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Welcome back to the Skeleton Crew.
Bring your knitting needles, a good strong brew, and plenty of snacks.
You’re going to need them.
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A Merry Murderous Midwinter
The Skeleton Crew Paranormal Cozy Series Book 3
by Dahlia Donovan
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Cozy Mystery
Welcome back to the Skeleton
Crew. Bring your knitting needles, a good strong brew, and plenty of snacks.
You’re going to need them.
Gender-fluid, autistic vampire
Hyde Snodgrass is living their best life with their bookshop, cats, and witch
girlfriend, Teresa Vega. The colours of autumn are beginning to blend into
winter. An ordinarily joyous midwinter is spoiled by the arrival of their
estranged family.
When their murderous uncle is
found dead in front of their shop, Hyde finds themselves unwillingly dragged
into the investigation. Accusations swirl around South Myrddin. It takes a
village to untangle the mystery.
Can the true killer be
unmasked in time to save them?
Will there be anything to
celebrate in the coming Yuletide season?
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Ah. Our semiferal wandering bard.” Hyde frowned when he hopped up to sit on the counter. “Bram.”
“Just saying hello to the cats.” Bram had returned to the village a month back after a lengthy absence. One of the oldest fae in Scotland, probably the world, he’d been away dealing with the Seelie Court. He’d tamed his wild brown hair into a loose bun. His guitar was, as always, strapped to his back. It only seemed to highlight his lithe yet muscular form. “How is the morning treating you, mo chridhe?”
“I am not your heart. Stop it. Makes me feel like I’m this massive beating heart just flopping around on the pavement.” Hyde knew he wouldn’t stop. He took it as a personal mission to be as disruptive as possible. “What chaos are we causing this morning?”
“Me? Chaos?”
“It’s in your veins. What have you done? You’re never usually this chipper so early in the morning.” Hyde typically saw Bram dragging himself from his lighthouse on the edge of the village no earlier than noon. “Well?”
“I have a rock garden.”
Hyde blinked several times. They glanced over at Mortar, who yawned before returning to Bram. “A rock garden?”
“Aye. In front of the lighthouse. I’ve arranged them along the windowsill.”
“Bram.” Hyde spoke very slowly. “Bram. Why have you arranged pebbles along a windowsill in the lighthouse?”
“Outside the lighthouse. How else will they get sunlight?” Bram smiled brightly when they rubbed their eyes tiredly. “You’ve missed me, haven’t you?”
“Do the pebbles need sunlight?”
“Arthur gets quite grumpy without it,” Bram said with a straight face, as if he hadn’t named a random rock and claimed the thing needed sunlight to thrive. “Cernunnos prefers the south-facing windows.”
“This might be a silly question.”
“No such thing.” He waved off their concern.
“A complete lie. I’ve known you long enough to know there are definitely silly questions. Ones you usually ask.” Hyde soldiered on, trying to make sense out of the fae’s nonsense. “Have you named one of your rocks after the Celtic horned god?”
“He named himself. As did King Arthur.”
“First, Arthur was mythical. Probably.” Hyde had read loads of contradictory material on Camelot, the Round Table, and even Merlin. They’d been drawn to the legends because of living in South Myrddin. “Second, and far more importantly, how exactly did he name himself?”
“The rocks are possessed.”
Hyde bitterly regretted running out of blood wine. They did have a bottle of non-alcoholic blood in the fridge upstairs in their flat above the shop, but it wasn’t the same. As a vampire, they consumed both liquid and regular food. “Your rock garden, which isn’t a garden, is filled with possessed rocks.”
“Correct.”
Hyde eyed his mischievous smirk with suspicion. “You’re doing this to annoy Emrys, aren’t you? Why else would you pick King Arthur and a Celtic god important to druids?”
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A Fatal Autumnal Stew
The Skeleton Crew Paranormal Cozy Series Book 2
Welcome back to the Skeleton
Crew. Keep your knitting needles sharp and have a strong brew in hand for their
next adventure.
Life for gender-fluid,
autistic vampire Hyde Snodgrass has never been better. Her cosy village
bookshop is thriving as is their new relationship with witch and taco bus
owner, Teresa Vega. Autumn is in full magical tilt in their corner of the
Scottish Highlands.
Everything is beautifully
perfect right up until a tainted meal ends with Hyde sick and someone dead.
The police immediately suspect
the restaurant owners. Hyde and Teresa find themselves drawn into yet another
investigation, trying to save their friends from arrest and themselves from a
murderer. The situation becomes even more complex when family feuds become
tangled in the midst.
Can they find the killer?
Or will everything Hyde loves
go up in flames?
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“Do not deface the cover.” Hyde narrowed their eyes at the ginger fluffy marshmallow of a cat. Pestle stretched a paw out and set it on the book. “I’ll give Mortar your last baked treat.”
Bright yellow eyes glowered at them for the briefest second before he finally flounced over to the fireplace in the bookshop. Mortar, the more sedate of the two cats, a beautiful Persian with stunning blue eyes, barely acknowledged his presence. They both settled down on the mound of blankets for a nap.
“You are adorable menaces, and I love you.” Hyde gave both of them the lightest of touches before going over to rescue the book in question. They grabbed the bottle of blood on the counter and sipped the last of it. “Battista might try roasting both of you over a slow fire after all the work I did to find this for him and Amalia.”
Amalia Bassani and Battista Sartor were a succubus and incubus who ran the local Creole-Italian restaurant. Al Dente was one of Hyde’s favourite places to eat. The two had asked them to hunt for an ancient Roman scroll on their species.
Hyde Snodgrass, a vampire, autistic, and chubby ginger icon, was the proud owner of Between the Leaves, the lone bookshop in South Myrddin, a small village in the Scottish Highlands. They specialised in many things, including hunting down rare books.
The village had been their home since they were a small fanged child. South Myrddin was the home of the foundling. Abandoned magical people of all varieties found their way to the one place guaranteed to welcome them. It was why it had been founded in the first place.
Picking up the manuscript, Hyde wrapped it delicately in a paper that Battista had given them for protection. The book was old, though not as old as the original. They thought, however, it was a true translation of what had probably been a scroll as opposed to a bound book.
From their extensive research, nothing had been lost in translation. Hyde hoped their incubus and succubus friends found the answers they were looking for. The two had been tight-lipped about what they wanted to discover.
Hyde didn’t mind. For them, the excitement of hunting down rare books was more than enough satisfaction. They glanced first at the clock on the wall and then at the bookshelves. “Time for a quick dust before I close up.”
For most of the cleaning in the shop, Hyde relied on the three brownies who ran Feather Duster, the village cleaners. Dusting was the one job they did themselves, as they didn’t want to risk any damage to some of the older books. Cleaning products tended to make their nose burn and their skin itch, so they had gratefully handed off those duties to the Lyalls.
Between the Leaves was the quintessential quaint village bookshop with a few differences. One section at the back was set up with a selection of armchairs around a coffee table. It was where their weekly knitting and crocheting group, the Skeleton Crew, met at least once a week.
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A Curse for Samhain
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The Skeleton Crew Paranormal Cozy Series Book 1
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Welcome to the Skeleton Crew.
Bring your knitting needles and a good, strong brew.
Gender fluid, autistic vampire
Hyde Snodgrass runs Between the Leaves—a cosy village book store. Their life
revolves around books, all things autumnal, and the two cats who rule their
world. The shop also plays host to a weekly knitting group called the Skeleton
Crew.
When one of the leaders of the
village coven fails to show up for the weekly knitting meeting, Hyde finds
themselves investigating a horrific murder side by side with their long-term
crush, Teresa Vega.
Suspicion immediately falls on
other members of their group. Hyde and Teresa struggle to find answers to the
growing list of questions. It’s made all the more difficult when the killer has
them in their sights.
Can working together spark the
romantic flame within them?
Will they solve the mystery
before death comes too close?
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“What do you think, Mortar? Pestle?” Hyde finished adjusting their button-down collar out of the blue sweater and glanced at the two cats observing them. One meowed quite loudly while the other sniffed before licking a paw. “You’re both remarkably unhelpful.”
The outfit of the day was one of their favourites. A lovely blue sweater with a well-worn button-down underneath. Jeans. A little boyish style from yesteryear with their trousers tucked into their socks and a vintage pair of brown boots.
I am a chubby ginger icon. I can seize the day.
Or I can seize a book to read.
That sounds better.
I’ll seize a book.
A particularly loud yowl caught their attention. The cats were definitely ready for their breakfast. They both looked pitifully up at Hyde.
“All right. Come on, you two.”
Mortar was a stunningly beautiful Persian with startling blue eyes who’d definitely been a queen in a previous life. Pestle, on the other hand, had probably been a court jester. His long ginger fur and almost glowing yellow eyes certainly set him apart, as did his sense of mischief.
They were Hyde’s constant companions. They ruled the roost. And more often than not, they kept the right people in the shop and the rest from overstaying their welcome.
Between the Leaves had been Hyde’s passion project for almost eighty years. The building had been a gift from the woman who’d taken them in as a child. A little shop with a comfortable flat on the second floor, it had once been a place serving afternoon tea, but books had been more interesting to Hyde.
Returning to stare at the mirror, Hyde attempted to corral their short, curly red hair into some semblance of a style. It was going to be a hat day. A hat day. It was a mostly nonverbal day. And a they day.
Being a vampire had its perks; being almost a hundred yet having stopped ageing at thirty was certainly a plus. Being an autistic one, though, had drawbacks. Every sound and smell was amplified by what felt like a thousand. The world could be an incredibly overwhelming place. It was Flossie who’d come up with the idea for the signs.
Flossie Vandermark was one of the three witches who ran The Spiked Cauldron, the village pub. She also happened to be a proud member of the Skeleton Crew, a weekly knitting group who met up at Hyde’s bookshop. Flossie had suggested a sign for days when Hyde didn’t want to talk or when they felt more they than she.
It made Hyde feel accepted. Everyone wanted to do what made them comfortable. It was part of the magic of their village.
Acceptance.
Everyone knew about South Myrddin. The little village on a loch in the Scottish Highlands was founded by Merlin himself, or so the lore went. It had a reputation for taking in the abandoned.
Hyde had come as a child when their family vampire coven had rejected them. South Myrddin was the place for stragglers, odd ones, and outliers. A place to find family if one wanted.
A place to find home.
The village had a healthy coven of witches. A few vampires. The odd werewolf. A collection of naiads, dryads, and brownies. Druids and shifters. A stray kelpie. An incubus and succubus, who were Italians who ran a restaurant. And one lone fae who’d been in South Myrddin since the beginning, or so they claimed.
The eclectic bunch of magical beings had all made South Myrddin their home. Most of the villagers came searching for a place to feel comfortable in their own skin. Hyde considered themselves grateful to have been left there all those years ago.
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Dahlia Donovan
wrote her first romance series after a crazy dream about shifters and damsels
in distress. She prefers irreverent
humour and unconventional characters. An
autistic and occasional hermit, her life wouldn’t be complete without her
husband and her massive collection of books and video games.
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