News about my new book

The Book of Christmas Joy

I’m discovering that being retired from full time paid work has its advantages. Last week I flew to Nova Scotia to visit my daughter and son-in-law, catch up with long-time friends, and to write.

I made arrangements at an area spirituality centre for a three- day writing retreat. The director is also a writer, and as I’d discovered on a previous visit, an avid reader of mysteries. We share a love of the writing of Louise Penny.

The director was very supportive of my desire for a quiet place to write.

The centre is also within reasonable walking distance of cafe’s, restaurants, good bookstores, and my daughter’s home.

That’s the “where” of recent writing.

The “what” is new chapters for “The Book of Christmas Joy”, which will be the second published installment in my series featuring the Rev. Thomas Book.

This story is set in the two weeks before Christmas. Tom is living and working in Sun Parlour, a small town in the southern-most part of mainland Canada, on the shore of Lake Erie. He’s accepted a temporary post as interim pastor while he sorts out other aspects of his life, including next steps in his relationship with Annika, the woman he met while almost tripping over corpses in The Book of Answers.

Expectations of a happy, quiet holiday season are dashed when Tom, his daughter Hope, and Zeke the tracker dog find a dead body under the toppled Christmas tree in the church sanctuary.

Who was the dead woman?

Why was she killed?

Who left her to die in a pool of her own blood?

Is there any hope of a joyful Christmas in a church that needs trauma cleaning before it can re-open?

How deeply will Tom get involved in the hunt for the killer? The last time he found a dead body, he came frighteningly close to becoming a corpse himself.

How will Tom’s daughter Hope deal with Tom playing amateur sleuth again?

Will the mysterious Michael Powers, the not-quite retired undercover cop come to the rescue, if Tom gets in too deep?

I’m having a lot of fun with this story. I’m referencing some favourite Christmas music, and a few classic holiday movies. I’m also bringing back a few characters from the first Thomas Book Mystery that readers told me they wanted to see again.

I’ve included some aspects of life around a lively congregation at the busiest time of the church year. I hope that some of my clergy friends will recognize these, and enjoy how Tom navigates some of the particular challenges that come with the season.

This new adventure happens almost two years after the events described in The Book of Answers. Even though it’s set in the Christmas season, I’m hiding a few “Easter Eggs” in the story, that refer to things that happened in the time gap- but which will not be fully revealed until the next installment, which is tentatively titled The Book of Strong Suggestions. (This is a story set in the early days of the COVID-19 Epidemic, and is actually written more as a “thriller” than as a cozy mystery.)

I’m considering posting a few early chapters of The Book of Christmas Joy. Would you be interested in reading them?