by: Victoria Hamilton
Series: A Vintage Kitchen Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: March 18, 2025
Publisher: Beyond the Page
A perplexing murder on a local river leads Jaymie into uncharted waters in the new Vintage Kitchen Mystery from the author of Sieve and Let Die...
Despite the brutally cold winter, vintage cookware collector Jaymie Müller is happy to help out a friend by looking after a colony of cats while its caretakers are away. The location on a high bluff overlooking the St. Clair River makes for bone-chilling work, and her task takes on an air of menace when an elderly neighbor reports suspicious goings-on at the river. Jaymie’s inclined to dismiss the woman’s fears as the product of an overactive imagination, but it’s not long before she discovers a dead body there.
When it becomes clear the dead man was the victim of foul play, Jaymie turns to the older woman looking for more information. What she learns is that the river has long been used for illicit smuggling, and Jaymie suspects there was a falling out among thieves. But then mysterious clues begin turning up at the cat colony and another victim is found, and Jaymie realizes there’s something much more sinister behind the killings. And while cats may have nine lives, Jaymie has just one, and she discovers too late that she’s perilously close to losing it...
Includes a vintage recipe!
First of all, great question! Second of all, judging from myself, pure dumb luck?
Okay, maybe that was a little flippant. But to tell the truth, I had no idea at the beginning of writing this series that I would still be going thirteen years and twelve books later. So I didn’t really plan much, at first. I stumbled along, finding my way, and I feel like now, this many years later, I’m starting to get the hang of it.
As for the longevity; I didn’t have a clear vision of the series when I started, but I did plan the beginning methodically, and I think that, more than anything else, has helped me along the way. I created purposely a small village near a bigger town in a part of the States that, as a Canadian, I know better than others. When I was a kid my dad used to take us for drives along what we knew as the Bluewater Highway, following the St. Clair River on the Ontario side. (*Note: on maps now, Highway 21, which follows the Lake Huron shoreline, is called the Bluewater Highway, while the road along St. Clair River – to which I am referring - is known as the St. Clair Parkway.)
We would sit along the St. Clair River’s edge and look over at the United States, watching cargo ships glide past. However the real inspiration for the village of Queensville itself came from summers in my late teens spent near the Canadian lakeside village of Bayfield. Bayfield is a historic Ontario village on Lake Huron; it is touristy, with an old inn and charming gift and antique stores. It’s very much a town that celebrates the past.
So as I wrote the books and populated the village, a clearer vision began to emerge. Queensville, with its over a hundred-year-old Queensville Emporium, its array of antique stores, and the Queensville Inn, is a village cherished by the inhabitants for its history and traditions. From the very first Vintage Kitchen Mystery A Deadly Grind, Queensville’s Tea with the Queen event in May revealed to me that the village had a strong affiliation with its Canadian neighbors across the river, and on shared Heartbreak Island.
Also, the people important to Jaymie emerged – her sister Becca and best friend, Valetta Nibley, her elderly friend Mrs. Martha Stubbs – and I saw what a warm and charming little place it was. A place I could call home.
What keeps it fresh, I think, is Jaymie herself. She never stops growing, has never stopped taking chances. She relishes change and has never stagnated. She started out the series a little lonely and broken hearted, with a half dozen jobs and a small circle of friends. But as time has gone on, she healed her wounded heart, made friends with a woman she thought was her rival, dated, and then found the man of her dreams and married into an instant family. Along the way she grew bolder and found determination she never suspected she had.
Her willingness to take chances is her superpower and the heart and spirit of this series. With this latest book, Jaymie is going to take a step that will change her life and the village forever.
I hope you all enjoy it. I sure loved writing it.
Best,
Victoria Hamilton
Purchase Cat Got Your Tongs from:
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A Vintage Kitchen Mystery Series:
Freezer I’ll Shoot (Book 3) ~ Review
No Mallets Intended (Book 4) ~ Review
White Colander Crime (Book 5) ~ Review
Leave it to Cleaver (Book 6) ~ Review
Places to find Victoria Hamilton:
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Sounds like a good cozy mystery. I would enjoy reading this one.
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds like a fun read. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have this series on my TBR. That cover is absolutely gorgeous!
ReplyDelete