Museums are fascinating places to visit. Full of nooks and crannies, they offer a great setting for a mystery. Among the bones and relics of the past, a history museum guards secrets from eras long gone and buries stories that can impact the present.
When writing a mystery, it always helps to create a setting within a setting. This technique gives the writer a built-in cast of suspects. For DREIDELS AND DEAD ENDS, the bigger world relates to my hairstylist sleuth, Marla Vail. She owns a hair salon in sultry Palm Haven, Florida. Her clients are sources of gossip who may also ask for her help in solving a murder.
By now in this award-winning series, Marla is married with a toddler son. She’s pregnant with her second child and juggles caring for her family with gift shopping for both Christmas and Hanukkah. The last thing she needs is another whodunit to solve in the midst of holiday preparations.
Then her friend Becky Forest, curator at the local history museum, begs Marla to give a last-minute speech during their new exhibit’s opening gala. Their contracted speaker has cancelled, and she needs a quick fill-in. Marla’s interest peaks when Becky mentions the featured artifact is a diamond-studded antique hairbrush that comes with a legendary curse.
Right after she concludes her speech on opening night, a thief injures the security guard and steals the heirloom hairbrush. Suspects include the museum staff as well as guests who attended the gala event. My descriptions of the museum were inspired by the local history museum in Plantation, FL, where I’d lived for forty years. I brought in memories from other natural history museums I had visited in Florida to create my own building design. I drew a crude map, which helped me set scenes within the museum. Exhibits include prehistoric fossils, indigenous populations, clothing and fashions through the ages, railroads and building booms, and more.
For the admin offices, I researched who worked at a history museum. My cast of characters includes a ticket/gift shop lady, head docent, museum director, marketing manager, archivist, conservator, IT specialist, maintenance man, and Marla’s friend, the chief curator. Then I threw in some other suspects, including the hairbrush’s owner and his cousin, the town mayor, a local social media influencer and a mysterious collector of mystical artifacts. It was fun creating my own museum setting and learning about the different roles of the staff.
It’s so much easier to plot a mystery with interrelated characters in a confined setting. Add in a theft and a curse during the holidays, and tensions escalate faster than a speeding locomotive. All of my books are written as standalones for each mystery, so you can jump into the series at any time. Join Marla as she tracks down a thief and a murderer during the holiday season!
DREIDELS AND DEAD ENDS by Nancy J. Cohen
A daring holiday heist at the local history museum sends hairstylist Marla Vail on her most tangled case yet.
When salon owner Marla Vail agrees to speak at the local history museum’s gala opening for a new exhibit, she expects applause—not a catastrophe. But shortly after she takes the stage, a thief steals the featured diamond-studded hairbrush, leaving behind an empty display case and a badly injured security guard.
Marla’s friend, museum curator Becky Forest, begs for her help in recovering the prized heirloom before the mayor uses this scandal as an excuse to cut their funding. To make matters worse, the antique hairbrush comes with a curse, and suddenly bad luck is spreading through town faster than a botched dye job. As Hanukkah festivities begin, Marla would rather be lighting candles than chasing clues, but with Becky’s job at stake, she takes on the case.
Her trail leads to a knot of suspects including the hairbrush’s owner, his greedy cousin, shifty museum staff, and a reclusive collector of mystical antiquities. Instead of enjoying menorah lights and latkes, Marla discovers murder, lies, and larceny. She’ll need sharp wits and a holiday miracle to save the museum and to keep the truth from being brushed aside.
Mystery Amateur Sleuth | Mystery Cozy | Mystery Woman Sleuth [ Orange Grove Press, On Sale: June 23, 2026, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781952886393 / eISBN: 9781952886409 ]
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About Nancy J. Cohen
Nancy J. Cohen writes the Bad Hair Day mystery series and the Keri Armstrong cozy mysteries. Her titles have been named Best Cozy Mystery by Suspense Magazine and have won the Readers’ Favorite and FAPA President’s Book Awards, the RONE Award, the Royal Palm Literary Award, and IAN Book of the Year. She’s placed first in the Chanticleer International Book Awards and third in the Arizona Literary Awards. Her nonfiction title, Writing the Cozy Mystery, was also an Agatha Award Finalist. Active in the writing community, Nancy is a past president of Mystery Writers of America Florida Chapter and Florida Romance Writers. When not busy writing, she enjoys reading, fine dining, cruising, and visiting Disney World.
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