Gap year. . . weird expression, right? I’m eighteen. At the end of high school I decided to take a year before going to college and my mom freaks out, right? She’s like ‘you’ll never go to college if you take a year off’, and I’m like ‘Mom, chill. . . I got this.’ But I don’t think my mom knows how to chill, so. . . whatever.

Anyway, a day in my life, you ask.

Depends on the day. I’m kinda obsessed with photography, and right now Merry Wynter and Pish Lincoln’s project – they’re building a performing arts center – provides a cool opportunity. Pish says if my pictures are good enough he’s going to publish a book of them to celebrate the project. Three years ago I never would have thought this life – my life right now – was possible.

A day in my life is. . . unexpected. Different. Sometimes weird. Like, right now Merry has this opera competition TV show being taped in the castle – don’t ask: Pish got her involved again – and so I’m shadowing the head guy in charge of video. I think his title is Director of Photography. He’s like this mountain, and shaggy like a yeti, and gruff like. . . well, like the yeti. But beneath that he’s a nice guy and smart and talented, and he’s been really helpful and encouraging and. . . I’m babbling. Merry says I do that a lot except when I’m dead silent. Sometimes I just need to shut people out, you know; it’s like I’ll be high on photography for a while and talk peoples’ ears off, and then I’ll just descend into myself, like, hug myself to myself. I want all those people I was chatting to, to go away. It’s not fair, I know, and people get mad at me, except for Merry, who gets me, and Alcina, my friend (she’s younger than I am, but cool and different) who never gets mad at me.

I don’t understand myself.

Anyway. . . getting back to a day in my life; I live with my Mom sometimes, but we don’t get along very well. She’s, like. . . flighty. She keeps changing her mind about what she wants to do and I don’t understand her. Can’t she just settle on something she likes and get on it with? I mean, she’s been a bartender and house cleaner and taken training in aesthetics, massage therapy and truck driving. And then she ends up working in a rat trap dive bar in Ridley Ridge again and again. And. . . anyway, I’m getting off track again.

Most of the time I live at my grandmother’s place. We didn’t get along at first, but she was really good about when I got in trouble so I live there and try to help her out as much as I can.

Anyway. . . a day in my life. Right. Well, I get up and make tea for my grandma most days. She’s getting old and her knees hurt so I also do laundry and mow the lawn in summer, shovel the driveway in winter. Some days I also go in to Autumn Vale and either help Hannah at the library, or work for a few hours at Golden Acres retirement home. That started out as community service, but I like working there. I’ve gotten some really cool pictures of the old people, especially Doc English, who is the raddest dude to ever walk the face of the earth. He’s, like, really really old, but his mind is weird and young and he’s a hoot. He teaches me words like ‘it’s a hoot’ and ‘gimcrack’ and ‘gee whillakers’ (how do you spell that? I have no idea) and I like using them.

And then the best part of my day is going out to Wynter Castle and taking pictures. I’m happy with my camera in hand, wandering the property and the woods, or in the castle taking pictures. Sometimes I get together with Pish and he helps me sort – or as he calls it ‘curate’ – my pictures. He’s going to publish a book on the making of their performance center, so when I start college I’ll already have publishing credit.

And. . . that’s my day. Unless there’s been a murder.

That changes everything.

Yours truly, (Pish says that’s how I should sign off)

Lizzie Proctor

Double or Muffin, A Merry Muffin Mystery #7
Genre: Cozy
Release: February 2021
Purchase Link

When a reality TV show for aspiring opera singers descends on Wynter Castle, Merry’s got her hands full catering to the endless demands of the distinguished judges and ambitious contestants. Then mysterious rumors about the cast and crew begin to surface, suggesting that some of their performances may be filled with false notes. When a dogged reporter with an eye for scandal who’s been covering the competition is attacked and left for dead, Merry’s determined to discover who orchestrated the heinous deed.

Her long list of suspects is filled with eccentric personalities, including a promiscuous tenor known for making unwanted overtures, a pampered young prodigy and her meddlesome mother, and a quiet up-and-comer whose shadowy uncle may have ties to the underworld. As the musical contest and Merry’s investigation near their finale, she’ll have to act fast to keep a conniving contestant from plotting out her final act . . .

About the Author
Victoria Hamilton is the bestselling author of several mystery series including the national bestselling Vintage Kitchen Mysteries and Merry Muffin Mysteries. She does, indeed, collect vintage kitchenware and bake muffins. She drinks tea and coffee on writing days, and wine other times. It doesn’t do to confuse days. She crochets (a little), paints (a little) and reads (a lot). A solitary being, she can be coaxed out of her writing cave for brownies and cat videos.

She started her writing life as Donna Lea Simpson, bestselling author of Regency Romances, paranormal historicals and historical mysteries, and still has a soft spot for the Regency period.

You can find her buried in a good book, (entombed in a good tome?) or online at victoriahamiltonmysteries.com (Sign up for her annoyingly infrequent newsletter for all the latest!), on Facebook, and on Twitter at @MysteryVictoria.

All comments are welcomed.