Jayne sits down for a Q&A with dru’s book musings responding to twenty or more questions so we can learn more about her. Are you ready? Let’s get to know Jayne.

What is your full name?
Jayne Wilson

How old are you?
Mid thirties

What is your profession?
Baker

Do you have a significant other?
Yes, and we’re engaged!

What is their name and profession?
Andy Whitehall, chef and restaurant owner

Do you have any children?
No.

Do you have any siblings?
One brother, Jeff Wilson.

Are your parents nearby?
My father has passed away, my mother, Leslie, lives in West London, Massachusetts, as do I, and we’re very close.

Who is your best friend?
Gemma Doyle, who is also my business partner. She and her great uncle Arthur Doyle own one half of Mrs. Hudson’s, my tearoom. They also own the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, located next to the tearoom at 222 Baker Street.

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
I do not. I leave that to Gemma. I’d love to have a dog, but I don’t see how I could fit them around my schedule at the bakery.

What town do you live in?
West London, Massachusetts. That’s on Cape Cod.

What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
Right now, I rent an apartment, but Andy and I are planning to buy a house for when we get married next year.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
Believe it or not, my kitchen. Even though I work all day as a professional baker, I still love to cook. When I have the time, that is. A kitchen, whether in my home or at Mrs. Hudson’s, is my happy place.

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
I love a traditional afternoon tea, and that’s what we specialize in at Mrs. Hudson’s. Scones, finger sandwiches, lovely little desserts. Carefully prepared, beautifully presented. I love it all.

Do you have any hobbies?
Hobbies? What are hobbies?

What music do you listen to?
When I’m working, it’s modern pop. Adele, Lady Gaga, Florence and the Machine are among my favorites.

What is your favorite color?
Blue. All shades of blue.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
What’s a vacation? Actually, I can answer that. I’ve been to London twice now with Gemma. I don’t know that I can say we had a vacation, as that doesn’t seem to happen around Gemma. Instead of exploring art galleries and museums, dropping into old pubs, enjoying afternoon tea, and dining at good restaurants, I found myself hot on the trail of a murderer. Although that can sometimes be unexpectedly fun.

Andy and I are going to a Caribbean resort for our honeymoon. Gemma is NOT coming, so I’m looking forward to a true vacation.

Are you a morning or night person?
I’m a professional baker, so I have to be a morning person. Thankfully I am. I’m usually up at three thirty, into the kitchen at the tearoom by four to get the yeasted baking started.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
Would you believe baking? Trapsing around London after Gemma? Other than that, just quiet time with Andy. Maybe exploring Cape Cod, going out for a nice lunch or a lovely dinner.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
Ever Loyal and Always Confused: Life with the World’s Greatest (although reluctant) Consulting Detective.

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I am most definitely not a sleuth. Although I do seem to get dragged into things by my best friend and business partner, Gemma Doyle. Gemma says she doesn’t go looking for trouble, but trouble seems to come looking for her.

What is a typical day in your life like?
In the busy season, I get up early, go to the tearoom where I bake and make soup and light lunches until closing at four. At three forty, I take a break for a business meeting (aka girlfriends’ catch-up session) with Gemma. Back at it, to get prep done for the next day. Sometimes I manage to stagger home by seven and drop into bed.

It sounds tough, and sometimes it is, but I also enjoy spending time with my friends and with Andy, my fiancé. Like everyone in the tourist business on Cape Cod we work hard in the summer, but we know how to have our fun in the off-season.

All of that, summer or winter, is when I’m not running around after Gemma, trying to help her with a case about which I have not the slightest idea of what’s going on.

The Incident Of The Book In The Nighttime: A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery, Book 10
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: January 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

Bookshop owner Gemma Doyle heads to London for a wedding, but when a body is found in connection with a rare book, Gemma sets out to sleuth the slaying in bestselling author Vicki Delany’s tenth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery.

Gemma Doyle and her friends have packed their bags and headed to London for her sister Pippa’s wedding. Waiting for her in the hotel lobby is none other than Gemma’s ex-husband, Paul Erikson. Paul has a rare book he wants her to see—calling it “the real deal”—so Gemma agrees to meet him at their old shop, Trafalgar Fine Books, the following day. But when Gemma arrives, accompanied by Grant, a rare book dealer, they find Paul dead in his office.

Paul had been down on his luck, but Gemma never expected this. Had he borrowed money from people he shouldn’t have? And where is the valuable book he was so anxious for Gemma to see? It’s nowhere to be found in the shop. Because of their previous relationship, Gemma feels she owes something to Paul and vows to find his killer.

As Gemma and her best friend Jayne Wilson follow Paul’s trail of friends, enemies, clients, and ex-lovers through London to Yorkshire, she realizes the puzzle of Paul’s last days is more twisted than she originally thought.

This mystery is anything but elementary, and Gemma and Jayne have to use all their wit to get to the bottom of it before their time in London—or in life—is over.

About the author
Vicki Delany is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than fifty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year-Round Christmas mysteries, the Tea by the Sea books, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates). She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.