Cover Reveal: Sleigh Bell Tower – Murder at the Campus Holiday Gala (Braxton Campus Mystery #8) by James J. Cudney

I’m thrilled to reveal the cover of the eighth Braxton Campus Mystery, Sleigh Bell Tower: Murder at the Campus Holiday Gala. Learn all about the upcoming release of my next holiday-themed book…

The next adventure for Kellan Ayrwick is centered around the Christmas and Hanukkah season in Wharton County, Pennsylvania. The book will release on December 20th, 2021, and it will go on a blog tour from 12/11 thru 12/20 with Great Escapes. I’ll share more details about the sign up soon. The book was launched on Amazon as a pre-sale earlier this week, and today I am sharing the cover of the 8th book in the Braxton Campus Mysteries with you. As you’ve come to expect, the title is a play on words: Sleigh Bell and Bell Tower. Can you guess how the victim will die? Is it with a string of sleigh bells that knock him or her on the head? Is it being pushed off the roof of a huge tower? Does it have anything to do with a runaway sleigh? Share your ideas in the comments and I’ll pick 2 lucky winners to receive an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) – eBook version this December. Purchase link is below:

http://mybook.to/sleighbell

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About the Book(s)

When Bell Towers decides to build their newest boutique hotel in Wharton County, Braxton establishes a hospitality program as part of their university expansion. Despite the Ingram and Lynch family ties to prominent citizens, a dispute over the proposed landsite pits citizens against each other. One takes matters into their own hands and slays the hotel magnate during the campus holiday party. As the list of suspects increases, long-lost family members are anxious to keep their secrets from being revealed, complicating Sheriff Montague’s ability to determine the murderer’s true motive. Even Kellan’s forced to cast doubt on his friends and colleagues when it becomes obvious someone he knows committed the ultimate crime. April and Kellan are also celebrating their first Christmas and Hanukkah together, exchanging gifts based on the classic Twelve Days of Christmas song. While they trim the tree, light the menorah, and experience all the traditional holiday festivities with the kids, Nana D delivers her sarcastic brand of humor and endlessly tortures the town. Among Eleanor’s surprise news, Augie’s new girlfriend, and Myriam’s hilarious demands, Kellan’s dealing with unexpected holiday drama. The poor guy simply wants to spend the merry season with his family before he’s forced to trek to Scotland to fulfill his promise to the late Constance Garibaldi. What kind of quest has the psychic sent him on now?

Excerpt

Several picks of red and white flowers adorned Karen’s head and ears, and her satiny elf-like costume sparkled so brightly it caused temporary blindness. Nana D snagged her arm, scrutinizing the woman’s severe bob, which practically glowed with an unnatural shade of green. “Oh, dear… be a love and bring me one of whatever he’s having, please. Cute hairdo. It’s ultra-chic. Youthful. And tell your lovable husband that the Christmas lunch he catered for my office party was scrumptious. Doug is a genius with pastry dough!”

Before I could object to Nana D’s hypocrisy about day-drinking, weigh in on either diva’s striking hair color, or explain why I was imbibing a cocktail at one o’clock on a Friday afternoon, Karen swiveled her body to study my near-empty glass with an additional round of punitive judgment. “Kellan, your waitress just dropped off that Peppy Schnappy Blast. You need another already? Yeesh!”

I groaned. Loud enough that a bickering couple near our table intermittently stopped their baleful argument and cocked their necks in our direction. Given a neighboring column’s angle and several strategically placed oversized decorations, I couldn’t make out their expressions. “First, what I drink—”

“Pish! I blame myself, Karen. He was such a whiny baby. I rubbed too much whiskey on his gums. Got a taste for the hard candy early on.” Nana D snatched my glass and sucked the remnants of my only remaining salvation through a disintegrating straw. Within seconds, she soured her lips, clutched her forehead, and squealed like a cranky child. “One, I despise paper straws even though I want to support the environment. Two, that’s a girly drink for weaklings with no chutzpah. Three, I’ve got brain freeze. And four… well, never mind… I’ve already forgotten my most crucial point. I’ll take a proper Old Fashioned with two cherries. Put it on his tab too. Teach the baby a lesson to grow a pair of—”

“Now, now… Mayor Danby,” Karen interrupted, curling her arm around my tensed shoulders. “Kellan can’t help himself. Who are we to mock his taste in afternoon tipples? It’s been a mega-popular menu item lately.” She explained that the Peppy Schnappy Blast, a signature cocktail her daughter had created for the month of December, was earning rave reviews from local critics.

I clarified its ingredients for my grandmother. “Two parts vodka, two parts peppermint schnapps, and one part vanilla-flavored almond milk. It’s served in a chilled martini glass, then topped with a tower of whipped cream, bits of crumbled candy canes, shaved dark chocolate, and a frozen cherry.”

After boasting to Nana D that her daughter, Sierra, would sit for the bar exam upon returning from London next spring, Karen refocused on me. With more of her trademark sass, she inquired, “So, that’s an affirmative on the chick drink, right, professor?” Hastily, she exited as I grimaced and bobbed my head in slow motion. Even her pointy elfin shoes had jingle bells fastened to them.

“If I hadn’t needed it before the Grim Reaper arrived, I definitely do now.” While one hand massaged my right temple, the other scooped a fistful of salted almonds from a snowman-shaped bowl in the middle of the table. “To clarify, Triple A (AAA) services cars. You meant AA, which stands for Alcoholics Anonymous. Of which I am not a member because I do not have a drinking problem. I’m celebrating. What’s. Wrong. With. That?”

Nana D snorted and sank further into her chair, tenderly patting my hand. “I know the difference, you foolish ninny. I meant Triple A because if you consume another froufrou drink, you’ll wrap your car around a tree and need someone to rescue you from embodying the role of stupid and helpless victim number one in the horror film that is your life. What are you commemorating? Who did something positive for a change? And why didn’t you invite me?”

I debated a range of responses, ultimately rationalizing the benefits of defending myself. “The fall semester just finished. I turned in all my students’ grades and drafted a final report for the Dragon Lady. Now, I’m on a break for three-and-a-half weeks. Anything else, Grand Inquisitor?”

“Must be nice only working part time. No wonder Myriam Castle is always riding your rump. And you call yourself a sensible role model for today’s youth?” Nana D sheeshed me, then gleefully switched her cell phone to silent mode. “If the public needs me, they can send out smoke signals. I’m borrowing a leaf from your tree and getting rip-roaring sloshed this afternoon.”

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4279985594

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About Me
For those new to me or my reviews… here’s the scoop: I’m Jay, an contemporary fiction, family drama, and mystery author who lives in NYC. My stand-alone novel, Father Figure, can be purchased on Amazon as electronic copies or physical copies. My co-written metaphysical drama about past lives, Weathering Old Souls, is a partnership with the amazing Didi Oviatt. My family drama series, Perceptions of Glass, has two books: (1) Watching Glass Shatter and (2) Hiding Cracked Glass. My clever book series, Braxton Campus Mysteries, will fit those who love cozy mysteries and crime investigations but with a twist. There are eight books: Academic Curveball, Broken Heart Attack, Flower Power Trip, Mistaken Identity Crisis, Haunted House Ghost, Frozen Stiff Drink, Legally Blind Luck, and Sleigh Bell Tower. I read, write, and blog A LOT on this site where you can also find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.