Synopsis:

A summer of fun at a Catskills resort comes to an abrupt end when a guest is found murdered, in this new 1950s set mystery series.

It’s the summer of 1953, and Elizabeth Grady is settling into Haggerman’s Catskills Resort. As a vacation getaway, Haggerman’s is ideal, and although Elizabeth’s ostentatious but well-meaning mother is new to running the resort, Elizabeth is eager to help her organize the guests and the entertainment acts. But Elizabeth will have to resort to untested abilities if she wants to save her mother’s business.

When a reclusive guest is found dead in a lake on the grounds, and a copy of The Communist Manifesto is found in his cabin, the local police chief is convinced that the man was a Russian spy. But Elizabeth isn’t so sure, and with the fate of the resort hanging in the balance, she’ll need to dodge red herrings, withstand the Red Scare, and catch a killer red-handed.

My Thoughts

I’m a big fan of Vicki Delany’s other series, so I was thrilled to see a brand-new series from her. I was not dissappointed. In Deadly Summer Nights you are transported back to a vacation resort in the Catskills in the 1950’s. The details and descriptions are so rich that you really feel as though you have gone back in time. Elizabeth Grady’s mother is running the place and when a dead body shows up, Elizabeth decides to investigate to save the business.

I loved both the characters and the atmosphere in this story. No modern conveniences (no cell phones, for example) make such a difference when it comes to what a heroine can do to save herself and what a criminal can get away with. Deadly Summer Nights is a wonderful start to a new series and I can’t wait for another book.

I’m also very excited to welcome Vicki Delaney to The Book’s the Thing today! Please enjoy her post below and be sure to enter the giveaway before you go.

Having Fun Again

By Vicki Delany

August 2021

I started my writing career writing standalone novels of psychological suspense, what’s now so hugely popular under the label of domestic suspense; I then wrote an eight novel police procedural series. In between those I wrote a historical series set in the Klondike Gold Rush and novellas for adult literary.

And now I’m writing cozies. Why the change?

About seven years ago, I was starting to get a bit… shall we say burned out?  I was seriously thinking about giving up writing. I can’t really say why, maybe I wasn’t having fun with it any more. Tough stuff, even fictionally, is difficult to deal with sometimes.

Then I was asked by Kim Lionetti of Bookends if I’d like to try my hand at the Lighthouse Library series work-for-hire Berkley was offering.

Sure, thought I. Might as well. I gave it a go, got the contract, and I’ve never looked back.

Because I found that writing could be fun again. I love writing cozies.  One thing led to another and I’m now writing FOUR cozy series and I have a new one starting in September.  Deadly Summer Nights is the first in the Catskills Resort series, set in 1953. As well as that I write the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series and the Tea by the Sea books as Vicki Delany, and the Lighthouse Library series under the pen name of Eva Gates.  That’s three or four books a year. I approach every day (well, almost every day) excited to get back to the computer and the story.

The word I often use for the cozies I write is FUN. They should be fun for the author and fun for the reader.  Not all cozies are humorous, but I hope mine are. Writing humour, I’ve found, makes me smile.

Cozies are intended to be nothing more than an entertaining read. You won’t learn many lessons about the human condition, no one is suffering from angst or threating to kill themselves because of depression. No PTSD. No terrorist attacks or serial killers. Just people with friends and lovers and community. And the occasional enemy. And a murder of course.

Cozy mysteries are not trying to make an important statement about the human condition, or hoping to change the world. A cozy mystery tells a story that attempts to be entertaining, that’s about people much like us (or like us if we were prettier, or smarter, or younger!) and our friends and family.

Cozy mysteries are about real people living real lives (except for that pesky murder bit), although writ large. Everything is exaggerated. The nosy neighbour is nosier, the ditzy friend is ditzier, the mean girl is meaner. And the handsome man is, well, handsomer.  Even better if there are two of them.

The covers and the titles of cozies themselves are intended to bring a smile to your face.

Readers who enjoy cozies often tell me they read them to escape from the real world. Particularly in these strange times, they need that escape. Cozy mysteries really are an escape.

About the Author
 

Made with Repix (http://repix.it)

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than forty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series for Crooked Lane Books, the Catskill Resort mysteries for Penguin Random House, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane.

Vicki is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

Author Links

Website –  www.vickidelany.com

Facebook – www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor;

Twitter:  @vickidelany and@evagatesauthor

Instagram: vickidelany

Bookbub: Vicki Delany Books – BookBub

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – IndieBound

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win a print copy of Deadly Summer Nights (A Catskill Summer Resort Mystery) by Vicki Delany – U.S. / CANADA ONLY

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

September 1 – Author Elena Taylor’s Blog – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 1 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

September 2 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

September 2 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

September 2 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

September 3 – Novels Alive – GUEST POST

September 3 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

September 4 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 4 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW

September 5 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 5 – The Cozy Pages – REVIEW

September 6 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW, RECIPE

September 6 – This Is My Truth Now – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 7 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW

September 7 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 8 – Novels Alive – REVIEW

September 8 – My Journey Back the Journey Back – RECIPE

September 8 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 9 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

September 9 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – REVIEW

September 10 – View From the Birdhouse – REVIEW

September 10 – Brianne’s Book Reviews – REVIEW

September 11 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 11 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW, GUEST POST

September 12 – Brooke Blogs – REVIEW

September 12 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW

September 13 – Reading Reality – REVIEW

September 13 – Socrates Book Reviews – REVIEW

September 14 – Book Club Librarian – REVIEW

September 14 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT

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