It’s beginning to look a lot like murder in the sixth installment of this charming cozy mystery series, perfect for fans of Donna Andrews and Jacqueline Frost.

It’s the beginning of December in Rudolph, New York, America's Christmas Town, and business is brisk at Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, a gift and décor shop owned by Merry Wilkinson. The local amateur dramatic society is intensely preparing a special musical production of A Christmas Carol. But it’s not a happy set, as rivalries between cast and crew threaten the production.

Tensions come to a head when a member of the group is found dead shortly after a shopping excursion to Mrs. Claus's Treasures. Was someone looking to cut out the competition? Everyone in the cast and crew is a potential suspect, including Aline, Merry’s mother, and Merry's shop assistant Jackie O'Reilly, who was desperate for a starring role.

It could be curtains for Christmas—and for Merry—unless the killer can be ferreted out of the wings.

Vicki Delany began her writing career as a Sunday writer: a single mother of three high-spirited daughters with a full-time job as a computer programmer. The years passed, as they tend to do, and the three daughters, somewhat hesitantly, flew the coop, leaving Vicki more time to devote to her writing. She was able to write three novels of suspense, set in Ontario, two of which, Scare the Light Away and Burden of Memory, were published to critical acclaim by Poisoned Pen Press of Scottsdale, Arizona. In 2007, In the Shadow of the Glacier, the first book in a police procedural series set in the British Columbia Interior was published. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Vicki was raised mostly in Ontario. Vicki majored in modern history at Carleton, her interest more in the lives of ordinary women and men and the circumstances of their times than ‘big men’ and their wars. It was on a canoeing trip in Algonquin Park that Vicki, realizing that she was doing for fun what people in the past would have considered a hardship, told her trip mates stories about the incredible difficulties people endured in their attempts to get to the Klondike in search of gold, and the idea for a series of Klondike Gold Rush mysteries was set.

Vicki Delany's profile page

Praise for Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas:
“[A] mystery with an amusing touch of theatrics and plenty of Christmas spirit.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A stellar and fun read from cover to cover.”
—Midwest Book Review

“Delany can always be relied upon for well-plotted mysteries filled with clever dialogue and entertaining characters.”
—Kings River Life

“Another solid, small town mystery . . . A fun read, and will get you into the Christmas spirit a little early.”
—Red Carpet Crash

“Cozy queen Vicki Delany decks the halls with a witty and irresistible holiday mystery that offers amusing amateur theatrical antics and more twists than a candy cane. A hot cocoa toast to the return of the Year-Round Christmas Mystery series!”
—Ellen Byron, USA Today bestselling author of the Cajun Country Mysteries
“Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas, the latest in Vicki Delany’s Year-Round Christmas series, is sure to bring good cheer to even the Scroogiest of readers. You’ll be humming holiday tunes and watching for the ghosts of Christmases past and future as you turn the pages, reaching for hot chocolate or a gingerbread cookie no matter what the weather, as Merry and her friends save the holiday.”
—Leslie Budewitz, three-time Agatha Award-winning author of the Spice Shop Mysteries
“Vicki Delany's bulging Christmas stocking of a mystery is bursting with small-town charm, a cast of quirky characters, a heroic dog and a surprise treat of an ending tucked in the toe!”
—Leslie Meier, author of the Lucy Stone Mystery Series
Praise for Year-Round Christmas Mystery series:
“Merry Wilkinson is feisty and fun.”
—Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author, on Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen

“Plenty of suspects, likable characters, and lots of possible motives add up to a cheery holiday cozy.”
—Kirkus Reviews, on Dying in a Winter Wonderland

“A fun Yuletide-themed cozy with an appealing amateur sleuth.”
—Library Journal, on Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen

“Witty writing, an unexpected solution, and truly likable characters ensure that the appeal of this holiday-themed series will last long past the Yule season.”
—Kings River Life Magazine, on Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen

“Delightful . . . Full of holiday glitter and charm right out of a Currier and Ives painting. I enjoyed every word of it.”
—Open Book Society, on Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen

“[A] promising new series.”
—Fresh Fiction, on Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen