Title: Magic, Mimosas & Mistletoe: A Charmed Cocktail Cozy
Author: M.L. Bonatch
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Book Blurb:
I don’t see dead people, but my dog does.
Marissa Hale is excited to visit her friend Grace’s new Inn. But the twinkly lights attached to the inheritance are frightful, and finding a dead body in the poinsettias resembling one of Santa’s fabled elves is not delightful. The death of Grace’s aunt was already suspicious, is someone trying to scare Grace into selling the Kringle Inn?
Grace’s bloodline is the magic mainline for keeping the yuletide spirit alive, and losing the Inn could mean the end of Christmas. The clues to both deaths may reside with the spirits of the Inn, but Marissa’s dog is the only one who can see them.
Does Marissa stand a ghost of a chance of solving this mystery to save Christmas?
Excerpt:
“When you said the inn was in Tinsel Village, Pennsylvania, I pictured nightclubs, not Santa's workshop.” There were a few key details my friend Grace had neglected to mention. After driving through the night and arriving before dawn, the scene before me made me wonder if I'd fallen asleep and was dreaming. “Inheriting this inn from your Aunt Mid seems to have strings attached—twinkly ones. It looks like the North Pole vomited.”
We stood in the foyer, wiping our feet on the Happy Holidays doormat. Mulder, my Shih Tzu, stopped short, his bulbous eyes fixed on an old plastic Santa. The decorations outside had just been an appetizer for the buffet of holiday everything inside.
“Just what kind of witch was your Aunt Mid? No witch worth her broom would choose Christmas over Halloween.” I stumbled when my dog shot past me, pegging the back of my legs and almost knocking me down with his barrel-like body.
Grace smiled weakly. “I'm sorry, Marissa. I know how you feel about Christmas. If I'd told you the Kringle Inn, and the whole surrounding town, had a year-long holiday theme, you might've changed your mind about coming.”
“Christmas? But it's barely Halloween.”
Grace flicked the light switch while peering at the ceiling. The remaining functioning lights cast a dim glow over the small lobby. “I used to love the inn as a child.” She shrugged. “The place isn't so bad. It just needs a little work.”
I hung my coat on the rack. “Are you planning on selling it?” At least then the Christmas theme would make sense. Mortals were much more enamored with that holiday year-round.
“Aunt Mid had listed it for a short while before she died. But now that it's mine, I haven't decided.” Grace glanced out the window at the For Sale sign leaning against the porch. “The realtor must not have picked up the sign yet.”
“From the looks of it, she'd have been better off investing more time in the upkeep and less time decorating,” I said. The inn looked like it had been around since the beginning of time— tired and wilted like a discarded Christmas tree with a few lingering pieces of tinsel at the end of January.
“My love of the holiday season began with this inn,” Grace said with a sigh.
I patted her arm. She was the type of person who decorated trees in every room and started shopping in July.
I glanced around. “Is anyone else here?” My voice echoed from the vaulted ceiling and second-floor balcony. The string of lights wrapped throughout the wrought iron balcony railing flickered.
Grace nodded, sending a few red coils of her hair bobbing. “A few staff members stayed on to maintain the upkeep. They should arrive soon.”
Mulder's yipping drew my attention. He rarely barked, instead using a multitude of odd sounds as his preferred method of communication. It wasn't often he engaged in a barking rant unless a squirrel or bird taunted him.
“He must've found more decorations to harass.” I located his pom-pom-like tail poking out among a bunch of poinsettias.
Jasper slunk over to investigate. Despite his disdain for his furry sibling, the cat couldn't contain his curiosity, and Mulder always found things of interest to the animal species.
“Jasper, stay out of those poinsettias! They're poisonous,” I yelled as if the feline was hard of hearing. The knot in my stomach confirmed I loved the little bugger. Grace was accustomed to my banter with the cat, despite only hearing a bunch of meowing when Jasper spoke to me. She'd accepted it when I told her Jasper and I could communicate after a spell backfired—at least, that was what I thought had happened.
Jasper got close enough to see what had secured Mulder's attention and turned to respond. “For goddess' sake, woman, it's not like I'm going to eat a plant. I wouldn't stoop to that level. Besides, there's something over here. It smells bad and might be dead.”
“What?” Had I heard him correctly over Mulder's barking? “Mulder, that's enough.”
I shook my head when the dog regarded me with big pleading eyes. Trying to silence him was a waste of my breath. He ignored the few requests he understood unless they benefited him.
“Jasper, did you say dead? You mean a flower, right?” I paused at the edge of the poinsettias and peered over the leaves. “There's practically a forest of these plants.”
My foot smacked against something hard and unyielding. As I hopped on one foot to cradle the injured toe of the other, I lost my balance and fell face-forward with a yelp into the flowery forest.
Mulder backed away, whining now that I'd heeded his alert to investigate.
“Marissa, are you alright?” Grace rushed across the tile.
“I think so,” I muttered to the floor. My pool of hair occluded my view. I pushed the pink strands away—which clashed with the red flowers—and turned my head. “But I don't think he is.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
On a kindle countdown sale for .99 cents from July 8th- July 15th(am)!
What I love most about the holiday season:
I love the decorations and holiday music that brings back memories of past holidays.
Why is your featured book a must-read to get you in the holiday mood?
Magic, Mimosas & Mistletoe is a high-spirited book in the Charmed Cocktail Cozy mystery series. If you like ghost mysteries with holiday slaying, you’ll love this festive read!
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon US or Canada gift card:
Open internationally.
Runs July 1 – 31, 2023.
Drawing will be held on August 1, 2023.
Author Biography:
M.L. Bonatch believes music can be paired with every mood, laughter is contagious, and caffeine and wine are essential for survival. When she’s not doing the bidding of a feisty Shih Tzu, she’s a mom to twin daughters, exploring the beautiful woods of PA with her hubby and dancing as much as possible. She writes paranormal cozy mysteries as M.L. Bonatch, urban fantasy, paranormal romance and other genres as Maureen Bonatch.
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