October 2023: If You’ve Got It, Haunt It (A Haunted Vintage Mystery #1) by Rose Pressey
Angela: The comments are already popping up which makes me so happy. I feel it’s been one year since we’ve done a livestream together. I’m pretty sure, right?
Colleen: I know! Yeah!
Angela: I was going to say, so if y’all don’t know this woman, I absolutely adore her and, again, I just said y’all, and It’s Vintage, Y’all and I’m saying y’all. Y’all need to know Colleen. She is awesome and I have her information here (displays image of Colleen’s Instagram Bio). So, she’s no longer on Twitter. I found that out today when I went to tag her and I wasn’t able to but she’s still on Instagram and here’s her information. So, if you want to look up her information, please do, because she talks all about cozy mysteries. She’s even doing something new where she has themes with cozy mysteries, so I’m very happy to have her back tonight. She is so sweet to talk to, and she enjoyed the book, so I’m betting it’s going to be a great conversation. So, (big smile, clapping) Welcome to Colleen!
Colleen: Thank you so much! Thank you. Yeah, I, you know, this is the third Halloween, sort of, or supernatural-themed, I should say, chat that we’ve had together, and so one year it was witches and now this year it’s ghosts, so I wore these ghost earrings you can see. And, also, my haunted-mansion shirt; you may recognize the pattern. (Angela holds up the front of her Halloween Night Boooook Club sweatshirt.) Angela’s got a ghost shirt, and then this (leaning forward to show her headband) is a haunted-mansion headband actually; you can kind of see like some of the characters from The Haunted Mansion, so we’re on theme tonight! (laughing)
Angela: And “Happy Halloween, everybody!” We’ve got the balloon here which is cut out of the, it’s hard to tell when you crop things, but we have the balloon here, and then I have Boonard right there (pointing to bookshelf behind her) with the little book; and, so, we have another little thing right over there (moves the camera angle to show another bookshelf behind her) so you get a little ghost in there keeping track with the library. So, we’re going to have fun tonight.
Colleen: Yay! (big smile, clapping)
Angela: Oh, and I almost forgot my pillow (shows a cute pink pillow with Boooook Worm, a smiling ghost wearing glasses and holding an open book).
Colleen: Oh, my gosh, that is so cute! Ahh!
Angela: (hugging the pillow)If you guys are not familiar with Emily Cromwell Designs, this is Boonard; that’s the name of the ghost that she designs. Boonard, I’m like “Okay, that is adorable. I need to have this.”
Colleen: Oh, my gosh.
Angela: We have a ghost for the book. I’m like “Even if it’s not on camera the whole time, and I use it for my lower back, I needed to have this for the night.”
Colleen: That is adorable. Oh, my gosh, I love it.
Angela: And then I used her notebook when I was taking notes tonight, so all the spooky fun Halloween vibes.
Colleen: Nice! I’m going to have to check her stuff out; that looks really cute.
Angela: Oh, so, you just reminded me, and I don’t want to forget because tonight she is, I looked this up, and I’m not getting any kickbacks or I’m not promoting her, I just really like her stuff. So, tonight she has a sale for her Halloween materials. I think all of her Halloween items are either 25% or 35% off, but then everything else (displays image of Emily Cromwell Designs with promo code ANGELA15) so I told her I was going to do this, so she actually created a code for me, so anything else that’s non-Halloween related, you can save 15% with ANGELA15. I wanted to make sure I told you guys about that tonight and one of the reasons I was in contact with her was also because one of the big reveals, again, you guys are here on Halloween night, you’re taking Halloween and celebrating it with us, I was like, “I got to tell them the reveals.” So, one of the reveals: Magnetic Bookmarks. Emily Cromwell is printing them up for us. So, Purrlock Holmes, she’s going to be on a magnetic bookmark and MoriarTEA for Christmas, he’s going to be on a bookmark. So, magnetic bookmarks are coming!
Colleen: (nodding) Yay!
Angela: So, Emily Cromwell’s printing those for us! That was when I started really getting in touch with her, so there’s the code (ANGELA15), and we have Boonard tonight (holds up a cute pink pillow), so all the fun stuff. (big smile)
Colleen: Yay! That’s awesome!
Angela: (reading chat comments) Oh, my gosh, everyone’s so cute in the comments; they’re all popping up now. Oh, my goodness. Hi, everybody! You guys are so cute, and Happy Halloween to you! (leans back to grab a Halloween balloon to pull forward) I wish this was in view; maybe, I should get it closer behind me. We’ll see, but I’m hoping you guys are having a very Happy Halloween. This is so cute with all the comments (displays chat comments by Kristina T “Happy Halloween from Bay Area of California sleuths” & JessLovesCozy “Happy Halloween from sunny San Diego!!” then displays and responds to chat comment by JessLovesCozy “Yay! Colleen! I love her Insta account!”) Oh, yes, and so, again, Colleen, Insta love with her account.
Colleen: Hi, Jess! (waves)
Angela: Oh, my goodness. So, tonight, we have If You’ve Got It, Haunt It (holding up a paperback copy) and yes, those are little spooky post-it notes along the sides.
Colleen: Oh, my gosh!
Angela: (turns the paperback copy sideways to show all the little post-it notes placed inside the book) Going the extra mile. (big smile)
Colleen: I love it!
Angela: So, I’m going to kick it off and ask, “What did you think of this month’s book? What would the star rating be? Did you love it? Did you have opinions? What did you think of If You’ve Got It, Haunt It by Rose Pressey?
Colleen: So, I thought it was fun! And my daughter read it with me; some of you know that my daughter often reads cozy mysteries with me, and she also enjoyed it. We both thought it was funny; there was a lot of humor, so I think this is a good one and if you’re wanting humor in a cozy mystery. And it was also the ghost aspect really made it unique. I think that premise made it different, you know, than a lot of cozy mysteries where there’s just this lady and she investigates. It wasn’t just that, you know, there was a ghost! And the ghost was sassy and is the reason for trying to solve the mystery but is also kind of a conflict because she annoys her and things like that. So, I think that made it unique. Yeah, so I’ll say overall, you know, I know my daughter rated it five stars. I would not, but I still thought it was fun. So, yeah, that’s what I’ll say.
Angela: Yeah, we have a bit of a range with ratings tonight. So, we have 24% at five stars, 48% with four stars is winning, but there are still 24% with three, and one person said either one or two stars, or maybe more than one person, but it’s 5%. So, across the board right there with the ratings.
And I did just make, I have my little notes, and because y’all have already tuned in, and we’re starting to get into a discussion, I do have a little fun reveal at the end of the night. So, if you stay the whole time, there is going to be a special reveal, and everyone’s going to get this item. But, in order to qualify, what I’m going to do is, I’m going to ask y’all to type in the comments, I’m going to give you a key word at the beginning and at the end; we’re going to bookmark it. So, the very first comment is Spooky, S-P-O-O-K-Y. So, if you guys want to take a minute to just comment the word Spooky, so I can double-check later when you guys send me an email with your mailing address, I know exactly where you are, what you commented, and we have everything on the up-and-up, so, I’m going to just do it. (types SPOOKY in the chat session) I mean, you can even throw in a ghost emoji if you want. But I have a little key word and, so, at the end of the night, I’m going to give you a second key word. Hopefully, that will make everything very easy, and you guys can have fun and, you know, go crazy with all the ghost emojis if you want with your comment, but this will make it easy, hopefully, to double-check to make sure like, “Yes, they did stay the whole time.” Just wanted to take a moment before I forgot about that because that will happen when we start talking about books, you know, get side-tracked a little bit. So, she (Colleen’s daughter) gave it five stars, and other people are kind of like, “Okay, I’m with Colleen, we’re not loving this book” but you like it, you enjoyed it, but it’s not your five-star read.
Colleen: Right! What about you? What about you?
Angela: I enjoyed the book! So, I thought it was interesting with the writing style because I thought the chapters were very concise; I think is the word I’m going to go with. She was very direct, they were short, and there’s something kind of fun about this one in regards to there being a short suspect list, so you pretty much had a 33% chance of getting it right; you kind of only had three main suspects. (smiling)
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: So, the odds were, you know this wasn’t The Hunger Games like “may the odds ever be in your favor.” The odds were in your favor with this one; you could kind of narrow it down a little bit, so I didn’t really mind that.
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: I did guess who the killer was, and I was a little bit, yeah, the motivation was kind of clear once things were, you know, the little puzzle pieces were easier to put together with this one. But I didn’t really mind that,
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: because I liked the main character and, I’m sorry, but we had a psychic cat here.
Colleen: I know! Right!
Angela: We’ve got to talk about it.
Colleen: When do you see that? That’s different and, I mean, you know, my child won’t read it if it doesn’t have a cat. So, it had a cat, and it was not just any cat; the cat was doing Ouija boards and Tarot cards, and that’s pretty unique, and she really liked it.
Angela: So, I know one of these little post-it marks is, okay, here it is. So, on Page 107 in the paperback, “No more cheap cat food.” That was the very first message with the Ouija board and I lost my mind because I thought that was absolutely hysterical.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: When you mention humor I’m going, “Yep!” because even little moments that had kind of, I don’t want to say nothing to do with the overarching mystery but played into the, just the characters and details. So, in one of the chapters, we had Edna, and I remember the name Edna because I always think of The Incredibles with Edna with the costume designer.
Colleen: Oh, yeah, yeah, okay, okay.
Angela: Edna, who was doing the antiques where she was the checkout one at the first, I mean, the Estate Sale; that’s what it is.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah, Charlotte.
Angela: The very first Estate Sale, and then the second Estate Sale she goes, “That crazy woman, what did you think about her?” And you have the ghost going, “She’s not talking about me.”
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: Like even if you randomly throw away a line like that it brightened me.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: I was laughing going, “Oh, this is great.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, even just fun little moments like that, you know, gave it a little extra for me in the book.
Colleen: Yeah, speaking of like the humor and extra moments, I saw Jess (JessLovesCozy in chat) mention that she did the audiobook and the “audiobook narration was really good,” and I agree with that; the performance was really solid so that made the humor even better because she was really in character and, you know, bringing different characters to life. So, yeah, yeah!
Angela: I have to say, so, I went back to use the paperback copy. I love how I said back twice in that sentence, went back, paperback, sort of rhyme right there, playing with the puns. But I listened to the audio as well and I really was impressed, too.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I don’t know who this narrator was, but she needs to narrate a whole bunch of other cozy mysteries because she even did the different voices.
Colleen: Uh-huh.
Angela: But she did it in a way where I wasn’t annoyed or I’m going, “Oh, you’re trying too hard sweetie” or “Okay, now, every character sounds exactly the same.” But I think it was harder, too, for her because she had to navigate that Southern accent without making it sound, sometimes people take it too far where they’re kind of making almost a mockery of the accent.
Colleen: Yeah! Yeah.
Angela: But she did it in such a way where it felt authentic, and I appreciated that it wasn’t the same for every character.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Yes, they had that Southern twang, but it wasn’t overly done with each character, and each of them kind of had their own way of pronouncing certain words. So, I was going, “Okay, this woman knows what she’s doing” two thumbs up just to her.
Colleen: Yeah! Yeah, no, I agree. (reading chat comments) A lot of people sounds like liked the cat, I’m noticing. Interesting point Crystal (Crystal Tea Knits in chat) was saying, “I wish they would have said if the ghost was her familiar or her grandmother sent the cat to her.” Yeah, I feel like there’s still more mystery to come about the cat. I feel like there’s more for us to learn there for sure, yeah. (reads another chat comment) ah, yeah, “dills my pickle” Sharon (Elizabeth) was saying that was one line. Yeah, yeah, there were fun wordings that made it not just a run-of-the-mill like, “Oh, it sounds like everything else.” The style did stand out, yeah.
Angela: Yeah, I think that was, when you mentioned before, I think that’s what made it unique for me. And I had a moment, actually, I had to go back and look up the years of the books because we read Death Overdue by Marilyn Levinson aka Allison Brook; and she has a ghost in the library who’s also able to change her clothes, and at the time I’m going, “This is so unique. Oh, I didn’t read this before” and so I’m going, “Oh, this book actually came out first.”
Colleen: Oh!
Angela: Because last time when I was reading Death Overdue, I’m thinking, “Oh, there’s nothing else like this; the ghost changing her fashion statement every day.” And now I know where Marilyn either got her inspiration or Rose gets to say she was there first.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I was very impressed with that.
Colleen: And that kind of segways into, obviously, clothing and fashion are a big part of this book; the ghost can change her clothes and look fabulous every day. And, obviously, our main character owns a vintage-clothing store, and is really into vintage stuff, has a 1948 Buick, uh, you know, dresses in vintage clothing every day, so it’s that, is definitely a unique aspect of the book, and it looks like in the comments some people liked that and some people didn’t connect to it as much. For me I just thought it was nice for it to have something different. Fashion kind of ended up being sort of part of solving the mystery, too.
Angela: (big smile) Yes!
Colleen: So, I liked that.
Angela: I just saw this comment and I was smiling (Jae “i listened to the audiobook & the narrator was amazing despite me hating the book lol) “you love the narrator in the audiobook even though you didn’t like the book.” You’re going, “the narrator did a good job.”
Colleen: You can appreciate like, “Wow, they’re selling this. I might not agree with this book entirely, but this person is selling it” yeah, no, I could see that.
Angela: I do think it was cute that the fashion, it was interwoven within the mystery itself because, sometimes, we have cozy mysteries that are themed but the theme will end up on the sidelines so you’re going, “Okay, so there might be” I’m just going to throw out a random example, I’m not throwing any book under-the-bus here, but like if there’s a coffee shop, instead of having the character drink the coffee and poison and die or something like, all-of-a-sudden, there’s the person who owns the coffee shop, the mystery’s taking place somewhere else, and then they leave their shop to go sleuthing, and it’s very much in the background.
Colleen: (nodding) Right.
Angela: So, I liked that her shop and her love of fashion wasn’t just on the sidelines, I mean, it played into everything. Even her daily wardrobe selection, we got a full-on detail breakdown of the shirt to the shoes; and then she had the purse that she changed every day.
Colleen: Yes.
Angela: She really went for it with her fashion. I was impressed.
Colleen: She sure does, she sure does, yup! She even got the detective into a new wardrobe, too, at one point. (laughing)
Angela: (laughing) That was absolutely amazing, I was cracking up at the end. So, this was a, okay, Spoiler Alert! Very end of the book, he walks into the shop, our love interest for our leading lady, our sleuther, and, again, he’s Detective Valentine, so I think that last name kind of gives you the insight of “Okay, he’s a love interest.”
Colleen: Yeah, right.
Angela: He walks into the shop…
Colleen: Subtle, subtle.
Angela: wearing the clothes that he bought from her, and it was so cute because she’s going, “Oh, he looks really dapper!”
Colleen: (laughing) Yeah!
Angela: He was like a giant Ken doll for her to dress up; yes, I’m using that Barbie reference on purpose.
Colleen: Yeah, he was cute, and he seemed nice. You know, obviously, the Detective love interest has been done in a few other cozies maybe once or twice.
Angela: (smiling) Maybe one or two.
Colleen: ButI liked that their relationship was not, they didn’t have animosity toward each other. Um, yeah, he, I think, was wondering, “What the heck is going on with her?” But I liked that it wasn’t this like (moves rigid hands towards each other). He was nice to her and, so, I appreciated that. I think that’s a little different than sometimes happen.
Angela: I’m putting that as the Poll: Detective Valentine, Yes or No, I guess. I don’t know, love him or somebody else? I’m just going to say Yes or No and make that the Poll. We’ll see how that goes because I thought he was so adorable.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I really liked him as just, I don’t even know how to describe it because when you have the sleuther, sometimes, they are the prime suspect and the detective sounds so ridiculous and so off-base and you’re going, “Oh, and you’re the love interest but you think she’s a killer” yeah, this relationship is built on solid ground, “and you’re brilliant!”
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: So,I love that she wasn’t really a suspect.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: But, yet, you realize very quickly, he’s not just going there because he wants to ask her questions about what’s happening in town,
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: he wants to spend time with her.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: He did not have to buy clothing in her store, but he did.
Colleen: Yeah, I agree, I agree.
Angela: Before they officially get kind of asked out for that walk at the end.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: I mean, he’s going to spend time with her.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: He goes to her house when, clearly, he could’ve just sent her a text message or voicemail or something.
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: But he went to her house.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: He was so cute.
Colleen: He was super cute which, I think, is one thing that both I kind of was frustrated by and my daughter wanted me to share with everyone that she was frustrated by, she said, “She wished she had told the police things more and not kept things back from the police,” that bothered her.
Angela: (smiling)
Colleen: And I think it bothers me more when it’s clear that like he is a nice person,
Angela: (nodding)
Colleen: and like he could be someone she could trust but she’s choosing not to. Now, I mean, I get that it might be tough to explain that a ghost is talking to you.
Angela: (laughing)
Colleen: I won’t judge that but just, you know, some of the tidbits that she wasn’t sharing with him.
Angela: (nodding) Yeah.
Colleen: You know, and thensome of the decisions she made where she’s like, “Yeah, let me just go to this person’s house.”
Angela: (laughing)
Colleen: You know, where she, he could have been, he showed he cared about her, and he wanted to help her, so, you know, that’s just, it’s one of those things.
Angela: That’s a fair comment.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I will say I was grateful she did mention to him, “I think someone’s following me.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: And he’s going, “You think they’re following you?” So, he didn’t always fully believe her but, at the same time, it reminded me of Psych when he has to pretend, Shawn Spencer, the very first episode, the pilot of Psych, he’s being arrested because he knows too much about what’s going on, and the only way he can justify his actions is to say he’s a psychic; that’s the only way he can know things.
Colleen: (nodding)
Angela: I was wondering if that was ever going to become her fallback because “Well, she was wearing the scarf when she died” … “How do you know that!?”
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: I was waiting for some sort of fill-in-the-blank answer.
Colleen: I wonder, maybe, if in future books, I wonder if, maybe, she will do that. I haven’t, you know, I haven’t read any of the other books yet, but that would make sense; like, that could be a way to get around it. That’s a good point, yeah. “My cat told me.” (big smile)
Angela: There’s got to be something because (smiling, displays and repeats chat comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class) “My cat told me.”
Colleen: I love how the cat was her like, “Oh, I’m talking to my cat.”
Angela: (smiling)I mean who else does that though. I mean, I talk to my dog like she full-on understands.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Just throwing that out there; that’s not atypical.
Colleen: I talk to myself! So, I mean, I don’t know. I might seem weird to people already.
Angela: I mean, she definitely has, you would think, after a certain point, she would kind of get a little bit of a system down with our ghost, Charlotte of, “Okay, you can talk to me, but I’m going to be looking over this way, so people don’t think I’m looking at the air.” She never really got a system down of, “Okay, the ghost is talking and I’m going to be talking to her, and people are going to think I’m having a one-sided conversation with my brain, and there’s multiple personalities going on there.”
Colleen: Right.
Angela: She was kind of putting herself in some situations where I’m going, “Yeah, they’re going to come after you with those butterfly nets pretty quickly if you don’t find a way.”
Colleen: Yeah! And that I think that really was like a big part of the humorous premise to this; you know, was that strange situation where she can’t get away from this person.
Angela: (laughing)
Colleen: And it would be really hard, though, if someone was being sassy to you and saying like snarky comments to you. It would be really hard to ignore that and just like grin and pretend to be listening to someone else; like, that would be hard. So, I can understand that she hasn’t quite figured it out yet.
Angela: Can we just acknowledge that this ghost was waking her up in the middle of the night. She reminds me of the little kid like, “Are you awake? Are you awake, Mom? I need you.”
Colleen: She was so mean and annoying sometimes.
Angela: “I’ll sing to you and wake you up.”
Colleen: (laughing & nodding)
Angela: So, she’s haunting the one person who’s supposed to help her instead of the ex-boyfriend or somebody.
Colleen: (laughing) Yeah!
Angela: She’s haunting her helper.
Colleen: Yep!
Angela: (laughing)
Colleen: And, I mean, all that was entertaining like I got kind of annoyed at Charlotte, but it was really entertaining. Both my child and I were laughing a lot, you know, so even though Charlotte kind of drove me crazy; it did definitely add a fun aspect.
Angela: (nodding) She was a character. I know she’s definitely a character, but she just had that character, you’re going, “Okay, you are unique. You’re flushed out.” You could tell the author gave her so much depth.
Colleen: Yes.
Angela: And she knew, okay, she has a background, “This is the way I want to portray her.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: And she was consistent from the very beginning to the very end.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: And I had to look it up because I was curious if she was going to be the ghost throughout the entire series.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: So, there are eight books in total.
Colleen: Okay.
Angela: And based on the blurb for book eight, she’s still around.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah, which I’m really curious about. This is one of the things I wanted to bring up because that was one of the questions my daughter had when the book ended; she was like, “Well, will Charlotte go away now?”
Angela: (nodding)
Colleen: Because that’s like, that was the reason that she was trying to solve it. So, I also had to look it up, and I was like, “No, it looks like she’s still there.” So, it’ll be interesting to hear why she doesn’t leave. I think she’s probably just having too much fun, so she decides not to leave. Like you were saying about depth, I also thought that, too. You know, she wasn’t just annoying; she wasn’t just snarky.
Angela: (big smile)
Colleen: You know, there were a couple of moments where you saw her sadness at like having her life be over and her frustration that, um, you know, something had happened to her. And, so, yeah, I think the characters were, you know, were well delineated in this one; well, the main characters.
Angela: (nods in agreement)
Colleen: Marie and Cindy were both just really weird and like kind of random and crazy.
Angela: (big smile)
Colleen: Marie was like the shadiest person I’ve ever heard; like, right away I was just like, “Someone just bought items at a Sale and you are accosting them, and telling them you want those clothes.”
Angela: (nods in agreement, smiling)
Colleen: That was so weird; it was so weird.
Angela: Oh, I’m just seeing the comments pop up (displays chat comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class “I loved having Eamon the ghost stick around in Alexia Gordon’s Haunted Harmony Mysteries”). So, yeah, people are commenting about “Why is she the only one who can see her?” (displays chat comment by Crystal Tea Knits “I originally thought there was a different ghost in each book and was in shock when I finished the book she was still there”) that’s a good question, too. We’re going to have to come back around to that.
Colleen: Oh! (responds to chat comment by Donna McKenzie “I think Charlotte has a connection to her grandmother”) That’s another question that I had and, for some reason, it didn’t like totally click with me until I was looking over it a second time. Right towards the end, Valentine says to Cookie, “Cindy’s going around town and telling everybody who will listen that Charlotte was with you at her house.”
Angela: (smiling & nodding)
Colleen: “And she saw her as plain as I see you now.” So, that actually made it sound like Cindy did see something, so I wonder if in the future books, if anything, you know, comes of that at all because it seems like, maybe, somebody else did sort of see her? I don’t know.
Angela: (smiling) Except Heather, the one person claiming that she can communicate with the beyond.
Colleen: The psychic!
Angela: That’s our fake psychic.
Colleen: Yeah, that was pretty funny, and Heather seems like a very nice person.
Angela: She’s sweet.
Colleen: A good friend, but she’s a sham.
Angela: I will say, though, going back to your Cindy-Marie reference, we have to talk about these women because, okay, as far as I am concerned, we had three suspects with this book.
Colleen: Yep.
Angela: So, we had the ex-boyfriend, Bud, who was very weird and inappropriate the first time we meet him.
Colleen: (makes a cringeworthy face) Yeah.
Angela: He had photos of himself framed all over his house.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, that was very odd to me. We have Marie, who is the former business partner, and then we have Cindy, who Charlotte originally pledged money to Cindy’s charity but then withdrew that pledge when she realized Cindy was syphoning money from the charity. So, those were our three suspects as far as I’m concerned.
Colleen: Yeah! Yeah! I agree, and then there’s the added confusion of the mysterious men who are potentially following Cookie.
Angela: (smiling, nods in agreement)
Colleen: Which, I mean, I guess I’m just going to go ahead and say we learn in the end that they were actually private investigators.
Angela: (nods in agreement)
Colleen: But here’s what I’m feeling a little weird about is that I don’t know how private investigators interact with local law enforcement, I don’t have experience in that, but I thought it was kind of weird that like the first private investigator who gets murdered in the book, we forgot to mention him, he gets murdered.
Angela: (nods in agreement)
Colleen: And we find out it was because he was about to solve the case; like, why didn’t he share anything with law enforcement, and he was with an agency with these other two gentlemen. Why didn’t they communicate at all with law enforcement? Because I feel like, maybe, the mystery could have been solved sooner if these men were doing their jobs better, but.
Angela: I will say they did go beyond the scope of what is quote unquote “legal” because they did break into Cindy’s house at one point.
Colleen: Right!
Angela: Maybe that was why they didn’t communicate with the police because they would’ve had to of disclosed their methods.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: (looks to the side)I just heard fireworks, so people are apparently really celebrating Halloween outside.
Colleen: Right, and (responds to a chat comment) Lady Gizmo’s mentioning that the PIs were working for an insurance company, so they were, I mean, they had a very legitimate reason. So, again, that seems like they would be talking to the police. But you’re right, maybe, they’re just too shady. (laughing)
Angela: Can we also just point out when Charlotte had to say, “Yeah, it’s the PI company,” the PI is working for the insurance company, “they’re the ones who are going to solve my mystery, nobody else cares about my murder but the insurance people.”
Colleen: I know!Yeah! She’s like, “Oh, great, the insurance company is the only people who care I’m dead.” That was really sad.
Angela: The poor thing, but at least it also felt so grounded. So, they even acknowledge that they were friends or associates with Edward, so at least we know people did care that Edward was murdered.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: Because, otherwise, you really wouldn’t get that vibe from this book.
Colleen: Right!
Angela: They were just focusing on Charlotte.
Colleen: Yeah! He’s like cast to the side; nobody’s talking about him or anything.
Angela: (smiling, displays chat comments by JessLovesCozy “I WAS surprised by the PI murder body drop earlier on!” & Lora “I was thrown that the PIs essentially broke into the house” & Tammy @tamsterdam_reads “I liked Heather too! Bud was a hot mess and gave me creepy vibes”)
Colleen: Speaking of like suspicious behavior, we’ve got the private investigators acting suspiciously, and we’ve got Marie trying to take people’s clothes that they bought away from them.
Angela: (laughing)
Colleen: And then, Cindy, too! She was at her house with somebody, and she just left them there.
Angela: (nodding & laughing)
Colleen: She just like left her house. Now, I mean, if she did see Charlotte, that ghost, maybe that’s why she’s like, “Oh, my gosh, there’s a ghost, I’m leaving.”
Angela: (smiling)
Colleen: But it was still weird.
Angela: That was actually the moment where I knew it wasn’t Cindy.
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: Nobody who has evidence in their house is going to leave you to go sleuthing and looking around, and she left this woman unattended to go through everything; so, there wasn’t anything for her to hide or at least there wasn’t anything she had to be worried about in regards to our leading lady.
Colleen: Yeah! That’s actually a good point.
Angela: So, if she was our killer, she would not have left her alone. So, that was when I just sort of wrote her off my suspect list.
Colleen: Yeah! That is a really good point. Yeah, it was so weird, but it also helped us solve the mystery. (laughing)
Angela: Well, I kind of was curious; it felt as if she was originally trying to set it up so that “the creepy men in suits abducted Cindy” or something.
Colleen: (nods in agreement) Right.
Angela: I didn’t know where that was going because she just left the door open.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: But I guess once you have that, “Okay, she saw the ghost” she just ran right out.
Colleen: Yeah, right, and of course we don’t get that idea until the very, very end.
Angela: (smiling, displays chat comment by Jae “I was dying laughing when Cindy dipped on Cookie”)
Colleen: So, for the rest of the time, we’re just like, “Oh, this is so weird,” yeah.
Angela: (smiling, displays chat comment by Kristina T “Cindy leaving was so weird!!”) Okay, so, other people were going, “This is really strange.”
Oh, yes, and Thank You! (displays chat comment by JessLovesCozy “And the scene on Cindy’s laptop!!! I was gardening outside listening to that, and I was so shocked, I just stood there, in my yard like, “what am I hearing?”) The scene where they accidentally call his mother.
Colleen: (laughing) Yeah! She (makes fingers quote sign) “accidentally” starts having a video call with Cindy’s mom.
Angela: So, I’m trying to remember which one of these little post-it notes it is because there was a really, when she was trying to figure out the password, she goes, “Okay, it’s got to be the name of the cat. What’s the name of the cat? Okay, is it Buttons? Is it Boots?” The name was Marmalade.
Colleen: (laughing) Yes.
Angela: But, naturally, that’s exactly the same as Boots and Buttons. I don’t know how you go from Boots and Buttons to Marmalade; that was just hysterical. I was laughing so hard.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Because I was listening to the narration and that was just spot on. I’m going, “Oh, my goodness, that was great.”
Colleen: Yeah, yeah, there were so many funny moments like that, and I think, you know, there’s some cozy mysteries that push almost towards like the slapstick side.
Angela: (nods in agreement)
Colleen: You know, to different levels of ridiculousness, I think. And, I think, this was on that plane, you know, that there were those kind of slapstick moments, those humor moments, and that is what, that’s like the center of what the mystery, not the mystery, the book is, you know, that’s what it’s about; is that humor and that kind of slapstick feel, yeah.
Angela: You can tell sometimes, too, when an author goes back and goes, “Okay, I’m going to throw a joke in there” or “I’m going to try and add some levity” but it was throughout the entire, the entire narrative.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: It wasn’t just, “Okay, we’re going to insert this here” or “We’re going to try and make this a little less dark over there.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: It was very consistent, and I found that very impressive.
Colleen: Yeah, and (responds to chat comment by Carli Spina “Humor can be hit or miss in mysteries a lot of the time”) Carli’s saying, and I agree with this, it can be hit-or-miss, you know, and even sometimes for me I found books in the same series, written by the same person, one will work for me, that humor and that ridiculous, and then the next one by the same person, I’ll be like, “Ugh! No, this isn’t working for me.” So, yeah, it is hit-or-miss, yeah, that’s true. But, yeah, I think it worked in this one. I think that’s really what made this one fun. I think there were a couple of things about the case, you know, we’ve kind of already talked about the weird-acting suspects, and can we talk about like the murder weapon and stuff now? I, towards the end, like the way things were resolved, I was a little bit like, “Hmmm.” For one thing, the scarf, which is the murder weapon, we find out.
Angela: (nods in agreement)
Colleen: When Cookie goes to the store where the scarf was purchased, the woman there says, “I only had two of these. Charlotte bought one of them and Cindy bought the other.” So, we know, okay, she had two people who bought it. But then, at the end of the book, when Cookie’s explaining why she figured everything out, she said, “They were rare collectibles” and, so, she knew there could only be two. But I was like, “Well, just because the lady at the store only had two of them, it doesn’t mean they’re rare collectibles. I thought that was kind of like a disjunct, but my big thing was the whole reason this is solved is because Heather is a dumpster diver.
Angela: Yeah, I was waiting for that to come up in one of the comments.
Colleen: And she just happens to be checking out people’s garbage and found the murder-weapon scarf and the handkerchief; this mysterious handkerchief that ties everything together. And they weren’t even in someone’s garbage, they were just sitting next to the garbage…
Angela: (covers her face with both hands then drops them and smiles)
Colleen: conveniently,so she was able to pick them up. I was like, “How would that happen?” and if Marie is like constantly, you know, assaulting people, trying to get their clothes because she’s (makes air quotes) “so worried” about “Where is this scarf murder weapon that I committed murder with?”
Angela: (laughing)
Colleen: And it just happens to be next to her garbage can!? Like how would that happen? How could that happen? So that was just (responding to Jae’s chat comment “that was a little bit of a stretch for me, even in a cozy mystery”) as Jae is saying “a little bit of a stretch.” (laughing)
Angela: So, I realized very quickly with the murder weapon once that was revealed. I’m going, “Okay, but if you know the scarf was owned by her, of course her DNA would be on it, so it’s not really going to prove anything; and you were friends with her or you worked together, so you could always write off why your DNA was on the scarf” so I don’t really think it should have been that big of a deal.
Colleen: Right, and how did you not know if it was right by your garbage. Like, “How could that happen?” You’re searching the town for this scarf that’s just next to your garbage. Yeah! (laughing)
Angela: This is weirdly, also, not the first cozy mystery to involve dumpster diving.
Colleen: No!
Angela: I think it was Murder She Knit that had a dumpster diver,
Colleen: (nodding)Yeah! Yeah!
Angela: where she was picking up furniture and stuff.
Colleen: Pamela’s doing it less in her old age, I’ve noticed, in later books; but yeah, that’s a big thing.
Angela: I also felt really badly because I have those moments where, so, I have germaphobia issues, so, I would never really want to go buy vintage because I would need to immediately clean that multiple times before I felt comfortable wearing it. But, also, I would never go dumpster diving, so I have a very hard time relating to that component of this book.
Colleen: Sure, sure.Well, thank goodness, Heather did!
Angela: I mean (leans off to the side, grabs, and then holds a package of Purrell Wipes in front of her) I have these within arm’s reach at all times.
Colleen: (laughing) Yeah!
Angela: I mean I’m not going dumpster diving. I’m sorry. I mean, Heather, I hope she took a shower and washed that scarf afterwards.
Colleen: It sounded like she didn’t want it anymore after she found out it was a murder weapon. I think it kind of turned her off after that. (laughing)
Angela: Well, I mean, she might not be psychic, but I’m sure the karma or bad juju vibes definitely got to her.
Colleen: Yeah, right.
Angela: (big smile, reading chat comments, displays comment by JessLovesCozy “with the rise in bed bugs going on lately…just say no to dumpster diving!”) Okay, so other people were saying they’re not going to go dumpster diving either.
Colleen: They’re saying, “No! No dumpster diving!”
Angela: So, Thank You! I’m not alone.
Colleen: Eh, you might solve a murder, but.
Angela: (smiling, responds to chat comment by JessLovesCozy “Exactly – lesson learned – don’t pick up garbage scarves) Don’t pick up garbage scarf.
Colleen: A murder that private investigators and the police were nowhere near solving, I mean.
Angela: Okay, you guys are making me feel better because, I mean, it seemed very normalized that dumpster diving was a thing, and I picture those cops shows, there are multiple shows. I remember on The Mentalist they were going, “Okay (pounding fist on palm then pointing finger) one-two-three you’re going dumpster diving.” Like they were trying to do, you know, rock-paper-scissors for it. I mean nobody wants to go dumpster diving in the cop shows; that’s the rookie’s job because they don’t want to dive in there. And, so, to have sleuthers doing it, not even looking for evidence, (laughing) they’re just doing it because, I’m going, “Okay, we’re not touching that one.”
Colleen: Yeah, it’s unique, and people are talking about some of the items that were For Sale and how Charlotte was commenting on her items, and how she was like, “Oh, don’t buy that. I ate bad shrimp. The stains came out, but” (responding to chat comment by Lady Gizmo “Or the mention of shrimp stains on her sweater… wondered if that would resurface too”) Lady Gizmo’s mentioning that like, “Oh, it’s so gross.”
Angela: (big smile) This is my comment! (pointing fingers downward towards Jae’s chat comment “I would need a hazmat suit like Monk in that one episode”)
Colleen: Oh! Yeah!
Angela: I would get the hazmat suit! Thank You!
Colleen: Yep, yeah.
Angela: (displays and responds to chat comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class “I think it depends on the dumpster”) Okay, “that depends on the dumpster” that’s a fair comment.
Colleen: Yeah, I could see that.
Angela: Yeah, that’s a fair comment. Okay, if there’s pasta and pizza and stuff all over versus actually in the trash, okay, I’ll give you that one.
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: I like how we’re getting very analytical about this.
Colleen: I know, well, it’s fascinating to think about. But, I mean, it’s the reason the mystery gets solved, so we have to think about it, really. (laughing)
Angela: I’m also curious if Heather, she’s probably going, “And we’re done with this pastime. This hobby is done now.”
Colleen: (nodding) Maybe.
Angela: I can’t really picture her wanting to go into the garbage again,
Colleen: No.
Angela: because, again, murder weapon.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: But, at the same time, you solve the mystery, the murder, so (palms up in the air moving up-and-down) it’s a little bit of a give-and-take.
Colleen: (laughing)Oh, yeah, and I mean that is another thing that makes this unique.So, we can give it that. What did you think of, I kind of already let it slip out that Marie is the murderer with the scarf.
Angela: (claps her hands) dun-dun-dun!
Colleen: What did you think of, you know, her motive for murder, and what all happened with that?
Angela: So, we have our three, Bud had Charlotte, Bud has his ex-girlfriend, and, again, they are ex-girlfriend ex-boyfriend, but they’re not together,
Colleen: No.
Angela: at the end of her life.
Colleen: No, they weren’t, yeah.
Angela: We had the insurance component, but that was Marie trying to set Bud up. So, his motive wasn’t even actually really his motive; it was Marie pushing that upon him. So, she embezzled money, and, apparently, Charlotte was going to realize that money was gone missing and siphoned from the account. And, so, that was when Marie decided to take it upon herself to end Charlotte’s life, which…
Colleen: (nods in agreement) Right.
Angela: that was an impromptu murder. So, it wasn’t, at least she didn’t plan it in advance going, “Okay, this is how I’m going to kill you.” So, you know that, okay, emotion took over, but at the same time we’re going, “Okay, maybe you could’ve at least paid it back or maybe done your time; this is white-collar stuff.” So, I’m not really sure if, maybe, it would lead to murder, I don’t know. But I’m also not somebody who would do that.
Colleen: Do that, yeah.
Angela: I would be the one getting killed (laughing) because I would have realized it.
Colleen: So, do you think Marie and Bud were in some kind of relationship and that’s why she convinced him to do it?
Angela: (nodding)
Colleen: I couldn’t tell, really.
Angela: So, Marie, apparently, based on what Charlotte said, did have the skills to market and get the job done. So, maybe, Marie was more persuasive before she went crazy with killing and started trying to buy stuff off people on the street. I think once Marie entered the killer stage of her life, her IQ just went downhill, apparently.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Because based on what Charlotte said about who her business partner was, that was not the character we were seeing.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: We were seeing a very unstable Marie versus, “I’m going to sell you real estate!”
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: I wouldn’t want that woman to sell me anything; not a candy bar, not a girl scout cookie box, nothing.
Colleen: (responds to chat comment) Okay, Lady Gizmo says, “I think Marie used Bud to do her dirty work.” (waves) Oh, bye, Lora! (aka Bibliogirl in chat “Got to go folks – see you next month!”)
Angela: (also waves “Bye!” to Lora)
Colleen: So, maybe, they didn’t have like a relationship; she just was able to manipulate him somehow and to cover the murder, yeah.
Angela: (displays chat comments by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class“But Marie had set up Bud and the insurance to cover the murder” & JessLovesCozy “I was thinking Marie or Bud the whole time”) To be fair, to be fair, Bud doesn’t exactly seem like he’d be very difficult to manipulate.
Colleen: No, yeah, he’s not the smartest, yeah, no.
Angela: (displays and nods to chat comment by Cooking With My Cozies “But wasn’t she embezzling?”)She was embezzling.
Colleen: (nods in agreement) She was.
Angela: But, again, that’s one of those “that’s her motivation” to try and hide up, hide her scheme, and do the cover-up. Yes, embezzling is bad, but she hadn’t actually done anything super wrong. I mean, yeah, it’s bad, but murder? She went from white-collar crime to hardcore killer very quickly.
Colleen: Very fast.
Angela: She made a huge jump.
Colleen: (responds to chat comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class) And see, now, Marta’s asking, “Are we supposed to think Bud put the scarf by her trash?” I don’t think so! But I don’t know, I don’t know that we’re supposed to like, what is the reason that that scarf ended up by the trash? Like, how? How? I don’t know.
Angela: Well, we had the two scarves, but then we had the three handkerchiefs,
Colleen: Right.
Angela: which is also throwing me off a little bit because I was trying to figure out, “Okay, scarf yes! Murder weapon.” Did she smother her with a handkerchief after the fact? Like, what was that?
Colleen: Yeah, and then, of course, there was one conveniently in her house just laying out there.
Angela: Naturally.
Colleen: So (laughing) maybe she didn’t know.
Angela: Honestly, I think Cindy, yeah, the both of them had the same motivation with money being the key here. So, we had Marie who was embezzling with the company, hence, that’s why she’s the ex-business partner. But then Cindy was embezzling from a charity and, somehow, embezzling from a charity seems much worse! I mean, yeah, they’re both bad,
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: but you’re taking money away from people who really need it; that one, I mean, when you’re going in front of the court, somehow, I think you’re going to get more time.
Colleen: (nods in agreement)Yeah, yeah, no, I don’t know, I don’t know.
Angela: (displays chat comment by Tammy @tamsterdam_reads “Yes, Marie was super unstable”)That’s why Edna was saying, “Did that crazy woman bother you?”
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah, yeah.
Angela: And, no, she was not talking about Charlotte.
Colleen: Yeah, right (laughing).
Angela: Oh, my goodness (reading the chat session) there’s so many comments.
Colleen: There’s, I know, I’m reading all these comments. But, yeah, I mean, I guess, in the end, we just have to accept it that it’s a good thing the scarf was left by the garbage, and that Heather wanted to look at garbage because that’s the only reason that it was solved.
Angela: (laughing) And I’m glad I’m not the only person who would abstain from dumpster diving. I mean, I felt badly going, “Am I, am I so out of the, I couldn’t relate to that at all. I mean, yeah, maybe, if a friend was doing it or something, I’d be going, “Okay, yeah, you did that, but I’m not going on your next vacay with you.” Not vacay, but like your next, you know, event where you’re going, “Tomorrow, we’re going dumpster diving.” – “Tomorrow, we’re doing brunch!” That’s different.
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: So, oh, also, we had her, where did it go, is her name Dottie?
Colleen: Dixie?
Angela: The woman who was the second mother.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I thought it was really cute the moment when she asks her, “Do you believe in ghosts?”
Colleen: (nodding)
Angela: And she believed,
Colleen: (looking down at notes) Dixie, yeah.
Angela: that she was talking to Charlotte.
Colleen: Yeah! I like that!
Angela: Thank You.
Colleen: But that was almost right towards the end as well,
Angela: (nodding)
Colleen: which was interesting.
Angela: (holds up the book opened near the end of the story)
Colleen: I was like, “Oh, this seems like a really nice character who could have a good influence and help this person. I wonder why she showed up like at the very end. But, yeah, no, she seemed nice and so it seems like she’s got, you know, a couple of people now that she can talk to about Charlotte. And, clearly, Charlotte, since we know the book, the series continues, and we looked at the blurbs and saw her name, Charlotte’s still around. So, at least, she’ll have some people to talk to about her situation.
Angela: It was cute that it was her pancake order that convinced Dixie going, “How did you know that?” because she knew about the no butter with extra syrup.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: She believed her very quickly, which, somehow, seemed very sweet to me.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I liked the fact that there wasn’t a lot of convincing or, “Okay, now I’m going to ask you this question,” or “Oh, only Charlotte will know the answer to this.” The fact that she said, “Yes,” to believing in ghosts and then believed that, “Okay, yes, this is what’s going on.” It didn’t take too long.
Colleen: No.
Angela: It was very quickly. So, maybe, again, that was the type of chapter where they’re all very succinct.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: But even that scene to me felt like it moved along at a very good pace.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, I like Dixie.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I’m going, “Oh, please don’t kill her off in any books. I’ll be very upset.”
Colleen: Right, yeah, I liked her, too. She was good. In general, I think, probably besides the suspects who were not very attractive people, I think we did get quite a few nice characters in this book that, you know, you would enjoy continuing to read about; that you would not mind seeing again in future books. And, maybe, you want to learn more about them in future books. So, that’s nice. I thought the characters were well set-up.
The one thing I would have liked to be able to visualize more would be the setting. I mean, I got the southern flair and charm aspect of it, for sure, but I didn’t get as much of a sense of the town quite yet; even though, I know she drove around and described the scenery a little bit. But the setting didn’t totally latch onto me like the feel of the town quite yet. So, I would be interested if, in future ones, if the setting and the town are developed a little more.
Angela: Yeah, because I think we had the moment where we were almost going to get the town vibes with the festival, but then we find the body so, then, the festival is cut short.
Colleen: Right!
Angela: So, I’m thinking, maybe, in another book when they finally do have some sort of town event, hopefully, without murder or maybe the murder happens after the event has ended.
Colleen: (smiling) Right! (nodding) Yeah, yeah.
Angela: I definitely thought it was a cute set-up because I wrote down the name of the town because I didn’t want to forget because we have Detective Valentine, again, cute name for the cop. So, he was from Atlanta; so, they’re all set in Georgia. But what is the name of the town? I wrote it down, oh! Sugar Creek, so it’s a cute name for the little town.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: So,I think we also, again, I understand the logistics of this, of having Heather’s store be right next to Char, excuse me, I was going to say Charlotte but it’s actually Cookie.
Colleen: Cookie, yeah.
Angela: So, Cookie, who has It’s Vintage, Y’all, and it’s right next to Heather’s occult bookstore or just store in general; she has books, but she has the occult store right next to it. So, instead of having it be across town or, “Oh, I’m going to walk by my coffee shop and xyz to get to Heather’s store,” they’re right next to each other, so that saves time. But that also takes away some opportunities to explore the town because you’re on the way to go talk to Heather versus just opening the door.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: So, I can see both sides of it. I mean, it works out very well for streamlining.
Colleen: (nodding)Yeah.
Angela: But, at the same time, it kind of takes away some other opportunities.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, it depends on what you’re looking for.
Colleen: Right! Yeah, definitely. Yeah, that’s a good point.
Angela: (displays and responds to chat comment by JessLovesCozy “A good Book 1 set-up – to go into more detail for Book 2. Introducing us to Wind Song and Cookie’s See’r powers”) Yeah, we need Wind Song’s character.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: We need the entire breakdown of this psychic cat.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Can we also acknowledge the cat (laughing) I’m sorry, but the cat is making sentences at like a second or third grade level. This is not just a cat who’s communicating, this is a cat who’s doing complete sentences and is making jokes.
Colleen: (big smile) Yeah, yeah, there’s definitely more. We did not learn, I don’t think, the truth about Wind Song, yet. I’ve got to believe that that is discussed in future books, yeah.
Angela: (displays and responds to chat comment by Grace (ZiaHalloween) “The cat was my favorite character lol”) The cat was your favorite character. The cat was adorable!
Colleen: The cat was adorable, yeah.
Angela: Pets, they’re always going to be the highlight of whatever scene they’re in because they’re so sweet and innocent. But this one was trying to save her!
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I’m really curious how this cat plays into future mysteries.
Colleen: (nodding “Yes”)
Angela: I almost want to go read the rest of the book series for a character that is going to be communicating to me with the Ouija Board. (smiling)
Colleen: (laughing) Yeah! Right!
Angela: And Tarot Cards.
Colleen: Yeah, and people were saying, I think, too, I think in the next book, there’s another ghost. So, we have Charlotte still, but we alsoget the added interest of like, you know, if someone else is murdered then that ghost bothers her now, too. So, that’s a good idea, I think, to add a little bit of variety, so that there’s always something new.
Angela: It’s also really clever because I always have, I’ve mentioned this before in previous livestreams, my biggest hang-up and hiccup, when it comes to cozy mysteries is when they’re just looking over into the yard next door just being very nosy or gossipy. If the ghost is coming to you and is literally going to haunt you until you solve their murder, yeah, I understand the motivation to insert yourself into the mystery, into the scene and, you know, getting in the police’s way, maybe, a little bit. I mean at least that to me can make sense. I kind of like that premise.
Colleen: (nodding) I agree. I think it creates a great reason for the sleuth because that is sometimes a big problem. So, yeah, I definitely think, and I think my daughter has already started reading the second one, so I’ll have to see.
Angela: (smiling, displays a chat comment by Tammy@tamsterdam_reads “Me too! loved the cat. can’t get enough of them in cozies”)
Colleen: Oh, that’s interesting!
Angela: (smiling, displays a chat comment by Jae “I felt like Wind Song was just her grandma”)
Colleen: Jae was saying Wind Song could be her grandma.
Angela: There’s definitely, they have to define, because Heather is the paranormal expert even though she’s the fake psychic,
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: she has her occult books, and she knows potions. So, I was waiting for her to use the term ‘familiar’ maybe she’s going to do some research and find a way to figure out Wind Song’s powers or the depths of the powers. I think she’s going to have to use her knowledge at some point to come up in future books.
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: (smiling, displays a chat comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class “Actually I wonder if Wind Song was inspired by the Billi Speaks IG account. Billi is a cat who steps on buttons to communicate. It’s fascinating.)
Colleen: Well, Marta, now I’ve got to find out about this Billi Speaks.
Angela: (laughing) Yeah!
Colleen: I haven’t heard of this; oh, man, that sounds interesting.
Angela: So, I’m just going to throw this out there; again, I listened to it, originally, with the audio, and I absolutely loved how every chapter started with ‘Cookie’s Saavy Vintage Fashion Shopping Tips’ or ‘Heather’s Heartfelt Tips for Getting Rid of an Unwanted Ghost’.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Because the tips were hysterical.
Colleen: They really were.
Angela: There’s one where it’s going, “Use a broom and if it doesn’t get rid of the ghost, at least your floors are clean!” (laughing)
Colleen: I know! All of Heather’s tips were hilarious and, also, like, ridiculous, yeah.
Angela: It made me so happy. I just wanted to throw that out there because, sometimes, I feel as if when you’re reading a mystery, and you have something at the top like that, your eyes just kind of skim past it. You’re going, “No, I want to go read the narrative. I want to solve this mystery.”
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: And, so, the fact that it was there, and it was kind of right on point, because (thumb up) it related to the fashion, which is part of the mystery, the leading lady’s entire back story. But then you also have Heather and the ghost component, so it’s fun and it’s cute, and it keeps that kind of humor alive regardless of how the previous chapter ended. So, I just really liked that they were consistent throughout every single chapter.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: It was always one of the two. I don’t think there was a third option in there.
Colleen: No, I don’t think so either.
Angela: It was always fashion tips or Heather’sghosts.
Colleen: I wonder how those continue in future books; like, if they’re always, you know, those two in future books or what; that might be interesting to find out.
Angela: (smiling, displays chat comment by JessLovesCozy “I want my Grandparents to visit me as domestic animals too”)
Colleen: Aww.
Angela: (responds to chat comment by Tammy@tamsterdam_reads “I wish I could teach my cats to step on buttons to communicate. I have no chill for that.”) So, you guys want to teach your cats to step on buttons!?
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: Great. So, weirdly enough, I understood the cat saying, “No cheap cat food” because my little girl, Daisy, she’s a Teacup Maltese, she has a refined pallet. I am telling you, there are certain dog foods she will not go near.
Colleen: (big smile) Yes.
Angela: So, I understand the cat being a little bit more persnickety about, you know, the food selections, because Daisy will go sniff something and walk away.
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: (laughing) At least the other, Wind Song, was trying to eat the food. He might not have enjoyed it, but at least he ate it. Daisy doesn’t even eat the food if she doesn’t want it.
Colleen: That’s awesome.
Angela: Throwing it out there that the cat definitely has a personality.
Colleen: Yes! Ah, yeah, lots of characters with personality in this. We’ve got ghosts! We’ve got cats! (laughing)
Angela: (laughing)
Colleen: Speaking of characters, what wasthe Poll for the policeman guy.
Angela: (smiling) It says 100% said “Yes”.
Colleen: (jaw drop) Oh!
Angela: 24 votes for “Yes” you guys are Detective Valentine fans.
Colleen: Oh, my gosh! Has that ever happened? Wow! Everybody’s in love! (laughing)
Angela: I’m also so happy at the moment because there is no (puts up her fingers to form) a love-triangle. I’m trying to do a triangle.
Colleen: (shaking her head making a cringeworthy face)
Angela: I love the fact that we have the one relationship; it’s kind of the slow build.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: He’s crushing on her; she’s crushing on him, you can see it’s obvious, but, at the same time, it’s enjoyable. It feels realistic, so I’m loving the relationship.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I’m really happy with this one so far (hugs the book).
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, my little reader heart is very content with this cozy couple.
Colleen: The poor guy was objectified quite scandalously at certain times, though. I mean there’s a lot of focus on his attributes and Charlotte is very inappropriate when he’s changing into his outfit; so, poor guy. (laughing)
Angela: (nodding & laughing) We know he’s very handsome. We’ve been informed multiple times throughout the course of this book how handsome he is.
Colleen: Yeah. (laughing)
Angela: And, also, we have to remember, that it’s okay to spy on a stranger, it’s not okay to spy on someone you know because that is Charlotte’s logic.
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: I don’t understand it, but that is the logic of it. (laughing)
Colleen: (laughing)Yeah, Charlotte got a little creepy there.
Angela: (displays and responds to chat comment by Kristina T “I thought about you Angela at the end thinking therewas no other guy lol”)I’m sorry, but like me and love-triangles (shaking her head) I’ve been there.
Colleen: Oh, yeah, I cannot,sometimes, that will actually make me just stop a book entirely and just be like, “I’m sorry, it’s not for me” because I just can’t handle that kind of drama.
Angela: We’ve got murder on the table. I don’t need your angst; thank you very much.
Colleen: Yeah! Yeah! No, that’s so true.
Angela: Well, I hope you thought of me finally going, “Okay, we’re just going to enjoy this couple and see where it goes,” versus “I’m going to throw this book across the room very soon if she doesn’t make up her mind.” Ugh!
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: The worst is when, too, I’m going to throw this out there, the worst is when you’ve read the first three or four books in a series, and then this new guy comes along and then, all of a sudden, the leading lady or sleuther or something, she’ll end up with him, and I’m going, “But I was there for the first x-amount of books, so why was I invested in this relationship if we knew it was never going to happen?”
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: And then I’m just mad for the rest of the series or I just stop reading. I don’t know why. I just get very emotionally invested in my characters, so when you pull the rug out from under me (shaking her head) Ugh! It’s hard, devastating.
Colleen: (smiling) Yeah, yeah.
Angela: That’s when you need your Halloween candy to eat to satisfy those cravings with sweetness.
Colleen: (smiling) Oh, my gosh.But, yeah, I mean, I would say this is something that I will probably read with my daughter.
Angela: (smiling) Aww.
Colleen: The future ones in the series.
Angela: Aside from the scandalous, looking at him, aside from that moment.
Colleen: Right! Let’s hope there’s not too much more of that. I think it went over her head.
Angela: (laughing)
Colleen: Because she is interested in the cat.
Angela: (nodding)
Colleen: And she likes the humor, I think. So, I think this is one we would listen to the audiobook of more books. So, I may end up reading more because we do them together because she does a series that she likes, and then we have binged this year several entire cozy mystery series because she likes them.
Angela: (smiling, places both hands over her heart)
Colleen: I do think this might be one that she wants to stick with, so, and that’s fine! You know, this isn’t one that this book didn’t necessarily, you know, it wasn’t a complex mystery or something that really got your brain. But it’s unique, you know, so I would recommend this to people looking for something humorous, unique, just fun, you know. I think it could work for a lot of people.
Angela: I mean, I agree entirely with what you’re saying because I enjoyed it as a fun read.
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: I wasn’t going, “Okay, I’m looking at my Agatha Christie murder in my puzzle book over here and we’re going to make the pieces fit.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I liked that I was able to just listen to it and laugh and have a good time. It definitely, someone before mentioned, I want to say, there were comments up in there who mentioned it being done, doing an adaptation for Hulu or Netflix or something, because I do think, I agree with that, you know. Sometimes, I put on the Agatha Raisin or something because I want that fun background, and that kind of idyllic look and, so, I very much feel like this could be an adaptation somewhere along the line for either Hallmark or something else. So, yeah, I would definitely recommend it. I’m going to keep reading the series. I’m definitely, I’m game, eight books is not intimidating. I can deal with eight books.
Colleen: Yeah, right! You can make it happen.
Angela: Yeah.
Colleen: I agree, it would be a fun one to see; just especially with like the outfits and stuff.
Angela: (nodding)
Colleen: You know to be able to actually see the vintage outfits, it would be fun; it would be visually appealing and all that, yeah.
Angela: Yeah, I was thinking of the Lori Laughlin, again, we started reading, I love how there are two Garage Sale Mysteries. There’s the Kensington series and then there’s the movie series for Hallmark.
Colleen: Oh, okay.
Angela: And the Garage Sale Mysteries for Hallmark are different, and in that one she has the best friend who dresses with the vintage fashion.
Colleen: (nods) Okay.
Angela: So, I was thinking of her, when this book, when I was listening to it on audio. I was actually picturing her character at some points going, “Yeah, they’ve already made this work previously,” so, I can definitely see that, and we got a little sneak peek with Cookie, our leading lady, saying that’s she going to be part of potentially a movie wardrobe, and giving them advice with vintage fashions.
Colleen: Right!
Angela: So, maybe, there’s people in Hollywood who are paying attention going, “Oh! Vintage fashion. We can do that!”
Colleen: Yeah, right! That would be fun!
Angela: Yes, Jess! You were the one who mentioned it! (displays chat comment by JessLovesCozy “I can see it as a series – YES!!!”)Thank You for that again! Thank You for commenting about Hulu and Netflix. I was going to go up and scroll for that comment.
Colleen: (laughing then reads chat comment by Jae “Awww I can’t wait for my tots to get like that… my 1yo likes to eat books and my 2yo likes to rip his fave pages out lol”) Jae’s talking about her children eating, eating books, yeah.
Angela: Aww.
Colleen: (fake sobbing) I’d be willing to go back to that time, too! (smiling) It goes by too fast. (laughing) But it is, it’s really fun; it’s very fun to read together.
Angela: Honestly, you guys are so cute. I mean, I’m like dressing up my dog for Halloween with her little Bumblebee Costume.
Colleen: Aww!
Angela: I’m dressing her up like a little kid. I’m like, “Aww, gotta have the baby just so you can dress them up for Halloween.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: (displays chat comment by JessLovesCozy “maybe Hallmark! They do great paranormals too!!!! as we saw with Murder in G Major!)
Colleen: Oh, yeah,Jess is talking about the Murder, I want to see that, but I don’t have Hallmark, so I don’t get to watch any of these cute things. But, you know, I think Hoopla, you know the Hoopla App that some libraries have?
Angela: Yeah.
Colleen: They have a Hallmark Binge-Pass that you can borrow.
Angela: Oh, wow.
Colleen: So, then, for like ten days or something, you can watch Hallmark streaming. So, I guess.
Angela: Well,I know on Amazon Prime, they have the Add-On Hallmark Edition, so I think it’s either $4.99 or $5.99 a month. So, if you want to go binge it, and just utilize the Free Month Trial or do one month with that, I think you can make a lot of Hallmark happen.
Colleen: Yeah, right, right. Yeah, because I don’t want to spend money. But, yeah, I might have to borrow it on Hoopla at some point because that’s, you know, Free, and then I could watch it.
Angela: (displays and responds to chat comment by Crystal Tea Knits “I missed it I was so upset I hope it comes on Hallmark now”) Oh, yeah, I actually missed it, I missed it live. So, I was in DC at the time, and I was trying to figure out if there’s a way for me to watch it through the computer and I wasn’t able to, so I ended up watching it later on because I had access to it with the other, you know, whatever platform it was because I’ve lost track at this point.
Colleen: I know. Too many, too many.
Angela: There’s Peacock and Hulu, and I know it’s not on Netflix, so it’s somewhere out there. I’ll look it up for you.
Colleen: Yeah. (responds to chat comment by Jae “#supportyourlocallibrary”) Yes! The library is such a good resource; Hoopla, especially, they have like so many of the cozy mysteries on audiobook and E-book, like, it’s really, really good.
Angela: It’s amazing, and then they have that, what is it? OneDrive, where you can get just so much. Oh, my goodness.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I even, again, like, I’m actually still registered with the DC Library from when I lived in DC, because you don’t have to renew it until every four years or something.
Colleen: Nice!
Angela: I remember when I joined, I’m going, “I have access to all these audiobooks! This is so great! This is better than Audible!”
Colleen: Oh, yeah, for sure, yeah.
Angela: Like a kid in the candy store; you guys are reminding me, I actually just updated the Etsy (Store) because one of the stickersthat you guys really liked was “I’m a Library Lover” so I actually turned that into a magnet for y’all! So, that’s out, that’s new, so that just happened.
Colleen: Yay!That’ll be so cute.
Angela: But, because of this woman and her love of Deputy, we now have Deputy Donut stickers. So, they’re in the mail to Colleen now, but (showing stickers close to camera) these have officially arrived and Dep has MoriarTEA on the hat, so I thought that was just a really cute touch.
Colleen: They’re so cute! That is a series, my child loves the Deputy Donut Series so much; she loves the characters. We’ve read them all; she just loves them, and Ginger Bolton is so nice. She sent her a care package with a Deputy Donut hat.
Angela: (smiling, places both hands on her heart)
Colleen: So, we just love her so much! So, thank you for making that sticker because that’s so cool.
Angela: I thought, because you asked me before, because I had the rough drawing, and then when I had Dep created, you were going, “Are there going to be stickers?”
Colleen: (smiling, happy, excited) I know somebody who wants one!
Angela: Because I always have to do the Trial because I use Sticker Mule, I’ll do the set of ten. But I’m going, “Okay, I’m just going to place the order for this one. I’m not even going to do the Trial. We’re just going to place the order.”
Colleen: That’s right, it’s adorable.
Angela: Oh, my gosh. (displays and responds to chat comment by Kristina T “Awwww Dep is so cute!!!!”) So, yeah, we have some fun!
Colleen: Yeah, yeah, Dep is so cute.
Angela: So, this just reminds me, your second word, for everybody who’s here at the beginning to qualify for the surprise, the second word is Ghost, shockingly enough. So, Spooky, Ghost.
Colleen: (big smile)
Angela: You can tell where my mind was with this book.
Colleen: Nice!
Angela: So, please type Ghost, hit the Ghost emoji. Do whatever it is because everyone who’s been here tonight for the entire time, I know it’s Halloween, you’re celebrating the night! So, it’s October 31, somehow, we’re ending 2023 very soon. So, our last livestream of the month is next month and then we have the Buddy Read for December for 12 Days of Cozies. But I decided to do sticker sheets so that we have the twelve stickers. So, you can use them on your planner, you can decorate them with whatever, and we have the Christmas MoriarTEA for the twelfth month. So, you guys just won the sticker sheets!
Colleen: (big smile, happy, clapping) Yay!
Angela: So, if you’ve been here the whole time, these are coming your way. And, so, I have them ready to go (holding up the sheets of stickers) these now belong to you! So, this was my surprise reveal. Again, I’m always telling you guys I work on things behind the scenes; so, this was one of the things where I had some Trials done and I love the way it came out! So, I hope you guys do, too! So, you guys now have your sticker sheets of MoriarTEA. I’m very proud of this, too.
Colleen: Yay, that’s so nice.
Angela: I’m so happy with how this came out.
Colleen: That’s so nice! How fun!
Angela: Well, I actually had the thought, because, again, I’m a planner. I have my new 2024 planner and I’m going, “I want stickers” and “Maybe, they’d like this.” So, it was one of those light-bulb moments. I think of Parks & Recreation where they literally brought the light bulb over to Adam. So, Adam Scott said, and I’m going, “I think this was a really good idea. I think it came out nice.” So, I’m really happy with it and I hope you guys like it, too.
Colleen: Yay, that is so nice. And then you were talking about the November livestream, is that Sprinkle with Murder? The cupcake?
Angela: I’m going to pull this up. So, yes! Okay, I love how I have all of these banners (displays a beautiful image of The Cozy Mystery Book Club In 2023; a book club calendar with each month indicating the book cover and colored checkmarks placed on January-September livestreams completed). I’m going to go pull this up so we can officially hit another checkmark for tonight (a colored checkmark is now placed on the October book discussed tonight).
So, it is so insane to me that we are almost done with 2023. So, next month is Sprinkle with Murder, and then the following month is 12 Days of Cozies, and we have the Buddy Read for A Christmas Candy Killing by Christina Romeril. I am blown away that we are this far into 2023.
And I almost forgot to mention that everyone who comments tonight, every comment is going towards a three-book paperback Giveaway. One sleuther is going to win three cozy mysteries. So, these, I’m going to pull it up right there so you guys can see the covers (displays images: Murders of a Feather by Eileen Brady, Syrup To No Good by Catherine Bruns, Spoon To Be Dead by Dana Mentink). So, Murders of a Feather, Syrup To No Good, which actually I think just came out today, I’m pretty sure, and then Spoon To Be Dead. So, one sleuther is winning all three books and every comment tonight is entering you for this. So, “Thank You, Poisoned Pen Press for making this happen!”
So, everyone is going to get a sticker sheet who’s been here from the start-to-end. And then one lucky sleuther is getting all three (holds up all three paperbacks for Giveaway). So, I’m saying this is a pretty good night for cozy mysteries.
Colleen: A very good night, yes, I know, and I agree, I can’t believe it’s the end of the year, and I’m super excited for our next two books. I’ve ended up reading a couple of the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series this year, but I haven’t read the first one. So, I’m excited to go back and read the first one, and I read A Christmas Candy Killing last year, and I really liked it, so (gives two thumbs up).
Angela: I’m going to pull it up right there (displays a “Ghost” chat comment by Christina Romeril) So, Christina is in the comments.
Colleen: (big smile) Yay!
Angela: She is actually the Guest Hostess for next month and she’s the author of our December read, and this woman has been a part of the Book Club, she’s been a part of The Cozy Mystery Book Club for years. And, when her book won, I was so excited because I got to see her go from reader to author, published author, not just author, but published author, not aspiring, full-on published, represented, doing so well, and her book is so cute; it’s so great!
Colleen: (big smile, nodding) Yeah!
Angela: I love it! And I’m just so excited that her book is being featured and the second one, I have my copy, I know ARCs are available (pointing to the screen). She’s going to have to tell us when it’s being published, so I’m going to have to look that up for y’all because it’s really cute.
Colleen: A Nutcracker Nightmare? I think A Nutcracker Nightmare already came out.
Angela: Okay, I know I have my copy because she was so kind and sent me one. I’m so honored, and I’m going, “I know it’s coming! I know there’s a book two!” So, you guys ready with book one and book two there.
Colleen: So, book two came out in hardcover, I believe.
Angela: (nodding)
Colleen: But book one also just came out in paperback and I got one! I work at a bookstore, and I got one for the bookstore, Christina! So, we’ve got your book in our store. (laughing)
Angela: (smiling)I love how that’s a perfect job for you!Like, you can tell I would want to go to the local bookstore if you were the one behind the counter.
Colleen: (laughing) It’s so fun, and there are some cozy mystery fans out there and I get to talk to them; it’s really great.
Angela: (displays and responds to chat comment by Lyn McEnaney “Do we need to do any tiebreaker votes for the 2024 list?”)So, you actually just reminded me, Lyn. Thank You! (holds up a piece of paper) So, this was one of my little post-it notes. So, the 2024 TBR voting ends tonight!
Colleen: (nodding)
Angela: So, the votes are close; again, you guys are voting for all twelve months. So, eleven months of Livestreams and then the twelfth month, December, is going to be the Buddy Read, again. So, you guys are voting for twelve months right now, and of the twelve, I want to say five of them are very, very close. So, all of the votes are going to be very important tonight. So, if you have not already voted, please do!
I actually made an image. I’ve got to go pull it up again. Where’d you go? (displays an image of The Cozy Mystery Book Club MoriarTEA logo, a pile of books, and a QR-code placed underneath the heading 2024 TBR VOTING and a handy link HTTPS://LINKTREE/COZYMYSTERYCLUB) Yes! There we go!
So, if you’ve not already voted, we’ve got the QR-code for you; you can go to the Linktree and it is the literal first link on the Linktree. So, if you haven’t voted yet, please do, because tonight the voting ends and your votes do matter.
Colleen: Yeah! Everybody should vote! It’s a really easy Google Form.
Angela: Thank You!
Colleen: Yeah, it was so easy.
Angela: I tried to make it as visually appealing as possible, too.
Colleen: And thank you for doing that because like I don’t use Twitter anymore and I think this really works like having it all together.
Angela: (nods in agreement)
Colleen: And, so, yeah, I think it’s great!And everybody should vote, for sure.
Angela: Yeah, I think that the system worked out really, really well.
Colleen: (nodding)
Angela: I was nervous, at first, because it was a different system than what we had done previously.
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah!
Angela: But, again, with Twitter being such an upheaval, let’s just go with that phrasing. And, also, the fact that people have issues sometimes with technology or they don’t have those accounts.
Colleen: (nodding)Yeah.
Angela: So, this way, all you need is an email address.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: And that’s just a way to guarantee that people aren’t voting more than once. I’m not actually keeping track of who’s voting and who’s not; that’s not why that’s implemented at all, but it’s just to make sure like, “Okay, you voted, you’re good, you’re all set.”
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: I think you can actually do this as well, which is also why I wanted the emails. You can click “Get An Email Receipt” like “Yes, I Voted. I have my completed Form, I’m good.”
Colleen: (nods in agreement) Yeah, I like that.
Angela: So, you can do that as well.
Colleen: (nodding)Yeah.
Angela: I think that this worked out, I’m good. I’m very happy with this. (smiling)
Colleen: It’s very good, yeah.
Angela: I will say, though, it took me a very, very long time to get that Form put together.
Colleen: (big smile) Yeah, Google Forms do.
Angela: I had to make the images. I had to link over everything with their Goodreads. So, it definitely took a lot of time, but I’m glad that it was worth it.
Colleen: Yeah, it was.
Angela: So,I’m glad! I’d be willingly do it again for next year. I just need to know that I’m spending the time on the right thing.
Colleen: (nodding) Right, right.
Angela: That’s all I care about.
So, I’m just going to throw that up there one more time! (displays image of The Cozy Mystery Book Club MoriarTEA logo with a pile of books and a QR-code placed underneath the heading 2024 TBR VOTING and a handy link HTTPS://LINKTREE/COZYMYSTERYCLUB)
Colleen: Yeah, everybody, Vote, if you haven’t! Do it tonight!
Angela: Thank You! (big smile) Oh, my gosh, thank you so much for saying that. (responds to chat comments) I’m glad you like the new system.
Colleen: (big smile) Yay!
Angela: It definitely, you know, I don’t mindputting in the time for something, I just want to make sure that you guys are able to utilize it, that you like it. I thought that this one went really well because I also changed it without asking like which platform you guys wanted. So, I’m glad you guys liked what ended up happening.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Hopefully, tonight when the voting ends, I’ll be able to start doing the big reveals, too! So, that’s exciting.
Colleen: So exciting! That is one of the most exciting things, finding out the books for next year. (laughing)
Angela: (big smile) I am very, like, I don’t know, because I don’t put my own picks in. I literally just take the books that you guys recommend and put them in there.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I actually don’t even want to vote because I don’t want to impact or be like, “Oh, I’m routing for this title,” and influence voting, so, I abstain until the very end going, “Okay, I’m happy this one won,” or “Oh, I was hoping this one, but maybe next year, we’ll see.”
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: I’m excited to see what the end results are going to be as well because, again, some of them are very close.
Colleen: So many good cozies out there! So many good ones!
Angela: (displays and responds to chat comment by Kait S “I loved the Google form over the Twitter voting”) Well, I will say one of the reasons, so, I’m glad you like the Google Form. I will just say the reason I think Twitter was the first go-to was because (1) it could last for an entire week and (2) the transparency of it.
Colleen: (nodding)
Angela: So, I thought that was really important, at first.
Colleen: Right! Everyone could see.
Angela: But, again, hopefully, this is, yeah. So, I think that was part of what the allure was; but I can also eventually take screenshots and, hopefully, at this point, you know, I’m not influencing any of the voting, hopefully, at this point, too!
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: I mean, yes, I always tell you guys what’s going on. I am very transparent about it.So, I think we’ll be okay, and I’ll take screenshots to demonstrate. But, yes, I think that was also, you know, the start of the Book Club, people want to see what’s going on.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah!
Angela: (smiling) Hopefully, now, we’re established now.
Colleen: We trust you!(laughing)
Angela: I’m, yeah, just laugh, just laugh, as Daisy makes a little noise in the background. (smiling) Oh, goodness, I’m trying to think if I had any other notes. So, if you guys had anything else you wanted to comment on whether it’s a question about things coming up with the Book Club or you want to get a comment in to make sure that you’re entered to win the three books (holds up the three paperbacks for tonight’s Giveaway). Whatever it is, now is your time because I’m just looking down at the notes to make sure I covered everything and, so far, I think I have, but if there’s something you want to ask, please do.
(displays chat comment by Lady Gizmo “Angela, you’re amazing – thank you for all you do for us”) Oh! You guys are so sweet! (big smile) It’s my pleasure!
Oh, you guys are wonderful. I have to say, I received a couple of really cute emails after the last email Newsletter, and they just brightened my day so much because I had actually, I swear, my dissertation it’s wreaked havoc with my mental state; it’s been a lot, and so I got mail from one of you members, you know, it was really sweet, it just totally brightened my day going, “Oh! I did do something right!”
Colleen: Yes, always.
Angela: So, it was very sweet. I’m glad you guys like what’s going on.
Colleen: Angela, can you remind us, where we can buy stickers? Jae was asking (in the chat session).
Angela: So, the sticker sheets are yours; that is just a gift from me, and I finally updated the Etsy Store. (displays an image of the store page for the Etsy.com/shop/CozyMysteryBookClub) This is an older screenshot at this point, but that’s the same information. Also, I’ve never looked at the Reviews before because I always think, “Oh, if you celebrate your positives, you have to acknowledge the negatives.” So, I never looked and they’re all 5-Star Reviews! The Comments are amazing! I was in happy tears; it was so amazing.
Colleen: Aww!
Angela: (displays a beautiful image of an arrangement of Etsy Store items on a page called THE LISTINGS @CozyMysteryBookClub)
So, the Etsy Store is there and, again, full transparency. This is not a business, so if you order one sticker and you want like a certain bookmark or something, just put it in the Comments and I’m going to send it your way. I always make packages, I mean, I’ve got you covered. So, if there’s something else you want, just make a note.
Colleen: So, the Etsy Store that you have linked, that’s where? Okay, cool.
Angela: Yeah, so the Etsy, it’s also available, you can also get the same link with the Linktree. I also include it in the email Newsletter. Again, I can’t believe that it’s the final day of October, so I’ve been working on the November email Newsletter, and it’s going to have links to it. Again, the updated Etsy because, again, I knew you guys wanted the Deputy Donut stickers, so I included the link in that Newsletter, so I’ve got you covered.
Colleen: (nods with a big smile) Nice!
Angela: Yeah, I didn’t want to make any profit on it; so, even though it’s technically set up as the (makes finger quotes) “Etsy Store,” it’s not really (makes finger quotes) “a store.”
Colleen: (nods)
Angela: I think I told y’all with the Zazzle, I think I make one penny on things, and just because they need you to make a profit on something, so, it exists, but that’s not why I do it.
Colleen: Did you see Jess? Jess’s cat is psychic.
Angela: (displays chat comment by Carli Spina “I know! How is it Halloween already?) Oh, my gosh (displays chat comment by JessLovesCozy “My cat scored 5/8 – he’s psychic. I knew it.”)
Colleen: Because there’s a cat psychic quiz at the end.
Angela: Yes! We almost forgot to include our little Psychic Cat(holds up book opened to the quiz located at the back Is Your Cat Psychic?)
Colleen: (laughing) I love it!
Angela: The fact that you actually did it and you had the results is amazing. You just made me so happy.
Colleen: (laughing) Pretty awesome.
Angela: (referring to Colleen) Was there anything else with the book you wanted to mention? Anything?
Colleen: No, I think, I’m looking at my list, and I think I talked about everything that I wanted to talk about. Yup! And anything that my daughter wanted to report to everybody about, so, yeah.
Angela: (smiling) Your daughter’s so sweet. I love that you guys read cozies together; that is just adorable, a built-in Buddy Read.
Colleen: (responds to chat comment by Meezan “I don’t think the audiobook had the quiz. That would be fun to do.”) Oh, yeah, Meezan, I don’t know if the audiobook had the quiz or not. I can’t remember.
Angela: I don’t think it did, actually.
Colleen: Yeah,I’m trying to think if audiobooks leave off some of those last things.
Angela: So, especially when it’s Recipes.
Colleen: (responds to chat comment by JessLovesCozy “I’ll put the quiz on Insta”)Jess is going to post the quiz on Insta, so then everybody can see if their cats are psychic!
Angela: Well, because, even then, too, it has the list from the blog as well (holds up the page showing ‘An excerpt from Cookie’s blog’) as I’m trying to angle like okay at the very end.
Colleen: Yeah, that’s after like a preview of the next book in the series, too.
Angela: Yeah, so, there’s some things thatdon’t really, yeah, but it’s okay, that’s why, even then, you got to enjoy the amazing audio; it was a great audio. So, if it was left off, you’re okay.
Colleen: Yeah, it was very good, yeah.
Angela: Oh, my goodness, you guys are so sweet. So, if there are any more questions, now is your time to ask them. I’m just going to pull up the images one more time to see if there was anything else I uploaded and I just forgot to mention it to y’all.
So, we have Colleen’s information (displays her Instagram bio). I just want to make sure I put this up there one more time @ilikeoldbooks1213, and so I deliberately did this because last year we had The Fairy Garden Mystery Series, and you’re in wings, so I put butterflies for her. So, I did that very deliberately (laughing).
Colleen: I love that! Yes! I’ve been a Witch! I’ve been a Fairy! This year I’m, you know, channeling the ghost from The Haunted Mansion. I love it! And I can’t wait to find out what next year will be for October!
Angela: (smiling, shows the front of her shirt HALLOWEEN NIGHT with three ghosts)
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: I know, so, the voting ends 11:59 PM EST, very spooky, you know, right before November 1st for all you NANOWRIMOers, whatever, however that word is, I don’t know.
(displays a beautiful image showing items for Emily Cromwell Designs EMILYCROMWELLDESIGNS.COM with the discount code ANGELA15)
And then, again, if you’re looking for your own little Halloween fun stuff, I’ve been working on the magnetic bookmarks, and Emily was kind enough to give the code; so, if you want to save 15%.
(displays the Giveaway image of the three paperback books from Poisoned Pen Press: Murders of a Feather, Syrup To No Good, Spoon To Be Dead)
And then (referring to image) we have the three books and, so, okay, I am going to throw this out there; this is a fun-little reveal because you guys have been here, and I’ll just do the reveal. So, I did a number of interviews when I was at Malice and Bouchercon, and I’ve had the longest and hardest time doing and editing footage. I, actually, full-on, made notes of how long it took me. So, my interview with this particular author was twenty-one minutes long; it took me four and a half hours to edit and get this thing ready to go for y’all. So, officially, the very first Tuesday of the month now, you can start expecting interviews to be dropping over on the YouTube Channel starting with Amanda Flower (displays a beautiful image of Amanda Flower and her books).
Colleen: Yay!
Angela: So, the Amanda Flower interview is dropping November 7th. I actually set it as a premiere so you can look forward to it. Set the Bell, the Reminder, so, that is happening!
Colleen: Thank You!(big smile) That’s exciting.
Angela: I’ve got the footage and I’m finally doing things with it, so I’m very happy to make that reveal.
Colleen: Awesome!
Angela: You guys are the first to know!
Colleen: (clapping) Woohoo!
Angela: Very first! Big reveal.
Colleen: The Magical Bookshop Series is one of the series my daughter and I binged this year; it’s so cute. It’s so much fun!
Angela: (big smile, turns to point upwards at her bookshelf)
Colleen: Oh, that’s exciting! I can’t wait to hear what she has to say.
Angela: So, because you’re you and I adore Colleen here. I love her, guys.
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: So, last year, we did A Sprinkling of Murder. The author was Daryl Wood Gerber. Her interview is going to drop on January 2nd.
Colleen: Nice! Yay!
Angela: And that was already in the que as well; and my goal, I don’t know if I should tell you my goal, if I am not able to achieve it, I’ll be very, very sad, but she’s here in the Comments, I interviewed our November Guest Hostess and December Author, Christina Romeril.
Colleen: Yay!
Angela: So, my goal is the first Tuesday for December is Christina’s day. So, I want it to be Amanda for November, Christina for December, and then Daryl for January. So, right now, that’s where we’re at (shows fingers crossed) I really hope I can achieve that but Christina and I, we had the best time chatting. So, if it took me four and a half hours to edit a twenty-one-minute Interview, an hour-something Interview is definitely taking me longer (laughing).
Colleen: Right! Yeah, oh, I’m excited! That’s awesome.
Angela: But I want to get it done because she deserves it, and I want the timing to be perfect because it just goes hand-in-hand with everything else we’re doing; so, that is my goal. I hope to do that, so fingers crossed that actually becomes feasible, and is doable, but I am working on it.
Colleen: Yay, that’s exciting!
Angela: Yes, so, again, the things that go on behind the scenes. You guys finally, are totally in the know. The big reveals, so I hope you guys like what I’ve been doing, working on, so shoutout for Christina! (big smile, pumps her hands up)
Colleen: Yay!
Angela: (big smile) It’s coming! It’s coming! It’s in the works.
Colleen: Awesome.
Angela: Oh, my gosh, you guys are so cute. I wasn’t looking at the comments because I was looking to see if there’s anything else to post. (reading chat comments) Aww, now I’m blushing. (big smile)
Yes, Thank You! Marta was actually part of a Chatting Cozies (Podcast). We did a review of a book. I still need to edit the audio for that; things are happening behind the scenes even if I don’t always tell you guys. Things are working!
So, The Chatting Cozies (Podcast) is going to be updated for the first time on November 7th with Amanda Flower, but that’s not the last time. More things are coming with Chatting Cozies and Marta’s episode is going to be included in that!
Colleen: (big smile) Nice!
Angela: Again, you guys know everything now. (reading chat comments) Oh, my gosh, you guys are so cute. (responds to a chat comment) Yeah, I’m a perfectionist, so that’s why it also takes a very long time. I get everything down to the timing. I also will do the inserts, so that if someone references a book, I’m going to include the book’s title right there so that it does appear exactly with when they say it then the image is going to dissolve away. So, it takes a long time, especially, because you then have to always stop to go find the images; sometimes the images aren’t great and then you get a screenshot, and then you’ve got to rewatch things to make sure that you’re editing correctly. It just adds up very quickly.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: You guys are worth it, though. I just need to make sure that it gets done; that’s the whole thing. It just takes a lot of time but once it’s done, it’s done.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I’m happy to do the reveal and share.
Colleen: That’s awesome.
Angela: (big smile, reading chat comments) Oh, you guys!
Colleen: Yes! We love Book Club.
Angela: (big smile, reading chat comments) Oh, Thank You!
Colleen: Such nice people.
Angela: I don’t want to hold Colleen hostage on Halloween because she does have her little girl, who I’m sure wants to spend some time with mommy; and mommy’s all dressed up, so do some photos together.
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: If there’s any other comments, questions, queries, concerns, please add them now because, otherwise, I’m going to start making sure that Daisy is in her Bumblebee costume so that I can show y’all.
Colleen: (smiling, clapping)
Angela: I’ll have to do that before the end of the night but Thank You guys for taking time out of your Halloween.
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: So, in order to get the sticker sheet, as I showed you guys before, (holds up the twelve-month MoriarTEA sticker sheet gift) simply send me an email. I’m going to include it right here. So, (typing) my email for y’all is writerahart, a for Angela, hart, h-a-r-t, at gmail.com I’m going to include it right there (appears in the chat session). So, send me, just literally drop an email and say, “I was a part of the Livestream, here’s my mailing address, Stay Cozy.” Whatever you want to do, just send me an email with your address and I got you covered. If you can do that in the next week or so, hopefully, if you can do it in a couple of days, that would be better, but if you can do it sometime this week that would be absolutely amazing. So, just send me an email with your information and I will get your sticker sheets sent out your way. So, we’re all good; all set! (big smile)
Colleen: (big smile) Yay!
Angela: Is there anything else you (Colleen) wanted to add? Anything about the book or comments?
Colleen: No, I’m good! Yeah, I think it was a good discussion. Fun to talk about this one, a fun book!
Angela: Aww, I’m glad you guys seemed to enjoy the book, I am definitely there for the Detective Valentine relationship.
Colleen: Yay! Everybody loves it.
Angela: I have more questions about Wind Song, so I am probably going to be reading book two and three and so on. So, I’ll keep you guys posted on that as well, but Thank You So Much for joining on Halloween Night. I hope you guys have enjoyed the conversation and you enjoyed our book. You can join next month when I’m joined by Christina who may or may not be here in the comments, but next month Christina, and I’m going to pull it up again to make sure you guys have the image; it’s Sprinkle with Murder (image on screen: The Cozy Mystery Book Club In 2023 January-December books listed with check marks for livestreams done) wherever it is; there it is! (a checkmark is now placed over tonight’s book club discussion)
So, next month is Sprinkle with Murder (by Jenn McKinlay) so, hopefully, you guys are going to be able to join us the last Tuesday of the month because that is our last Livestream for 2023, which is mind-blowing (laughing).So, this is the second-last one, next month, ah! I’m going to have to do something special to make it epic, so I’m going to have to start working on some ideas for that as well.
Thank You to Colleen for joining; seriously, guys, if you’re not already following her on Instagram, please go check out her account; she’s always recommending books; she is just always posting something so sweet. She has the best captions, too! She has very intricate book reviews, too. I swear, it’s like reading a great blog post every single time she posts on Instagram; it’s amazing.
Colleen: (big smile) Thank You! Yeah, Thank You, everybody, for joining in and chatting; nice to see familiar names and new names, too! (waves) Hi, Anita. So, yeah, Thank You, everybody, it was really fun to talk with you.
Angela: Aww, Thank You, Colleen, and Thank You guys for joining. I hope you guys have a great rest of the night. If you have trick-or-treaters, I hope you have plenty of candy leftover and you’re able to enjoy some special treats yourself. But please take care of yourselves, and stay kind and creative, and Happy Reading, Writing, and Sleuthing! (big smile) Have a nice night, everybody!
Colleen: (big smile) Bye!
Angela Maria Hart: @writerahart
Colleen Cameron: @ilikeoldbooks1213
