#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR JACKIE KING AND CRANBERRY-NUT #COOKIES

Jackie King spent many years in the corporate world and now writes full time. Her apartment in Tulsa, Oklahoma looks out onto Riverside Parkway, and just beyond the treetops she can see the Arkansas River. Her latest hobby is watching the changes in foliage and the nesting of Eagles. Learn more about Jackie and her books at her website and the Murderous Musings blog.

One of the great joys of writing is recycling a happy memory from my own life in a scene I create. Like most authors, I use personal experience to spin my fictional stories. For example, I drew from my own blissful memories of cookie baking to portray Grace Cassidy’s pleasure when she baked cookies for her guests in a B&B.

I suppose that I’d better add (tongue in cheek) that all of my murders so far have been vicarious. I have enjoyed murdering my ex-husband several times on paper. And for anyone, male or female, who has been dumped unceremoniously by a long-time spouse (31 years for me), I must say that this is a most therapeutic exercise.

The Bed and Breakfast mystery series I write has the word “corpse” in the title of each book. In Book one, Grace starts out as a somewhat spoiled, very naïve woman from a wealthy background. When everything she depends on in her life is gone, necessity forces her to evolve into a stronger, more resourceful woman. She finds she never really knew her authentic self before, and sets out on a journey to explore her own strengths and weaknesses. She develops her skills with each book while dealing with murder and mayhem.

In The Inconvenient Corpse Grace finds a dead body in her B&B room. Stranded with no money, she turns to inn-sitting (temporary help for owners needing a break) to support herself. In the midst of a murder investigation, she rediscovers the satisfaction of baking cookies. (See her newest recipe below.)

With one solved murder under her belt Grace continues changing from the lady-like people-pleaser she has always been into someone she likes better. In The Corpse Who Walked in the Door her son is accused of attempted murder and rape; and Trouble, her cat, finds a dead body in the bathtub. As if that isn’t enough, her ex-husband Charlie returns and wants to reconcile.

Grace’s newest adventure takes her back to her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In The Corspe and the Geezer Brigade Grace struggles through a quagmire of murder stemming from a 50-year-old agreement between her father and his buddies. She learns more than she ever wanted to know about her parents’ past and faces danger once again.

When dead bodies show up in Grace Cassidy’s life, she bakes cookies to relieve the stress. Like me, Grace’s specialty is chocolate chip-pecan cookies. However she also enjoys discovering new recipes. Below is her newest recipe, cranberry-macadamia nut cookies, the newest sensation at the B&B. She will bake a huge batch to serve on Thanksgiving.

Grace’s Cranberry-Nut Cookies

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 sticks butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. orange extract
2-1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
12 oz. pkg. white chocolate chips
1/2 cup macadamia nuts chopped
1 cup dried cranberries

Mix butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and orange extract. Add in flour, baking soda, salt, white chocolate chips, nuts and dried cranberries.

Beat until mixed. Bake at 325 degrees for 13-16 minutes or until golden brown.

Grace and I wish everyone in cyberland a very happy Thanksgiving!

The Corpse and the Geezer Brigade

In the heady atmosphere of testosterone and too much booze, ten new fathers make a solemn pact that benefits those who live longest. As the day of reckoning approaches, the survivors are being murdered one by one. Grace Cassidy’s son is on the list. Can she solve the mystery in time to save his life?

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AUTHOR JACKIE KING'S SLEUTH ON MONEY TIPS FOR HAPPILY MARRIED WOMEN

Mystery author Jackie King was supposed to be our guest today, but her protagonist Grace Cassidy decided she was better suited to blog on money tips. If you’d like to learn more about Jackie and her books, check out her website and blog.

Money Tips for Happily Married Women

(Or Who Think They Are)

by Grace Cassidy

Every woman should have money saved under her name alone. Married or not. Happy or not. In today’s world of changing mores and weakening family structure, a woman must always be able to support herself without help from anyone. Always have a bank account and a savings account under your own name and yours alone.

“Sounds selfish,” you say. “My husband loves me, and promises to always provide for me,” you say. “My husband takes care of all of our business,” you say.

That’s what I thought, too. Then suddenly the husband who adored me (or so I thought,) ran off to the Cayman Islands with his secretary and took all of our resources with him. Most of it my family money. I was left with only the cash in my designer purse. (That purse, later sold on e-bay, was worth more than the money it held.)

“I would have credit cards!” you say.

Maybe so, but whatever you charge would have to be repaid. By you. (This wasn’t a problem for me, since the girlfriend called and reported each card as stolen.)

Be wise, and be safe. Here is what I suggest:

While still happily married, start a savings account with some of your monthly household allowance. Be wise with the money under your control. Do you really need that $200 jar of night cream. After I was left penniless, I began using pig’s lard for night cream, and found that it worked as well as the fancy department store brand.

Jeans and T-shirts from Walmart or Target, that once I would never have even considered buying, looked great when I added an expensive scarf or brooch that I already owned.

You may never need this personal bankroll, but if your husband strays, or makes bad investments, or indulges in an unexpected midlife crisis, you are prepared to take care of yourself. And that, ladies, is the only security you can truly count on.

Note from editor: Too bad Anastasia didn’t come across these tips back before Dead Louse of a Spouse permanently cashed in his chips in Las Vegas.

The Corpse Who Walked in the Door

Former society wife Grace Cassidy is learning to live on the minimum wage she earns as a bed & breakfast inn-sitter. Grace finds her cat’s bloody paw prints leading away from a bathtub and wants to run for her life. But she can’t. Her 19-year-old son is accused of pushing his pregnant girlfriend down a flight of concrete steps, and she won’t abandon him.

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR JACKIE KING

Jackie King loves books, writing tall tales, and murdering (on paper) people she dislikes. Her latest mystery is The Corpse Who Walked in the Door. Learn more about Jackie and her books at the Murderous Musings blog and CozyMysteries and Other Madness.

Creating My Series Character

Like most writers, my favorite game is ‘What If?’ Because of this game, Grace Cassidy sprang to life on a walk through an old Victorian neighborhood in Northern California. I was vacationing at a Bed and Breakfast, situated in a mansion that had been built by a sea captain in 1870. My hostess was a professional inn-sitter. She said she loved her job, loved traveling from place to place, and loved working when she wanted. Her services were booked for two years in advance.

I wanted to create a character who desperate to support herself, takes on such a job. My ‘What If? Question was:

What if I were stranded in a strange town with no friends and no money? Oh, and let’s throw in a corpse—a naked one—in my bed. Could I survive using my own determination, brains, and moxie? These are the problems that started me writing my first Grace Cassidy story, The Inconvenient Corpse, published in 2009. I felt compelled to write this novel to find out the answers to those questions. Then I added an older teenager and a cat, just for fun.

The second book in this series is The Corpse Who Walked in the Door. Five months have passed between these two books, and Grace has learned that she is made of a tougher fiber than she had thought. With the help of her zany new friends, she works as an inn sitter. Previously she chaired committees in social circles. Now she bakes, cleans, and entertains paying guests.

The trouble is, these pesky bodies keep showing up.

The Corpse Who Walked in the Door begins with Grace thinking that her life is almost back in order. She’s worried that Brand, her 19-year-old son, is getting too involved with the ditzy housemaid, Sandy Walker. Scary thoughts of becoming a grandma too soon, plague her. But still, life is good.

Grace is rebuilding her life and learning about the woman she really is, not the cardboard caricature of her former self. No wonder she bored her husband Charlie. She always did everything he expected. But that was in the past. Now she’s surprising and delighting herself with this new persona. Being a woman is a lot more interesting than being a perfect-lady, she decides.

Then life interferes with her well-laid plans.

The identical twin brother of her boss-from-hell, Wilbur Wimberly, shows up at a family reunion. This black sheep, thought to be long dead, stirs up memories of deeply buried family secrets. Dangerous secrets. The Wimberly clan is snapping at each other’s throats, and then Grace’s cat Trouble finds a dead body in a bathroom. To make things worse, her son is first accused of attempted murder, then of rape.

Once again, life unravels. Grace has a murder to solve and her son to defend.

The Corpse Who Walked in the Door

Former society wife Grace Cassidy is learning to live on the minimum wage she earns as a B&B inn-sitter. Things are going well until the identical twin of her boss-from-hell unleashes family secrets, her 19-year-old son’s girlfriend becomes pregnant, and her cat Trouble finds a dead body in a bathtub.