everyone’s asking the same question; we’re all on the same wavelength. Okay, so, Michelle, Monique, Marc, everyone’s asking about the cell phone. Is this supposed to come up in book two? Like, this Goodwill ambassador in town, who’s just seeing things and randomly helping. But how do you have an extra spare phone to just sort of toss to someone?

Ben: (shaking his head)I like the idea, though, a random person helping out.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Lori Doss) Yeah, so, “where are the other two bodies” that were supposedly referenced?

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: Why did they say there were four bodies? I’m sorry, someone in editing missed that.

Ben: Yeah, that must be a typo.

Angela: Yeah, I’m sorry.

Ben: Unless there’s other crimes happening that we don’t know about in this small town.

Angela: I would not be surprised.

Ben: All the police forces are digging through all her lip balms and stuff.

Angela: I also want to know, personally, if there are other 911 operators besides Josie.

Ben: I mean, there has to be at least two people, right?

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Manon) So, the other question was, “Who locked her in the shed and was that explained?” and then you’re asking about the other two bodies (referring to question by Lori Doss in chat). There are a lot of loose ends here, so I’m not sure if you guys have the answers or not because I was very much, I was really curious. I was really curious.

(displays and responds to comment by Renee “Oh, wow. Google says it’s estimated that fewer than 1,000 Havana Browns exist in the world”)

Oh! We’re talking about the cats, yeah; focus on the cats, the cats were cute.

Ben: All the cats, aww.

Angela: (responding to comments) Okay, so, you guys are assuming it was Mildred; because, again, if someone had my dog, I would go anywhere they were. I don’t care if there’s a Beware of Danger sign or whatever, I’m going there.

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: So, they lock her in the shed and I got to admit, Porsche, again, she’s my girl, she keeps calling Porsche, and Porsche asks, “Why didn’t you call 911?”

Ben: Yeah, why didn’t you call 911? And then the whole phone, like, going in and out. (laughing)

Angela: I thought that was amazing when Porsche was like, “Why didn’t you just call 911? Why are you calling me?”

Ben: “Choices. Choices, Wren.”

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class “I think there was supposed to be a murder-suicide at the end, but somebody collared Coco and said Too Many Bodies!”)

Oh, okay, that’s what you guys are talking about! Okay, because they wanted to do the murder-suicide with the husband-and-wife duo who, apparently, loved each other to do that.

Ben: Oh, okay.

Angela: That didn’t feel very cozy mystery; that was really dark. Like, “Oh, I’m in love.”

Ben: That was real.

Angela: I also want to just throw out there how this woman was very topsy-turvy; she’s mad at him for having an affair, but yet she wants to die with him because she loves him so.

Ben: No.

Angela: I’m pretty sure they were arrested and I’m hoping, maybe.

Ben: I’m pretty sure they were arrested.

Angela: Like, maybe, in book two, they’ll say, “And, oh, Mildred was the one. We’re adding on to her sentencing because she also kidnapped, and we also have this because we’re adding on to that.” So, maybe, book two will clarify a little bit of something.

(displays and responds to comment by Jeja “Confession time. I do not like cats and I was skeptical of picking this book up, but Everett won my heart, haha”)

Aww, I’m glad Everett won your heart.

Ben: I’m glad, too. I’m glad.

Angela: Again, I mentioned this before, I am allergic to bees; not the EpiPen allergic, but the one time I was stung, I had to go to the doctor’s and they had to give me the cortisone shot because my legs swelled up like three times its size. It was my calf muscle; it was horrifying. I’m also allergic to cats. The animal fur versus hair; they’ve got to have hair. Max is my dog, the Maltese, he has hair. So, again, with the cats, I have to take a chance on these sometimes, too, so I’m right there with you.

Ben: I’m glad. Everett’s a good ambassador to cats.

Angela: He’s a great representation; he’s the type of cat that makes me want a cat.

Ben: Aww.

Angela: I think Max should have like a little brother or sister.

(displays and responds to comment by Stephanie Aurelio “Yeah two killers! And she was encouraging him to kill Wren”)

Yep! So, we have the two killers. So, second killer, Eloise figured that out. She knew who the second killer was; she knew that it was Mildred’s husband.

Ben: She did; the key, the key.

Angela: He killed Bernie and this is my question about Jim. So, apparently, Bernie figured out very quickly that Mildred was the killer and that is why the husband killed him. How did Bernie figure out that she was the killer very quickly?

Ben: I don’t know.

Angela: I wanted to know more information about that; he killed him because he figured it out. So, again, Wren doing her sleuthing was not the best idea.

Ben: Because he confronted them, yeah. Why didn’t he go to the police is what I want to know?

Angela: What evidence did he have? How did he figure it out?

Ben: There has to be some evidence, right?

Angela: How did they get in the house? How did he die? We know there’s blood, but we don’t know if there was, did they ever tell us that?

Ben: No, I would just assume it was like a gunshot, but it could have been anything, I guess.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Manon) Yeah, okay, so, “they’ve been married for how long? And she didn’t even ask him about the affair; the lack of communication.”

Ben: She could have easily asked him and then they would’ve solved everything, I feel like; and then, you know, poor Mrs. Snow didn’t have to pass away.

Angela: Again, when she was confronted with Mildred losing her mind, asking Agnes about the affair, Agnes was laughing because she thought it was so absurd.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: And, so, she’s laughing at her because she’s going, “Ha-ha-ha, I am the evil witch, therefore, I enticed him.” She was laughing because it was so crazy to her.

Ben: That’s outrageous, yeah. I’m sure it was an outrageous laugh and not like a ha-ha-ha.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Anna R) I love this, “So Bernie was the best sleuth, except he got murdered.”

Ben: Unfortunately.

Angela: I mean, because he was murdered what like halfway through the book, so he figured it out very quickly somehow.

Ben: Uh-huh.

Angela: I would love to know how because with Wren we were all over the place; and with Katie, with Rhonda, we were at the craft store wanting to knit socks, which I don’t think she ever knit.

Ben: Just everywhere, just everywhere with her.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Manon “I haven’t read any other Nancy Coco, are the Fudge books better planned than this one?”)

Oh, I haven’t read the Fudge books. I’ve heard really good things about them, though. I think I was going to read them. I have the Christmas one. I believe it’s book seven or eight in the series, and I really wanted to read it and then I got busy and I forgot about it, but it sounded great. She is supposed to be a great cozy mystery writer, so I’m sure that the other books are definitely, I mean, those are the ones that she started out writing, too. So, I’m pretty sure there’s like a lot to those books to enjoy, especially because she’s on book, again, it’s one of those long-going series, so there’s a lot of people who enjoy it.

(displays and responds to comment by Susan Elizabeth “They must have had other marital problems if she never even approached her husband about it”)

(big smile) I love this one, they must have had other marital problems if she never approached her husband! (laughing)

Ben: Yeah, it just seems like a question you would ask your husband if you thought “an affair” like, I don’t know, it just doesn’t make sense.

Angela: Well, how did she get the key, too?

Ben: I think she threw it out, right?

Angela: The den of iniquity.

Ben: I think it got thrown out the window or something.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Christine Keck “The Fudge series is really good”)

Okay, yeah, so, she’s so sweet; she was one of the former guest hosts. If you guys are not following Christine, she’s awesome, I love her. So, I got to say, it’s still a well-written book; like, again, even if there are loose ends, I’m going to say I still enjoyed it. I liked the book.

Ben: (nodding) Yeah.

Angela: I’m going to say I’ll give it three, three and a half stars. I enjoyed it. It’s not going to make my top ten list but I enjoyed it.

Ben: It was a fun ride; it was a little wild, and that’s why I enjoyed it.

Angela: It was one of those things you’re going, “Oh, Wren.” I just thought, I was never a huge fan of the show, but I’ve seen every episode, which is so ridiculous that I phrase it that way. But How I Met Your Mother, there was the episode where like, “Oh, honey,” because she would say and believe with the naivety. And, so, this is what I thought with Wren, where I’m like, “Oh, honey” like that’s what I would do with her. I’m like, “Oh, honey.”

Ben: If I didn’t like it as much as I did, I wouldn’t find all the potholes, you know? I just want to know more. I just want to know more and, hopefully, the second book will answer some of those.

Angela: I think that’s part of it, too. I liked surfer dude loving the chocolate candy. I wanted him to come back.

Ben: I like Porsche. I’m going to come back for her, exactly, and aunt Louise. I’ll come back for them because I enjoy them as characters.

Angela: Everett, too. I’m going to come back for Everett.

Ben: Of course, of course, Everett’s a given. I’ll come back for Everett.

Angela: Everett is adorable. Last month was the adorable Huckleberry. I believe that was the dog’s name with the pug; like, that character was my favorite character. He didn’t have a line of dialogue because he’s a pug, but he was my favorite character. So, I might just come back for Everett; he might be my number one reason to come back because he was so freaking cute.

Ben: So adorable.

Angela: And the thing is Max is all white with his white fur because he’s Maltese, so that would be the perfect, you know, like, yin-yang, if I had the cat with the dark Havana Brown chocolate.

Ben: Chocolate caramel and little Max.

Angela: (big smile) Clearly,I put some thought into this if I have that on the top of my head.

(displays and responds to comment by Colleen C “Yes, things got kind of crazy towards the end, but that was actually where I started to like it a bit more”)

Yeah! I mean, you kind of got to like crazy a little bit because, you know, with cozy mysteries, I don’t want to call them hokey, that’s the wrong word, but you want something where it’s like, “Oh, wait a second! What?”

Ben: No, I was engrossed, and I was like, “I got to keep on reading. I can’t stop this. I need to know what’s going to happen.”

Angela: You want the rug to turn like be pulled out a little bit, because you want to be surprised, you want the mystery. If you can’t predict, that’s great writing.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: There’s something going on there. Again, I kind of figured out Mildred because she pointed out Wren in the lineup, which was a red flag, hello!

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: I didn’t know it was a second killer. I didn’t know it was her and the husband.

Ben: Yeah, that took me by surprise.

Angela: Especially because Eloise said it was him and, usually, when people say that within those ten pages, it’s not.

Ben: Yeah, yeah, it’s usually proven it’s a red herring, it’s not that person.

Angela: (responds to comment by Anna R “They’re campy”)

Thank You! So, Anna has the nice word “campy.” Yeah, that’s a good way of phrasing it. You want some things where you’re going, “Okay, this character is very quirky.” This person would not exist in the real world and if they did, you would be like, “Hey, do I talk to you or do I just keep walking?” I love that sort of thing; you get to enjoy things that you wouldn’t get to enjoy normally. I wouldn’t want to see, I mean, talk about crazy-marrying-crazy with this small town. How do two people that nutter-butter like find one another in this small-town life?

Ben: (shaking his head)Gosh!

Angela: I don’t know how crazy-found-crazy, but they did. My goodness, I love how I’m looking down. I’m pretty sure we went through all of my notes.

Ben: Yeah, and I looked at mine, too, I’m pretty sure.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Sandra Zack) Okay, this is another one, “I love plot twists just not missing plot.” (moves hand and arm straight up and down in pumping motion) I’m doing the Christina Aguilera gesture where she’s like, “Yeah!”

Ben: Yeah, but I mean it’s just a couple of things I feel like she just kind of pulled a couple of things, some of those loose ends and, like, I don’t know.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Monique “I’m going to read the next one to see if she is still wearing her green jacket that she bought in high school”)

This is amazing, “I want to see if she’s still wearing the green jacket she bought in high school” that was so funny! I have a fake leather jacket. So, I have my faux leather jacket that my mom bought me when I was a freshman in high school and at the time I was like, “What is this jacket? Why would I wear this?” Now, I love it, and I wear it, not all the time, but in the Fall, I wear it. That’s what it reminded me of, I’m like, “Oh, my gosh, I have something in common with Wren.” I got really excited by that. Usually, when you say you have something from high school that still fits people are like, “Yeah, sure.”

Ben: True, true.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Colleen C) Oh! I like this comment, “My daughter and I decided it was a double red herring because the obvious suspects were actually the murderers.” I like it, that’s true; that’s a good way of phrasing that as well.

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Lyn McEnaney) “What’s the backstory with the lawyer and his dad and the Snows?”) I wanted to know those details, too. I think there’s more to Matt because Matt is also doing very well financially, apparently. According to her, he looks like he stepped out of a GQ (magazine).

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Angela: What cases is he representing in this small town?

Ben: All you’re told about is something political, but not, yeah, and nothing’s really told about the Snows and, unfortunately, they’re both dead now. So, it’s like, yeah.

Angela: (laughing)They’re both dead now! We’re never going to know.

Ben: I feel like we’re never going to know now.

Angela: So, again, I don’t think Agnes did anything to warrant, I really don’t. The only thing that came up was aside from her being the president of the Garden Club for an infinite amount of time, she, apparently, threatened candle lady with having some sort of ugly sculpture put in front of her store. And because the husband’s mayor, he has the power to put whatever, whenever, wherever. And, so, other than that, they seemed to be on the up-and-up for the most part. But I was kind of perplexed about putting something ugly in front of someone’s store making it so no one wanted to go in there. I wasn’t really sure about that; like, how ugly would this sculpture have to be?

Ben: It must be horrible. (laughing)

Angela: (responds to comment by Lori Doss “Or the fact that they had already placed one of the ugly sculptures in front of someone else’s business”) Apparently, they did that to somebody.

(reads and responds to comment by L B “I have a jean jacket and brown bomber jacket from HS”) Hey! Someone else has something from high school.

(reads comment by Colleen C”) You “thought there would be more to that, too.”

So, I think that might be in book two, hopefully. I’m hoping that this is a three-book series whereby the end, I’m not saying I want it to end at book three, but if she plotted it out for three books or like by the end of the book three, all of your little loose ends are tied together.

Ben: Hopefully.

Angela: They all are answered. We find out, “Oh, there’s a Fair with hatpins,” and we find out something over there. I still want to know about that hatpin.

Ben: It’s just such a detailed thing that to not have anything like come of it.

Angela: Apparently, there was a real pearl in the pin?

Ben: Yeah, but if that’s worth something, why are you going to be like just casually throwing it away?

Angela: That’s why I’m kind of pausing going, “If there is a real pearl, wouldn’t you keep that?” That’s money.

Ben: And if Mildred had a fancy hat with a hatpin in, it would make sense, but she really didn’t.

Angela: I do think that it is nice, though. I feel like you kind of want to craft after this book a little bit.

(displays and responds to comment by Stephanie Aurelio “Right, doesn’t that just make the street ugly?”)

It does make the street ugly. Why would you just put an ugly sculpture? How ugly is the sculpture supposed to be? I don’t understand.

Ben: It’s just so hideous and it’s a small town, so you’d be going by it all the time, too. I don’t know, it feels like you’re doing yourself wrong.

Angela: The most I can think of, and this is going to sound horrible, it’s going to be like a freshman art project where it’s like this is their trial-and-error learning about art. But even then, some of those things turn out really cute because it’s endearing and sweet.

Ben: Yeah, no, that would be endearing. It would be like, “Aww.”

Angela: I can’t really see them making something so ridiculously ugly everyone’s like, “No, I shall never go to this store ever again!” And, also, there’s a store right next to her, the storefront I should say is open and vacant, so couldn’t you just move in there?

Ben: I don’t know because it’s such a small town, like, you would be going by it all the time, too. It’s not like a huge city where you can, obviously, miss that whole section.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Manon “And then the police called it a teenager prank. How many teenage pranks use hatpins?”) I just saw this; so, Jim was convinced every teenager in the world was pranking.

Ben: Yeah!Just happen to have access to hatpins like every teenager. No!

Angela: Yeah!

Ben: No, no.

Angela: Yeah, every teenager has a pearl hatpin. I also want to know, this is just me being overly analytical because this is what I do; so, when you say there’s a hatpin, how did this person get the hatpin there? Were they wearing a hat? Was it in the hat? Because if this is a hatpin, are you going to stick yourself with it? This is where people having roles of tape comes into play.

Ben: So, I’m just assuming, they printed this out, and then they’re like, “Okay, I need to pin something to it so it stays on the door,” and [gestures] they like open a drawer and they’re like, “Hatpin!” Like, who would have one hanging around like casually?

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Regina Williams “a hatpin was used as the murder weapon in an episode of Monk”)

I just saw the comment and I know exactly the episode of Monk you’re talking about. I love how I know her name off the top of my head. Layla was Monk’s love interest for one episode and her mother was visiting from a fictional country, which very much looked like Russia; it sounds like Russia, you’re talking like you have a Russian accent a little bit, but we’re going to pretend this is a fictional place. And, so, she has the hatpin and that’s how she stabbed the guy in the neck. Yeah, maybe, it could have been the hatpin was used for something; that would’ve been awesome. At least that would’ve had a reason for it being there and being so specific.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: Because, otherwise, just using a thumbtack would’ve made sense.

Ben: It would’ve made perfect sense; tape, tape, thumbtack.

Angela: (bursts out laughing, displays comment by Christina Choi-Pearce “Jim has a lot of old man “get off my lawn” energy, LOL!”)

Ben: “Get off my lawn.”

Angela: Again, with the reference with Paul Newman; it does give him that older vibe, even though he’s not past thirty.

Ben: Probably, around her age. I would guess, maybe, early thirties.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by DearReaders_thisisJess “For the town I kept picturing Stars Hollow”) It does sound very Stars Hollow-y; that’s true, too. Again, with the quirky cast of characters there.

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: I’m trying to figure out who the Taylor Doose is; maybe, that was Bernie.

Ben: Bernie.

Angela: Please tell me you understood the Taylor Doose reference [Michael Winters played the uptight town selectman on Gilmore Girls].

Ben: I do understand.

Angela: (big smile) Okay!

Ben: Gilmore Girls, yes.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Victoria Hamel) Oh! Okay,I like this! My fan fiction is that Mildred stole the hatpin from Agnes’s craft house.”

Ben: Oh! Okay, okay, okay.

Angela: I like that!

Ben: Okay.

Angela: Or, maybe, I kind of wanted to make, I like this! And, now, I’m thinking when they had that whole, they found Agnes’s, I almost want to call it her layer; Agnes’s layer of crafting.

Ben: It’s a craft layer.

Angela: You know, a little box set up, or see them and they’re sticking out; that would’ve been cute if you figured out like, “Oh, this is where it came from.” Maybe, that was there in a draft and, maybe, it just didn’t get in. Maybe, in the next version of the book that will be answered. When I say version, I should have said reprint.

Ben: Reprint, yeah.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Susan Elizabeth “I love the town and want to visit”) You want to visit the town; it does sound like a really cute town. I also thought it was funny with the Twilight references as Max [barking] loses his mind.

Ben: I did say, especially, during Halloweentown week, you know, I would love to be there to see everyone dressed up.

Angela: (reaches down under the desk) Okay,I’m trying to bribe him (Max) with treats; now, he’s just looking at me throwing them at him.

(displays and responds to comment by Colleen C “the hatpin was also a red herring because Aunt Eloise mentioned that Linda had a costume jewelry collection”) Oh, maybe, that was part of it. Maybe, it was supposed to be the red herring to try and throw suspicion.

Ben: (nodding) “Had costume jewelry.”

Angela: I love how she notices all those little details.

Ben: So observant.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Shaylee Mann “Why was her crafting so secretive though. I’m still confused.”) I agree. So, this is my question, “Why was she crafting so secretive?”

Photo by @what.susan.reads

Ben: Yeah?

Angela: I don’t know. I would love to know why this woman who crafts, and is willing to teach classes on crafting, didn’t want people to know she was selling her crafts.

Ben: (shaking his head) Yeah, that makes zero sense.

Angela: I could understand if, I almost felt as if two sentences or something could have tied up or answered that question of, “Oh, she didn’t want people to know because then everyone would be asking for orders,” or “Oh, she doesn’t want people to know because she doesn’t want to get bombarded,” and “she doesn’t want people to know because she doesn’t want all these orders to come in,” or “she’s trying to be an amateur,” like that’s how she ends up in the competitions because she needs heramateur status.

Ben: Oh, oh, yeah, if she was a pro then, maybe, she couldn’t be in there; yeah, that makes sense.

Angela: I think you could have answered that in just a very short little way. I think that would’ve been very easy to answer but we just didn’t get that.

Ben: So, you’re left wondering why she was keeping it secret to begin with.

Angela: Again, that was one of my questions. So, I gave that some thought; that’s why I had that on the tip of my tongue because there had to be a reason and I’m pretty sure, again, Nancy Coco, I get the impression she’s very methodical. So, I’m pretty sure she had a reason but it, probably, wasn’t apparent right from the get-go. And I think it, probably, has to do with the fact that she’s an amateur status because, apparently, her entire house had that one room that was just all awards from top-to-bottom; award, award, award. So, to me, I’m thinking she needed to maintain the amateur status; that’s what I’m going with.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: (displays and reads comment by Shaylee Mann”) “She was selling to the whole town.” (laughing)

Ben: (laughing)Yeah, she basically was.

Angela: Was she not trying to leave a paper trail? Was that the whole thing about the money? You couldn’t use PayPal? (big smile)

Ben: I guess so.

Angela: Because she had the crafting done off property. I mean, if you have an office somewhere that signals professionalism to me.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Lori Doss “I bought this book originally specifically because I will be on the Oregon Coast in a few days!”) Oh! You bought the book specifically; aww, that’s so cool.

Ben: Aww,I like that.

Angela: That’s so cool. That’s so cool.

Ben: I like that. I like that.

Angela: See, now you’ve got to bring the book and be like, “This is where it happened!”

Ben: (big smile, nodding)

Angela: Oh, my gosh, that always makes me so happy when people are at the places where the book references. I get the warm fuzzies like a Bookstagram person. I think, I’m trying to remember what book it was; oh, I remember it! I went to Ford’s Theater because I live in DC and, so, I brought one of the books that had to do with Lincoln. So, I’m holding up the book, taking a photo, and people are walking by me, like, “Why is this woman taking a photo of a book?” But you still got to do it.

Ben: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Angela: More fuzzies for people who take photos of books at places; especially, when other tourists and locals are looking at you like, “What’s going on with your book?”

Oh, my goodness, you guys are so sweet with these comments.

Ben: They are.

Angela: I am so amazed and blown away. You guys are on game with the details, knowing the names of characters, and everything else.

Ben: Thank you for being so helpful.

Angela: You guys are so sweet. I love you guys. I really do.

It was on Friday because I posted it on Friday. So, I did an impromptu, and I’m going to be announcing the Giveaway Winners. Basically, I was just going to put in, originally, I was like, “I’ll do a Bookmark Giveaway.” And, so, now, I put together little envelopes, practically, they’re really full right now.

Ben: Oh! (clapping)

Angela: So, everyone’s going to be getting a little bit of different items.

Ben: Yes!

Angela: So, I included, some of them have vinyl stuff; everyone has at least [holds each item to the camera] a couple of stickers, Purrlock, or some people are getting buttons. I’m trying to mix it up but everyone’s going to be getting something for the Giveaway. But you guys, the reason why I’m bringing this up is because you guys are so sweet with your comments and I really needed that on Friday. And, so, you guys are just, I swear, you guys are just like this bright ray of sunshine in the world with your comments and positivity and you love the term Cozy Crew; I mean, it is totally true.

Ben: That’s why I love this Cozy Crew so much; everyone just feels like kind of like a cozy family. We’re a group. We all found each other.

Angela: I mean, with the comments, you guys are so sweet, and you’re amazing. I love it when you say, “Cozy Crew.” I think that’s in your Instagram bio?

Ben: (big smile) It is! It is, yeah.

Angela: Every time I see it, I smile. So, I just want to thank you guys for your comments because you guys are amazing. I know we haven’t been able to see all of them but you guys are just so great. I love how total tangent because I was going to say, “If you guys have any other thoughts to please comment now,” because I know it’s getting late in the evening and I’m sure my voice is probably sounding a little bit hoarse than normal, but if there are any other thoughts about the book, questions, please comment. Again, every single comment counts as a Giveaway Entry for Live and Let Chai, thanks to Poisoned Pen Press.

Ben: Get that book!

Angela: Bree Baker, very, very talented aka Julie Anne Lindsey, and then I wrote all the stuff down because I didn’t want to forget. And then the Giveaway for August, I know it’s Libby Klein. It was so funny because I set it up with her, I set up the Giveaway, and then her book won for September. So, she’s doing the Giveaway in August, and then in September, we’re reading her book.

Ben: I love it. I love it.

Angela: I’m going, “The timing of that is perfect.” Within a day, it happened; within a day.

Ben: Stephanie (Aurelio) is very right, “We need a Cozy Crew shirt.”

Angela: One of my notes was, I did update the Link Tree. The Link Tree is in my Instagram bio, so you can click on that. There is swag with mugs. I do believe there are sweatshirts with the Book Club logo. But I can see, because again, I don’t want to infringe on anyone else’s thing. If there isn’t anything, I will definitely make one for you.

Ben: (big smile, clapping) Yes.

Angela: Right now, so, what I did was, again, I overthink things, and I try and do it so everybody, depending on where they are, what they like, whatever has access, so, there are the three different store links. So, there’s the Society6, there’s Zazzle, and then there’s Teespring. I know Teespring has a lot of sweatshirts that I designed. I should say, “Not just sweatshirts in general, sweatshirts that I designed.” I know that one has ones that say Sleuther on it and Sleuthing. So, I’ll go see if there’s a Cozy Crew; if not, I’ll do that for you.

Ben: (clapping)That would be awesome.

Angela: Aww, you guys are so sweet with the comments. Yeah, I will definitely, I mean, again, if you guys tell me you want something, I will do it. I will look at it because that was one of my notes. I had that written down because I, specifically, updated the Link Tree because someone mentioned it. So, again, it’s in the notebook. I love how things just flow and it’s so easy to tell you guys this because someone asked me to include the YouTube link and the backlist of previous reads because they didn’t know what books we’d already read for the Club. So, I updated the Link Tree! So, if there is something you need included for the Link Tree, or just want something referenced or clarified, please ask because, clearly, I try and take your comments into consideration because if someone said they wanted that, I put it on the Link Tree just for them! So, if you have questions, just let me know. So, if you want Cozy Crew, I can look into that and see what I can do.

Ben: Aww,you are the best, Angela. Thank you so much!

Angela: I mean, when I say it’s my honor, it really is. I’ve gotten all emotional on the phone with my mom. I was kind of like happy tears where I’m like, “They’re posting photos!” and I’m literally doing like the happy tears, “They’re posting the photos of Death Bee Comes Her!” Every single time I see someone post a photo, I’m like, “Oh, my gosh, they’re a part of this Club I created!” I mean, it is seriously my honor and absolute privilege. I, again, you guys are taking time out of your lives to talk about books and celebrate cozy mysteries and be here tonight and comment. I am just, I am blown away by that! That’s why, again, I was going to surprise y’all with the Bookmark Giveaway. I was going to include three for everybody, but now I’m putting aside all these finals. I can’t help myself. I just want to keep giving you everything because you deserve it! You guys are just so amazing. I really can’t help myself because you guys deserve it. It really is my absolute honor to just be a part of this; it really is.

Ben: Same here! Every time, I’m just so happy to have found this space; just, with everyone here, it’s just amazing.

Angela: I know. I love how I get emotional every time because I’m just so blown away by how, just, it’s honestly, spectacular.

Ben: Yeah.

Angela: I get emotional because it really is amazing to me. Again, I wouldn’t wish my dissertation experience on anybody and, so, again, Friday was an off day for me because, you know, of lingering feelings. So, Thursday, I had a meeting; it didn’t go well. So, Friday there was sort of that lingering ugh! feeling. And then I end up on Instagram, and you guys turned what would have been a bad day into an amazing day with your comments and positivity. So, instead of crying with sadness, I’m like, “This is so great! You guys are so amazing!” Totally flipped it! All because of you.

Ben: Aww.

Angela: And, so, while I’m talking about how amazing you guys are, you guys, I’m so blown away by the number, again, like the participation. So, there are over a hundred votes for the September read, which is officially Class Reunions Are Murder by Libby Klein.

Ben: (clapping) Yes.

Angela: And, so, right now, you can vote for the October book on Twitter, and it’s the pinned tweet so I wanted to make it as easy as possible (looking down at Max) he’s trying to bury a bone in an apartment; that’s going to be interesting.

Ben: (laughs)

Angela: So, right now, the October poll, it’s a pinned tweet. I wanted to make it super easy to find. I also included the Goodreads links for each of the books. So, the four options are Wine and Punishment, which I think is a great pun. I love that!

Ben: It is; it’s so amazing, so amazing.

Angela: By Sarah Fox; she took part in 12 Days of Cozies last year, and she was so sweet, and I loved emailing her. And, so, again, it doesn’t matter if it wins, I’m still going to read this book because I just love her as a person and her work. The other book, we’ve read Juliet Blackwell before, so, Secondhand Spirits, I’m pretty sure right now, that’s in second place. One Poison Pie by Lynn Cahoon is currently in the lead, and I’m pretty sure that one has the paranormal cozy mystery Halloween vibe you guys are looking for.

Ben: We need those, we need those, uh-huh.

Angela: Again, I was really having the best time watching this October poll because the first and second place, it was tied, what, four different times.

Ben: (nodding) Yeah, yeah.

Angela: Winning by a single percentage. I, honestly, didn’t know what was going to win. And then the last option is Caught Dead Handed by Carol J. Perry. So, please vote for your favorite choice because, clearly, every vote counts!

Ben: (nodding) Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Angela: With that September poll, I was doing screenshot after screenshot, because it would be the same percentage down to the decimal; how does that happen?

Ben: (nodding) It was close. I kept on checking on it, too, just to see, and I was like, “Dang!” it was super close.

Angela: And then the next, again, (sees Max) I don’t mean to look around like, “Oh, I’m ignoring you.” He went under the nightstand. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to bury the bone under my nightstand.

Ben: That makes sense.

Angela: He’s five pounds. He can fit anywhere.

Ben: I love him.

Angela: The one time was when he got behind the bookcase, I’m like, “Oh, please just back out, please back out, because I can’t reach you,” and there’s so many books, I can’t lift this thing. So, hopefully, Max will be good for us tonight.

Anyway, so, the last Tuesday of the month is, obviously, Book Club livestream night. But the second Tuesday of the month is Cozy Corner Chat night. So, you guys get to chat with your favorite cozy mystery authors and soon-to-be favorite cozy mystery authors. The next one is going to have Emmeline Duncan, Esme Addison, and Eve Calder.

Ben: Oh!

Angela: So, mark your calendar. I’m really excited to read Esme Addison’s. I haven’t read it yet, but the one with the hex, with the mermaids, with the history, I’m excited to read that book (A Hex for Danger).

Ben: Uh-huh, that’s a good book. I read it. So, I hope you enjoy it, and you have to tell me how much you liked it. So, yes.

Angela: I’ve heard great things about it.

Ben: It’s so good.

Angela: I know Emmeline Duncan. We had one of her books; the latest, it was a coffee cozy mystery.

Ben: (nodding)

Angela: Again, it’s been on my to-be-read list for the longest time.

Ben: Fresh Brewed Murder is amazing. So, I read that, too. I was like, “Oregon. Oregon, again? Amazing.”

Angela: I was going to say, “I’ve got to read these books before the next Cozy Corner Chat,” but I was so happy that these authors had books that I know you guys have read and enjoyed. And, so, that, just again, warm fuzzy feelings that I can connect you guys with these authors, and offer this chance.

Again, I love the fact that it’s across platforms. I’m trying really hard to do that because I know there are cozy mystery readers who are either, people have mentioned, deaf and other people who are blind. And, so, I’m trying to make sure there are other options depending on your capabilities. So, if you, obviously, can’t listen to the livestream, which I’m working on transcripts for, by the way. I’m trying to transcribe these and have the transcripts done so you can always look back. So, that’s a work-in-progress. I’m trying to work on that; but if you can’t listen or take part with the audio, I want you to be able to do the text-based activities. So, I’m trying really hard to make sure there’s something for everybody.

Ben: I love that. I love that experience; it’s really nice.

Angela: (smiling) I’m trying hard. I want to make sure, again, it’s cozy mysteries. They’re supposed to be fun. They’re supposed to be lighthearted. Everyone should be able to enjoy them. Everyone should be able to shop for cozies and be able to enjoy the sleuthing fun. I want to make sure that there’s something for everyone; this is another attempt to try and offer something. So, I hope you guys enjoy the next Chat! Basically, what you’ll do is, you’ll have the hashtag #cozycornerchat and you can tag the authors with their Twitter handles and ask the questions; and they will talk about their writing, latest reads, whatever you ask, they will answer.

And then I mentioned, again, I think it’s so funny, the next Giveaway for Libby Klein for next month’s livestream is going to be Beauty Expos Are Murder. So, that’s the Giveaway book for the August livestream, and then tonight is Live and Let Chai. (flipping through notes) And then I already mentioned, “Update the Link Tree.”

Ben: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Angela: So, I am a planner to the nth degree. I don’t even know what type of planner I am. This is why when Wren was talking about things, I’m like, “Ah! You don’t know planner. You don’t know planning. I’ve got notebooks!”

Ben: That’s what I love about you, Angela. You’re very thorough and that’s really good.

Angela: Thank You! I try. Again, so funny. I’ve been working on 12 Days of Cozies since, literally, January. I’m trying so hard to make sure that there’s something for everybody and there are things to be enjoyed. So, I updated the Link Tree, but I’ll post the links again. I do not expect you to answer right away or whatever. I just want people to be able to know, “Here’s the links!” You can look at them. You can get an idea. So, right now, I have new Google Interest Forms. (looks down to check on Max) I don’t know what he is doing, but I love my dog. So, we have a Google Interest Form for cozy mystery authors for future Cozy Corner Chats. So, if there’s an author who’s interested, there’s dates for them to look at. If you want to send that to your favorite author, or you are a cozy author, I have a Google Interest Form for you.

And then for readers, we have the 2022 YouTube Host Interest Google Form. So, you can just look up the dates, get an idea just to see what I ask on the questionnaire, whatever, that Google Interest Form is there. And, so, I just wanted you to know that’s there; again, just for you to consider. I’ve been working on it; it will happen. I’m convinced, once you see the link that I’ve been working on, you’ll understand why it’s taken me so long because I’ve been working really hard and integrating links so that, um, for the cozy mystery readers, I should go back.

So, basically, I have a Google Interest Form for Book Club members. So, if you are a sleuther for The Cozy Mystery Book Club, I want you to be able to submit your information so I can feature you on The Cozy Mystery Book Club website. So, I’m creating a link for the Book Club members! I’m slowly working on this and the reason why I say slowly is because I ask the questions of, “Who is your favorite cozy mystery author? Your first cozy?” I have been linking all of the books and recommendations to the author websites.

Ben: Oh!!!

Angela: I’ve turned books that have been mentioned into images. Some people have referenced three books, so I go on Canva, I have the three books with their covers, and I try and make images, so it makes pretty.

Ben: Now, I’d feel terrible if I did that.

Angela: Oh, no!

Ben: Okay.

Angela: This is what I enjoy doing. Again, you guys are such a bright spot, and so this becomes the fun activity I look forward to doing; it really is. So, I’ve been working really hard in trying to make this the best link I can. I’m just mentioning it, again, because I’m sure there are other Cozy Mystery Book Club members who are new, who are still taking part. But I have this link, I will reshare it on Twitter so you don’t have to do it. I mean, this is totally optional, and I have an option to include a profile photo; you don’t have to, I can always include the Book Club logo or Purrlock or something. There is no pressure. You don’t have to do it either; it’s just something I wanted to offer. So, if you want to connect with the sleuther whose name you saw pop up in a livestream, you have their information there, just in case.

Ben: I love that. I can’t wait to see this. I love it.

Angela: It’s one of those, it’s a work-in-progress, so I just wanted to mention, I have that link available on the Link Tree and I’ll reshare it on Twitter. So, there’s 2021, 12 Days of Cozies Author Interest Form. The 2022 YouTube Interest Form, YouTube Host Interest Form; wow, that is going to be a tongue twister. And then the future Cozy Corner Chat Author Interest Form. So, I have been working on things; there’s always something going on behind the scenes.

I updated the Link Tree. I mentioned that, and I mentioned before, but I’ll mention, again, the second book in the series for Death Bee Comes Her is A Matter of Hive and Death (by Nancy Coco) and it’s being published on March 29, 2022. (holds up notes) That is the final page in my notebook!

Ben: (smiles & claps)

Angela: So, those are all of my notes but if you have questions about something, please let me know because I will try and answer it to the best of my capability.

You guys are so amazing with the comments; things pop up, oh, my, gosh. You guys are so sweet. Thank You so much for joining us tonight and it is my pleasure to be able to make something that people enjoy and take part in; it is just such a privilege, it is amazing, and it just makes me want to do even more. When it comes to you guys, I just want to keep offering things. I have the Freebie Page that I made. I don’t even know why I call it the Freebie Page because everything I do is Free. But I have this Freebie page and I’m like, “Maybe, I can add something else! Maybe, I can add something else!” And then I look at the Freebie Page someone else has where it’s like, “One thing to download,” and I’m like, “I have, what, 12?” (big smile)

Ben: You go all out and they love it!

Angela: Yeah, I just want to keep doing more for you guys, so if there’s ever anything you guys think of, please let me know.

Ben: I see someone mentioned 12 Days of Cozies and I can’t wait! Again, because that’s my favorite time of year.

Angela: Well, so far, I have thirteen authors confirmed, and I have some big-name authors that I’m pretty sure you guys are going to recognize as I’m pulling up my form. Again, I have my little thing, I’m like, “Should I tell you? Should I give you a little preview? So, Jackie Layton, who’s one of my faves, she’s always, whenever I do something, Jackie’s there. Every time I do something, she’s like, “I will join.”

Ben: Aww.

Angela: So, we have Jackie, but I know you guys are Winnie Archer and Melissa Bourbon fans, so she’s one of my authors.

Ben: (clapping) Oh! Okay, okay.

Angela: Mary Angela, she did one of the Cozy Corner Chats, she is going to be doing 12 Days of Cozies. Cynthia Kuhn, who I adore, is going to be doing it for the first time.

Ben: Oh!

Angela: I have some good authors! So far, we have some (smiling & nodding).

Ben: You have good authors, yeah. This is exciting. Okay, yeah.

Angela: Just to give you a little tidbit of what’s going on. Again, I’ve been working with other authors, but just to name a couple. So, they’re definitely authors who are participating and if other authors who want to sign up, I am open to it. I will be reaching out to other authors, too, and if they did it last year, I’m going to be asking them if they want to do it this year. I try and make it as easy as possible on the authors. And I’m also trying to make it so that, again, if they don’t have a Twitter, they can use Instagram, and vice-versa. So, I’m trying to make things accessible across platforms. I want that to work for the readers and the authors, too.

Ben: Always, always so considerate. I love it. I love it.

Angela: (responds to comment by Crystal Tea Knits “I hope I can participate this year in 12 Days of Cozies; it was so crazy last year I still didn’t finish the book I was reading.”)

Aww, I hope you can participate, too. I’ve been working on it really hard so that there’s going to be something for everyone across platforms, across time, so I hope you can find something that works for you, Crystal.

Ben: It’s always so fun; so much fun, I can’t wait. (claps)

Angela: I’m hoping that it lives up to the hype because I’m talking about it in the Summer. I mean, also, we have, what is it? Christmas in July with Hallmark Movies.

Ben: That’s on my mind, too.

Angela: I was like, “We’re talking about it now, so you’re in the headspace,” but yeah, I will do my best to make sure that it’s a good celebration for y’all; so, fingers crossed. But yeah, so, hopefully, if you guys have any other questions or thoughts that come up, please feel free to email, message me on Instagram, Twitter, I will get back to you. And, obviously, we need to thank my guest host for tonight because he is amazing. I adore this guy. He is so sweet and you were so on game. I get the biggest kick out of talking to you. I adore this guy. I really do adore Ben.

Ben: Aww.

Angela: He’s such a little bright ray of sunshine. If you go read his posts on Instagram and Twitter, you’re just going to smile because he’s just so amazing and sweet. I just adore him. So, if you’re not Following him, please do.

Ben: I always have so much fun and the first time I co-host with you, I just felt like, “I know Angela, forever,” like, “I’m not nervous.” Every time, I feel it’s just like catching up with a friend. So, it’s like, I love it.

Angela: You are! Honestly, there’s something about this cozy community, where it’s like I read people’s comments and I’m like, “Oh, my gosh.” I feel I really do; it’s one of those, I recognize the names. It’s so funny, too, I’m going to be, I’m trying to figure out how to say this. So, again, it’s a Google Interest Form for Book Club members, and it’s so funny when I see someone’s name in here, I’m like, “I have never seen you participate with anything.” I know people’s names and know when someone just wants to end up on the website. I know the names. I recognize the user handles. People who participate I feel like I really do know you, and it’s just such a privilege when I get to feel as if, “Oh, my gosh, so-and-so’s here! They’re back! They’re reading this book! Oh, I know they didn’t like this book, but hope they’re enjoying this one.” So, yeah, with Ben, it was one of those reading the comments back and forth, and commenting back and forth.

Ben: Aww.

Angela: Again, if you were the librarian, I would just go hang out with you, “What do you recommend today?”

Ben: Yeah, it’s just such a great community, and I feel so connected with everyone; especially, when people join in, they’re like, “Hey, Welcome Back!” It’s so sweet to see that.

Angela: My mom watched the livestream and she’s like, “Is Ben coming back?” She’ll ask me about you. She’s like, “He’s so sweet. How’s he doing?”She’s like, “Has he popped up on the Twitter? He’s so sweet.” So, like, again, I’m talking about you guys to my parents.

Ben: I love it! I love it! Your mom, aww.

Angela: You guys are in my life, I’m not kidding. I’m not exaggerating, it’s true. And I love how it’s like, “Mama Hart Approved!” Mama Hart Stamp of Approval. (laughing)

Ben: (big smile)Love it. Love it.

Angela: I don’t know why I was calling my mom “Mama Hart” with that, but when it comes to YouTube, I’m like, “Mama Hart.”

(responding to comment by Colleen C “Yes, Ben did an awesome job!!!”)

He always does an awesome job. (claps)

Ben: Aww.

Angela: I wish I had some sort of like soundboards, so I could do the clapping noises. Because it’s just me, I know it sounds sad, but all the props! What is it they do? The snaps?

Ben: Snaps! Snaps, yeah.

Angela: I was like, “Where’s Max’s barking in an agreement when I need him?”

Ben: He’s busy digging that hole.

Angela: I know, he’s not over here and he doesn’t have the bone, so I know it ended up somewhere. I don’t know where, but it ended up somewhere. So, I’m going to have to find the bone to take care of this little guy (Max).

Thank You, guys, so much for being here and for reading this book. I am just blown away when I see the photos on Instagram, and when you guys comment on Twitter; it’s seriously, it’s just amazing. All the warm, fuzzy feelings. And I mentioned it before, but if you did take a photo, let me know or send me your mailing address because I will send you some Book Club swag. (holds up bookmarks)

Ben: Aww.

Angela: I’ll be sending some bookmarks your way as a way to thank you for taking part in the Book Club and sharing your photo because I’m always blown away when I see those photos; to know that people are taking part in something I created and organized, it is just the best feeling in the world and that’s just my way to say thank you for being a part of the Club. So, send me the mailing address. I’m sorry but US only, because I’m using actual postage stamps.

Ben: Yeah, yeah.

Angela: I will be working on something for International Cozy Mystery, I know you guys are here, Cozy Mystery Sleuthers. What I thought I would do is, I would do either a book depository or Barnes & Noble gift card or something, so I can do just the email gift card sort of situation. I’m going to do that for y’all. I just don’t know for what or for when, but it will happen. I am thinking about you, International readers, so if you did take a photo, let me know, (holds up bookmarks) and I will make sure that this comes your way. But other than that, I think I gave you guys all my notes. There was so much to talk about with this book.

Ben: There was so much.

Angela: Was there anything else you wanted to add quickly before we say anything else?

Ben: No, I think that was it. You covered everything I had, too; it was a lot.

Angela: Oh, my gosh. And, so, I just want to say Thank You guys for watching and being here tonight. Again, I think that after Friday, I’ve always had this connection with y’all, but I am just so appreciative of every single one of you. I really do mean it when I say you guys mean the world to me. You really do! So, thank you for reading this book and being here and celebrating cozy mysteries, and I already gave him a shoutout, but he deserves a second one, so shoutout to Ben for joining me because he was awesome and I adore him.

Thank You, guys, for doing this and being here. So, please keep reading. Next month, um, where did it go? (turns to bookcase) It’s over here somewhere! (holds up paperback) Next month is Books Can be Deceiving (by Jenn McKinlay). I love how, now, we have more books on the list that we can prepare for it; so, please get your copy, start reading it, enjoy it. Hopefully, you love it, and we can chat about it next month. I’m really looking forward to reading this myself. I’ve had this on my to-be-read list for years. I think that it is amazing that this book I’ve wanted to read, I get to read with you, so I feel honored that that’s the case.

Ben: (clapping) Yay! I haven’t read it either so I’m excited to read it, too.

Angela: I’ve heard really good things and people really enjoy her as an author so I have very high hopes for this book; very high hopes.

Thank You, guys, for joining! Thank You, Ben!

Please stay safe and happy and healthy, and happy reading and sleuthing!

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