The Twenty-Third Day of Christmas
Gwen Gardner  

www.gwengardner.com
https://www.facebook.com/IndigoEady

When Harlow Grayson’s co-worker, Crystal Ball, turns up as a ghost right before Christmas, Harlow is on a mission to find a killer. Unfortunately, Crystal’s interfering ghost insists she find the Christmas spirit as well.

What genre is your Christmas book
For Santa’s Sake, Harlow! is a cozy paranormal holiday mystery.

Why is Christmas special to your main character?
Actually, it isn’t. Not at first. She has reasons for not liking Christmas, but I can’t say what it is now because I don’t want to give away any spoilers. But Crystal Ball—her real name—who is Harlow’s ghostly sidekick, is into Every. Single. Holiday. All of them. She insists on helping grumpy Harlow find her Christmas spirit and won’t take “no” for an answer. The two are polar (see what I did there? LOL) opposites, but grow closer over the course of the book. Harlow is the Scrooge to Crystal’s Spirit of Christmas Present—the one who carries the torch and sprinkles good cheer over everyone.

Why did you write a Christmas themed book?
I love Christmas! The tree, the pine smell of the real tree, the lights, the decorations, the special feel-good Christmas programs.

Share a holiday scene from your book with us.
“It’s a contest,” Mellie explained. “We’re decorating gingerbread cookies.” She pointed to an array of cookies in different shapes and sizes, from gingerbread men to stars and hearts. She showed Harlow how to apply icing, create the eyes and mouth, and draw spots on the gingerbread fawn. Then she wrote, Rudolf. “He’s my favorite reindeer. Who’s yours?”
“Oh, Rudolph, definitely. And yours is perfect, except…” she kneeled beside Mellie and handed her the red icing, “…one final touch, don’t you think?”
Mellie studied the cookie, then smacked her forehead. “Of course, his shiny red nose! Thank you, Miss Grayson.”
Crystal gestured at the decorated Rudolph cookie. “You’re learning, Harlow. I could see you were itching to correct the spelling and I’m glad you didn’t. In a child’s eyes, it can be perfect without being perfect.”
For once, Harlow agreed with Crystal. She did itch to correct the spelling of Rudolph. And it was perfect.
When Mellie won the first-place blue ribbon, Inspector Hawkins beamed from ear to ear, as if she’d won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mellie threw her arms around Harlow’s midsection. “Thank you for your help, Miss Grayson. I wouldn’t have won without your reminder.”
“Not at all, Mellie. It was your exceptional fawn spots on Rudolph that clinched the win.”
As they prepared to depart, the inspector stooped to kiss his daughter’s forehead. “Well, sweetie, I must get back to work and Miss Grayson has to return to her office as well.”
“Wait!” Mellie ran back to the table and retrieved her blue ribbon. She crooked her finger so that Harlow had to bend down. When she did, Mellie pinned her first-place ribbon to Harlow’s chest. “I want you to have it, Miss Grayson.”
Harlow shook her head. “Oh, sweetie, I couldn’t…”
The teacher clapped her hands to gain the children’s attention and instructed them to tidy up.
Mellie waved, flipped her pigtails over her shoulder, and skipped away, calling, “Merry Christmas!”
Harlow shook her head as she eyed her new blue ribbon, then turned to the inspector. “Your daughter is a great kid.”
Crystal beamed at her. “Why, I do believe you like that girl.”
“Oh, shut up,” Harlow mumbled, trying hard to suppress the upturned corners of her lips.

Is your book part of a series, if so, tell us about the series.
Yes, the name of the series is Ask Crystal Ball. The whole series is holiday themed. Cupid’s Corset, Harlow! will be next as a Valentine’s Day mystery, then For the Love of Lifeguards, Harlow! is the summer beach read, followed by Holy Halloween, Harlow! which will be the last. But I’m thinking I’ll do some short stories as well.
All the titles reflect things that Crystal says to Harlow, usually in exasperation. Keep in mind that Crystal loves every single holiday. So every holiday, she makes up these idioms that she uses, and they tend to wear off on others. Even Harlow finds herself saying, Oh, for Santa’s sake on a regular basis, much to her annoyance.

Do you have a special Christmas memory to share?
Oh gosh, there are so many. One that comes to mind is when the local pond froze over and we went ice skating ($2 ice skates from the local thrift store—it was a long time ago), then walked over to the local Chinese restaurant for dinner.
Another time, my hubs got up on the roof and shook a string of jingle bells and our daughter was convinced Santa was on the roof.

Victoria LK Williams
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