Deck the Halls With Homicide: Killer Chocolate Mysteries by Christina Romeril
About Deck the Halls With Homicide
Deck the Halls With Homicide: Killer Chocolate Mysteries
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series.
Setting - Harriston, Montana (fictional)
Publisher : Independently Published
Publication date : October 28, 2025
Print length : 326 pages
Paperback ISBN-10 : 1069554103
ISBN-13 : 978-1069554109
Digital ISBN-13 : 978-1069554116
ASIN : B0FKMD2SMX
Perfect for fans of Jacqueline Frost and Vicki Delany, when a holiday decorating contest turns deadly, twin sisters Alex and Hanna trade tinsel and twinkle lights for tracking the twists and turns of a cunning killer.
Alex and Hanna, owners of Murder and Mayhem book and chocolate shop, are hoping for a quiet holiday. That is, after Alex is finished judging the Deck the Halls contest organized by Vanessa, nicknamed “The Dragon.” The whole experience has turned Alex’s usual festive spirit a little grinchy. Instead of inspiring holiday cheer with fun lawn displays, the contest has turned cutthroat and decorations have started disappearing. After Alex’s beau, Tom, is seen in a heated argument with the Dragon about his stolen trimmings, Alex finds him dressed as Santa, kneeling over Vanessa’s dead body…with one of his missing candy cane decorations buried in her chest. It’s no surprise he becomes the sheriff’s top suspect.
Alex and Hanna quickly amass a cast of suspects deeper than Santa’s reindeer roster, including an old family friend tasked by their mother with romantic interference; a nosy reporter eager to reveal Alex’s previous murder-y exploits; and the victim’s psychologist-to-the-stars husband with a spicy secret. But as they try to catch a crafty killer, Alex also grapples with the escalating wrath of Tom’s daughter, and a mysterious psychic dropping cryptic clues, while Hanna deals with her own Christmas crisis.
Murder puts a bitter spin on the twins’ sweet confections and they must find the killer and wrap up the case to keep Santa off the naughty list.
About Christina Romeril
Christina Romeril grew up in Kitchener, Ontario, and has been devouring stacks of books since third grade when the Trixie Belden series sparked a love of mysteries. She has lived on both coasts of Canada as a former member of the Canadian military. As an Alberta transplant, she is fascinated by mountains and loves to spend time with her husband and two Chihuahuas, Nacho and Paco, exploring Waterton National Park in the Canadian Rockies.
INTERVIEW
1.
When did you first
realize you wanted to be a writer?
When I was thirteen, I was in the car with my family and we were on
our two-and-a-half-hour drive up to our trailer in Muskoka and I was staring
out my window making up a story to go with an abandoned shack I’d seen in a
field. It was at that moment that I realized I wanted to write stories, but it
was decades before I’d get around to it.
Later, in high school I used to get bags and bags of Harlequin
romances from one of my mom’s friends. After reading hundreds, I decided I wanted
to be a romance writer. I eventually changed my mind about the genre, but not
my desire to write.
In my forties, I finally thought I should get down to writing,
time was slipping away. For a little while I’d get up at five am and write for
half-and-hour before work, but after a few weeks I was markedly tired and only
had a few pages of writing to show for it. It would be a dozen more years
before I actually melded the desire to be a writer with putting words on paper
consistently.
2.
How long does it take
you to write a book?
It really varies widely. My first book took me five months (not
including the edits my agent and editor had me do.) The second book about the
same, but this book took almost two years to finish. Part of that was because
my agent and my mother died while I was writing the book, but even accounting
for those things it took about a year. Much of it depends on me not letting
others interfere with my writing time, and me not procrastinating. So, we will
see how the next book goes.
3.
What is your work
schedule like when you're writing?
Assuming I’m not procrastinating (snackrastinating, or any other
kind of crastinatinghahaha), and I don’t have any appointments or errands, I
start the day by taking our puppies for a walk. Then I exercise. If it’s sunny
and warm I lay on the deck to catch some sun while I listen to a podcast. Then,
I head to my office mid-morning and write for most of the day (at least before
we got our puppies that’s what I’d do).Now that we have puppies it’s a bit
tougher. When Hubby goes to play golf and if the puppies “demand” my time, I
often get less writing time. But they’ll only be puppies for a short time, so
eventually I’ll be back to working most of the day.
I’ll break at supper time
and sometimes go back at it in the evening. A lot depends on my deadlines and
whether I’m doing a first draft or editing. I love editing, first drafts—not so
much.There are also lots of writing related tasks, such as marketing and social
media that suck up a lot of time. I’m also often tasked with non-writing work
such as looking after grandchildren, and then no writing happens.
4.
What would you say is
your interesting writing quirk?
I’m not sure if it’s interesting, but I talk to myself. Sometimes
in my head, but also out loud. I also need a relatively quiet, distraction free
environment. No music, no people, and even the wind can make it hard for me to
work. Once I’m in the zone I can work for hours and not realize how much time
has passed.
5.
How do books get
published?
That’s a big question with many answers. For example, are we
talking traditional or self-published?
Generally, for traditional publishing you need to have a finished
manuscript, you write a query letter and submit to literary agents. Once you
get an agent, you will probably have to do edits before it is sent out to
editors at publishing houses.
When an editor is interested (and they’ve done a profit analysis
etc and they have the go ahead from the rest of the team), they make an offer
on the book. There are more edits, jacket copy to be written, author marketing questionnaires
to write,and a lot of other things the author needs to do, and eventually the
book is published. That is the short answer.
The most important thing in that answer is to have a finished and manuscript.
Not just any manuscript, but a polished, edited it five thousand times, and had
beta readers and critique partners go over it and give honest feedback several
times, manuscript.
Your book has to compete with dozens, if not hundreds of other
submissions on any given day. The book needs to stand out, so your hook needs to
be original and different, but not too different. Saying there’s no other book
on the market like yours is not a good thing. You want to have a very definite
place on a bookstore shelf where your book will belong. You want to have
relatively recent comparables (no more than 3 years old) that your book is
similar to in some way. For example, my book has the tone of X, or my book will
appeal to readers of Y.
You need to catch the interest of the agent in your query letter,
and then hold it on the first page of your manuscript. I think that’s the real
key in how books get published. They have a strong premise, and they draw the
reader in from the first paragraph.
6.
Where do you get your
information or ideas for your books?
Ideas come from everywhere. The news. Real life. Podcasts. My
imagination. Sometimes while I’m doing research, I come across ideas for other
books. Just the other day I was driving past this little creek and
automatically I was constructing a crime scene in my mind.
I have ideas written down in my notes app on my phone and in many
different notebooks. I keep telling myself I need to designate one notebook for
ideas. Maybe some day.
7.
When did you write your
first book and how old were you?
I wrote my first book in my fifties, in 2021. I’d dabbled before
that, but never managed more than a couple dozen pages. It was during the
lockdowns that I finally realized I had no excuses left and just sat down and
wrote every day until it was finished.
8.
What do you like to do
when you're not writing?
When I’m not writing, I have this idea that I’d like to be going
out for coffee with friends, or hiking, exploring new places on road trips, or
doing photography. The reality is that when I’m not writing, I’m usually
watching tv or looking after a plethora of errands. It seems as if I rarely do
the things I’d really like to be doing.
9.
What does your family
think of your writing?
Hahaha,
I wish I really knew. I think my husband is still amazed that people actually
buy my books. He reads them, but they aren’t his cup of tea. Every time I
finish one, he says something along the lines of, “Well, I guess it’s okay, if
people actually read that kind of thing.” His friends are keeping a close eye
on him to catch any early signs of poisoning.
My
daughter is immensely proud of her mama and enjoys the books. She is my
cheerleader. My boys, on the other hand, don’t seem very impressed—none of them
have read any of the books. I think my brother is happy for me, and he buys my
books and has read the first one, his girlfriend reads all of them. Thankfully,
my self-esteem is not hinging on my family’s opinion of my books.
10.
What was one of the most
surprising things you learned in creating your books?
How much work there is to do after you finish the actual writing.
I’d heard that from other authors, but the reality is far more than I’d
imagined. The marketing, publicity, social media—it all takes a lot of your
time.
11.
How many books have you
written? Which is your favorite?
Deck the Halls With Homicide is my third book and my favorite is usually the
one I’ve just finished.
12.
Do you have any
suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?
Every
writer will give you a different answer. To become a better writer,I believe you
should read lots of books in your genre, the ones that have done well. Study
them. Dissect them and see how the writer constructed each scene. Look at the
line level writing.
My
favorite podcast for writing is The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. I
listen to almost every episode. I’ve learned so much from hearing other books
being critiqued. I’ve also been lucky enough to be on one of the episodes.
I’ve taken courses on things like writing tension,
emotion, and line level writing. I belong to a critique group and listen to
what my writing friends say about my chapters. You definitely need to be open
to feedback.
Do
you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
Generally, I hear from readers through my social media and my
newsletter. It’s always great when you hear that someone enjoyed your book. I
write to entertain, so if I did that, I’m thrilled.
13.
Do you like to create
books for adults?
I
enjoy writing for adults, though I dabble with the idea of writing a middle
grade mystery, one day.
14.
What do you think makes
a good story?
A good story has a solid plot with characters that are interesting
and can establish a connection with the reader. It also needs to make the
reader curious. If the reader isn’t curious they aren’t going to keep turning
the page. There needs to be tension and the pacing needs to be good. And
ultimately, it needs to sing on a line level. Though, that doesn’t necessarily mean
flowery language, it needs to fit with the genre you’re writing. When you read
a good story, you get lost in the pages. You forget about what’s going on
around you, that’s my measuring stick.
15.
As a child, what did you
want to do when you grew up?
Hahaha.
I wanted to be so many things growing up. For a long time, I wanted to be a
nurse, but I was a lazy student and my science marks weren’t good enough in
high school, particularly chemistry and physics. I thought about being a
lawyer, but the idea sort of fizzled and I’m not sure why, because I think I
would have done well with that. Then I wanted to be a hair dresser, but never
finished hair dressing school. I really lacked self-discipline. So, I joined
the army. That gave me the discipline I was lacking, but when I left the
military, I went right into being a wife and mom.
Later,
I went back to college and took accounting. Not my dream, but I like numbers
and it was the right type of job for a single mom with four kids.That led me to
banking, which was definitely not my dream, but provided a good paycheck and
benefits. Looking back, I wish I had done things differently, but I still don’t
know what I really wanted to be. Maybe a spy.
What
Would you like my readers to know?
If you want to be a writer, then write. Learn about writing. But
keep writing. If you’re a reader and are willing to help an author, you can do
that by asking your local library to purchase their books. Leave a review on
GoodReads or Amazon, it’s amazing how important having lots of reviews is.
Follow your favorite authors on social media and engage with them.
They love to hear from readers.
Thanks so much for having me on your blog—I’ve loved these
questions!
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host? Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today! Want to Book a Tour? Click Here
"Your positivity shines through every line. Thanks for sharing such inspiring thoughts!" daily horoscope
ReplyDelete