Sometimes the best way to know a person is by asking questions, so let’s meet Jaymie.
What is your name?
Jaymie Leighton Müller
How old are you?
I am early 30s. Ish.
What is your profession?
How much time do you have? LOL. Really. . . I do a hundred things. Deep breath: among the many. . . odd jobs and occasional cashier at Queensville Emporium, Jewel’s Junk, and the Cottage Shoppe, cashier and whatever needs doing at The Junk Stops Here (my hubby’s shop), food columnist for the Wolverhampton Weekly Howler (Vintage Eats column) and hopeful cookbook author!
Do you have a significant other?
I do now!
What is his name?
Jakob Müller
What is his profession?
Jakob is so like me. . . he has several different businesses, but mostly he is a Christmas tree farmer (my 12 year old self would have picked that for a future husband’s job if she’d thought of it!) and part owner, with his buddy Gus, of The Junk Stops Here, a junk, antique, vintage and liquidation store.
Any children?
Step mom to Jocie (Jocelyn Eleanor Müller) my cute-as-a-button little person daughter, just turning nine.
Do you have any sibling(s)?
My sister, Becca (Rebecca) Brevard (she just married too, to Kevin Brevard, a fellow antique dealer!)
Cats, dogs or other pets?
I have an adorable rescued tripod (lost one front leg as a pup in the puppy mill where he was born) Yorkie Poo, named Hoppy, short for Hopalong. A crabby tabby named Denver. And now, my daughter has a kitten, Lilibet (short for Little Bit).
What town do you live in?
Queensville, Michigan, along the St. Clair River, near Marine City and Algonac.
House or building complex?
Big yellow brick Queen Anne, co-owned with my sister, Becca. It is the Leighton family home, deeded to us by our parents, who now live the good life in Boca Raton, Florida. But also. . . a log cabin built by my husband from a kit; it is out in the country and occupies a corner of the Christmas tree farm, near the road. So peaceful! I love it. We spend time in both homes.
Do you rent or own?
Co-Own.
What is your favorite spot in your house?
In the Queensville house there is only one answer: my kitchen! I have such great memories of our family, and especially my Grandma Leighton, from whom I got my love of cooking and all things vintage! It’s furnished with stuff I remember from being a kid, and new additions, like the gorgeous Hoosier cabinet I bought at auction. At the cabin there are so many: a cozy chair by the stone fireplace, where I found comfort and love with Jakob, but also. . . I just adore sitting in an Adirondack chair on the porch looking across the road at the forest, just thinking: cup of tea, Hoppy, Jakob and Jocie, or just alone. So peaceful!
Who is your best friend?
Tricky question. . . if I don’t say my older sister, Becca, she’ll kill me. But my best FRIEND is Valetta Nibley. She’s known me since the day I was born. She babysat me, took me to my first thrift store when I was little, and has been the one person who I have never in my life had a cross word with.
Amateur sleuth or professional?
Sleuth?? Neither; I keep telling people I just get lucky, but in truth I just can’t leave a problem alone until I untangle it. AND I’ve been lucky. And I know my town, and the people in it, for better or worse.
Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
Valetta is my go-to, when I’m trying to figure things out. As a pharmacist, she has an analytical mind. She’s great at keeping secrets – what pharmacist isn’t? – and she knows this town even better than I do.
Favorite meal?
Oooh, for someone who likes food as much as I do, that’s a tough one. If I had to choose one meal for the rest of my life, I guess it would be spaghetti. Or, no, chilli! Or. . . maybe pizza? Sigh. . . you get the difficulty. Oh, wait! I know— my husband’s meatloaf is truly superb! (Recipe for Jakob’s Scrumptious Meatloaf included in No Grater Danger)
Favorite dessert?
No question at all; pecan buttertarts from Tansy Tarts on Heartbreak Island. They are DELICIOUS alone or with a scoop of ice cream! I keep trying to get the recipe from her, but it’s a secret from her Canadian family and Tansy won’t share. Can’t blame her.
Favorite hobby?
Easy. . . thrifting, aka shopping for vintage kitchen stuff and books at thrift stores!
Favorite vacation spot?
Hmm. . . our family’s cottage on Heartbreak Island, probably, but every summer I go for a week camping in Canada with a bunch of crazy university friends. We generally go to a campground on Lake Huron near a tiny village called Ipperwash.
Favorite color?
Hate to be typical, but pink. It looks good on me.
Favorite author?
Yikes, hard one. It has to be Welsh Canadian romance author Mary Balogh. . . I first stole her books from my Grandma Leighton’s stash and fell in love with her Regency romances. I still love them! She’s awesomely talented and 33 years after her first published romance novel she is still writing, thank goodness.
Favorite sports team?
Detroit Red Wings (hockey) – Go Wings!!
Movies or Broadway?
I’ve never seen a Broadway play, (never been to New York) but I’d love to. So by default it is movies. I especially love Disney movies; the recent live action version of Beauty and the Beast was so wonderful. Jocie (my daughter) and I just loved it. We went into Wolverhampton to see it, and now we own the DVD. My personal favorite romantic movie is The Holiday with Kate Winslet, and not just for Jude Law (wink). . . Eli Wallach was wonderful in it.
Are you a morning or a night person?
Morning, morning, morning! I wake up eager to get going every day. I’m toast by 11 PM.
In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
Breakfast with Jakob and Jocie, get Jocie out to the school bus or take her to school, then one of many things: work at one of my jobs, or at Jakob’s store, (The Junk Stops Here), fit in some work on my cooking column in the Wolverhampton Weekly Howler (Vintage Eats) or on the cookbook I’m still trying to finish, then housework, pick up Jocie or meet her bus, dinner and bedtime routine. This is kind of a big change since I got married; it’s a lot more structured, with a child to look after, but I’m good with that. I’m very flexible.
Wow, this was fun! Thank you so much!
Jaymie Leighton
Giveaway: Tell us, have you held many jobs at the same time? Three readers selected at random will receive a digital (Nook or Kindle) copy of No Grater Danger. Leave a comment below for your chance to win. The giveaway ends June 23, 2018. Good luck everyone!
You can read about Jaymie in No Grater Danger, the seventh book in the “Vintage Kitchen” mystery series. The first book in the series is A Deadly Grind.
In the brand-new Vintage Kitchen Mystery from the author of Leave It to Cleaver, someone out to spice up their life means to crush a helpless victim . . .
Vintage cookware enthusiast Jaymie Leighton is thrilled at the prospect of meeting an elderly descendant of her town’s founding father, not least because she’s known to possess an enviably large collection of antique spice graters. But the curmudgeonly woman also has substantial real estate holdings, and at the moment she’s engaged in a fierce battle with a property developer who wants her to sell off her old buildings in the name of progress. When Jaymie goes to visit the woman and discovers that there’s been an attempt on her life, she polishes up her sleuthing skills to find out who was behind the foul deed.
Her first instinct is to suspect the developer, but as she digs deeper into the case she learns that her older new friend has purportedly been the victim of numerous criminal acts—all of which point to different suspects. Unsure if the stories are true or simply the confused ramblings of a senior citizen, Jaymie sifts through the clues hoping to expose the culprit, but she knows that if she keeps stirring up trouble, she’ll be next on the would-be killer’s list.
Includes a vintage recipe!
Purchase Link
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About the author
Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea Simpson. Victoria is the national bestselling author of two mystery series, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries and Merry Muffin Mysteries, as well as the Teapot Collector Mysteries as Amanda Cooper. She is also the bestselling author of Regency and historical romance as Donna Lea Simpson.
Victoria loves to cook and collects vintage kitchen paraphernalia, teacups and teapots, and almost anything that catches her fancy! She loves to read, especially mystery novels, and enjoys good tea and cheap wine, the company of friends, and has a newfound appreciation for opera. She enjoys crocheting and beading, but a good book can tempt her away from almost anything. . . except writing!
She now happily writes about vintage kitchen collecting, muffin baking and dead bodies for publisher Beyond the Page for the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries (the first five books of the series were published by Berkley Prime Crime) and Merry Muffin Mystery series, published by Berkley. Besides writing about murder and mayhem, and blogging at Killer Characters, Victoria collects vintage kitchen wares and old cookbooks, as well as teapots and teacups.
All comments are welcomed.
Thank you for the “GRATE” review DruAnn. I have liked this series a lot since I read book 1 and I’m looking forward to another with this release.
As to holding multiple jobs it definitely was a challenge for a number of years when my husband and I owned two businesses at the same time for a number of years, plus being a mother of two young children and dealing with medical problems of my aging parents. But it certainly gave me the chance to show how strong and resilient I was.
Congratulations to the author and thank you for the chance to receive this book.
Cynthia
I held three part-time jobs simultaneously while I was in college: French tutor, cashier at Pier One Imports, and Saturday receptionist at a photography studio.
At one crazy busy point in my life I held two jobs at the same time. By day I was a paralegal & in the evenings I was a tax return preparer for H&R Block.
While I went to school at the University of Michigan, I worked at Little Caesar’s Pizza and a work study job at University Laundry.
I have held two jobs also, for four years. Not easy. Love this series of books and cannot wit to read it.
I had 3 jobs at the same time and on Saturdays I had to work all 3 of them. I was exhausted, the things you do to pay the mortgage. I love this series. I love antiques. Thank you for this chance. pgenest57(at)aol(dot)com
Love these blogs..and the vintage kitchen series!
I edited a newsletter, worked for my husband’s farm and raised three children at one time…
cheers (at) marjimmanor.com
I have worked 2 to 3 jobs at a time. Never easy but necessary.
I held down two jobs for ten years when I was single in order to afford living alone in my apartment. I worked at a retail store during my last year of college – I stayed working there part-time (working 2 evenings and Saturdays) through the next 10 years until I got married. Then I went back briefly for another six months to earn extra cash when we were buying our new house.
All of us hold many more jobs through our lives. Holding an job outside of my home, church secretary, sales clerk, housekeeper, among others. When I married, I took on the job of wife, mother, cook, nurse, as well as other jobs that come with having a husband and family.
When I was in college I worked at the school library, babysat regularly for one of the librarians, and worked weekends at Dairy Queen-all while going to classes and practicing several hours a day as a music major. Of course I was young and only had a dorm room to worry about-not a house like Jaymie. Nowadays I teach part time and watch my granddaughter the rest of the week, and feel like I must be doing at least a dozen different jobs! LOL Age must factor in on that feeling. 😜
Jaymie and Hoppy are favorites of mine. I love how she seems to know everybody. I also share her love for vintage cooking items. Thanks for a chance to win a copy of this book.
No multiple “real” jobs but for many of the years when our children were younger I had a full-time job, was the mom, and went to night school.
I worked 3 jobs for a large part of my adulthood and even when i went to school full time because I have always been self supporting. then two jobs . The time I got to work one felt luxurious. I am still tired out from working so hard all those years and I missed out on enjoying normal things in life . its exhausting. Thank you for the chance.
Usually one at a time, unless you include parent, spouse, etc.
I am a library assistant, volunteer media consultant to the local food bank, and a full time caregiver for my mom. Of course, only one of these is paid, lol.
I’ve only ever had one job at a time. Might be able to handle two, but no more than that.
Only one paying job at a time
I have worked two jobs at the same time at one time or another. Thank you for the review and for the giveaway.
When I was first out of college I worked two jobs. I worked my full time job and after that I went to my second job and worked for
4-6 hours. G ood thing I was young!
I have been fortunate in that I have been able to focus fully on one job at a time. Thank you for doing the giveaway.
Never worked more than one job at a time. I worked 40 hours a week as a legal secretary.
Love every book in the series! Only one job at a time unless you count the fact that through most of my teaching career I advised the yearbook staff and National Honor Society and directed the class plays all at the same time.
Never had more than one jon, full-time, at a time.
Great interview. Very entertaining.
I also love that book cover. Few animals are as mischievous as cats.
While in college, I had a full time job & a part time job. It was exhausting.
I’ve never worked more than one paying job at a time. I’ve worked at a job and volunteered somewhere in addition to taking care of my husband and sons.
I have to say I was so excited to see this book coming out, I love this series! And the Merry Muffin series too!
Right after college I got a full-time job and then took a part-time job to pay off credit cards and it was really hard. So I had to give a part-time job just to focus on the full-time job. Thanks for the chance and great review!
I’ve never held more than one job at a time.
This was such a fun interview to read! Thanks for posting and thanks so much for the chance. I’d love to read a book from this series.
I only held one job at a time but when I worked I also was a Mom to 3 girls, so I guess that is 2 Jobs😏 I also like Vintage Things – Vases and Art Deco and Coffee/Espresso Decor, Mid Century Modern and of course Reading Mystery/ Suspense Books
**** WINNER ****
No Grater Danger is Linda Kuzminczuk, Marie Coats, Leslie
Congratulations!
Thank You so much I will enjoy reading this great book!