This book promo is through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.
Thank You for Muffin book tour includes an author interview and a giveaway below. Share, comment, enter the contest, subscribe, and shop Sarandipity’s.
Book Details
Thanks for Muffin: A Merry Muffin Mystery
Contemporary Cozy Mystery
8th in Series
Setting – Wynter Castle, Western New York State
Publisher : Beyond the Page
Publication date : October 14, 2025
Number of Pages: 211
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1966322240
ISBN-13 : 978-1966322245
Digital
ISBN-13 : 978-1966322238
ASIN : B0FMY9PQ2D
When Merry Wynter’s festive gala takes a fatal turn, she’ll have to grill her guests to catch
a killer . . .
After years of planning and hard work, Merry Wynter was finally ready to host the grand
opening gala of the Wynter Woods Center for the Performing Arts. With musicians, entertainers,
members of the media and even influencers on the guest list, the event went off without a
hitch—until a particularly nasty journalist posted a criticism of the gala and everything Merry
was trying to accomplish. Still reeling from the review days later, Merry wasn’t sure what to feel
when she discovered the reporter’s dead body on the grounds of Wynter Castle.
With many of her guests staying on at the castle for the weekend, Merry realizes they’ve got a
murderer in their midst. Going from celebrating to sleuthing, she discreetly questions each of
them, trying to weed out the culprit. She quickly learns that the victim had heated arguments
with several of the people at the gala, and it turns out those people were all connected by a
tragedy in the past. Certain the killer is among them, Merry will have to unearth the final clue
that nails the killer—before the killer decides she’s getting too close.
About Victoria Hamilton
Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea
Simpson. Victoria is the bestselling author of three mystery series: the Lady Anne Addison
Mysteries, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, and the Merry Muffin Mysteries. She also wrote a
Regency-set historical mystery series, starting with A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder.
Visit her website at victoriahamiltonmysteries.com and sign up for Victoria’s newsletter.
Social Media Links:
Website: http://www.VictoriaHamiltonMysteries.com (Sign up for her newsletter for all the
latest!)
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaHamiltonMysteryAuthor
On BlueSky: @mysteryvictoria.bsky.social Check out my ‘Cozy Mystery Authors’ Starter Pack
on BlueSky!
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mysteryauthorvictoriahamilton/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/598635.Victoria_Hamilton
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Victoria-Hamilton/e/B007T7LGAU
Sarandipity’s AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Interview questions:
Q1. What is your favorite part of this book and why?
A1. I’m a ‘character’ writer, meaning that though of course the plot is vital to a mystery, I love
writing character, which is why series writing is so perfect for me. I’ve created a lovely world in
Autumn Vale, New York, with people I’d be happy to spend time with. So the interactions
between Merry and her loved ones and the new people in this book are the best parts and most
fun to write!
Q2. If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what
would you do during that day?
A2. I love Pish Lincoln, Merry’s best friend, mentor, and pseudo-dad. He’s such a talented man,
and so giving. I’d love to spend the day with him at the piano, singing duets from the great
American songbook while he plays. Maybe some Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney
and Patti Page. If you’ve ever heard the song Old Cape Cod, by Patti Page, or At Last by Etta
James… that’s the American songbook. Pish is the character who inspired Merry’s decision to
turn her property into a performing arts venue, so without him, the series would be very
different. He lives in my mind, as do many characters, like a real person.
Q3. What books/authors have most inspired you?
A3. I have two standard answers to this question: Jane Austen and Sue Grafton. I suppose those
two writers and their novels are quite different in a lot of ways, but how they are similar is why I
love them both. It’s all about the people. As I said earlier I am a ‘character’ writer; the people I
create live fully in my imagination, and I think both Jane and Sue were the same. Elizabeth
Bennett (Jane Austen’s most famous character) and Kinsey Millhone (Sue Grafton’s heroine in
the Alphabet mysteries) live in my imagination, too. Their writing informed mine, the way they
created characters with real foibles and faults, and yet sterling characteristics that allow the
reader to forget those flaws.
Q4. Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your
imagination?
A4. That’s a trickier question than it seems at first glance. In truth, it’s not a yes/no question. I
could say they are all created entirely from my imagination, but there are some things that come
from observation: character traits, behavior, quirks, that are based on real people. Even
sometimes things that are said or done. And I have so many more bits and pieces of people,
things I’ve observed that will one day be used in a book. But once those bits and pieces are subsumed into my characters they become so different I don’t think anyone would recognize themselves.
Q5. What made you want to become a writer?
A5. Was there ever a choice? My sister claims I learned to read at three or four. I find that hard
to believe; isn’t that awfully young? And yet, reading was why I wanted to write. Stories were
everything to me, the worlds they created, the lives they explored. It was magical. Composition
was always my favorite part of English class. If I was given a choice, I wrote a fictional story. In
Grade 8 I won a city-wide essay contest for the Humane Society with a story about a bear killed
by a hunter. It’s kinda cringy when I read it now, but hey, I was thirteen.
Some of my best moments in life have been lived inside a book. I can’t explain it better than that;
if you want to create a writer, first create a reader.
Thank you for these wonderful questions! This has been fun.
Purchase Links:
Amazon.com – Amazon.ca – Barnes & Noble – Kobo – Smashwords
Giveaway
One Prize Package: $25 Amazon Gift card. Also a swag bag with an exclusive one-of-a-kind Merry’s Muffins canvas book tote with bookmarks, Victoria Hamilton Mysteries Promotional Pens, Cool Skull Teaspoon and more! Giveaway is open to US and Canada!
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
October 10 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
October 10 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW
October 10 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT
October 11 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
October 11 – @bibliophile_foodie – REVIEW
October 11 – FUONLYKNEW – RECIPE
October 12 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 12 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 13 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
October 13 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – RECIPE
October 13 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
October 14 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 14 – Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder – REVIEW, RECIPE
October 14 – Bigreadersite – REVIEW
October 15 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 15 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW, RECIPE
October 15 – Baroness Book Trove – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 16 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
October 16 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 16 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
October 17 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 17 – Cozy Up WIth Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 18 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 18 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 19 – Teatime and Books – SPOTLIGHT
October 19 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews SPOTLIGHT
