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| The author with Carol Sabala's m#argarita |
A reading addict since childhood, Vinnie Hansen is
now the author of the Carol Sabala mysteries. The seventh installment in the
series, Black Beans & Venom, was a finalist for the Claymore Award. She’s
also written many published short stories including Novel Solution in the
anthology, Fish or Cut Bait, and Bad Connection, the 2015 winner of the Golden
Donut Award. Learn more about Vinnie and her books at her website. And keep reading for a chance to win one of three copies of Squeezed & Juiced Vinnie is giving away.
When I started writing my
Carol Sabala mystery series, I was married to Mr. Wrong. I’d made Carol Sabala,
my protagonist, a baker in an upscale restaurant, modeled on the place where my
husband worked as a sous chef.
My husband was a treasure
trove of inside information. Until we got divorced.
What might have been a
stumbling block proved to be a step up. My protagonist, like myself, was
feeling constricted in the cozy genre. I personally like to read grittier
mysteries. Plus, in a small town setting like my Santa Cruz, I faced the
Jessica Fletcher problem. How many bodies could an amateur sleuth credibly
stumble upon? My series also jumps through time, and I
wanted Carol Sabala to grow and change. She gradually morphed into a P.I., while
still retaining her bread-and-butter job as a baker.
Having Carol keep her
restaurant job not only seemed realistic, but also allowed the established food
titles to continue to make sense. While I am neither a sous chef nor a
professional baker, I still offer one recipe in each book. Here’s the menu and
the connection:
Murder, Honey, Book 1 (now available in the boxed set Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries): Lebkuchen because the victim collapses
into Carol’s pan of lebkuchen dough.
One Tough Cookie, Book 2: Crinkles. By the
second book, I already realized I needed help with recipes. This one came from
a member of my reading group. She often baked them for us until she passed away
at ninety-three.
Squeezed & Juiced, Book 4:
Margaritas. The old people in the story are “squeezed” and the victim is
killed with a deadly injection. Juiced? So I give you the secret to my new husband’s
very best margaritas just in time for summer. Recipe below.
Death with Dessert, Book 5: Flan. Carol goes on
a manhunt into Mexico. This recipe for traditional Mexican flan I coerced from
a Mexican-American colleague.
Art, Wine & Bullets, Book 6: Wine
& Cheese Pairings. Fitting for a book set during Open Studios. A professional
“culinarian” provided these pairings. Before sampling them all, I’d never even
tried a Shiraz or Malbec wine. Writing mysteries leads to amazing experiences .
. . .
Black, Beans & Venom,
Book 7: Black Beans. Carol Sabala’s
last adventure takes her to Cuba. Cuban food is wholesome and healthy, but on
the bland side due to the lack of spices (a result of the embargo). But a Puerto
Rican friend shared his Mama’s recipe, the tastiest black beans I’ve ever
eaten.
Now, you may have noticed
Book 3 is not listed. This is not an oversight. Rotten Dates, the third Carol Sabala mystery, will be the last one re-released
from misterio press in late 2016. In the book, the “dates” are deadly ones with
an evil man. For the recipe, I am looking for a delicious, non-deadly use of
dates. Any offerings?
Carol Sabala’s Margaritas
The secret is the freshly squeezed juice!
Put lots of ice cubes in a container
for mixing.
Coat the rims of the two
glasses with lime juice and dip in salt (ground sea salt preferred). Fill the
glasses with additional ice cubes.
Combine in the container:
3 oz. of Hornitos Tequila
Sauza (or an upper shelf Tequila of your choice)
3 oz. of Controy (This is
Mexican orange liquor that I’ve never found in the United States. A good Triple
Sec is a fair substitute, but may give your margarita a slight orange tint.)
1 oz. freshly squeezed lime
juice
Stir and pour over the ice
in the glasses.
Squeezed and Juiced
Her first real P.I. case, an ailing mother, and a stalled
relationship.
As Carol Sabala attempts to juggle
the components of her life, they all threaten to crash. Training to be a
private eye, Carol wrangles a job to investigate a woman’s will. The more Carol
probes the retirement home where the woman died, the more she grasps how easily
one could kill an elderly person in such a facility. It is, after all, an
expected last address. With Carol’s mother intent on moving to the same
retirement home, the stakes are high. Will Carol prevent this facility from
being her mother’s final address? Can she keep all the pieces of her life in
the air as she enters a world of drug addicts and murder?
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