Home for the Holidays, At Last

by Merrily Thornton from As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles, Food Lovers’ Village #5 by Leslie Budewitz

I have been wanting to come home for so long I could taste it. Home to a town that welcomed me, to a family that cherished me, to parents who adored my daughter the way I do, the way we all deserve to be welcomed, cherished, and adored.

Long ago, when I was young and foolish, I did a stupid thing. I took the blame and paid the price. The irony is that the stupid thing I did is not the stupid thing people think I did, but I’m not here to set the record straight.

I’m here because a place can get in your heart and your soul and you never feel quite right anywhere else, no matter how long you live there, how much you love the people around you, how much you try. It isn’t home.

Jewel Bay will always be part of who I am, and I want my daughter to know and love it as I do. It’s not perfect and neither are the people in it – nobody knows that better than I do. But since I’ve come home, people have come out of the woodwork to help me out. Greg Taylor at the Building Supply, Jane who runs the front counter, Pamela at the bank, Wendy at Le Panier, and of course, Erin Murphy who is as sweet as she is smart and energetic.

And there is no better time to be here than the holidays. This Saturday is Decorating Day, when town transforms from A Food Lovers’ Village to Montana’s Christmas Village. I can hardly wait!

Will you be “home for the holidays,” or welcoming home someone you love and have missed?

Season’s Readings continues with a month of giveaways! Leave a comment below, with your email address, for a chance to win your choice of the paperback or audio CD version of AS THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE CRUMBLES. (US addresses only; winner will be chosen Friday, November 30.) 

"Budewitz's finely drawn characters, sharp ear for dialogue, and well-paced puzzle make Jewel Bay a destination for every cozy fan." - Kirkus Reviews



From the cover of AS THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE CRUMBLES, Food Lovers' Village Mystery #5 (Midnight Ink/Tantor Audio, available in trade paper, e-book, and audio): 

Jewel Bay---Montana's Christmas Village---all is merry and bright. At Murphy’s Mercantile, AKA the Merc, manager Erin Murphy is ringing in the holiday season with food, drink, and a new friend: Merrily Thornton. A local girl gone wrong, Merrily’s turned her life around. But her parents have publicly shunned her, and they nurse a bitterness that chills Erin.

When Merrily goes missing and her boss discovers he’s been robbed, fingers point to Merrily—until she’s found dead, a string of lights around her neck. The clues and danger snowball from there. Can Erin nab the killer—and keep herself in one piece—in time for a special Christmas Eve?

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. A past president of Sisters in Crime, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by my website and join the mailing list for my seasonal newsletter. And join me on Facebook where I announce lots of giveaways from my cozy writer friends.