Sticks and Stones and a Bag of Bones by Heather Weidner - Blog Tour with Character Guest Post and Giveaway

When a beat-up suitcase full of bones washes up by the pier, the residents of the quaint resort town of Mermaid Bay are whipped into a hurricane-sized frenzy over the gruesome find in the middle of their Christmas in July festivities. The holly-jolly mood retreats like the tide, with everyone wondering who was in the suitcase.

Christmas shoppe owner, Jade Hicks, wades into the fracas when voodoo dolls and mysterious notes and posters about impending doom start popping up all over town, threatening to destroy the economy of a community that lives and dies by tourist dollars. Then tensions crest when the prickly bookstore owner is found strangled to death with a string of holiday lights.

Jade and her French bulldog Chloe, have to solve the crime before anyone else gets hurt, and her business and the festival are forever tainted. 

Sticks and Stones and a Bag of Bones is the first in the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries cozy series.

Character Guest Post by Neville the Devil Cat

Hi, y’all, I’m Neville. I’m a black and white tuxedo cat who’s in charge of security at ‘Tis the Season, a Christmas store in the beach town of Mermaid Bay, Virginia. I moved in with the current owner’s grandmother, and I’ve been at the store ever since. There are about three hundred Christmas trees in the store, and it’s my job to keep the vermin and the riff raff out. It’s a 24 x 7 gig. And I have to be vigilant.

The current owner is Jade Hicks, and she’s been great for the store. She works all the time to come up with events and promotions to keep people shopping. I like Jade. Her only flaw is hanging out with that chubby white French Bulldog named Chloe. She thinks she owns the place. I had to set her straight on day one. She’s loud, obnoxious, and she tears through the store like it’s a racetrack. Some creatures have no couth. And she slobbers, snores, and steals snacks. Some days, I’m not sure why I put up with her. She even calls me Neville the Devil Cat every chance she gets. I’ll show her. I’m the Mouser in Chief.

Summer (besides Christmas) is our favorite season. Thousands of tourist flock to the tiny town and visit the store. All was going well until Jade and Chloe found a beat-up suitcase full of bones washed up by Suggs’s pier, and the residents of my quaint little town were whipped into a hurricane-sized frenzy over the gruesome find in the middle of our Christmas in July festivities. The holly jolly mood retreated like the tide with everyone wondering who was in the suitcase, and the town’s gossip grapevine revved up into overdrive.

I thought that the bag of bones was the worst that could happen during our Christmas in July festivities. Boy, was I wrong. A fracas broke out when voodoo dolls and mysterious notes and posters about impending doom start popping up all over town, threatening to destroy our tourism trade. Every business in a beach community lives and dies by tourist dollars.

Then something really horrible happened. Jade found her friend, the town’s prickly bookstore owner, strangled to death with a string of holiday lights behind the hotdog shack. I had to help Jade solve the mystery before anyone else got hurt and our town’s reputation was ruined.

Sticks and Stones and a Bag of Bones is the first in the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries cozy series. Jade and the gang will also appear in Twinkle Twinkle Au Revoir (2024) and A Tisket A Tasket, Not Another Casket (2025).

About the Author: 

Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, The Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and The Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries.

Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, and Murder by the Glass.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia, Sisters in Crime – Chessie, Guppies, International Thriller Writers, and James River Writers.

Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.

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