by: Gerri Lewis
Series: Deadly Deadline Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: June 10, 2025
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Winter Snow has had it! With her business in a death drought, her best friend Scoop implicated in a string of arsons, and an obituary listing Winter herself as deceased, her life is heating up. But just as she’s trying to cool things down, she receives her newest assignment: an obituary for Chester, a homeless man found in a burning building.
Promising the local funeral home manager that she will have the obituary by the deadline, Winter is stonewalled at every turn, failing to discover Chester’s last name, or where he came from. When it is discovered that Chester was murdered and that the fire was set to cover it up, all fingers immediately point to Scoop. Not only is Scoop a person of interest in the arsons, he was also the last person to see Chester alive.
As more nails are pounded into Scoop’s coffin, Winter’s uncle Richard hopes to help by inviting the notorious town gossips, The Nosy Parkers, to a neighborhood food fest. Unfortunately, the breadcrumbs they toss set murder in motion.
More determined than ever, Winter must figure out the twists and turns of the case to clear Scoop’s name, putting her on a deadly deadline to solve the murder and avoid meeting the same grave consequences.
CONFUSING YOU WITH YOUR CHARACTER CAN BE A COMPLIMENT
By Gerri Lewis
People often confuse me with the protagonist in my book. I sometimes even have to remind my own brother that it was not me who went back into that creepy house. It was obituary writer Winter Snow. But imagine my surprise when a frantic plea for my writing services landed in my in-box. It was a request for an obituary. The family had suffered a tragedy.
My cozy mysteries, The Last Word (Feb. 2024) and Grave Words (June 2025) are about obituary writer Winter Snow who stumbles upon murder and mayhem in her Hallmark- worthy small town of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Winter works closely with the bereaved to craft personalized obituaries--tributes that capture a loved one’s traits and quirks, often with humor woven throughout. She then makes sure the tributes land in the correct media sources—newspapers, online, alumni magazines, even social media—wherever her clients ask it to be sent.
In my early freelance days, I was a stringer for a newspaper with seven syndicates and I was called upon many times to show up at the doorstep of a bereaved parent. As a mom, I think I offered the kind of empathy some of my younger coworkers could not. I’ve written about teenage girls whose families wanted them remembered for the light they shined. I memorialized a young man just out of college starting his first job at the World Trade Center in 2001. A star basketball player in school, he worked in his spare time with inner city children teaching them the game. I’ve helped families pay tribute to parents, siblings, children and spouses, all wanting to share the special things about their loved ones.
After leaving the paper, I continued to write obituaries for family and friends and what I’ve learned is that all the stories are told with love and laughter. Funny anecdotes, little quirks—all those things bring out the good memories that make people smile. To me, sitting with a family and listening to their stories is one of the greatest gifts I can give to the grieving.
In her moments of heartbreak, the woman who contacted me wanted the best she could get for her son. The forty-year-old man had died of a drug overdose. I had planned to gently explain that my books are fiction, that Winter Snow isn’t real, that I was on a deadline for my next book. Instead, out of my mouth came, “How can I help?”
Why? Because I could easily shoulder do something to help her and her family as they struggled through such a tough time. And secretly, it was hard not to be flattered. In her grief, she had confused me with my character—apparently such a convincing character that she trusted me, Gerri Lewis as if I were Winter Snow.
And so, I met the family via Zoom in the hospital room of a handsome young man being kept alive for organ donations. That generosity alone swelled my heart. The room was bursting with life—he was surrounded by his parents, stepparents, his partner, his sister, his cousins, his friends. And as I listened to their stories, I felt like I began to know Michael. Sensitive. Kind. A writer and animal lover. A fighter who bravely gave everything he had, always picking himself up after a fall. He tried to help others avoid his pitfalls. What greater compliment could I ever receive than to have his family trust me to tell his story, all because his mother had read my book.
While that particular scenario was a first for me, people often confuse me with my character. My sister tells me that a scene in my book with “me” and my friend Carla reminds her of Lucy and Ethel. People always ask if Winter Snow is me. Well, I did write her. But no, she is not me. She is a 29-year-old young woman who still does some immature things and hasn’t yet found the solid ground for her world.
But thank you readers. Being confused with my character means that she feels real to you. And if you are connecting so deeply with Winter that you want to reach out and ask for obituary writing help—you have just paid me one of the greatest compliments a writer can receive.
By the way, the obituary I wrote for Michael turned out way too long for any of the publications I researched for the family. So, I rewrote a more condensed version. The original, I’m told, was used as the eulogy at his memorial service.
Hmm, if I were Winter, I’d be thinking about that for her future business model—personalized obituaries and heartfelt eulogies with a little amateur sleuthing thrown in on the side. All fictional, of course!
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