As the surrey swept even with the sidetracked tramp, the bright-eyed girl, seized by some merry, madcap impulse, leaned out toward him with a sweet, dazzling smile, and cried, “Mer-ry Christ-mas!” in a shrill, plaintive treble.
Such a thing had not often happened to Whistling Dick. . . . snatching off his battered derby, he rapidly extended it at arm’s length, and drew it back with a continuous motion, and shouted a loud, but ceremonious, “Ah, there!” after the flying surrey . . . “W’t d’yer think of dat, now! . . . Mer-ry Chris-mus!”
—O. Henry, “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking”*
Cleo Coyle is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Like their Coffeehouse Mysteries, their Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, published under the name Alice Kimberly, are national bestselling works of amateur-sleuth fiction for Berkley Prime Crime. Alice and Marc were born and raised in small towns near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They met in New York City, where both began their postcollege careers. After falling in love, Alice and Marc were married in Nevada’s Little Church of the West. Now they live and work in New York City, where they write independently and together. When not haunting coffeehouses or hunting ghosts, Alice writes young adult and children’s books; Marc writes thrillers and nonfiction—and both are New York Times bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, and MGM.
Cleo enjoys hearing from readers. Visit her virtual Village Blend coffeehouse at www.CoffeehouseMystery.com, where she also posts recipes and coffee picks. Sign up for her newsletter by sending an e-mail that says “Sign me up” to CoffeehouseMystery@gmail.com.
Don’t Miss the Next
Coffeehouse Mystery by Cleo Coyle
Coming Soon in Hardcover!
BILLIONAIRE BLEND
Can a barista prevent a billionaire bump off?
Find out by joining Clare Cosi for a double shot of danger in her next Coffeehouse Mystery!
For more information about the Coffeehouse Mysteries and what’s next for Clare Cosi and her baristas at the Village Blend, visit Cleo Coyle’s website at
www.CoffeehouseMystery.com
Berkley Prime Crime titles by Cleo Coyle
Coffeehouse Mysteries
ON WHAT GROUNDS
THROUGH THE GRINDER
LATTE TROUBLE
MURDER MOST FROTHY
FRENCH PRESSED
ESPRESSO SHOT
HOLIDAY GRIND
ROAST MORTEM
MURDER BY MOCHA
A BREW TO A KILL
HOLIDAY BUZZ
Haunted Bookshop Mysteries writing as Alice Kimberly
THE GHOST AND MRS. MCCLURE
THE GHOST AND THE DEAD DEB
THE GHOST AND THE DEAD MAN’S LIBRARY
THE GHOST AND THE FEMME FATALE
THE GHOST AND THE HAUNTED MANSION
* Originally published in the December 1899 issue of McClure’s Magazine, this short story is believed to be the first work that William Sydney Porter published under the pseudonym O. Henry.