Raising the Dead

Two cozy holiday mysteries. Two unforgettable sleuths. One festive collection filled with curses, danger, missing supplies, and murderously bad weather.

This special holiday short-story collection is concurrently published as Ill Wind / Raising the Dead, bringing together two atmospheric cozy Christmas mysteries by Melanie Jackson: one featuring Miss Henry and one featuring Butterscotch Jones.

In Raising the Dead, Juliet Henry travels to England to assist Raphael at Guise Hall in Tickhill, where his work has been delayed by a troubling string of mysterious on-site accidents. The project is already uneasy enough before workers make a chilling discovery in the old herb garden:

A vampire burial.

Local rumors immediately begin to stir. According to legend, an old vampire curse once blighted the original owners of Guise Hall, and now some believe the curse has awakened again. Strange accidents. Frightened workers. Whispered warnings. A historic estate with dark stories embedded in its walls.

But Miss Henry is not easily impressed by superstition.

England may claim April as the cruelest month, but Juliet is finding March more than difficult enough. She has no patience for ghost stories when real danger is walking around in work boots. Something is certainly haunting the project at Guise Hall-but Juliet strongly suspects the threat is not undead at all.

It is living.

And possibly deadly.

As fear spreads through the estate and the past casts long shadows over the present, Juliet must sort through old legends, modern motives, and a worksite full of secrets before another "accident" turns fatal. Because curses may make good stories, but killers make real victims.

Also included is Ill Wind, a Butterscotch Jones holiday mystery.

'Twas the night before Christmas, and the Gulch was missing both people and toilet paper.

When the town's badly needed Christmas supplies are stranded in Irish Camp, unwilling Canadian detective Butterscotch Jones volunteers to make the trip. The weather is closing in, the roads are treacherous, and holiday patience is running dangerously thin. But what begins as a supply run turns into something far more dangerous when she discovers a hijacking in progress at the airport.

Now Butterscotch must face worsening weather, vanishing people, grounded planes, desperate suspects, and danger closing in from every side. If she is going to make it home alive with Christmas saved, she may need luck, nerve, and possibly Santa's sleigh.

Raising the Dead / Ill Wind is a delightful holiday collection for readers who love cozy mysteries with atmosphere, wit, danger, eccentric characters, old secrets, and clever heroines who refuse to panic-even when surrounded by curses, criminals, storms, and Christmas chaos.

One mystery digs into a haunted English estate.

The other blows into a snowbound Christmas crisis.

Together, they make the perfect seasonal escape for cozy mystery fans.

Whether the danger comes from an ancient curse or a hijacked Christmas delivery, Miss Henry and Butterscotch Jones know one thing for certain: the truth never stays buried for long.