Happy Release Day!
Happy release day to Barbara Miller on the release of two of her books: Rolltop Relic and Hometown Christmas Carol!
I’ve had the pleasure of reading and working on both of these with Barbara and they are delightful stories with fascinating and fun characters.
Congrats Barbara!
Rolltop Relic is a cozy mystery set in Western Pennsylvania where Laurel Adams is helping her grandmother at Laurel Creek Antiques when they discover a gold reliquary inside a rolltop desk. Laurel wants to seek the owner while her grandmother plans to keep it and sell it.
Rushford Gaites, the father of their teenage helper, sides with Laurel and dives into the research with her and his son Tim so he can write an article about the relic's chest, which looks like it contains a piece of the crown of thorns. During their investigation, they also discover a stained glass window of Mary holding up her son, and call it The Madonna of the Crown.
There is a mutual attraction between Rush and Laurel, but she is engaged to a gallery owner in Chicago and Rush is still married to Tim’s mother though separated. Laurel and Rush decide their relationship must remain an intellectual one based on guarding the reliquary from several parties willing to kill to get it, while the couple plums the secrets of its origin so they can return it to the rightful owners.
In Hometown Christmas Carol, Angela Fell, a professional no-nonsense New York playwright, returns to her hometown, Median, PA to care for her injured father. But she also wants to make amends to Rich Harris, the boyfriend she dumped in high school, the guy who screwed up her senior play, and the man she never stopped loving.
Rich is now a well-liked teacher at the Meridian High School and in charge of the town's Christmas pageant which needs a one-act play. Angela has written a short Christmas play intended as an apology for the mean way she previously treated Rich. At home in Meridian, after the Thanksgiving dinner, she urges Rich, his sister, her father and brother to do a reading of her play in the hopes it will demonstrate that she has changed and that she still loves Rich.