FEATURED AUTHOR: CHRISTINA FREEBURN

ABOUT THE BOOK

Empty nester Merry Winters loves three things: Christmas, crafting and her family. To regain purpose and joy, Merry hits the road to a Christmas vendor event with her furry sidekick Ebenezer in her new mobile crafting sleigh, aka an RV.

But it soon turns into the nightmare before Christmas when Merry unwraps her Scrooge of an ex-husband’s body in one of the RV’s compartments. Add to that his missing winning lottery ticket believed to be stashed somewhere in the RV, leading the homicide detective and Merry’s stepdaughter to believe Merry is the one whodunit.

With visions of prison dancing in her head, will Merry be able to solve this Christmas calamity before she’s locked away?




Book Details:


Title: Not a Creature Was Stirring

Author: Christina Freeburn


Genre: Cozy mystery


Series: Merry & Bright Handcrafted Mystery, book 1


Publisher: Henery Press (January 22, 2019)

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

GUEST POST BY CHRISTINA FREEBURN

The Creation of a New Series

It’s interesting what can give me an idea for a new series. A song. A line of dialogue. A news article. This time, the catalyst for Merry & Bright Handcrafted Mystery Series was my youngest child moving out. I found it hard to relate to my heroine Faith (from the Scrap This mystery series) who was soon-to-be married and dreaming of starting a family when the raising of children part of my life was ending.

But as I’m a writer at heart, I couldn’t stop writing so I continued trying to write a book with Faith. It wasn’t going anywhere. No matter how many times I rewrote the first few pages, the story wasn’t taking off. I gave up on a novel and decided to write a short story featuring Faith. I finished it, but I wasn’t connected to it. There was no spark in the story. No humor. Not even anger. The characters were doing what I needed but it was emotionless.

It was then that I realized I was disconnected from Faith. We weren’t talking to each other and it wasn’t something I was able to force. I guess in a way I was a little jealous of where she was in life and found myself in a place where I couldn’t “talk” or understand her anymore. What was I going to do? I felt even more lost when I wasn’t writing, my brain was constantly asking, “What are you going to do now?” For twenty some odd years, my primary role was stay at home mom, but with no kids at home, that “job” was gone. I was no longer needed. My purpose was gone. I was adrift. And to add to my feelings of being “purposeless,” I found myself in a place where I couldn’t write…or at least I couldn’t write from Faith’s POV.

I’ve always found writing to be cathartic and work out a lot of issues that way. So, I decided to write a story featuring a new character. A woman who was an empty nester and struggling to know who she was now that motherhood was no longer her primary focus. I wanted to “up the ante” for her so also made her recently divorced. I looked in my little book of mystery plot ideas…I jot down snippet of conversation I hear, song lyric, or in this case a pondering I had when I had watching a show about RVs, and one worked perfectly for a woman beginning a new life adventure.

I started writing and Merry Winters came to life on the page. One day, I do plan on telling the next story in Faith’s life (and sleuthing) but for now, Merry and I still have things to work out together.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Christina Freeburn has always loved books. There was nothing better than picking up a story and being transported to another place. The love of reading evolved into the love of writing and she’s been writing since her teenage years. Her first novel was a 2003 Library of Virginia Literary Award nominee. Her mysteries series, Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery and Merry & Bright Handcrafted Mysteries, are a mix of crafty and crime and feature heroines whose crafting time is interrupted by crime solving.

Christina served in the US Army and has also worked as a paralegal, librarian, church secretary, and golf shop pro. She lives in West Virginia with her husband, dog, and a rarely seen cat except by those who are afraid and allergic to felines.




Connect with Christina:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

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