AN INTERVIEW AND MEXICAN STREET CORN FROM BEN KINSEAR OF AUTHOR HELEN CURRIE FOSTER'S ALICE MACDONALD GREER MYSTERIES

Today we sit down for a chat with Ben Kinsear from the Alice MacDonald Greer Mysteries by Helen Currie Foster. Ben has also graciously included his recipe for Mexican Street Corn.

Ben, thanks for sitting in. Apparently Alice is tied up in a mediation today but said we could interview you. So you’re Alice’s romantic interest in Ghosted? How did you two meet?

I spotted Alice the first day of civil procedure class at law school. I chased her hard but she threw me over for that Scottish engineer she married. I licked my wounds, got married, worked for a hedge fund, then retired early to Fredericksburg, Texas. My wife died. I started a bookstore, started raising cattle, kept raising two daughters. I’ll admit Alice often crossed my mind.

 

When did you two reconnect? 

I was walking past a beer garden in Fredericksburg and there she was, sitting under the pecan trees with another classmate. I tried to look calm as I sauntered up to the table. By then I was a widower and I’d heard her husband’s helicopter had disappeared off Scotland.

 

So did you two take another romantic trip to Big Bend?

I’m not allowed to talk about that. 

 

Let’s talk about Alice, then. What first attracted you?

Besides that smile and the big brown eyes? I liked how she stood up to the profs. She had a nose for key facts. She put up with my guitar playing. Then there was her kiss.

 

What do we not know about her?

We don’t know why she’s scared of horses, even though she’s had to ride some. Or why she’s so scared of handguns, though long guns don’t seem to bother her. We don’t understand why she thinks she’s adequately armed if she has her flare gun under the car seat. Also, in my opinion, she’s insufficiently scared of snakes. 

 

What’s the strangest thing that your author has had you do since you reencountered Alice? 

Maybe trying to tackle a burglar in front of a retired NFL player. I admit I was showing off. He did compliment me, though. 

 

Of the other characters you’ve met in the series, who do you like best?

Besides Alice? Silla, Alice’s red-headed assistant. That woman’s smart as a whip. I still haven’t seen her barrel-racing at the rodeo, but I hear she’s a ferocious competitor.

 

What do you like least about your role in the series?

I haven’t gotten to take Alice to the South Seas. Or the South of France. Could you put in a word with the author?

 

Tell us something about your author.

Helen Currie Foster lives and on a creek in Texas Hill Country, loosely supervised by three burros. After practicing environmental law and regulatory litigation for thirty years, Alice MacDonald Greer suddenly appeared in her life and she began writing a mystery series about her. Readers can learn more about her at her website. 

 

Anything else you’d like to tell us?

In the Alice MacDonald Greer Mystery series, Alice has rebuilt her life and law practice in the colorful town of Coffee Creek, Texas, five years after her husband’s helicopter vanished over the North Sea. 

 

As Thanksgiving nears, to Alice’s relief I take charge of the food. At my ranch, I’m protecting Alice’s husband’s cousin from harm, while Alice juggles legal tasks for her clients and good friends at the local roadhouse, about to host the first Beer Barn Holiday Bazaar. One meal features my carnitas with Mexican street corn. 

 

Mexican Street Corn

Serves 4

 

Time: 30 min. plus onion pickling time

 

Pickled Onions

Ingredients:

1 small red onion, thinly sliced in rounds

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

 

Mix, add an ice cube, and refrigerate for 1-2 hrs. before assembling corn. 

 

Ingredients:

16-oz pkg frozen roasted corn kernels (or fresh corn, charred on the grill and cut off the cob)

2T butter1/4 c water

1/3 c mayo

1/3 c sour cream

About 4 oz crumbled Queso Fresco (about 1/3 of the round flat cheese) or Cotija. (I use Queso Fresco; Cotija is saltier, so use less and adjust accordingly.)

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp chile powder

One lime, cut in half.

One lime, cut in wedges

Fresh cilantro leaves

Option: add 1/4 c diced fresh poblano pepper to the corn

 

In a heavy skillet melt the butter and add the frozen corn. Stir until corn defrosts and begins to cook. Add 1/4 c water and cook until water is mostly gone and corn is tender. Add optional poblano pepper.

 

In medium bowl mix mayo, sour cream, chile powder and cumin. Stir in crumbled cheese. 

 

On serving plate spread cheese mixture. Spoon the hot corn atop the cold cheese mixture. Squeeze juice of 1/2 lime (if very juicy) or both halves over mixture. Garnish with pickled onion slices and cilantro.

 

Ghosted

An Alice MacDonald Greer Mystery, Book 8

 

Alice flies to Scotland to identify her husband’s possible remains. She returns home with more questions than answers. What happened to the chopper? Who disappeared just before it went down? Why does the trail lead east to Hong Kong and deep-sea operations in the Pacific? Back in Texas, Alice has little time to sort out old mysteries before she’s plunged into helping solve the brutal death of Nanette, a young lawyer and friend. Nanette’s fears that her legal work was being used to hide money laundering may have been proven horribly correct. Alice finds herself torn between the past, with the British Consulate showing up with questions about her dead husband’s family, and the present, as she tries to help unmask Nanette’s killer. 

 

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