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Hello Readers,

Well, this has been an eventful year, don't you think?  We have learned to cope, be flexible, and batten down the hatches.  We have needed to dig deep to find our senses of humor.  But the year is drawing to a close, so it's time to celebrate. The season.  The accomplishments, despite the drawbacks.  The friendships.  

I am thank for all of you, my readers.  I'm thankful for my writing community.  I am thankful for booksellers.  And I have to admit I'm thankful for Zoom, which has made it possible to stay in touch with all of you in a wide variety of ways!  

As always, there is a giveaway below.

And a few announcements. 

How many of you know that I had 3 books come out this year? 

A SPRINKLING OF MURDER,  COLD CONVICTION, and SHREDDING THE EVIDENCE. You can learn more about them below.  

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Google Play
Smashwords

You can read more about it on my website, and get into the world of the Fairy Garden Mysteries, watch the book trailer, and more below.

Read more

What is it about?

Fairy garden store owner Courtney Kelly believes in inviting magic into your life. But when uninvited trouble enters her shop, she’ll need more than a sprinkling of her imagination to solve a murder . . .

Since childhood, Courtney has loved fairies. After her mother died when she was ten, she lost touch with that feeling of magic. A year ago, at age twenty-nine, she rediscovered it when she left her father's landscaping business to spread her wings and start a fairy garden business and teashop in beautiful Carmel, California. At Open Your Imagination, she teaches garden design and sells everything from fairy figurines to tinkling wind chimes and trickling fountains. Now she's starting a book club tea.

But the light of the magical world she's created inside her shop is darkened one night when she discovers neighboring dog-grooming business owner Mick Watkins dead beside a fountain. To make matters worse, the police suspect Courtney of the crime. To clear her name and find the real killer, Courtney will have to wing it. But she’s about to get a little help from an unexpected new friend . . .

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

You can read more about it on my website, and get into the world of the Aspen Adams, watch the book trailer, and more below.

Read more

What's it about? 

Private investigator Aspen Adams takes on a cold case that has haunted her for years . . .

When her parents were murdered fourteen years ago, Aspen Adams coped as best she could as a college freshman and numbly moved on when the case was never solved. Living since then with almost daily reminders of how the tragedy shaped the lives of her and her sister, she’s always known that someday she would launch an investigation of her own. And now, with her sister in crisis, she draws on all her experience as a private investigator to untangle a case that left the police baffled and her family in ruins.

Interviewing the detectives who worked the case, scouring endless pages of their notes, and even tracking down the original suspects, Aspen discovers aspects of the crime and her parents’ lives she never knew about—and ignites a menacing series of events that threaten to engulf everyone near her. Certain she’s on the trail of the killer and unwilling to be deterred, Aspen faces down her own fears about what she’ll find in her search for answers—and justice—before a killer who scarred her life can resurface to wreak havoc on her family once again . . .

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Indiebound
Google Play
Smashwords

You can read more about it on my website, and get into the world of the Cookbook Nook Mysteries, watch the book trailer, and more below.

Read more

What's it about?

The denizens of Crystal Cove are salivating over the upcoming Food Bowl Week, when local chefs offer some of their best and most imaginative creations in bite-size portions all over town. Bookstore proprietor Jenna Hart is hungry to sample as many of the delicacies as she can, but when she stumbles onto the dead body of a local food reporter and learns that her best friend’s husband is the primary suspect, she’ll have to summon the appetite for a side dish of sleuthing to prove his innocence.

Jenna knows the ambitious and aggressive reporter, who was strangled at a fitness center with her shredded restaurant reviews scattered around her, left behind a long list of potential suspects. As she begins piecing together the scant clues, she uncovers illicit ties between the victim and a local newspaper owner, a spurned would-be lover, and a host of disgruntled restaurant owners not a bit torn up by the critical reporter’s demise. And with a solution so close she can almost taste it, Jenna turns up the heat on the culprit, realizing too late that she’s the next course on the murderer’s menu . . .

What do you know?

Nutcracker dolls, most commonly made to resemble a toy soldier, originate from late-17th century Germany.  They were often given as gifts, and at some point they became associated with Christmas season.  Decorative nutcracker dolls began being popularized outside of Europe after the Second World War, when American soldiers stationed in Germany came home to the U.S. with German nutcrackers as souvenirs.  They became even more popular with the staging of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, a ballet adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which featured a toy soldier nutcracker.  In German tradition, the dolls are symbols of good luck, frightening away malevolent spirits.  Here's my collection . . .

What's new?

I have a  Fresh Fiction Giveaway for the Holidays until Dec. 7. Follow link to ENTER for a chance at a copy of A SPRINKLING OF MURDER ++ a $15 gift card to bookstore of your choice.

And now for the Giveaway

I am giving away a choice of this year's 

3 published books to 3 winners.

THE 3 MAILING LIST WINNERS FOR
A CHOICE OF THIS YEAR'S 3 PUBLISHED BOOKS ARE . . .

(Asterisks added to protect email integrity) 

lorip**5@aol.com

lvalentine**5@gmail.com

rustyfa**7@comcast.net

If this is you or you THINK it's you, email me. 

You have until DEC 21st to contact me to claim your book.
Email me using the above address
at daryl@darylwoodgerber.com and receive the book of your choice.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Congratulations!

What are you reading?

I just finished Hannah Dennisons's delightful DEATH OF A DIVA AT HONEYCHURCH HALL,  Tracy Wilton's fun romp, MRS. MORRIS AND THE GHOST, and I'm listening to Bethany Blake's magical A BRUSHSTROKE WITH DEATH

Next up, I'm going to listen to Krista Davis's Paws and Claws Mystery, BIG LITTLE SPIES, and I'll be reading CAUGHT DEAD HANDED by Carol Perry.

What's to eat?

You probably need a Christmas cookie right about now. Well, how about my grandmother's famous sugar cookies. They're delicious without decorations, but you can decorate to your heart's delight. 

GRANDMOTHER'S SUGAR COOKIES

(Makes 18-20 cookies)

This is a gluten-free recipe. If you want to make using regular flour, substitute out the sweet rice flour and white rice flour with regular flour and omit the xanthan gum.

  • 1 cube butter (8 tablespoons)
  • 1/2 cup sugar plus 1 ½ tablespoon sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
  • 1/2 cup white rice flour
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

In a large bowl, cream butter, and sugar.  Add egg and stir.  Add gluten-free flours, cream of tartar, and xanthan gum, mixing well.

Drop by spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet.  Press with the back of a spoon or moist fingers to form a dollar-sized pancake shape.

Bake 10-12 minutes.  Should be lightly brown around edges when removed from oven.  Let cool 1 minute, then remove from tray and set on racks to cool.  These get very crisp.  May be decorated with colored sprinkles, powdered sugar, or nuts, if you like, when warm.

* Store in an airtight box or freeze.  These are great freezer cookies.

What’s up with Sparky?

Sparky finds Christmas interesting.  He loves checking out the decorations. Of course, he would like to know if one of these snowmen is for "him," but I am smart enough to give him a new toy at this time, and so far, he has stayed away from "borrowing" any of my collectibles.  Good boy, Sparky!


May the season bring you comfort and joy.


Fairy Garden Mysteries
A Sprinkling of Murder

Cookbook Nook Mysteries
Final Sentence // Inherit the Word // Stirring the Plot //  
Fudging the Books 
// Grilling the Subject   
Pressing the Issue  //  Wreath between the Lines
Sifting Through Clues // Shredding the Evidence

French Bistro Mysteries

A Deadly Éclair // A Soufflé of Suspicion

Aspen Adams Novels of Suspense

Desolate Shores // Fan Mail // Cold Conviction

Stand-alone Suspense

Girl on the Run // Day of Secrets

Cheese Shop Mysteries

written as Avery Aames
The Long Quiche Goodbye // Lost and Fondue //
Clobbered by Camembert // To Brie or not To Brie
Days of Wine and Roquefort // 
As Gouda as Dead // For Cheddar or Worse

Copyright © 2020 Daryl Wood Gerber, All rights reserved.
Savor the Mystery Newsletter Vol. 14 No. 16

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