My prized collection is a set of small carousel horses. Friends send me pictures of carousel statuettes they find in thrift stores, and every once in a while I’ll bring a new musical edition or porcelain figure home, but these eleven horses will always be my favorites.
Why? Well, I did write a book about them . . .
But the story actually starts earlier than that:
It was four years ago, and we were just getting out and about again after the worst of the pandemic. My then-boyfriend and his family had a tradition of spending the winter holidays in the Poconos, in Pennsylvania. I was happy to explore a new place with them, and especially excited when we found a large antiques store.
You know the kind of antiques store that’s really a whole collection of booths and jumbles, crammed into an old factory building or barn? The kind that seems to go on forever? That’s exactly what this was. I worked my way methodically through each stall. At the very end, when I was almost back to the cash register again, I came upon a glass case with shelves full of carousel horses.
I bought it. That was the first carousel horse I ever bought–and probably the first time I’d ever had the guts to ask for a case to be opened at a store!
But then we were back in our rented rooms, and I was looking at this little black horse, and it was beautiful–and yet somehow lonely. There had been another horse in the collection, a gorgeous white horse with a golden mane and lotus-like saddle . . .
I went back and got that one, too. After all, the black horse needed a partner! I was very tempted by the rest of the horses in the collection by that point, but to buy all eleven would have been an extravagant expense. I felt bad enough dragging my boyfriend and his family back to the same store. In fact, I tried to make my purchase quickly so they wouldn’t have to wait–even though they’d all dispersed once we got into the store, anyway (everyone has their own method for going through a pile of antiques!) I got out of the store first, statuette clutched in my hands, ready to move on to the next adventure. I could be happy with my two beautiful carousel horses. But where was my boyfriend? What was taking him so long?
You see where this is going, perhaps?
I had no idea, myself. I was shocked when, several days later, I unwrapped an elaborate Christmas package to discover two more carousel horses, one a transparent red, one a deep jewel blue. Another matched set, from the same collection.
And then on Valentine's Day–a white one with roses, a little black knight.
And then for my birthday! At that point, my boyfriend had gotten tired of keeping the secret. He gave me the rest of them all at once. When we’d gone back to the store that day, he’d realized how much they meant to me, and he’d decided to buy whatever I left behind.
By the way, he’s my “then boyfriend” because he’s now my husband.
Those carousel horses captured my imagination, and more than that, they represented a sense of fun and love every time I looked at them. It was not long before I was writing a magical mystery for each one. Now, that collection of short stories is called The Carousel Capers, and it’s a prequel for my series of cozy fairy tale mysteries, The Alchemical Tales. This month marks three years since The Carousel Capers was published. Every single one of those horses will always have a special place in my heart.
Life is no fairy tale in the magical small town of Belville. When Red buys her dream storefront in the quaint Market Square, she knows she’ll be putting in hard work to make it a success.
But what Red doesn’t expect is a tiny antique carousel horse statue turning up in her mail. And she isn’t at all prepared for the slew of criminals and friends, greed and mystery that follow in its wake! It turns out that the carousel horse has a deep, dark secret. If she wants to head off doom, Red will have to brave ghostly forests, watery depths, wild mine cart rides, and even a fancy party or two.
In this series of short stories, each chapter focuses on a new carousel statuette–and a new mythical horse. Join Red and her friends as they try to take the reins of this galloping mystery before they find themselves left in the dust!
An ebook copy of The Carousel Capers is available for free as a gift for Elle’s newsletter subscribers:https://dl.bookfunnel.com/azwto4v5pf
You can also purchase the deluxe print edition here: https://books2read.com/thecarouselcapers/
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