One Poison Pie (Kitchen Witch Mystery #1) by Lynn Cahoon
Angela: I think we’re live!
Colleen: Yay!
Angela: Okay. YouTube, I can still see the thumbnail and your hair’s longer now and I’m going, “Oh, how long ago was this photo?” I’m like, “It’s longer, it’s different.”
Colleen: That’s true. It is.
Angela: But you look so happy and cute in the photo, I love it. And even then, I have photos where I have my old glasses on and I’m like, “Eh, that’s an older photo.” Oh, Hi, everybody! Oh, you guys are already joining us. I love it when everybody’s on their game like right at seven o’clock, we’re ready to go!
Colleen: Yes!
Angela: Oh, my gosh, and I just saw a little pumpkin emoji pop up in the comments. Aww, cute! So, I’ve been playing around with StreamYard, and I was able to figure something out. So, I’m going to try and show you all something. Let’s see if this will work. (displays image: Welcome to The Cozy Mystery Book Club) Yay!
Colleen: Aww, that’s so cute!
(Max barks)
Angela: Apparently, Max wanted to, like, chime in there as well. So, let’s have a little introductory like ‘Welcome to the Livestream’ (displays image: Welcome to The Cozy Mystery Book Club Livestream).
(Max barks)
Angela: So, we can do this from now on.
Colleen: I like it. That’s awesome.
(Max barks)
Angela: I mean, apparently, he wants to have a part of this. I have another one just for my channel, and this one actually has music, too. (displays image: Books Are My Hart).
Colleen: That’s cute!
Angela: I was playing around so I could include some, you know, other things. I can even put the little things on the screen, so we’ll get some little things going on so we’re going to be very high tech from now on. I’ve learned things.
Colleen: That’s awesome. Very nice.
Angela: (holds up a paperback copy of One Poison Pie) But, with all that being said, tonight is about One Poison Pie by Lynn Cahoon.
Colleen: Yay! (also holds up a paperback copy of One Poison Pie)
Angela: And I love my co-hostess, Colleen, is so sweet! I don’t know if you follow her on Instagram and Twitter, but you should be. And I love your comments because she has the reviews in there, she’s talking about what she’s reading. Please follow her. Please tell them what your username is for your platform.
Colleen: Sure, it’s ilikeoldbooks1213 [Instagram] “I like old books 1 2 1 3”
Angela: I absolutely adore your feed. It is so, you’re just a little bright ray of positivity and sunshine. I love it!
Colleen: Thank you, so are you! Uh, oh! Angela disappeared. Hi, everybody, “Thank you, Elle and Lady Gizmo, I’m glad you like my hat.” Hopefully, it doesn’t look too much like a dunce cap. I was going for the witch and then I was like, “I hope this doesn’t look like a dunce cap” oh, well.
Angela: I think you look so sweet. I love how you even have like the skeleton shirt; you just went for it, and I wish I had like a witch hat to match you.
Colleen: Next time.
Angela: I was so happy. I thought I was on it with my Halloween Town shirt, and she just up the ante. I’m that kid who came in with the report ready for school, and she was like, “I have the report, I have the poster board, I have my human project here to show you the live-action person.” You just went all out. A+ extra credit.
Colleen: Well, you know, when you have a skeleton necklace, you have to find chances to wear it. Oh, wait, this isn’t a skeleton, this is spiders. I’m wearing a spider necklace and skeleton dress. There we go.
Angela: I was going to say, I highly doubt there are a lot of opportunities, otherwise. Oh, my gosh, you guys are so cute in the comments. I was kind of waiting, trying to see, I think that’s actually what ended up happening, when I went away for a second. I was trying to refresh the YouTube feed to see, “Is everyone commenting? Is everyone here before we get started for the night?” But I was like, “I might as well just dive right on in,” so I’m really curious what you guys think of the book, our book of the month. You’re ready for Halloween with the outfit. This book didn’t really have the Halloween, but it was magical. We have a kitchen witch. So, what did you think of One Poison Pie?
Colleen: Well, I definitely felt that you jumped right into the magic world, and at the beginning, I was a little bit confused. You know, the term ‘kitchen witch’ was being thrown around. And she is a kitchen witch, but she also has a doll that is a kitchen witch, and I didn’t quite get that. And there’s the familiars, and there’s a ghost in the cat’s body, and so that was kind of all, you know, thrown at me quickly. So, it took me a little while, but once I just focused in, you know, on the things I normally focus in on: the characters, and the mystery, and some of the, you know, conflicts, and everything like that, then I got going.
(reads comment) Mama Rox 2.0 “First witch cozy I’ve ever read” same here, that was me, too. I haven’t read a lot of paranormal cozies and definitely not witch cozies. So, I had to get into it a little bit. But like I said, you know, then I got into the mystery, and I was alright.
Angela: I was going to say, if you’re looking for another witch one, this is another, (holds up a paperback copy) I’m trying to figure out if the glare will let me show you. We’ve got Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates. This is another, we read this one a while ago. I don’t even remember when it was. I really want to go back and count the number of books we’ve done for the Club. [inaudible 5:37-5:57]
Colleen: Can you guys hear Angela? I can’t hear you. Oh, now I can. Oh, I can’t hear you. [Angela inaudible 6:01-6:03] I don’t know if maybe it’s just me.
Angela: Okay, can you hear me now? No?
Colleen: (nods) I can hear you.
Photo by @jeja_admirerofwordsandcoffee
Angela: Okay, I don’t know what is happening, I’m so sorry! I didn’t touch anything. I love technology, it’s like, “What’s going on?” Okay, so, hopefully, you guys can all hear me now. And I was just saying, you know, here’s a book for you guys, and then another one to consider is Allison Brook, her Death Overdue. There’s a library ghost, she haunts the library. So, that’s another fun one, and it’s set during Halloween. So, hopefully, you guys can hear me now. I’m sorry but, you know, maybe, see, I have my external microphone hooked up. You got to love this, right? So, I have the very high-end one; if I unplug this, I’m pretty sure you guys might hear me better if I just use the Apple. So, if I unplug this, hopefully, this will work.
Colleen: No, now I can’t hear you. It says no sound for you. And there’s a no-sound microphone by your name. I say plug it back in because I could hear you pretty loudly right before you left. I’ll have to write down Death Overdue. I have not heard of [Angela speaking into her microphone but is inaudible] oh, dear [Angela’s image is gone] I think she’s going to come back. I think she’s going to refresh it and then, hopefully, we’ll be able to hear her. So many good cozies.
[Angela’s image reappears]
Angela: Okay, yes?
Colleen: Yes!
Angela: Okay, there we go! I’m just going to keep the microphone right here. I had to refresh. What I did was I refreshed it. So, then, you know, obviously, I went away again.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Now, hopefully, I’m back to stay. So, I refreshed that page. I’m leaving the microphone right here, so fingers crossed. Thank You, guys, for still commenting and hanging out. I’m so sorry. You’ve got to love how technology, sometimes, it’s so wonderful and other times you’re just going, “Ugh! I think the rise of the machines is not going to happen anytime soon,” because if I can’t even stay on the connection with StreamYard, I don’t think they’re taking over. Just throwing that out there. Yeah, anyway!
Colleen: Am I echoing now though?
Angela: I don’t think so, I didn’t hear an echo.
Colleen: Okay, just making sure.
Angela: I just saw that comment (by Victoria Hamel “Ghosts and goblins are interfering with our live stream! Mwhahahaha”) There we go!
Colleen: Just making sure. Let us know if you’re hearing me, too. Oh, ghost and goblins; that’s right, blame the ghosts and goblins.
Angela: Oh, my gosh (responds to comment by Krista Avink “Mrs. Morris and the Ghost is another great book”) Yeah, Mrs. Morris, I have that one over there behind me. So, I love that you guys are still commenting. You guys are so great. You guys are the best. But I’m just curious what you guys in the comments thought of our book of the month. So, what did you guys think? Did you like it? I know I asked you all for the stars. Right now, I think four stars is winning at 46%. I don’t know if you want me to end the poll and just see what the results are. So, if I end it, we can see that four stars is so far the average that y’all are thinking, and then over on Instagram, I just wrote this down, so I’m pretty sure you guys were averaging like you enjoyed it. It wasn’t five stars, but you still enjoyed it; you liked it enough where it’s not one of those, “Hey, I’m just going to pass on the rest of the series,” so I’m really curious to see what you guys think.
Colleen: (reads comment) Lady Gizmo says Dorothy is here.
Angela: Yeah, what’s going on with that? That’s another mystery that I think is the overarching mystery for the entire series, I guess.
Colleen: Right, and Sharon Elizabeth is about to share that there’s a prequel novella, and that was something that really tripped me up at the beginning, too. Because the police officer actually says to her, you know, something about, “You’re always in the middle of things when bodies are found lately.” And I was like, “What?” but this is the first book, how can that, why are we talking like things have already happened? And then I, you know, checked Goodreads and found, “Oh, there’s that prequel novella.” And, so, that was a little tricky so I do wonder if I would have been less confused if I read that first.
Angela: I’m with you. I’m just nodding along like, yep, everything you’re saying, I agree wholeheartedly because one of my questions was sort of about that whole, when you’re telling writers what to do, they have that magical Bible of like, “This is your setting, this is the magical world you created” and I felt as if we were, I don’t mean this in a bad way, but we were just sort of dropped into the magical world versus introduced to it.
Colleen: Yes!
Angela: Because I remember filming the little Instagram TV, just a little short clip, just saying this is our book of the month, and I was asking, “Is there going to be a perimeter so that normal people don’t enter this town? How do they know people are magical? Is there a way to identify them?” And, so, I had those questions, and I didn’t even remember that until someone pointed them out to me earlier today. And then I’m going, “Yeah, how is there? What happened to that?” So, I think I might have to go back and read the novella to get that sort of magical-setting questions answered.
Colleen: Right, and the novella is called Chili Cauldron Curse, if anyone is, it seems like a lot of people in the comments are commenting on this, too.
Angela: (displays comment by Cooking With My Cozies “explain the issue with Mr. Darcy”) Okay, I just saw this one, yeah, because that one, okay, Mr. Darcy, the cat, there is just a throwaway line about, “Oh, yeah, that’s my grandmother’s former lover inside of the cat.”
Colleen: (laughing) Yeah, yeah.
Angela: I needed more information on that. Like, that was just sort of…
Colleen: That’s in the prequel.
Angela: I mean, honestly, that threw me because it was just sort of there.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: And then we kept reading, and then it was referenced again, randomly, like, “Oh, the cat has issues.” And that was just all she said, “Oh yeah, he has issues he’s working through.” And then the cat disappeared again for a while because he found that hidden tunnel. But I didn’t understand the whole lover in the body thing. So, again, I need to go back to that novella. I’m a little disappointed that this one is called the first book in the series.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: I feel as if the novella is really like the first book in the series.
Colleen: Right. Yeah, those words are there in the first. So, I mean, it would be natural to think that you wouldn’t have anything to know beforehand, yeah.
Angela: Okay, so, everyone else is saying they were confused, too, so we’re all in the same boat.
Colleen: Yeah, we’re not alone.
Angela: Well, you know, that’s one of my things as a cozy mystery reader. That’s one of my, sort of, I don’t know, I’m just going to say quirks. I don’t want to pick up book five in the series. I want to start from the beginning and sort of figure out and follow the mystery along the way, get to the characters. I don’t like jumping around, I don’t, that’s not really my reading preference. I mean some people can just pick up the sixth book in a series and be totally okay with it and then go back to book three and then go up to eight; that’s just not how I read. And, so, I think that’s why this novella thing probably was a little bit more irksome than it might’ve been to somebody else.
Colleen: Right, yeah, and I think, also, just the magic stuff being different for me than I’m used to so then I was trying to get a handle on that.
Angela: (reading comments) Yeah, okay, I love how everyone is on the same wavelength. This is what I mean when it’s cozy mysteries. Everyone who reads cozy mysteries has certain expectations. I mean, everyone really just has that, “This is what I’m looking for; I want my baking, I want my sleuths to go out and actually go get clues.”
Colleen: Right.
Angela: Then we’re going to have to talk about the sleuthing, because I’m just sort of, I’m just going to throw this out there and just start with this.
Colleen: Okay.
Angela: So, Adele is our victim. She’s killed with a knife, she’s stabbed, and the title of the book is One Poisoned Pie. She never bakes a pie in the book and the victim was not poisoned.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: How is this called One Poisoned Pie? Can someone please answer?
Colleen: I was wondering that, too. I was like, “I wonder why this is the title?” So, yeah!
Angela: I just thought I would start with that and just kind of throw that out there. I know that’s a very odd spot to start with it, but at least we’re talking about the murder, talking about the book. I mean, she’s baking, and she starts off with Adele, she’s telling her, “No, I’m changing the menu.” But the menu had to do with birds going to then having a menu with beef and steaks.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: That’s not the title of the book anywhere. Like, the food she’s baking at the very beginning is not related to the murder.
Colleen: Yeah, I think when I looked on Google, I noticed that, not the novellas, but the actual books, I think the titles might be like One Poisoned Pie and then Two something else and Three something else. So, there is like a sequence or a pattern with that.
Angela: Okay, people in the comments are saying that she wanted pies at the party.
Colleen: Oh!
Angela: Okay, I was kind of expecting for her to be like face down in a pie, “Oh, she had a piece of pie and there was poison in it.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I was expecting something like that based on the title, so I think maybe that’s why I missed it; that must’ve been a sort of mixed-in sentence where it just sort of went over my head. I just was really curious because I was picturing her being face down with boysenberries and everything else. My cozy-mystery brain goes right there.
Colleen: Right, yeah. Oh, jeja_admirerofwordsandcoffee was mentioning that Adele is supposed to be a powerful witch. So, why wasn’t she able to prevent her death? Did they catch her off guard? And that’s interesting, yeah, because, ah, there we go! Two Wicked Desserts is number two. But yeah, it does kind of, it’s interesting that Adele is a witch and it’s just kind of thrown out, “Oh, yeah, she was a witch.” And, yeah, that’s kind of all that there is with her.
Angela: I really wanted kind of more of the magical component with maybe using the magic to solve the mysteries because she said that her powers are based with goodwill towards men. We want to do world peace and, obviously, murder is against world peace, so you could have had that sort of component come in. I was kind of hoping to see her use her spells like, “Oh, the aura is showing me this” or something. I just thought that would have been really cool to see, but she definitely had to do some sleuthing. I mean I don’t want to go too far into spoilers, we’ll talk about it in a minute. But I’m just going to say I did not solve this mystery because, I mean, I was there for, we had John, who was, he was the landlord realtor person. I was kind of going down more his route, but she had to go find the family tree and other stuff, so at least there was sleuthing, and she actually had to do that agency of, “I’m leaving my house and doing this.”
Colleen: Yes, I also did not guess the killer either.
Angela: That makes me feel better.
Colleen: I latched onto James early on because I was like, “He’s too nice!”
Angela: (laughing)
Colleen: And the fact that he would have been around like the-her missing knife in the kitchen, since he let her use his kitchen, so I thought he was going to be the one who, but then it turns out her knife isn’t even the knife that was the murder weapon.
Angela: I know!
Colleen: So, yeah, which also brings up the whole other storyline of that she has some kind of weird stalker or something who steals her possessions and then gives them back to you as a present.
Angela: That happened again at the end of the book with the… corkscrew?
Colleen: Yes! Yeah.
Angela: What!? Who does that? They’re giving you your own item back. I mean,
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: why are you putting that in a gift wrap? That is the creepiest, stupidest thing.
Colleen: Very, yeah.
Angela: I mean, I don’t know, I didn’t really get that. Like they didn’t even, I don’t know what I expected, but there’s no painting, there’s no notes. At least if you steal something, use it for something and do something different, don’t just hand it right back. If you’re going to be weird, at least make it worth it.
Colleen: Right, but I guess it definitely left some mysteries to still be resolved, to keep us wondering, you know? Who is doing that? Well, you know, what dangers are coming? What’s going on with Dorothy? (responds to comment) Hey, Simone (Times) thought James, too.
Angela: Yeah, I was pulling up the comment. Yeah, I kind of made note of him. I thought it was really cute when she was getting along well with him, but then when he started smoking and I’m going, “Oh, is this one of those things where, oh, the bad people smoke?” I was thinking, because sometimes they’ll do those things where, “Oh, and the bad person doesn’t like the animals,” immediately you’re like, “You’re the killer.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: If you don’t like the dog or the cat, you’re like, “It’s you.”
Colleen: (responds to comments) So, it sounds like a lot of us were tricked by the knife and thinking that would be the weapon and not knowing who the murderer is. I noticed that Crystal Tea Knits said that she didn’t like or understand the reason for the murder.
Angela: Yeah, that’s why I got tripped up because I think the red herrings actually made more sense as the murderer.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I think that’s why I was falling more towards, even James, like he said he catered to her before, so maybe there’s bad blood, he resents, revenge. So, I even would make more sense with him. And then, obviously, the other guy was the fake nephew.
Colleen: Fake nephew, right.
Angela: He wanted money.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So at least with that, I was thinking, “Oh, he wants the money, that’s the motivation.” And even the other guy, the really weird real estate agent, John, whose name I just keep forgetting, the weird guy.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: He was just so creepy. I mean I would have bought him as a killer, and he even confessed just to mess with her head like, “Yeah, you can see what I’m capable of.” He even sort of threw that out there at one point. But this lady I felt as if she wasn’t in as many scenes to even really warrant the suspicion.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: I mean, she didn’t really have the center stage, I guess. I don’t think she actually had that. I don’t think she was on the page enough for me to actually be like, “Oh, suspect!”
Photo by @mysterymanon
Colleen: Yeah, it wasn’t until, I mean, when Mia was looking at the old newspapers and she saw the thing about her winning the lottery, Helen winning the lottery, that was when I was like, “Oh, it’s going to be her.” But before then, no, “Jeja, you’ve got trust issues.”
Angela: I see how everyone’s like, “And, Barney, what’s up with this guy?” I thought he was going to be a dead body. I thought we were going to find Barney in the snow with his feet up in the air.
Colleen: I did, too, yeah. I was worried about him, I was. I don’t know how he survived, but I’m glad he did. I’m glad he did.
Angela: I just thought that was great. They’re worried about this guy and then, all of a sudden, they walk into the police station and there’s Barney just standing right there. I was going, “They didn’t even have to go look for him.” I was waiting for more, then, all of a sudden, I thought we were getting into the mystery and, all of a sudden, it was like, “And answered.” I kind of, I was waiting for it to keep going into something. I mean, again, I’m not rooting for more dead bodies.
Colleen: No.
Angela: But I was kind of thinking that’s where we’re going.
Colleen: Right, yeah.
Angela: I kind of expected, “Someone got him.”
Colleen: I know what you mean; it seems like there had to be something going on. But, yeah, I do think Helen’s reasoning was a little, because I don’t, for me, she was worried that then she would lose her reputation as deserving, you know, status in the town. But I was kind of like, “Really? This small town in Idaho is like that snobby?” Like, I don’t know. I mean I’m from the Midwest and we’re all really nice. I don’t think we care when people get their money or how they get their money, but I don’t know.
Angela: I’m with you. I wasn’t really thinking of that as a motivation for murder. I mean, yeah, Adele is a little uppity, but she was that way towards everyone. It wasn’t as if she was singling this one person out making her the go-to victim. I just didn’t really see that as enough to stab her. And I don’t even know if she was trying to pin it on Mia, because then when Mia gets attacked, again, I’m kind of going with my little cozy-mystery-reader brain thinking, “Oh, is the detective going to think this is a setup? Is he going to think she did this to herself to throw off suspicion?” But then they said, “Oh, the angle in which you were hit on, we knew that you weren’t, you couldn’t have done that to yourself.” And, so, I don’t even know if she was trying to set Mia up. I’m not even sure, I don’t know. The whodunit was really hard for me with this book. I didn’t totally buy it.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I saw this one comment. I love this. Where did it go? It was, someone said, “The lawyer needed to be a future victim.”
Colleen: Yeah, I saw that.
Angela: I lost the comment, but I saw it. There was one who said, yes, here it is! Cooking With My Cozies “The real estate guy needs to be a future victim.” Yeah, I thought that was funny.
Colleen: Oh, Jennifer (Vanderbeek), you bring up a good point, “Little towns can be SUPER snobby and cliquish.” That’s true, that’s true. So, maybe, it is a good reason for murder, maybe.
Angela: I like this. (displays and reads comment by mabelita1992 “I thought he was going to be killed with the corkscrew”)
Colleen: Oh, right, yeah, that would have really made sense. Yeah, oh, and Elle Wren Burke said that Mia made a protection spell maybe to save Barney.
Angela: She set a spell and then, we have to talk about Trent at some point, he even set a little spell over the cabin, and so maybe Barney found that same cabin and his spell helped as well. I don’t know.
Colleen: Right! Yeah, maybe.
Angela: You can throw that out there.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: Because we’ve got to talk about Trent, our local grocery store owner who, by the way, I kept thinking that like Grocery Store, Joe, from Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelorette, that was his name, Grocery Store, Joe.
Colleen: Oh, yeah.
Angela: For some reason, I was like, “Is he an inspiration for Trent?”
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: But she definitely had a complicated love life. Mia has the ex, Isaac, show up.
Colleen: Oh, he was mean, ugh.
Angela: What do you do with that? I mean, he wanted to steal her recipes, and he was cruel to his own sister. I don’t know how long she said she was with him, but I think it was something like five years?
Colleen: Yeah, yeah, very sad. (reads comments) But it sounds like some people like Trent in the comments and some people don’t. Trent versus Isaac. (laughs) What was the poll? What did the poll results say for Trent as a romance interest?
Angela: So, I think I wrote, I tried to word it a little differently. So, it was Mia and Trent or Mia needs some time for herself. So, 57% said “Mia and Trent” and 43% said “No, more time for herself.” So, there’s a little bit of, you know, there’s a good percentage of people who are going, “Oh, okay, maybe we can put a little bit of the love interest aside.”
Colleen: Sure.
Angela: I have to admit I was a little surprised at how quickly their relationship escalated, because I’m also trying to be very tactful with how I say this; she was a little horn dog. She really wanted to go do more things with Trent very quickly.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah. There was, I was surprised at the level of romance, and I was like, “Oh, I’m glad I decided not to read this one with my daughter.” (laughing)
Angela: I was really surprised by, okay, I’m going to go to the notes page because she really had a few lines where my eyebrows went up. Because I always preface cozy mysteries as happy murders, they’re very Hallmark-y. And after a certain point, there were one too many references where I’m like, “You couldn’t get away with this on Hallmark.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: You know, I’m used to one or two references. I mean, again, I’ve read a lot of cozy mysteries and what’s it called? Barkery and Biscuits (by Linda O. Johnston). The main character there, there’s the off-the-page where they say, “Oh, and he spent the night,” and you read between the lines. And then in Lethal Lace (by Mildred Abbott), I think it was called, the character was like, “And he got the look,” and then, all of a sudden, you’re in the next chapter. So, I was just surprised when she’s going, “I wonder what it would be like to make love in front of the fireplace.” I was kind of going, “Whoa, okay.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Yeah, Mia!
Colleen: Yeah. Now, Elle Wren Burke brought this up and people are agreeing.
Angela: (displays comment by Elle Wren Burke “I really like Trent but at the beginning he says the school was an awful lot of work for such a little girl…and I was like what?”)
Colleen: Yes, this is why I thought Trent was not going to be her guy at first. But then I was like, “Oh, I guess he is.” This comment where he says that the school was an awful lot of work for such a little girl, and he called her a little lady or a little girl, and I was just like, “Oh, gross.”
Angela: I was really surprised by that, too. Even their first meeting,
Colleen: Yeah! It was their first meeting!
Angela: it wasn’t exactly that meet cute. There weren’t stars or attraction, I mean, after he came out of the back room with the argument, then she realized, “Oh, you’re cute.” But it was kind of a weird interaction.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Okay with Mia, I was a little annoyed by her with this. This is just me being me because I’m an overly nice person where, you know, you could spill hot coffee on me and I’m like, “I’m sorry I got in your way.” And, so, Trent is doing all of these things for her. He went and made a special pickup for her, he helped with the generator, and I kept waiting for her to say, “Oh, thank you. Let me make you dinner as a thank you. Let me go do this to help you.” And, so, with the first meeting, he had to really go out of his way to go get the steaks that she needed, and she didn’t really seem to appreciate him, she was very snippy. And I didn’t really think that was the setup for a great relationship. I was surprised they went from having a sort of off-kilter first meeting to then, all of a sudden, being like…
Colleen: He’s like totally in, totally committed, doing all these things for her.
Angela: Yeah!
Colleen: It was kind of sudden that, I wrote down, “Why is Trent involved in her life?” And someone maybe (reads comment) Cooking With My Cozies said he got the contractors working.
Angela: Yeah!
Colleen: And that got me so confused when she walked in and like her kitchen was practically done. I was like, “Wait, did Trent just do this?” So, he did a lot for her.
Angela: Yes! That’s what I meant. Like I kept waiting for her to be like, “Thank you so much, this was such a help.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: He even got the health inspector to come back from his vacation. I mean he really went above and beyond. And, so, I don’t really remember her being super gracious or appreciative. I never really got that vibe from her.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I’m like, “Sleeping with him is not the answer to show your gratitude, thank you.”
Colleen: Right, yeah, but, like, and you could view that as bossy, too. Like he’s getting so involved and saying, “Oh, you’re going to do this, you’re going to do this, this is what to do.” And, so, that was kind of surprising. (reads comment) Cooking With My Cozies says, “Since they are both magical?” I was wondering, “Is it because they both have those abilities that he just kind of knows that like she is someone he needs to be with or, you know, have a relationship with?” I’m not sure.
Angela: So, one of the things that sort of caught me off guard a little bit was, his brother was the one who revealed that they were magical and, so, Trent didn’t exactly reveal it to her or have that conversation.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: And when she first revealed that she was magical to him, he wasn’t exactly happy with that. He was then, it took him a minute. It wasn’t until she said, “I’m a kitchen witch, we have our different craft. I’m not exactly the same type of witch as you,” in which case he’s going, “Whew! Okay,” like you’re not one of those coven witches. I mean, again, with the whole PG-13,Hallmark. I saw someone say PG-13; that’s a good way of saying it, you know, there’s references to the flesh and other stuff. So, he’s thinking she’s going around in the coven, sleeping around, apparently, that’s what they’re doing in that coven. I don’t know what’s going on with that coven.
Colleen: (makes a cringeworthy face) Yeah.
Angela: Again, I was like, “This magical story needs to be explained.” But I think he was happy that she wasn’t the same type of witch, and I wanted more information on what the differences were,
Colleen: (nods) Yeah.
Angela: because he said he didn’t practice, but then he’s saying the chant when he’s going into the cabin.
Colleen: Right, yeah, it’s interesting. Yeah, it’d be interesting to see how different people’s magic evolves in future books. But I mean, overall, I really liked some of the other side characters besides, you know, the romance. I liked her grandma. Was it her grandma? Yeah, right, and I liked Christina, and that she started to be more and more loyal to her. So, what did you think of the other characters?
Angela: I was looking at the comments (displays comment by Cooking With My Cozies “fated?”) I saw the word fated. I was like, “Maybe it’s true! Maybe they are fated mates.” That would make sense.
Colleen: Oh!
Angela: I have to admit I did like Christina near the end, but I did like her. I think I appreciated her more near the end because she chose Mia over her blood, the brother there, because I thought that was very, I liked that as a sort of writing tribute of, you can choose your family, you can choose who you spend time with, choose the people who are best for you to have in your life. I liked the message of what Christina choosing Mia represented. But I also called it, my little cozy-reader romance-reader mind was going, “Oh, her and Isaac are going to be a couple.” And then when it was the couple, I was so pumped! I was so happy that he was mending his ways for her.
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: I was like, “Oh, they’re going to be so cute together.”
Colleen: Yeah, I agree. I had a feeling that, uh.
Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Bookish Benz “I really liked Christina and Levi”) Ah! Levi, Thank You!
Colleen: (nodding) Yes, Levi.
Angela: I’m so sorry. I just saw that. Excuse me, Isaac’s the brother’s name; that would have been a totally different conversation.
Colleen: (laughing) But at one point they comment to Mia that she has trust issues, but I have to say, I could understand why! First of all, Isaac, and then like Cooking With My Cozies just said, “her grandma lied to her for a little bit too about Dorothy,”
Angela: Yeah!
Colleen: and Christina not knowing why. So, I mean, it makes sense the people around her have not always been that trustworthy.
Angela: Yeah, can we just talk about Grans not, I liked Dorothy!
Colleen: I did, too.
Angela: I really enjoyed their conversation.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: And then she’s the one who pops back up saying, “You’ve got to be on guard.” I mean she was a helpful nice little ghost.
Colleen: Yeah, I liked her, yeah.
Angela: But then why didn’t the grandmother acknowledge her at first?
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Especially when she lived in the town, she knew the sort of lore.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: I mean, I think that if I tell you I see someone in the room with me and you let me think I’m going crazy for a minute, I would’ve rather you had been honest than me being like, “Was I hallucinating?”
Colleen: (nods) Right.
Angela: Because you’re going to make me think I’m insane.
Colleen: Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you would think someone who loves you would not do that.
Angela: Let’s see, I’m like looking back down at the notes. Ah! One of the notes (shows notebook) this was like an entire page where I’m like, “Okay, if a knife goes missing, you know it’s going to be the murder weapon” and then that wasn’t the murder weapon.
Colleen: And it wasn’t! Tricked ya, tricked all of us. (laughing) I happened to see that Martha’s Magical Mystery Class commented that Lynn (Cahoon) also writes romance as Lynn Collins. So, maybe that’s why there was a strong romance feel in this book.
Angela: I think that this is where your kind of going, “Is this a little bit more Chick Lit with this narrative?” I was just surprised by the number of references. Again, I’ve read everything when it comes to romance.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: My dissertation is on the genre; this isn’t me being conservative or something.
Colleen: No, no.
Angela: But when it comes to cozy mysteries there’s a certain expectation, especially when it’s a genre sort of standard, and just the number of references to it. Again, I’ve mentioned the other books where it’s just sort of, “And we’re off page now.” – “Oh, we had this reference.” I always thought because we read it a while back, Real Murders, the Aurora Teagarden book one in the series, it was a little bit darker than I had remembered, and there had been a couple of things, you know, she got beat up a little bit, there was a couple of references. At one point she was going, she thought mentally like, “I’m not a virgin.” And, so, you can hear other references and see them, but I was just surprised by her going, “Oh, he’s so hot,” and he’s like, “Are you looking at my butt?” And I started writing them down at one point; yeah, she mentioned having sex, she wanted to have sessions of sex with Trent.
Colleen: Oh!
Angela: And then there were carnal relations that, okay, this was the reference, “The carnal relations that took place at the coven meetings.” And, so, there was also the idea of like reference to a harem. I was going, “What is going on here?” This would not get away at Hallmark! They would be censoring you a lot.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah. In the chat a lot of people are talking about the secret passage, “And how did so many people find the secret passage? When did they find the secret passage?” and all that, because it’s like a lot of people.
Angela: Oh, I like this! (displays and responds to comment by Bookish Benz “I really was waiting to find out that Dorothy was the girl that disappeared.” This would have been interesting if Dorothy was the girl that disappeared.
Colleen: Oh!
Angela: That would’ve been, yeah, we never actually found out who the girl who disappeared was. That’d be an interesting and, again, we have the Dorothy mystery, now we have the little girl mystery.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: There are a few more things to figure out. But I was just really curious, how did everybody, okay, not everybody, but I wanted to know how Christina found the secret tunnel and yet she’s the guest. Meanwhile, the woman who’s been living there didn’t find the tunnel.
Colleen: Right, making renovations and stuff. Yeah, and I was surprised once they were all talking about the tunnel. That night where they all had a sleepover, where they were all together. I was really surprised that they didn’t try to board up the tunnel somehow or, you know, have someone watching at the entrance to the tunnel to prevent someone coming in, and someone did come in, too. John Lewis, I think, came in and then was waiting for her with a gun!
Angela: Yeah. I’m sort of nodding because there were a couple of moments where I’m, again, there’s that ‘too stupid to live’ like that type of character; that’s what they call it for the romance and the heroines. Like, “Oh, I’m going to run into danger” and that’s exactly what this woman Mia did. Especially when Trent said, “Don’t leave the apartment, stay in your house.”
Colleen: (laughing) Yeah.
Angela: What did she do a page and a half later?
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: She left and then ended up being confronted by the killer.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I mean, same thing with the tunnel. I mean, you know that there’s someone coming to get you, and you go down into the creepy dark tunnel? “Oh, Mia. Mia my darling.”
Colleen: (responds to comment by Renee “I don’t think we can call that passage “secret” after all this”) Yeah, as Renee points out, this passage is not secret anymore.
Angela: Yeah, I was going to say, “Try and block it.” Yeah, I mean, what’s going on here? There’s a lot going on in this book to unpack, I mean, right? Yeah.
I have to admit I thought Grans was funny. I was just looking down at my notes and this is just one of those random references that had kind of nothing to do with the story, but I thought it was really funny. After Mia gets out of the hospital and she wants donuts from Trent’s family’s, their bakery or whatever, Grans didn’t want him to see her without the makeup. She’s going, “You look terrible, I don’t want him to see you looking like that.” And she was so happy that Trent wasn’t there, so he didn’t see Mia at her worst. I was just going, “Oh, this is like she’s trying to set you up in the worst way.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I just thought that was so funny, because that really is one of those like, “I’m going to get you married off now.” Yeah, you guys are so, I thought Grans, she was just funny. I wanted to see more of her dog, too. We never really got to experience the dog in the cozy.
Colleen: Yeah, right!
Angela: (displays and repeats comment by lorid927) “Never go in the tunnel!”
Colleen: So true. I wanted to see more of the cat, too. Maybe, maybe in other books, there’s more with the animals.
Angela: I was just looking down. So, yeah, with Christina, did you guys like her from the beginning or was it more later on in the story? Because I just looked down at my notes where she was going to tell her before the dinner with Isaac. So, she kind of seemed to have that moral dilemma going on, but then she still was willing to take the copies and give them to Isaac. So, I was just curious if you guys were kind of giving her a pass, if you’re going, “Oh, he’s blackmailing her,” or if she should have come clean from the sort of get go, because it wasn’t really as if she did anything too terrible. I thought, again, my mind actually went to the/her brother called her a prostitute. I mean I thought that’s where we were going. Like, “Oh, she was a stripper,” she was something, and that was nowhere near what she had been arrested for. She’d been arrested for getting food because she was literally living out of her car. I mean your heart goes out to her, but that’s not how it was kind of set up. So, I’m just curious what you guys think.
Colleen: Yeah, I’m curious, I’m very curious about that. I wasn’t sure. I agree that the reason seemed a little bit strange. I felt like the things Mia was saying about her, I got the feeling that she was going to end up being a good guy. You know, they were going to end up sticking with each other. So, that kind of made me think, “Oh, okay, I think she’s just confused right now.” Clearly, her family is not supportive and really, really tough. So, I would say more on her side, like, “Okay, you know, she’s dealing with a lot.” But, yeah, the crime I thought there was going to be some like really dramatic, you know, things.
Angela: I mean, yeah, (reads comments) you guys are on the same page as me, because I was thinking, you know, it was going to be very much scandalous. Again, I’m not advocating this movie, but when it comes to dancers in Las Vegas, everyone’s like, “Oh, Showgirls” with what’s her name, Saved by the Bell, Elizabeth Berkley. I mean there’s so many other things that comes to mind when you’re starting to preface like, “Oh, she did something terrible and your mind’s going, “Oh, Vegas,” land of parties and everything else. And she was just in a really bad situation and was taken advantage of. She didn’t really do anything too terrible.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I mean I know you’re stealing; this is that whole, “Would you steal a loaf of bread to feed your family?” for, you know, a philosophical debate. I’m like, “Yeah! This poor thing was starving.” She’s okay, like, “I’m going to give you a pass with this one.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was glad things turned out well for her. Yeah, I agree, I was worried about what the letter that Mia withheld from her was, too.
Angela: Yes! She never gave her the letter!
Colleen: If she could have given that to her sooner, a whole bunch of stuff would have been resolved. But obviously, we didn’t want that. We wanted, you know, suspicion; an air of suspicion with lots of different people and things like that.
Angela: Okay, but again, with the, “Were you trying to make Mia an unlikable heroin?” Because you literally stole someone else’s mail. That’s a crime! That’s a no-no.
Colleen: And did she open it, too?
Angela: She actually read it! Yeah, “that’s not good Mia.” I mean, we’re going to call this a wash, because the other one was going to steal recipes.
Colleen: Right! I think that’s what it seems like; it seems like they both, you know, potentially did things.
Angela: I mean, it would be one thing if she like, again, I’ve done this myself where you put something in your purse and you forget about it.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I mean, that’s one thing, if you’re going, “Oh, I’m on the way out, I don’t have time to run back or give this to her. I put this away and I forgot about it.” But she knew what she was doing. That’s a crime.
Colleen: Right, yeah, “That’s a federal offense” Simone (Times) said.
Angela: I mean, because even then, even if she just held onto the letter, okay, that’s bad.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: But when she opened it, “Oh, Mia. You’re going into the tunnel; you leave your house after they tell you not to. Oh, goodness, Mia.”
Colleen: It’s a stressful time for her.
Angela: Yeah. I was going to say, it’s a good thing Trent has her back. I mean, he’s the one who found the cabin. I mean, Mia was left to her own devices, yikes.
Colleen: “Communication people!” Cooking With My Cozies (comment) said.
Angela: (displays and repeats comments by Sharon Elizabeth) “Mia was not the brightest bulb.” Yeah! & “How many times did she keep pushing it back in her bag?”
Colleen: Yeah, that’s true, yeah, no.
Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Cooking With My Cozies “She was with Isaac”) She was with, you’re like, “Look at the boyfriend. Look at the guy she chose.” She didn’t really have much taste.
Colleen: Yeah, that’s true. That was interesting how she talked about that, you know, she had instincts against him, even like somewhat magical instincts knowing he wasn’t great, and she did just push him off and everything like that. And that was very sad, I think, that she had done that. And it would be hard to spend so much time in a relationship and then feel like, “Ugh! What was I doing?” feeling like, “I should’ve known better” so maybe that’s just she’s struggling, and so.
Angela: I don’t know where my note is on this, but one of the things that I jotted down, I really liked Christina in one scene in particular when Isaac was visiting, because he says something like, “Get me a cup of coffee,” and Mia actually goes to get up to get him the cup of coffee, and Christina actually took her by the shoulders and pushed her down like, “No, no, no, don’t get up.” And there was another time, again, that’s why I was looking for the note, it happened in that same scene, where she was about to get up and do something because he told her to and Christina had to be like, “No, no, no, you’re staying down.” And, so, the fact that she was still about to get up and someone else had to intervene, I thought that was really noteworthy because even though she’s come a long way, she broke up with him, there still is something inside of her going, “Oh, I’ve got to listen to him. Oh, I need to do this.” So, I definitely think she’s on an emotional-growth path.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: But I was so happy Christina intervened and was like, “No, sit down. You’re not doing this.”
Colleen: Yeah, yeah, I think that’s maybe why I was a little surprised with how fast Trent and her then, you know, moved forward. Just because like you said, “She has some personal growth to do,” but.
Angela: I know, I was trying to find the note because I can’t remember what the second thing was, but I just thought it was a little, you know, she was still susceptible to that sort of demand or even Isaac. I liked it at the end when she was writing down her grievances and trying to forgive him. And I thought it was so funny when Christina joined in and she’s like, “I have this long, long list of grievances” and she kept writing and writing and writing. But at least she’s acknowledging that she needs to evolve and change.
Colleen: Right, yeah. I liked that scene. That was one of my favorite scenes from the story, was that moment.
Angela: I was trying to find it. Again, there’s so many notes and so many things with this book, I’m like, “I don’t even know where that went.” (reading comments) But I just saw these; these are really cute.
Colleen: So, some people are commenting about Gloria and everything. So, am I right, and tell me if I’m wrong, so was her familiar, it was the cat? Mr. Darcy? But then when Grans’s lover got put into Mr. Darcy’s body, then did her familiar move to being Mia, the kitchen witch? Or has Gloria always been her familiar?
Angela: I think she said she’s had Gloria for years.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: But I think it was like their relationship kept getting stronger like their bond kept growing.
Colleen: Okay.
Angela: Because I think she said something at one point, I’m totally paraphrasing here in my own words, about how now she can talk to her and she’ll respond, that wasn’t always the case.
Colleen: Okay.
Angela: I was kind of confused about the doll because when it comes to magical mythology, usually it is the animal. I mean, again, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, you’ve got the cat, you’ve got the family familiar, you’ve got your grimoire, like, there are all these things you’re used to seeing. So, I’m with you where I was going, “What is it with the doll?”
Colleen: Yeah, interesting, and people are saying different things. So, yeah, Crystal Tea Knits said, “Gloria always was the familiar, but the cat was a second familiar.” Then, Cooking With My Cozies says, “No, Gloria took the place (of her invisible friend).” So, it may be a little confusing. I guess maybe that’s something I would need to go back and read it a little more carefully. Or, actually, no; read the novella. I bet if I read the novella then, maybe, I’d feel more sure.
Angela: (laughing, displays and reads comment by Inspired Witch E) “The doll’s weird and didn’t go.” I mean, I had Barbie dolls and Brats and other stuff, you know, growing up or whatever. But now as an adult, when it comes to dolls, I find them really creepy, especially when things are like Chucky and other stuff. You think of them as like demonic sometimes. I just thought it was like a really weird thing in my head. I just kept picturing this really creepy doll. I don’t know if anyone watches Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but there’s an episode where Jake goes to a hotel and he has the doll room, and the dolls are just looking at him and they’re really creepy; like, that’s what I was picturing.
Colleen: I did Google kitchen witch, just because I wanted to know a little bit more, and some of it talked about like what Mia is. But one result for kitchen witch was a Wikipedia article about a kitchen witch is a doll that anybody can have in their kitchen or like as a little, I can’t think of the right word, a little friend. And I guess it’s an old tradition, so she was kind of a combination of things, I guess.
Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Bookish Benz “I kept picturing Gloria as the doll from Lilo and Stitch lol”) I just saw this comment. I love Lilo and Stitch; that’s one of my favorite movies. I think that movie is so cute. But I love the little doll that Lilo makes.
Colleen: Yes!
Angela: Like, it’s not exactly the most attractive doll, but it’s so cute. And when she hugs it after she threw it on the ground and she picks it back up, your heart; that’s a really good image. I’m going to use that in my head instead of my weird doll.
Colleen: There you go, there you go.
Angela: I’m going to use that one instead. (displays and responds to comment by Victoria Hamel “Kitchen Witches is an actually physical thing”) So, this is an actual thing, okay. (laughing at comment by Crystal Tea Knits “Cabbage Patch dolls are evil and freak me out”) I just saw the cabbage patch kid reference.
Colleen: I’m glad you got that out.
Angela: Like the same thing with Furbies, it’s like, “Okay, what is this thing?” You guys are so cute. Okay, so other people were questioning things.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah, it’s always nice to know that I’m just not missing things. I’m not just completely clueless by myself.
Angela: I didn’t really know much about the kitchen witch backstory. So, now, you guys got me thinking like I’ve got to go look into this more because, I mean, I’ve always been interested or been familiar with magical storylines, you know, watching Charmed and the original Charmed, thank you very much. So, there’s always things that show you the mythology. You’re just sort of, “Oh, this is what you can expect.” But I’m not really super familiar with the idea of kitchen witch and how their powers are limited to just a certain area or thing, so I’ve got some more reading to do.
Colleen: Yeah, I agree.
Angela: (displays and responds to comment by Lori @readingwithmrsleaf “Off to google kitchen witches”) Oh, okay, off to google. Okay, you guys are researching. I’m sorry, I’m just like going all over the place. I’m like, “I don’t even know where I left off.”
Colleen: These are very helpful comments.
Angela: You guys are so (displays and responds to comment by Patti C “I loved Charmed”) Thank You! and again we had Prue and then we had Paige, differences, I tried to watch the new one, I think I lasted a season; it didn’t stick. I have a random note here, again, I think I just liked the random things that Grans said and did.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, she was spelling, she’s like, “I was spelling to break you and Isaac up.” She was actually saying magical things to break Isaac and Mia up: that blew my mind.
Colleen: Yeah, and that she reads Mia’s mind all the time. Like, she just does it whenever she feels like it. Yeah, that was interesting. I have to say I was like, “Wow, talk about interfering family.”
Angela: You haven’t had a private thought since you’ve been born. Oh, that is a statement.
Colleen: That is, yeah, that’s a lot.
Angela: I don’t know how I’d feel about that! Just saying Grans, “Give her a break.” (displays comment by Elle Wren Burke “Grans wants world peace and to break up relationships”)
Colleen: “Grans wants world peace and to break up relationships.” (laughing)
Angela: No, I’m kind of going, “What are the parameters of you being a kitchen witch?” I mean you’re spelling over here, your kind of doing this.
Colleen: Is her Grans a kitchen witch as well?
Angela: I think so.
Colleen: Okay, okay, got it.
Angela: I looked down at the notes. We already kind of talked about John Lewis, but I wrote down, “He threatened to kill Grans’s dog and hurt Mr. Darcy.” As soon as you say that you’re going to hurt an animal, it’s like, “You are a bad person.”
Colleen: Yeah! That was terrible.
Angela: I was, no, go ahead.
Colleen: No, no, go, say what you were going to say.
Angela: No, no, no. I was going to say, I just have a random note here about Elizabeth, the librarian, being mad she didn’t have a library card.
Colleen: Yeah, that was really funny, and didn’t Helen bring that up, too? And like the confrontation at the end, she was like, “Elizabeth’s mad about that.”
Angela: I was going to say, if she doesn’t have a library card in book two or one of the subsequent novellas (shaking her head) “Mia.”
(displays and laughs at comment by jeja_admirerofwordsandcoffee “So, I was just multitasking – and I just finished the book, haha so thank you for the spoilers, it mentally prepared me.”)
Oh, no, so, what were you going to say? I didn’t mean to interrupt you before with my little note about Elizabeth.
Colleen: Oh, I was just, I need a little reminder. Is John Lewis the one who hit her?
Angela: Yeah, so, I think he was the one who attacked her, right?
Colleen: Okay.
Angela: Because that’s what I mean when I was confused about our killer being revealed, and I was like, “She’s not trying to set her up because she wasn’t even the one who attacked her.” I was just thrown for a loop-de-loop. We have John who wants to get rid of her, we have the killer, then we have the random nephew running around.
Colleen: Right, I mean, yeah, okay.
Angela: (displays comments by Crystal Tea Knits “no why can’t Mia read people’s minds but everyone else can including Trent who doesn’t practice but she practices the craft” & Cooking With My Cozies “Which could make the developer a good victim” & “Elle Wren Burke “I wasn’t clear on that and WHO SHUT HER IN THE BASEMENT”)
Colleen: It wasn’t clear on that and who shut her in the basement.
Photo by @ellewrenburke.author
Angela: Yeah, do we actually find out? That’s one of my questions aside from like the title of the book. I was like, “Who actually did that?” Because, again, with Mia’s questionable life choices, she didn’t actually tell Trent and Grans and Christina about being shut in the basement until it was necessary to.
Colleen: Right, right.
Angela: And then they were like, “Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: “Oh, Mia, make better decisions.”
Colleen: Okay, yeah, I guess I am a little bit confused about exactly who hit her and who shut her in the basement. I mean it would make sense that it was John Lewis because he knew where the secret passage was. But did he get in trouble? Did he, he did, oh, well, the nephew got in trouble for impersonation.
Angela: (displays comment by Lady Gizmo “I thought Helen shut her in the basement, no?”)
Colleen: Oh, so Lady Gizmo says it was Helen who shut her in the basement, okay.
Angela: Okay, I wasn’t entirely sure. Other people are saying it was unclear, too.
Colleen: And I just finished this a couple of days ago.
Angela: I always try and read the book as close to the livestream as possible,
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah, yeah.
Angela: so it’s fresh and I don’t forget the characters. So, again, even with the audiobook, I listened to the audio first and then I went back and actually read the text on my iPad. Because with the audio, I knew it wasn’t John as our killer because we still had an hour and a half left in the audio version after the confrontation in the tunnel. I’m like, “Okay, so he’s out.”
(displays comment by Gina Waffles “It was unclear to me about the basement thing”)
Colleen: Yeah, right. Oh, that’s right. He did get. Oh, no, Crystal Tea Knits says he gets out of jail by the next book, and he starts harassing her again.
(Max barks)
Angela: Okay, what are you doing? Why are you barking? Oh, goodness, he put his treat in my purse, and he can’t get it.
(Angela leaves to go see Max)
Colleen: Oh, man. (responds to a comment) Oh, Lady Gizmo, you were asking if it was Helen, too. Okay, yeah, so I guess I’m not really sure who shut her in the basement.
(Angela returns)
Angela: I don’t know if you heard Max barking, but he’s fine.
Colleen: Good. Maybe it’s the weird stalker person who stole her knife and her corkscrew. Could they be the person who shut her in the basement?
Angela: Yeah, because she gets another weird package at the end, and then you have the very cryptic menacing, “Oh, there’s too much good here, all the badness is coming.” What do you mean there’s too much goodness? You just had three people be terrible. What are you talking about?
Colleen: Yeah, very ominous, the idea that something bad is going to happen. Yeah, that was kind of scary.
Angela: She got attacked. You’ve got the weird, bad realtor. You’ve got the actual killer who was correcting her saying, “Don’t swear” and “This is unchristian,” and you’re like, “You’re the one with the gun, honey.”
Colleen: Yeah, right.
Angela: There are a lot of people doing a lot of bad things, so I don’t really know what Dorothy was going with, “Oh, there’s too much good here.”
Colleen: Yeah, that’s a good point.
Angela: I have a random note. So, did you guys like our detective friends? The only thing I liked about him was at the very end when but, again, like I’m taking this with a grain of salt. I thought it was funny how he liked scaring Christina because she was the only one who respected him as a cop.
Colleen: Yeah! “Yeah, I’m just having fun!”
Angela: He was like, “I love that she’s scared of me. She’s the only one who thinks of me that way. Everyone else thinks of me as the guy who couldn’t get into this and do that.” I mean, up until that point, I didn’t really like him. Then he had that one scene, I’m going, “Oh, you’re funny.” But until then I was a little iffy on him. So, I’m curious what y’all thought of him.
Colleen: Yeah, I thought he was okay. I definitely felt that Mia thought he suspected her way longer than he did. I was like, “I don’t think you need to worry, I’m pretty sure he does not suspect you anymore. Like, I think he’s, you know, moved on. Especially when you got attacked, like, I don’t think he thinks it is you.” So, I liked him because of that. I felt he didn’t stick on her unreasonably. Like, he was investigating and looking at different things so at least there was that. But, yeah, it was kind of funny that he was like, “I want somebody to be impressed by me.”
Angela: (displays comment by Elle Wren Burke “Scaring her for his ego purposes!”) I just saw the comment with Elle saying it’s for his ego. Oh, no, like the reason behind it is terrible,
Colleen: Terrible, terrible.
Angela: but at least it wasn’t being like, “Oh, no, I’m going after her.” At least he just sort of was acknowledging like, “No, she’s fine.” I think the only reason I liked it or at least made me like him a little bit more or enjoy him a little bit more was because I knew he wasn’t really going to be hurting Christina or going after her in a bad way. It was more like, “Ugh, you know, I give her this impression, but I’m not actually going to put her in a jail cell.”
Colleen: Yeah, yeah.
Angela: I think I also just liked that he was kind of giving her an out because, by the end of that book, I feel as if Christina could have been the main character, because she was put through the ringer. I mean, everything from the mother to the brother. So, like, “Do I betray the woman who’s being nice to me?”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: “And if I betray Mia then Grans is not going to like me, and now I’m taking out” I mean, apparently, she was going through something, because that’s why she had the barb with the eyebrow and the piercings, because then she took them out at the end, so she was going through a whole slew of things.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, I was just glad someone was finally like, “Oh, I’ll leave you alone now.”
Colleen: Yeah, really. And I think his character, we didn’t get too much animosity built for him, which suggests that he’s going to kind of be maybe friends with her or more on her side in future books. It’s not going to be one of those they’re always against the town police person.
Angela: I mean at least he went to the event and was smiling at her and was nice. It gets really annoying with certain cozies when you’re going, “Oh my goodness, we get it! Law enforcement is not helping them solve the case.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: But, I mean, it makes the police look so incompetent sometimes. It’s a little too much when it’s going, “Oh boy!” I mean, “If this person’s actually on the force, good luck!” Nothing would be done. Yeah, he was harsh on her.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I’m just glad he’s not going to be going after her for the, you know.
Colleen: Right, right.
Angela: (displays comments by Lady Gizmo “I agree, he was harsh on Cristina” & Elle Wren Burke “Oooh what if Christina becomes a deputy?”)
Colleen: Oh, what if Christina becomes a deputy?
Angela: That would be interesting.
Colleen: Part-time kitchen witch, part-time deputy.
Angela: I really liked her character. I really did by the end, with that, because I would love to see her get her own sort of story or maybe she can get like a novella from her own point of view or something. I just think that would be really interesting because she had a lot going on; even now, she has the burgeoning relationship.
Colleen: Yeah, right, right.
Angela: Okay, I saw your name pop up in the comments. I was looking for you Gina Waffles! You won last month’s giveaway, and I was actually going to, I had been posting about this on Instagram and Twitter, you won the Halloween, what is it, Homicide Halloween, the Mrs. Claus book!
Colleen: Mrs. Claus and the Halloween Homicide (by Liz Ireland)?
Angela: Yes, you won! and I’ve been trying to get a hold of you!
Colleen: Yay, Gina Waffles.
Angela: That’s why I was looking down. I had you as one of my end-of-the-night notes of like, “If anyone knows her, if she’s back, please let me know!” because one of the issues, sometimes, is with YouTube where like, “How do I tag them on Twitter or Instagram when I don’t know the handles?” So, if you guys ever see someone’s name and your friends with them, please tell them to be like, “Hey, make sure you DM Angela!” because I also had a few extra people because I was like, “Oh, because there’s so many comments, participation, and it took me a long time to go through all the comments, I was going, “Oh, I’ll send out some extra bookmarks, too.” Those people didn’t DM, so there are still extra bookmarks.
Colleen: Oh, man!
Angela: So, please be on the lookout for those things on Instagram and Twitter. (big smile) I like these comments; everyone’s congratulating. I just saw your name pop up and I was like, “I was looking for you before!” I’m glad you popped back up. But yes, so there’s always a giveaway. Tonight’s giveaway, I totally didn’t mean to go off on this tangent, but I saw her name pop up. So, tonight, every single comment goes towards winning a paperback copy of Grounds for Murder, Tara Lush’s first cozy mystery.
(displays and responds to comment by Gina Waffles “Thank you! That’s so great!”)
Angela: Yes, you’re very welcome! I’m glad you’re joining us tonight because I felt so badly. I was trying to get in touch with you; and Krista, you are the second winner because when Gina didn’t respond, I tried messaging for two weeks and then I was like, “Okay, I’ll choose a new winner,” and then I chose you Krista. You were the one I randomly selected, and I didn’t hear from you either. So, I need to do something now for you, too! Oh, the things, the things. I just see your name pop up and I’m going, “Okay, we’ve got to figure out a system.” You were the winner when I didn’t know if Gina was going to respond. I actually had that as the little note (holds up paper and points to names) I don’t know if you guys can see Gina and then Krista.
Colleen: Aww.
Angela: It’s in the notebook.
(responds to comment by Gina Waffles “I’m so sorry.”)
Don’t be sorry. It’s hard because I feel so badly with Instagram changing their algorithms because they don’t do it by time anymore. It used to be, “Oh, this person posted it by this day and this time, and it would go in order” and now everything goes out of whack because it’s based on responses and comments and preferences. It’s not based on time anymore, so there’s no way to figure that out.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, that’s why it’s hard, because and I also feel as if I repeat myself sometimes with the Instagram and Twitter because I don’t know what’s actually being seen or not.
Colleen: True.
Angela: So, that’s why I don’t know if people are finding out. So, this was the first month that I actually didn’t get a response so I’m going to have to figure out if there’s another way like if I need to figure out, “Oh, put it in the newsletter, put it in this, to make sure it really reaches across the board.”
Colleen: Right, right.
Angela: I think that’s more of the social media platforms messing up with the algorithms, so I’m not really sure what’s being heard or seen.
Colleen: (nods) Right.
Angela: I think if you guys have a system preference in mind, I’m just thinking, you know, one of the ways I could sort of do it is leave it up and then come the next livestream, just be like, “and the Winner was” in case I still haven’t heard from you. So, I’m going to have to figure out something for you guys.
Colleen: Right, right.
Angela: So, Gina and Krista, DM me your addresses.
Colleen: Bye, Regina.
Angela: Oh, “Bye, Thank You for joining.” You guys are the best. I love you guys. But I just wanted to make sure that you guys know that I’m trying to notify you, so I’ll mention it, hopefully, again. I had it for the note for tonight; but if I don’t hear from the Winner, I’ll mention it again in the next livestream.
Colleen: (nods) That’s good.
Angela: Because I don’t want to take away the winning, you know, the prize.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: I mean, I worked out a giveaway with Kensington and there’s a book up for grabs; someone should enjoy it!
Colleen: Yeah, definitely, yeah.
Angela: So, that was a total tangent. So, if you guys still want to talk about the book, if there’s something you guys wanted to mention before, before I went off on that little thing.
Colleen: Is there anything else that people want to mention?
Angela: I was going to say, yeah, I didn’t mean to just sort of, I’m just so happy I saw Gina’s name pop up and I even saw Krista’s; like, “I was looking for you!”
Colleen: Absolutely.
Angela: And please don’t ever apologize, I love you guys. I’m so appreciative that you’re here and taking part and reading the books.
(responds to comments by Gina Waffles “I see/follow mostly on IG, since I’m on there 85% of the time” & Krista Avink “Thank you Angela! I only use YouTube for these livestreams lol”)
No, you’re fine. Okay, so Instagram, I’m going to try and make sure it’s all across platforms, especially when I don’t know what the username is on YouTube, because you can’t click on the comments to bring you to someone’s channel so YouTube, oh, social media, I’ve got a microphone that mutes me then you’ve got missing stuff.
(responds to comments by Lady Gizmo “Angela, you do so much. Thanks for all you do!!” & DearReaders_thisisJess “Thank you @Angela you always go above and beyond!”)
Angela: Oh, it’s my pleasure.
Colleen: We love you.
Angela: Aww, I love it, I mean, it’s my absolute pleasure. I was just going, “I have a book! I want to give it!”
So, I was going to say while you guys take a moment to think of if there’s something else you want to mention for the book, I was just looking down at the notes because you, this just reminded me, one of the things that sort of came up was if you guys post a photo of the book of the month even if it’s after-the-fact, you know, even if you read this book and you’re going, “Oh, I read this for The Cozy Mystery Book Club in November.” If you post a photo of one of our previous reads or a book of the month, let me know and I’ll send you a Cozy Mystery Book Club bookmark as a Thank You. And so, I know you (Colleen) posted a photo; she takes the best photos, too. She’s so cute.
Colleen: Me!?
Angela: Yeah, you take great photos. You posted a photo with the bookmark, and I think I re-shared it.
Colleen: Yeah, and I haven’t entered those just because I have a couple of bookmarks and so I want other people to get them. But yeah, “People! Enter! Enter! You want those bookmarks! They’re the cutest things ever!”
Angela: Oh, no, like, simply just tell me, just tag me, and be like, “Okay, here’s my post, here’s my address,” and I will send it out to you. And then I can, again, it’s just me doing this. So, for International Sleuthers, I’m not mailing Internationally, but there’s a page I created that has twelve (12) different bookmark designs, two (2) adult coloring book pages and images I worked really hard on in Procreate that have never been seen and shared before. So, you guys have your own secret page that I also give you the password for; so, I’ve got you covered.
Colleen: That’s awesome.
Angela: And what I was going to do, so I’ve been working on this, I believe it was Mrs. Leaf who brought this up, I don’t know if she’s still here, but she’s been posting every single month and she’s the reason why this came up.
So, if you post four months in a row, I will send you an enamel pin of Purrlock or MoriarTEA, and then if you post eight months in a row, I have these new pens that are epic! I am so obsessed with them I almost don’t want to send them out, because they’re just so cool; they’re really decorative and, again, this isn’t one of those like, “Oh, promotional pen” like, they’re really, really cool looking. So, you’ll get one of the Book Club pens.
Colleen: Wow!
Angela: And then if you do twelve months, you post a Book Club photo every single month on your Instagram, the Club mug is for you. You’ll get the mug.
Colleen: Wow! Now, um, just out of curiosity, if someone can’t wait, can they buy that pen somewhere?
Angela: I mean, you know me, I’m always doing giveaways and stuff. I don’t really.
Colleen: Is it on your Zazzle or anything? Or is it on any of your sites?
Angela: No,
Colleen: Okay.
Angela: because this one I ordered through Etsy.
Colleen: Okay, okay.
Angela: This one I had specifically designed; it’s very decorative at the top, it’s made just for the Book Club. So, it’s a very decorative top and it says Sleuther on it. I just think that they’re really cool looking, so I’ll be giving them away.
Colleen: Okay.
Angela: I’m not going to hoard them, but I just thought they were so cool. I’m like, “Aww, mine.” (big smile) I don’t know what it is with office supplies.
Colleen: But there are lots of cute things if people want Christmas presents or anything. Like your Zazzle site and your other, what, Red? And there’s a Society thing?
Angela: There’s Society6 and then there’s also Teespring; and, again, I did these different sites.
Colleen: Okay.
Angela: I tried to do the, I think it’s Society6 where you can’t put “No.” I mean, again, any money I make I just put right back into the Club because this isn’t a business, I’m not trying to charge. Zazzle, I think I have the penny, like, you have to have some sort of commission or price that you get off of it. I’m like, “Okay, I’m going to mark this up by a single penny.” I’m pretty sure Zazzle has no idea what to do with me. I just think it’s fun when you want to be a part of a club,
Colleen: (nods) It is!
Angela: or you love a movie, and you just want to wear the sweatshirt, like, “Oh, you know, I love this.” Again, I’m wearing a Halloween Town shirt.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: “I just want to feel a part of it,” so that’s why the things exist. So, if there’s ever something you want to have, yeah.
Colleen: Yeah, there’s lots of cute stuff, there’s so many cute shirts.
Angela: It’s not a business sort of thing. You know, people are asking me, like, “Oh, will you do a book box? Will you do this?” I mean I don’t really want to charge for the coziness because it’s just meant to be a fun, positive environment. I think that’s part of the fun that you know that I’m not trying to sell you products, like, “This is all just for you!”
Colleen: No, yeah.
Angela: When people are like, “Oh, join my Patreon, do this,” at the very beginning and end of everything they do, you’re going, “Okay, I know.” But it’s still fine, like, if you want to make money that’s fine, on your channels, I’m just saying, “I’m not doing that.”
Colleen: You should check out her stuff; it’s really cute! I’ll say it!
Angela: Well, I have to admit Society6 is having a 30% off Sale. I just posted this on Twitter because I’m always on their email newsletter list, and so I got that, like, “I need to re-share this.” And I was so pumped because I just uploaded some new designs that say Sleuther and they’re really, really cute. I actually want to go buy some myself.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: I have the new long-sleeve shirt; it says Sleuther across it, and then there’s another one that says Sleuther at Work and so I’m going, “Oh, I kind of want to buy and treat myself to something, too!”
Colleen: Right, yeah.
Angela: So, I might be buying something.
Colleen: I’ll have to check that out (repeats comment by DearReaders_thisisJess) Jess wants to know “Angela, what does your sweatshirt say?!”
Angela: So, it just says, “BEING NORMAL IS VASTLY OVERRATED” from Halloween Town: the original movie, not the, I don’t know what that fourth one was; I like the third one, second one’s good. But the original Halloween Town, Disney Channel Movies, they don’t make them like they did anymore (shaking her head) they don’t do them like they used to.
Colleen: Okay, I did think of something else I wanted to bring up that is another mystery that isn’t solved yet is her guardian; she has a guardian, and we don’t know who the guardian is.
Angela: Yes!
Colleen: So, that’s another interesting piece that I think could potentially make someone want to continue reading the series is to find out what that’s about.
Angela: Yeah, I was kind of wondering because she thanks the goddess.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: She mentions the goddess and I’m going, “Who is this goddess? What is your religion?” I have questions. I need more information.
Colleen: Yeah. I don’t know a lot about that, yeah.
Angela: I’m like, “Is the goddess, is she the one who is sending this information?”
Colleen: Right, right, or is there somebody else? (reads comment) Oh, Crystal Tea Knits thinks “the guardian might be Adele.” Oh, that would be interesting.
Angela: Maybe she’s fake mean.
Colleen: I was kind of sad that Adele was the victim, honestly, because I would’ve liked to have seen more of her being sassy and mean to everybody yet, also, not a bad person. She would’ve been an interesting character to continue. So, yeah, maybe.
Angela: Yeah, I have kind of lingering questions when it comes to Adele because clearly Grans is a good-hearted character and she’s friends with Adele.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, clearly, there’s something to Adele that’s likable,
Colleen: Right.
Angela: and easy to connect with or some way to connect with her. I don’t know if easy is the right word but Grans was friends with her so there’s got to be a reason. I kind of wanted to pull on that thread a little bit.
Colleen: Yeah, yeah, anyways, I just thought about that; that the guardian thing was something.
Angela: Oh, no, yeah, if there are any other comments, please. I didn’t mean to just sort of…
Colleen: (responds to comment by Lady Gizmo “Or… we’ll get to know Mia’s Mother a bit more”) Someone brought up maybe we’ll get to know her mother; maybe her mother will become part of that.
Angela: I’m also curious what’s going to happen with Mr. Kennedy, the health inspector; he just sort of came and went back to his fishing trip so I was like, “Enjoy.”
Colleen: Yeah. (laughing)
Angela: I also just wrote down “Dorothy’s story.” I really, maybe Dorothy can get her own little novella, too, “The Ghost of the Town.” Because when we got her sort of backstory with the husband cheating on her, again, like you kind of think she was murdered. I think that’s the question, like, “Who killed Dorothy?”
Colleen: (nods) Right.
Angela: I want her to get more on-the-page time.
Colleen: Yeah, I agree, I agree. (reading comments) Okay, some people are saying maybe the guardian is someone in the Coven, yeah.
Angela: Yeah, because we don’t know who else is in this Coven.
Colleen: Right.
Angela: We just know that Levi is utilizing, I love how Grans was like, “He sowed his wild oats.” I’m like, “That’s a very polite way of saying that.”
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, we don’t know who they were sowing them with. But like, “Who else is in this Coven?”
Colleen: I did notice that I read the summary for Chili Cauldron Curse, the novella, and it did say that I mean the murder happens like in the Coven and everything. So, I wonder if we would know a little bit more about them if we read that one, you know? And maybe that’ll come back in more books; more detail about who’s in it and stuff like that.
Angela: Oh, really random note; so, I think this was kind of why I liked Trent, because if Mia pulled this with me, I would’ve been really annoyed. She made an appointment to meet him at 8:00, and he called her at 8:30, and he woke her up and then she’s like, “Oh, I’ll be there in a half an hour,” and she actually got there at 9:15 but he was still nice about it. He’s like, “Go eat your breakfast, go sit down, it’s a small town.”
If someone made me wait for an hour and fifteen minutes, I would not be a happy camper. I was trying to finish that sentence in a nice way, no kidding. I had a doctor’s appointment one time, and they kept me in the waiting room for probably an hour and a half; and when they went to take my blood pressure, it was so high because I was so upset. The guy had to retake my blood pressure at the end of the appointment because I was so annoyed when they first called me back there. Because when they do the blood pressure thing, that’s the first thing they do when they get you in that room, and I was just not having it. So, I just was giving Trent credit for being low key and being like, “No relax, eat your breakfast.” So, just wanted to throw that out there like giving Trent a little bonus point.
Colleen: Yeah, that is very true. (reads comment) Oh, Martha’s Magical Mystery Class is asking what’s the November book? Is it Death of a Kitchen Diva?
Angela: We have Lee Hollis’s Death of a Kitchen Diva. This is our November book. Oh, wait a second! Again, I learned how to do things. Okay, let’s see if I can do this.
Colleen: I’m excited about both of these. I’m excited about the November one because my grandma likes Lee Hollis’s series and I’m excited about the December one because it looks so cozy.
Angela: I had the best time making some of these images. Again, oh, here’s the one I made. Yes!
Colleen: Nice!
Angela: So, this is the image that’s going to be for next month’s introductory (livestream).
Colleen: Oh, cute, cute. Love it!
Angela: So, for December, we have 12 Days of Cozies, and so because of 12 Days of Cozies, we are not going to be doing the official livestream, but we’re going to be doing the Buddy Read and, so, the Buddy Read book is In Peppermint Peril (by Joy Avon). And so, again, we have the books being displayed, hopefully, very nicely on screen, and then I’ve got the Christmas MoriarTEA (image) he’s covering your face.
Colleen: Oh, yeah, look, look! He’s my face! Ah!!
Angela: Okay, so, this is me being like the overachiever person, like, my little perfectionist self. I was trying to figure out where to put things (displays images) so they wouldn’t get in the way of the screen, so I kept making new images and putting them in different places,
Colleen: Oh, my gosh.
Angela: so I could figure out like this is funny (displays image) Casey’s going to be in like up and down. I was trying so hard to figure out, “Will he cover the name? Will he be in the way?” like with MoriarTEA, I was trying to figure out the placement in the worst way. I was determined to get this right, and then we have our little Sherlock Hamster. I was really trying to go for it. So, even then, like Sleuthing Tuesdays,
Colleen: Oh, nice!
Angela: I have the different things (displays images) all across the screen, like, “Where can I put it? How can I angle this?” so you guys can see them.
Colleen: Yeah, how fun!
Angela: So, these are the things I do in my spare time; so, here’s the one that I think actually works (displays a colorful word image of The Cozy Mystery Book Club). The things I do.
Colleen: Yeah, I love it, I love it! Yeah, they both sound great, they both sound really good. When are you going to announce the days for 12 Days of Cozies? When does that happen?
Angela: So, 12 Days of Cozies runs December 1st through December 12th, so we have the twelve days, and as you were asking me this question, I’m doing the math in my head with posting the announcements. So, right now, there are thirty-five authors, and, so, yeah, I’m really pumped about this. We have thirty-five authors, and I’m going to pull up my calendar off to the side. I’m going to be reaching out to the final few authors, and plus I have a few emails to respond back to; it’s really hard sometimes to keep up, because I’m only one person.
Colleen: Yeah! I know.
Angela: So, I got the DMs, I got the Instagram DMs, I got the Instagram comments, I got the emails; it’s hard to always get back to everybody but I have a few emails with authors that I need to respond to, and I’m going to have that all set up and organized. But this 12 Days of Cozies, I upped the coziness level. I’m really excited, if she’s still here, I know Marta (Marta’s Magical Mystery Class) is one of the authors who’s joining us, and she’s featured, and so I was just looking to see where I put my word document.
Colleen: (responds to comment by Lady Gizmo (Colleen, you’re a great co-host. Such fun!! You look amazing tonight”) Thank you, Lady Gizmo, you’re so sweet.
Angela: Oh, yeah, there’s someone on Instagram who’s like, “I love it when she’s the guest hostess.” I’m like, “I do, too.” We were like fangirling together.
So, every day, there’s going to be a lot of coziness. Again, I feel like I’m pitching right now, but sign up for the email Newsletter because every day you will get an email in the morning and that’s going to have, there’s going to be a Giveaway with the Newsletter. I don’t always use this feature, this is the same thing with my personal Instagram, I’ve been hiding the ‘Like’ count, like I don’t want to know. I’m posting this because I like the photo and I want to share this.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: I don’t care if there’s one hundred Likes or ten. I just want to do what I want to do. So, with Mailchimp, there’s a feature where you can see who opens the emails. So, I don’t usually utilize this feature, but it’s there. And so, for the email Newsletter, if you open the Newsletter, you’re automatically entered to win the Giveaway. So, Subscribe, Enter, and with that I’m really happy. You’ve got to love how I do my little, “I’m so happy to do the different platforms and devices” because I know certain people can only access or read certain things. So, for the Newsletter, every Giveaway is going to either be an eBook or an audiobook.
Colleen: (nods) Right.
Angela: So, digital, again, like for me, I’m thinking Internationally. So, there’s no limit on where you are, like, “Oh, I’ve got to worry about postage.” You know, at least with the Newsletter, if it’s a digital Newsletter, I’ve got the digital Giveaway items. So, every morning you get the Giveaway with that plus I’m so happy, like, I already finished all of them. You get, every single day, I’m going to have Bingo Boards or a Word Search or something. I have all the Instagram templates and stories. I just really went for it. I’m thinking about how I have the emails all drafted; again, me being my little-overachiever self.
So, every day, there’s going to be at least three things; and, an adult coloring book page. I have this stuff ready to go. I’ve been working on this literally since last 12 Days of Cozies.
Colleen: Yeah! You have!
Angela: I kid you not, there’s a lot of content, and every morning that email comes out, there’s going to be a guest blog post by an author, and I’m actually going to be responding to all of the comments. I also posted a search of asking if any of the cozy readers wanted to post something.
Photo by @writerahart
I’m thinking the blog post for the authors in the morning and the evening post will be by a sleuther. So, you know, not just authors being showcased. I’m just looking, excuse me, so, then we have the Twitter Giveaway. Everyday there’s going to be a Giveaway on Twitter, and then everyday there’s also going to be an Instagram Giveaway, and authors are also going to be going on their own Instagram channels and doing Instagram live events.
Colleen: Yay!
Angela: The first one is going to be at two o’clock on December 1st with Winnie Archer/Melissa Bourbon. She’s going to be the first Instagram live author. So, at two o’clock you can chat live with Winnie over on her channel, her Instagram account.
Colleen: Ah!!
Angela: I love how I have the times broken down. So, every morning the Newsletter is going to be out by 7:00; so, 7:00 AM is the Newsletter. 8:00 AM is going to be the Twitter Giveaway. The Instagram live time is going to vary depending on the author and their platform. So, again, I also kind of like that because then different opportunities to join different events.
Then, the Instagram Giveaway, I believe; that one’s going to be at 11 o’clock EST. And then the Twitter Reading Sprints are every evening from 5:00 to 8:00; they’re in 20-minute increments. So, 20 minutes to Read, 20 minutes to Chat & Answer Questions, and every night authors are going to be joining the Twitter Reading Sprints.
On December 1st, Jackie Layton, I don’t know if she popped in to say Hi or not tonight, but she’s awesome, and Dana Mentink, I don’t want to mispronounce her last name, M-E-N-T-I-N-K, are going to be doing their Twitter Reading Sprints. So, they’re going to be there asking, “What you’re reading? What you’re liking?” And then that evening from 8:00 to 9:00 PM EST we have Wendy Kendall, Alan Byron, and Jackie Layton hanging out to answer all of your cozy questions. So, they’re going to be answering questions from 8:00 to 9:00 PM EST that night; so, there’s going to be something on every platform, there’s going to be tons of Giveaways, I am pumped.
Colleen: (responds to comment by Gina Waffles) Someone was asking, “Can you give the website/email newsletter info again?”
Angela: So, you can sign up, I’ve tried to make it really easy.
Colleen: (responds to comment “Goodnight, everyone!!” and waves) Bye, Jess.
Angela: Thank You for joining. You guys are the best!
(responds to comment by DearReaders_thisisJess “Don’t forget to like the video cozy Sleuthers!!”)
Oh, yeah, Thank You. I know, I’m never like, “Like the video.” People are like, “Give it a thumbs up!” You’re so cute to say that; that makes me so happy.
Yeah, so you can sign up either on my personal website, it’s literally the front page, angelamariahart.com or if you go on thecozymysterybookclub.com I believe it’s right there on the homepage to sign up for the Newsletter. I’ll also re-share the landing page that I made. So, there’s an actual 12 Days of Cozies landing page to sign up for the Newsletter, and that one I can re-share on Twitter tonight. So, there are a lot of different ways to sign up.
So, basically, no matter where you sign up, you’re taken care of. And then when you sign up, again, me being my little overachiever self, I have a secret hidden page on my website, so only Newsletter Subscribers can access it, and you’ll have all the Word Searches and Bingo Boards and Instagram story templates, so there’s a lot of fun extra content that you can enjoy. So, sign up!
Colleen: (nods) Yeah, yeah!
Angela: I’m trying to think if there’s something else I wanted to mention. Oh, we have some really great Instagram Giveaways, too. Kate Lansing is going to be doing all three books in her series The Killer Chardonnay. So, we’ve got all three books there and then I know there’s another one that’s super epic for the 12 Days of Cozies.
Wow, that’s a lot of books. I’m just scrolling down. I think it was like another complete series, but there are a lot of authors giving away a lot of things, a lot of different activities, opportunities. I wanted to make sure that no matter the platform, no matter their time, like, everyone can take part and enjoy the coziness. Again, I was trying to be very thoughtful and meticulous with no matter where you are, and I know we have some deaf sleuthers, some blind sleuthers, no matter what the options are, you can take part.
Colleen: That’s awesome.
Angela: So, there’s something for everybody plus the Instagram Challenges.
Colleen: That’s what I was going to say! The Instagram Challenges, that was so fun, and for those who like to plan ahead, when will you reveal the Instagram Challenges for each day?
Angela: I always said to myself, “The first day of the month, I’m going to be sending the Newsletter,” but it’s the first week now. The first week of the month, you can expect a Newsletter from me, and I’m going to be revealing all the Instagram Challenges and I’m going to give you some of the expectations and the times and dates so you can mark your calendar.
Colleen: (big smile, clapping, nodding) Yes, sounds good!
Angela: And then what I’m going to do is, I’m going to share, I’m creating this, it’s kind of an epic day-by-day, it almost looks like a program guide like if you went to an actual event somewhere for a conference.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: So, it’s going to have every day with what you can expect with the author like who’s doing what event at what time. Everyone will have the PDF to Download, and I’ll put it on the website and share it on the Instagram and Twitter, and I’m just going to make sure that no matter where you are, you can find the information.
Colleen: That’s awesome.
Angela: I got you covered. So, I was going to say November 1st, but the first week in November,
Colleen: (nods) Yeah!
Angela: the email Newsletter, I got your back.
Colleen: Awesome.
Angela: That’s the big reveal, and then the authors that I’m going to be messaging, the authors I still need to follow back with, they’re going to be added to the list and everything’s going to be confirmed, and then we’re going to be ready to go!
Colleen: Awesome.
Angela: So, lots going on, plus, I saw someone else mention, where did it go?
(displays comment by Crystal Tea Knits “did I do the buddy read right last month? I feel like I’m missing something”)
So, you mentioned the Buddy Read, I’ve got you covered with that, too. So, where did it go with my little extras? (displays chart of Jenn McKinlay books with dates)
Colleen: There we go.
Angela: So, right now, the Buddy Read, I’ve basically been posting Instagram Challenges, and so if there are other ways you guys want to take part and kind of celebrate, you know, the Sherlock Hamsters and the Library Lovers’ events, I’m totally open to your suggestions.
So, right now, I was actually going to share the photos that y’all have been posting of Due or Die. I have them for tomorrow, but I actually have them as a Draft in my Instagram Folder like the Instagram Account. They’re ready to go so I wanted to share your photos because they’re so cute and they make me so happy. So, if there are other challenges or ways you want to talk about the Buddy Read that we’re kind of going on, I am totally open to your suggestions. So, I have all of the dates and information on the website so if you guys have any other ways that you’d like me to post about it, share the information, these images are also on the website, and I just realized I still have one of the comments highlighted so you can see everything and those are the tags that are being utilized.
So, if there’s other things in regards to, I don’t know how I’m going to say it, basically, right now, I just have the Instagram Challenges, and I believe you can see the ones from last month (displays October prompts #SherlockHamsters and #SleuthingTuesdays). I’m going to be posting something similar on our Instagram on November 1st and I’m going to also have the same information in the email Newsletter and post them on the website as well. So, right now, I have the Instagram Challenges, but if there are other things or other ways you want to talk about the book, let me know, because I’m open (displays colorful font image Buddy Read).
Colleen: And I think people were asking if they should be looking for something with the Buddy Read. And I think the difference with a Buddy Read, and this is good for anybody for December, too, there isn’t really a “everybody meets at this time and talks about it” like it is with the other. It’s more, you know, when you do post about it, make sure you use the hashtags and tag Angela, and that way, you know, hopefully, you can chat with people about them.
Angela: Yeah!
Colleen: So, if you post something on Twitter, or you post something on Instagram, then the conversation is kind of more organic and, you know, commenting on each other’s things, and that’s kind of how we communicate for the Buddy Read.
Angela: Yeah, I think I actually prefaced it saying, “The low-key Buddy Read.”
Colleen: (nods) Right.
Angela: Again, I didn’t want people to feel pressured, and the other part of it was some people have already read the entire series and I didn’t want to make them feel awkward about it like, “Oh, no, no, you’ve got to reread it, you’ve got to do this.” You don’t have to do anything. This is just to celebrate the books, talk about them, enjoy them so that’s why the hashtags are kind of how I’m promoting it or saying, “Oh, we have the hashtag,” there’s where you can share it, have the conversations, celebrate the cozy mysteries with your fellow sleuthers so make sure you utilize the hashtag and you tag the account, because I’m one of those people if you tag the account, I’m going to re-share your photo in the stories. I’m probably going to share it to the feed so make sure you tag me; that’s one of the big things, make sure I see it, or even just if you want to be like, “Hey, here’s a DM, I posted this.”
Colleen: (nodding) Yeah.
Angela: Let me know.
Colleen: And so, then it’s just you can post any time, but you want to make sure you post by that date that you mentioned?
Angela: It’s kind of like the goal date, I think, of like, “Okay, if you guys want to have it read by or around this date because, essentially, I don’t have it as an upload, but the second Tuesday of the month is the Cozy Corner Chat night with the authors on the Twitter account. So, you can tweet with them, ask them your questions; that’s from 7:00 to 8:00 PM EST the second Tuesday of the month. So, the third Tuesday of the month, I thought, “Okay, Buddy Read goal date,” because then the last Tuesday is the Club night on YouTube.
Colleen: Right, right.
Angela: So, I figured it would be kind of a nice little way of not overloading,
Colleen: Sure.
Angela: or at least give you a few days in between things.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: Because some months, again, I actually went back and found all the dates and highlighted things; some months, the last Tuesday and the third Tuesday are right back-to-back. Other times, you’ve got a week in between.
Colleen: Yeah
Angela: So, I thought it was kind of a nice little way to break up the week. I don’t want to overload you with like, “Oh, you have so many books to read, and you’ve got to get them read by this date,” that’s just sort of a goal date. Again, low-key, read however you like. Again, I want people to enjoy things. I’m not going to be like, “Oh, your grade, you’re getting a check minus; no.” It’s just a way to enjoy and have fun, like, you know, this little guy, where’d he go? (displays image) The little Sherlock Hamster; it’s just meant to be fun, make you smile, and enjoy.
I’m trying to think if there’s any other thing. So, I didn’t realize how long we’ve been talking. I know a lot of people have said goodnight, but if you guys are still here, I’m going to give you a little bit of inside information. So, this is the Giveaway I’m going to be doing on my own personal Instagram account.
Colleen: Ah!!
Angela: Again, I don’t really follow the numbers, but every so often my mom will say “Congratulations!” And I ask her, “For what?” And, so, she tells me, “Oh, that you’ve reached a milestone!” I haven’t really been paying attention to the numbers so what I thought I would do is just do this Giveaway (displays a beautiful Gift Basket). And, so, basically, it has this sign Maker of Pretty Things, there’s a notebook, there’s pens and highlighters, there’s even a little candle in the front. So, I thought it would be good timing with NaNoWriMo so I can kind of give you a little bit of prep stuff there. So, that’s going to be on my Instagram in the coming week.
And then Kobo, K-O-B-O, I’m currently in conversation with them to be doing a Giveaway on Alexis Hall’s latest book, Murder Most Actual. So, one person will win an e-book and the e-reader device.
Colleen: Whoa!!
Angela: So, someone’s going to be winning an e-reader device once this Giveaway’s up and running.
Colleen: Wow!
Angela: So, you guys got the inside information. Be on the lookout for that! There’s a big Giveaway coming your way very, very soon.
Colleen: That’s awesome.
Angela: That was like, “For everyone who stuck around, been here, you guys now are in the real know. You guys are in the know, know.” (big smile) So, I’m really excited, I’m just really happy to be able to offer that. As soon as I saw that in the email, I’m like, “Is this a typo? That’s really generous!” So, be on the lookout.
Colleen: (responds to comment “Could someone briefly explain the Buddy Read”) Sharon Elizabeth is asking again about the Buddy Read and Twitter. And I would say, so, with the Buddy Read, it’s just kind of one of those things where you can post and use the hashtag and tag Angela on Instagram or Twitter, and then she can share what you said, especially on Twitter, she’ll re-tweet. And then it’s just a way to then people will see your tweet and then maybe comment on it. And, so, we get to chat with each other a little, but it’s not maybe an official reading at the same time. So, it’s a Buddy Read because technically we’re all reading the same book, and so you can mention it and then, hopefully, you’ll get to chat with people a little bit, but it’s not like official, I guess.
(reads comment & waves goodbye to Lady Gizmo “THAT’S AMAZING NEWS!! Thank You So Much Angela & Colleen. Love Book Club. Goodnight & Happy Halloween everyone”)
Angela: So, I’m trying to figure out if there is another way to do the Buddy Read so that people can have more of a, “Oh, sorry, Thank You for joining us.” But yeah, I just wanted to say, I’m trying to figure out if there’s another way to kind of celebrate the series because, again, I want you to be able to have those conversations. So, I’m thinking maybe there will be a sort of, “Oh, on this date, there will be a conversation on Twitter or on Instagram” or something like have that goal date. Again, I want it to be low key, like a low-key Twitter conversation about the latest book.
Colleen: Yeah.
Angela: So, there’ll be something, but I’m just still trying to figure out what your preferences are so that’s why I’ve kind of been slowly, I feel as if it’s slowly growing like we’re starting with the Instagram Challenges. Now, we’re really working up to this so I think having a Twitter Chat or something will be the next step. So, hopefully, you like that.
Colleen: (nods) Cool, good.
Angela: So, if you guys have any other questions, I didn’t realize we’ve been on this long. I’m just so honored that you guys take part in, chat cozies, and you (Colleen) are so adorable. I am so happy that you wore the hat the entire night; like, that makes me ridiculously happy.
Colleen: (laughing)
Angela: I wish I had one to wear with you so maybe like practical magic matching.
Colleen: Yeah! Next year, Angela.
Angela: Yeah, so you’re going to be my Halloween Co-Host every year! Every year I’m going to block you for October. I think I said to Ben, I had him for January, I think two years in a row, I was like, “Every January you’re going to be the First Livestream Guest every year. You’re the January Co-Host!”
Colleen: (big smile) Right, there you go!
Angela: So, I’m going to have to make you the October Co-Host because we’re going to have to do costumes or something. We’re going to have to work on this.
Colleen: (big smile) Let’s do it, do it.
Angela: I do have (holds up bag of candy) I was really happy, “I have Candy Corn!”
Colleen: (laughing) Oh, my gosh.
Angela: (looks down to the floor) I think the dog (Max) has his own candy. I don’t know what he’s doing over there. He’s got his own treat.
But let’s see, I have the thing, where did it go, the Brand. I love how it’s called Brand. I don’t like that name, but I have the thing where it’s like, “Oh, we can post this here for our final (displays image) and you can see the tagged videos.
So, if there’s any other final questions, thoughts, comments, please post them now because otherwise we’re going to have to say goodnight.
Colleen: Yeah!
Angela: Because you, little miss, you have your own little one to go tend to.
Colleen: That’s right, we’ll see what she’s up to. I hope everybody has a fun week and, you know, Happy Halloween if you’re into Halloween and all that.
Angela: Everyone, she is amazing, Colleen is so awesome. If you’re not already following her Instagram and Twitter, please do because she’s spreading the coziness, which is always a plus. So, I just want to give you a little shoutout and a Thank You for taking part and being my guest host tonight, because you were so sweet and so awesome, and I just love the fact that you dressed up! Like, that makes my day so, so bright. I was so proud of myself with my shirt, and she just killed it. I’m just, (clapping) “Bravo!” I want to have one of those GIFs where they stand up in the auditorium clapping.
Colleen: (responds to comment “My post twin”) Lori, “High five.” Lori and I are post twins. We post about the same books on the same day all the time.
Angela: Oh, Lori, that’s another great Instagram account. She’s so sweet. Again, I mentioned before, she’s the one who mentioned, “I’ve been posting every month, is it okay if I ask for more bookmarks?” I’m like, “Yeah, of course, I’ll send you another bookmark.” But that’s why I was like, “Okay, we’ve got to do something for people who keep posting every month” so she was the inspiration for the enamel pin, pen, mug. So, you can thank her for bringing that to my attention.
Colleen: (claps) Yay, yay.
Angela: Thank You guys so much for joining tonight and just being a part of the Book Club. I am so honored that you’re taking part out of your day to talk about cozy mysteries and celebrate them. You guys make my heart so happy and I was really looking forward to this, this month. I’ve been working on my dissertation for the longest time, it has not been the easiest process. Again, I had a meeting, it was not necessarily the highlight of my month, and I go from this meeting to working on 12 Days of Cozies for y’all. So, I’m just really appreciative that you guys are part of the Club, and I’m able to create stuff that you enjoy, and this is just such a fun outlet and place to me. So, Thank You for being here and joining and just being your awesome selves.
Colleen: It’s an amazing thing that you’ve made. We love it!
Angela: I’m just so appreciative. It’s amazing to see people posting about the book that we’re reading, and I love that. Every single time I see a post, it just makes me smile, so I’m just very appreciative that you guys are part of this and you’re just so amazing. Thank You for brightening my day and being just your amazing sleuthing selves. That’s all I wanted to say as the final Goodnight for the evening, so please continue to stay safe, healthy, happy. If you go out trick or treating, double that, please stay safe and healthy, and I want you guys to enjoy your Halloween, enjoy the movies. I know you guys are talking about Hocus Pocus on Instagram so enjoy the Halloween spooky season, because next month we’ve got Thanksgiving and the food (holds up a paperback copy of Death of a Kitchen Diva by Lee Hollis) and then come December, we’ve got all the holiday stuff. So, enjoy Halloween and the candy corn while you can. So, that’s it for me. Do you have any final goodnight wishes?
Colleen: (waving) No, that’s it. Happy Halloween. Thank You, everybody.
Angela: Thank You for joining us. Bye, everyone!
Angela Maria Hart: @writerahart
Colleen Cameron: ilikeoldbooks1213
