Today marks the debut of Susan
Breen’s first mystery novel. Susan teaches creative writing at Gotham Writers
in New York and she lives in a small village in Westchester with her husband,
two dogs and a cat. Learn more about her and her books at her website.
I teach creative writing to adults in Manhattan and Sunday
School to kids in Westchester. You wouldn’t think those two classes have a lot
in common, but you’d be surprised! They share one very important characteristic:
the students come only because they want to come. No one is forced to go to a
fiction or Sunday School class. (Not in this century anyway.) So I have to keep
things entertaining.
This is one of the issues that confronts the protagonist of
my new mystery novel, Maggie Dove. (Along
with murder, of course.) Like me, Maggie Dove is a Sunday
School teacher, and like me she struggles to keep it all interesting, and she
has a particular challenge in the form of six-year-old Edgar Blake. Edgar’s one
of those bright, energetic, troublesome boys who will probably grow up to be a
fabulous and successful man, but until that time is driving everyone around him
crazy. Especially his poor mother, Helen Blake, who drops him off at Sunday
School and then goes to the church library to take a nap. Maggie feels a
special fondness for Helen Blake, who reminds her of her late daughter. She
wants to keep Edgar focused but it’s not easy. He keeps grabbing things from his
poor little fellow student Ambrosia Fletcher; he swipes up all the red crayons
and puts them in his mouth.
Maggie’s determined to win him over and so she pulls out all
the stops. She devotes a class to pretzel making.
There is actually a religious component to baking pretzels. During
the time of the Roman Empire, the early Christians kept a strict fast during
Lent. They didn’t eat milk, butter, cheese, cream or meat. But they would make
little breads out of water, flour and salt. They’d form those breads in the
shape of praying arms, as a way of reminding themselves what the fast was for.
The name pretzel is said to come from an ancient Latin word—bracellae--meaning “little arms.”
Of course, you don’t need to be a Sunday School teacher to
enjoy making these pretzels. You can shape the dough into letters or numbers or
animals. It’s easy enough that even little kids can enjoy it, and the pretzels
come out surprisingly tasty. Did it work with Edgar Blake? You have to read
Maggie Dove to find out!
Soft Pretzel Recipe
Ingredients:
1 package yeast
1-1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
4 cups flour
1 egg
Mix yeast, water, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the
flour, and knead until the dough is smooth.
Shape into desired form and place it on a baking sheet.
Brush the dough with a beaten egg to give it a shiny finish.
Sprinkle the top with salt.
Bake in at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.
Maggie Dove
Maggie Dove thinks everyone in her small Westchester County community
knows everyone else’s secrets. Then murder comes to town.
When Sunday School teacher Maggie Dove finds her hateful
next-door neighbor Marcus Bender lying dead under her beloved oak tree—the one
he demanded she cut down—she figures the man dropped dead of a mean heart. But
Marcus was murdered, and the prime suspect is a young man Maggie loves like a
son. Peter Nelson was the worst of Maggie’s Sunday School students; he was also
her late daughter’s fiancé, and he’s been a devoted friend to Maggie in the
years since her daughter’s death.
Maggie can’t lose Peter, too.
So she sets out to find the real murderer. To do that, she must move past the
grief that has immobilized her all these years. She must probe the hidden
corners of her little village on the Hudson River. And, when another death
strikes even closer to home, Maggie must find the courage to defend the people
and the town she loves—even if it kills her.
2 comments:
Thanks for the recipe. Best wishes with your book!
Thank you so much!
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