by: Nikki Weber
Series: Maine Campground Cozy Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: October 13, 2026
Some secrets are like Christmas lights: they get worse the more you try to untangle them.
Noelle Cooper is teaming up with her family to launch a festive new venture: a holiday extravaganza complete with Santa, gallons of eggnog, and a spectacular tree lighting guaranteed to make the season merry and bright.
There’s just one problem: Holly Winterbourne, the abrasive holiday consultant Noelle’s father has hired to help pull it off. Holly insists on holding a practice run at Babbling Brook Campground—in the middle of July—and she rubs everyone the wrong way.
When an incident at the tree lighting turns deadly, the festivities come to a shocking halt. Noelle feels partly responsible for the tragedy, but then the police determine that it was no accident, and Noelle’s guilt turns to suspicion. She sets out to discover who tried to pull the plug on the festival.
Hello! Thanks for inviting me back. I’m excited to chat.
Congratulations on the release of Eggnog & Evidence. Can you please tell me what readers can expect from the story?
Eggnog & Evidence is the first holiday-themed book in the Maine Campground Cozy Mystery series. The event at the center of the story (besides the unexplained death, of course) is a Christmas in July festival. Readers can expect descriptions of delicious holiday treats as well as fun contests and activities that you would expect to find at a campground during summer.
How much do you think your main character, Noelle Cooper, has grown over the course of the series?
That’s a great question. In some ways, Noelle has grown quite a bit. She’s stopped fighting the stigma of being back in her small hometown, and she’s really settled into life there. She has gone back to her roots and is a regular part of the community. In other ways, Noelle is still driven by an “I can do it all myself” mentality, and that leads to some tension with other key characters in this book. Also, she still loves junk food. ☺
What was your favorite scene to write for this book, and why?
I would have to say the confrontation scene at the end of the story. I love writing physical scenes, and readers of the other books in the series will know that I try to amp up the drama at the end with a lot of physical activity. It’s not unusual for me to be sitting at the computer and acting out the movements of the characters during those scenes!
When it comes to book titles, how do you select them?
I have been keeping a running list of titles since the moment I came up with the idea for the Maine Campground Cozy Mystery series. The list has two parts: words that are related to Maine or camping, and crime-related words. I mix and match words from each list that start with the same letter.
From the beginning, I knew that I wanted short, quippy titles, so I decided to connect just two words (this was tricky with the second book, Whoopie Pies & Alibis, but I made an exception because the whoopie pie is such a “Maine” thing.)
Oh. I love that! I honestly didn't notice that about the titles. Eggnog & Evidence is the fifth book in your Maine Campground Mystery series. Do you know how many books the series will have?
I have no idea! I still go to the real campground that inspires the books every summer, so now that there is this fun connection between the two, I can’t imagine ending the series. I might adjust the number of books that I release each year to allow time for a new series, but there is still plenty for Noelle and Corny the beagle to do in Bluefield.
If the characters from this series were real, who would you want to have lunch with and why?
Definitely Claire Blais, the campground gossip. Claire is just trying to live her best life, and if that includes being nosy and having an opinion about everything, so be it! A visit with her is always eye-opening. Also, Claire isn’t eating franks and beans (she has a more refined palate, thank you very much), so you know the food will be good.
Nikki, thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions for me.
It was a pleasure! Thanks again for having me.
Purchase Eggnog & Evidence from:
(Affiliate Links Used)
The Maine Campground Cozy Mystery Series:
Flashlights & Felonies (Book 6) releases June 29, 2027
Places to find Nikki Weber:
You can follow the Eggnog & Evidence Blog Tour here.
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