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One Gold Ring book tour includes a fun character interview and a giveaway. Enjoy, share, comment, follow Sarandipity’s.
Book Details
One Gold Ring (Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
Novella related to the main Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries Series
Setting – Fenwater – a fictional small town in rural Canada.
Independently Published (November 1, 2025)
Paperback
Print length : 104 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8272391599
Digital
Print length : 102 pages
ASIN : B0FYX6KXGD
A busy shopping street, a cozy coffee klatch, a missing ring: Marge Kirkwood has no desire for
anyone to gift five gold rings to her. She just needs to find one elegant gold ring sparkling with
dainty diamonds and rubies: the one that was stolen due to her carelessness.
When Marge Kirkwood meets her friend Bruce Murray at the Honey Pot diner to reassure him
about his choice of an engagement ring for her best friend Lois Stone, she couldn’t be happier for
the couple. But a few moments of her inattention could scupper Bruce’s plans for a romantic
Christmas proposal. A cunning thief seizes the opportunity Marge’s lapse affords to snatch
Bruce’s family heirloom. Soon afterwards Lois arrives and joins Marge and Bruce in the search
for the ring. Three heads may be better than one or two but Lois can’t find out that it’s her
engagement ring they are hunting for.
And so the week before Christmas begins with dashing through the snow without a sleigh, tangy
gingerbread muffins and cinnamon scented apple cider, clever calico cats, slippery snow-
sheathed sidewalks, glittering gems set in gold, hazardous high-heeled boots, rushing thieves and
bustling Christmas shoppers set against a cheerful holiday clad shopping street, sultry Christmas
songs serenading shoppers in the market, the sweet scent of carnations, roses and baby’s breath
bouquets in the florist’s window and a mantlepiece twinkling with shiny baubles and lights
woven through holly in a comfy century cottage.
About Dianne Ascroft
Dianne Ascroft is a Canadian who has settled in rural Northern Ireland. She and her husband
share their small farm with some elusive wild creatures. She is currently writing the Century
Cottage Cozy Mysteries series. She believes that part of the enjoyment of reading a cozy mystery
is losing oneself in a pleasing setting so she fictionalized a small town she knew and the first
novel in the Century Cottage Cozy Mystery series, and the town of Fenwater evolved from there.
She wanted to create a place that beckons readers to step in and stay a while, and characters that
readers would remember. Cozy mysteries allow her to explore the characters and the place, as
well as the mystery at the heart of the story. Writing stories set in her homeland, Canada, has also
been a nostalgic journey for her and she enjoys every minute of it.
Author Links
Website: http://www.dianneascroft.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DianneAscroftwriter
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/y1k5c3
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1357575.Dianne_Ascroft
Purchase Links:
Excerpt from Chapter 1:
Marge knew she would have to apologize properly to Bruce when she got a chance. What
a stupid thing to do. She wasn’t usually so careless. But then again. Marge grimaced then
quickly cleared her expression in case Lois noticed. What about the watch that belonged
to the Titanic survivor a couple of summers ago? She’d just left it sitting out on her desk
at the museum where anyone could see it. Look how that turned out. But the ring would
be fine. No one would even notice it there on the table.
Marge heard boots softly thud to a stop on the tile floor behind them and glanced over her
shoulder. Bruce stood there, his expression anxious. He glanced at Lois, who was still
looking at the Specials board.
“Got it?” Lois asked him without turning around.
Bruce pulled his lips into something like a smile. “Yeah, don’t worry, we won’t have to
wash dishes.”
He mouthed to Marge, “I don’t see it.”
Marge felt her heart pound. The ring had to be there. “Oops, my scarf’s going to slide off
the seat. Be right back.” With a quick glance at Bruce, she hurried back to the table.
When she saw the empty tabletop, the sinking feeling in her stomach took all thoughts of
food away. But the ring couldn’t be gone. She’d just left it there a few minutes ago. She
reached for her coat and lifted it off the seat to peer under it then did the same with
Bruce’s jacket on the opposite bench. Nothing. She glanced around the floor in front of
the booth and under the table. The shiny gold ring should be easy to spot on the black and
white floor tiles. But nothing there either. She glanced at the tables on either side of their
booth, trying to avoid the diners’ gazes. No, nothing. She considered asking them if they
had seen the ring but Lois might overhear her.
Glancing up at the counter, she saw Lois turn to look. She forced a smile and returned to
stand behind the couple.
“Do we know what we want yet?” Lois asked.
“What do you fancy? Apple and cinnamon pancakes, I bet,” Bruce said.
“I’d like a gingerbread muffin afterwards with my coffee so I’ll take something lighter
for lunch. Grilled cheese sandwich, I guess.”
Lois turned back to the counter and Marge tapped Bruce’s arm. “It’s not there,” she
mouthed.
“You sure?” he murmured.
Marge nodded. She felt sick. How could she have let this happen? The gorgeous ring that
Bruce was going to give her best friend was gone. She stared mutely at Bruce.
Character Interview
Describe yourself.
Hello, there, folks. I’m Lois Lily Stone but I don’t tell many people my middle name. I like it, but it sounds a bit old fashioned for 1984. My best friend Marge knows what it is but then she knows most things about me, and she wouldn’t tell a soul if I asked her not to. I guess you could call me middle-aged – I’m 55. As a
librarian, I love books and I work part-time at our town library. It still feels strange to refer to it as ‘our town’ as I only moved from the big city of Toronto to Fenwater a couple of summers ago.
I bought a beautiful grey stone ‘century cottage’ and I share it with my two calico cats, Ribbons and Raggs. My husband, James, died several years ago and, although I’m making an effort to move on with my life, I still miss him. I have met a wonderful man here in town – Bruce. I liked him instantly when he came to repair my window and our friendship has developed into much more. I’ll always love my husband James, but I have room in my heart for Bruce too. I live a fairly quiet life. I enjoy reading and going for walks. I’m also a keen baker. I’ll make anything with apple and cinnamon in the recipe and I love trying out new muffin recipes.
What makes you laugh?
My good friend Marge makes me laugh. She’s the exact opposite of me: outspoken and extroverted. I never know what she’ll do or say next so I have to be on my toes to keep up with her.
Are you afraid of anything?
When I lived in Toronto, I used to enjoy walking in the park and watching the sunset with my husband, James. We held hands and didn’t need to speak. But after he was mugged in that same park and died, I stopped going there in the evenings. To be honest, I was nervous there on my own. So, instead, I’d sit on
my front porch and watch the sunset from there. I had the company of my neighbours who’d stop and chat as they passed by on their evening strolls and my two calico cats were only a few feet away, behind the screen door, watching from the living room.
I thought I’d left fear behind when I moved from Toronto to our small town, but when my friend Marge drags me into investigating crimes, I have lots of things to fear. I’m afraid of getting caught when we snoop into places where we shouldn’t be. I’m afraid the criminals we run into are not very nice guys and we’ll get hurt.
And I’m also afraid I’ll let down my partner Bruce. After a couple of mishaps, I promised him that I wouldn’t get involved in any more criminal investigations but I can’t seem to keep that promise. I’m doing my best but you just don’t know how persistent my friend Marge can be.
Do you have a special talent or gift?
I’m not sure that I do. I often think that everyone around me is more competent at everything than me. You wouldn’t believe the situations I’ve needed to be rescued from when Marge and I were investigating crimes.
But, I am one of the few people who can see Beldie, the resident ghost in my historical stone house. Beldie is a goat who belonged to the original owner of the house. With the help of my friend Marge, I’ve figured out why I can see my ghost.
I guess having a ghost in your house, especially one as unpredictable as mine, could be a liability but Beldie has come to my rescue more than once so I wouldn’t want to be without her. Besides, those strange goat eyes of hers are kind of cute.
I love my job as a librarian. I hadn’t really thought about it before but maybe helping patrons find the right book or information they need is a talent. I find my job so satisfying and when I’m sitting behind the worn wooden reception desk, I feel a kinship with all the librarians who sat there before me during the past century. It’s like I’m meant to be there.
Do you have a secret?
Despite living in a very Scottish-Canadian town, I never mention my Scottish ancestry if I can help it. My friend Marge wants me to celebrate my Scottish roots, but I really don’t want to acknowledge them. You see, my grandfather was a bit of a scoundrel and my mother refused to talk about him when I was growing up. My Scottish roots come from his side of the family so I don’t want to explore them and upset my mother. I’m also kind of scared of what I might discover. But I can’t seem to get away from my ancestry here in Fenwater and Marge won’t let me forget it either no matter how hard I try to bury it.
Tell us about your family.
I guess you could say my family is rather small. My husband James and I didn’t have any children. As I’ve said, I’m a widow and I live on my own with my two calico cats, Ribbons and Raggs. One of my cats, Ribbons, is very protective toward me since my husband died and sometimes I’d swear she’s keeping watch over me from her perch on the windowsill. Her steady purring as she sits there is comforting. My mother and step-father only live a couple of hours away from me in Toronto but I don’t see them too often. My father and I were close when he was alive but my mother isn’t the easiest person to get along with. The less we see of each other, the better our relationship is. My partner Bruce and I have been getting steadily closer since we started seeing each other so maybe I should include him as family too. He doesn’t live with us but my cats and my resident ghost, Beldie, all accept him as part of our family.
Who is the most important person in your life?
I can’t really pin it down to just one person. Marge Kirkwood is my closest friend.
She’s the same age as me and she’s from Fenwater. She’s been divorced for years and she returned to her hometown a couple of years ago to keep an eye on her elderly mother. She’s the archivist at the local museum and we met when we worked together at a Toronto library. We now live a couple of blocks from
each other on the same street. She and I have been friends for years, and I guess you could say, we’re unlikely friends as she’s the complete opposite to me.
She’s outspoken, confident and extroverted. A real social butterfly and she has introduced me to just about everyone in town. She’s been a great support to me since James died but she also lands me in trouble at times. This mainly happens when she gets us involved in police investigations and we end up in over our heads.
As I’ve mentioned, I have a man in my life too. After spending time with Bruce and getting to know him, a friendship grew between us and it gradually developed into more. We’ve been taking our time as I miss James and it’s taken a while to come to terms with his death. But I’m really fond of Bruce and am glad
we’re together. He’s so softspoken and easy-going. I love being around him. He isn’t one to say much so I don’t always know what he’s thinking, but I trust him.
The one subject that he is outspoken about though is my involvement in criminal investigations. He asked me to promise I wouldn’t get involved in any more of them. He worries about the scrapes that Marge and I get into. I know he couldn’t stand it if I got hurt. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t let Marge and I down, and he has stepped in to help us catch criminals a time or two. I think he sees it as saving our necks.
What is your most embarrassing moment?
I’m not sure what my most embarrassing one was but there was one incident in the fall last year that I’d rather forget. Marge and I were delving into what happened to an historic quilt that went missing and she persuaded me to help her search a seamstress’s shop to look for the quilt. When an opportunity presented itself, we got the key to the shop from the owner – so we didn’t break in. Mind you, we were snooping and weren’t there for the reason we told her we were. Meanwhile a police officer who was patrolling the main street spotted us in the shop and he thought we had broken in. We had to go down to the police station with him to straighten out the whole thing. I still can’t help blushing now every time I meet Constable Riley on the street.
What do you do for fun?
I love to curl up with a good book. I guess that’s not surprising for a librarian, is it? I’ve got M.M. Kaye’s The Far Pavillions on my bookshelf, but I wasn’t able to open it for ages after my husband’s death. I planned to read it after he finished it but he was midway through it when he died. The Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, is one of my favourite writers, and I recently read Surfacing. Her books always make me think about life in new ways.
I’m a keen baker and am always taking a batch of muffins or a cake out of the oven. My friends, especially Bruce, often seem to drop over just when something is ready to eat. I don’t mind. I love spending time with my friends though I do sometimes enjoy a quiet night in with my cats and a good book too.
I also love the rousing sound of my bagpipes when I’m playing. I joined a pipe band in Toronto when I was in my teens and my husband was the band member who taught me to play. When I moved to Fenwater, I joined the Fenwater pipe band, and although that got off to a shaky start as I was the one who caught a band member up to no good, I’ve settled in well with the band. I had a great time playing with them in the Santa Claus parade earlier this month.
If you could change anything about your life what would it be?
If I could go back and change things, my husband wouldn’t have died in that mugging in the park several years ago then we would have been able to grow old together. My life would have unfolded the way I expected it to. But, at the same time, if he hadn’t died, I would never have moved to Fenwater and met my partner Bruce and the many wonderful townsfolk I’ve got to know here over the past couple of years. I wouldn’t have got tangled up in solving mysteries with Marge either and landed in some sticky situations – I guess avoiding that would have been a good thing. I’m not living the life I expected, but it’s still a good one and I’m thankful for it.
Tell me about your author.
Dianne is very like me in many ways and there’s a reason for that. After years of doing detailed historical research for her previous historical fiction series, she decided that our cozy mystery series wouldn’t involve a huge amount of research (although she does usually find some interesting topics to research for each book she writes). So, when she created me, she used some of her own traits, and likes and dislikes to bring me to life. Since she has so much in common with me, we ‘hit it off’ and are great friends.
Do you like the way they write you?
I like the plots that Dianne dreams up. She released The Snow Job, the third novel in the series, last winter and the novella, One Gold Ring, last month. She’s currently busy editing the fourth novel so she can release it next spring. I’m eager to find out what happens next.
I’m not always keen on some of the situations I end up in but you can’t really blame her for that. That’s mostly Marge’s doing. Dianne would be happy if I solved crimes without putting myself in danger. I have to admit that Marge sometimes scares me silly with the things she drags me into, but I think we’re
developing a knack for solving crimes and I couldn’t be happier than when we catch a criminal. So I hope Dianne keeps putting me in the path of mysteries to solve.
ONE GOLD RING TOUR PARTICIPANTS
December 12 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
December 13 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
December 14 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
December 15 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
December 16 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
December 17 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW
December 18 – Salty Inspirations – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
December 19 – Sarandipity’s – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
December 19 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
December 20 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW
December 20 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
December 21 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT
December 21 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
Giveaway
Prize – 1 eBook Copy and 1 Paperback Copy of One Gold Ring (Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries) by Dianne Ascroft. US AND CANADA ONLY
Thanks for inviting Lois to visit your blog, Saradipity. She enjoyed chatting with you and I hope your readers enjoyed meeting her.
Dianne