DEBUT MYSTERY AUTHOR KATE MICHAELSON'S KILLER SOUP RECIPE

Kate Michaelson’s debut novel, Hidden Rooms, won the Hugh Holton Award for best unpublished mystery by a Midwest writer and was released by CamCat Books in 2024. As a curriculum developer and technical writer, Kate has created educational content on everything from media literacy to cybersecurity awareness. In her free time, she loves hiking, gardening, and anything that takes her outdoors and away from her laptop. Learn more about her and her books and find links to her other social media at her website.

Home Cooking and a Killer Recipe

My debut mystery, Hidden Rooms, is set in a small Ohio farming town much like the one where I grew up. Like me, my main character, Riley, is lucky enough to have a mother who is a fantastic cook. The book opens soon after Riley’s return to her hometown and features plenty of scenes where her close-knit family comes together to enjoy homemade, seasonally fresh food. 

 

Aside from being a traditional murder mystery, part of the puzzle in Hidden Rooms is Riley’s own medical mystery. Since moving home, Riley has been fighting bewildering health issues, from vertigo to joint pain. Like many people—particularly women—she struggles to find a clear diagnosis and has been left to manage her symptoms as best she can. Part of this includes eating foods that will help her feel her best.

 

I imagine this Savory Butternut Squash Soup would be the perfect dish for Riley since it offers a mix of comforting, garden-fresh home cooking, along with anti-inflammatory ingredients, like ginger, garlic, and turmeric. Also, since almost the entire U.S. is feeling the deep freeze as I write this, now seems like an ideal time to warm up with some soup, and the ginger gives this recipe a little added heat! 

 

Savory Butternut Squash Soup

1 cooked butternut squash

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup of diced onion (about half an onion)

½ tablespoon minced garlic

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon turmeric

3 cups vegetable or chicken broth

½ cup cream

 

A Note on Baking vs. Dicing the Squash

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not peel and dice a squash if I can avoid it! Of course, it’s absolutely fine to prepare your squash that way if that’s what you prefer, but I find it a bit easier to bake the halved squash. 

 

To do so, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the butternut squash into halves and remove the seeds. Brush olive oil onto the squash. Place the halves face down in a baking dish with a cup of water and bake for one to one and a half hours (until tender). Allow it to cool slightly and then remove the squash from the skin. 

 

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven and sauté onions. After about 5 minutes, stir in the garlic, salt, pepper, ginger, paprika, and turmeric. Next, add the broth and cooked squash. Bring it to a low boil, stirring frequently.

 

Remove the pot from the heat. Puree the soup using an immersion blender. (If you need to use a regular blender, allow the soup to cool before blending it.)

 

Stir in the cream and put the blended soup back on the heat to rewarm it. Once it is hot, it’s ready to serve! I like to add pumpkin seeds as a topping for a little crunch. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Hidden Rooms

Long-distance runner, Riley Svenson, has been fighting bewildering symptoms for months, from vertigo to fainting spells. Worse, her doctors can’t tell her what’s wrong, leaving her to wonder if it’s stress or something more threatening. But when her brother’s fiancée is killed—and he becomes the prime suspect—Riley must prove his innocence, despite the toll on her health.

 

As she reacquaints herself with the familiar houses and wild woods of her childhood, the secrets she uncovers take her on a trail to the real killer that leads right back to the very people she knows best and loves most.

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--A FRENCH REVOLUTION ROMANCE AND LENTIL SOUP RECIPE FROM AUTHOR DEBRA BORCHERT

 

Image used under license from Shutterstock.com

Debra Borchert is the author of the Château de Verzat series that follows headstrong and independent women and the four-hundred loyal families who protect a Loire Valley château and vineyard and its legacy of producing the finest wines in France during the French Revolution. Learn more about Debra and her books at her website. 

 

A Soup-aholic Confesses

I am a soup-aholic. If it grows, oinks, pecks or swims, I find a way to incorporate it in a soup. I also own eight slow cookers, which I use not to make soups but to serve them. My holiday traditions center around an annual Soup Party where I serve eight soups and ask guests to bring bread or a dessert. So popular is this event, requests for the date of the next party roll in around Labor Day. 

 

While researching the French Revolution, I discovered that many families living in Paris could afford only single-room lodgings. Because those homes often lacked a fireplace, people had no heat or cooking facilities.

 

Enterprising cooks who had fireplaces and a cauldron, often simmered a batch of soup and brought the steaming pot out onto the street where they sold hot servings in wooden bowls with wooden spoons, recycling those bowls and spoons for the next customers. Soup might be the first form of fast food.

 

During the 18^th century, the French believed broths and bouillons were restoratifs, restoratives. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word restaurant was initially used to describe a variety of rich, meat-based bouillons. Since soups were a main culinary staple, I developed recipes for my characters. 

 

The soups I created gave me an opportunity to reveal characters’ personalities.

 

In my historical romance, Her Own Revolution, Geneviève, the daughter of the public prosecutor, rescues a fallen noble, Louis LaGarde, a man she thought she hated, from the guillotine. Prison has changed the once arrogant bully into a caring man who transforms his château into an orphanage. The orphans claim the soup tastes like chamber-pot slops, so Louis creates a new soup, including all the things he enjoyed eating as a child. And, when the cook is not looking, he adds a few splashes of wine. To encourage the children to eat it, he claims he used magic. Although skeptical, the children devour the soup. 

 

As Geneviève witnesses the children’s love and adoration for Louis, she sees him in a new light and is disturbed by the fondness she feels for him—a key ingredient in a recipe for romance.

 

I include my recipes in my books and newsletters. I also print them on postcards, featuring my book covers, and distribute them as I would business cards and bookmarks. I am currently working on a cookbook I’ll use as a promotion. Not only am I sharing my stories, but also my love for soups.

 

Bon Appetit! 

 

Uncle Louis’s Lentil Soup featured in Her Own Revolution

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup diced parsnips

1/2 cup diced carrots

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced red pepper

1/2 cup diced yellow pepper

2 sliced leeks, white part only

1 small onion, chopped

A few splashes of extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb. turkey or chicken sausage, sliced into bite-size pieces (optional)

1-1/2-2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock

2 cups lentils, rinsed and picked over 

1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)

4 cups chopped fresh kale or baby spinach

Sea salt & pepper

Dash cayenne pepper 

 

Wash, peel, and dice the first 6 vegetables. Allow them to dry on a towel.

 

In a large stock pot and over low to medium heat, sauté batches of first 5 vegetables in olive oil for about 5 minutes, do not brown. As they begin to soften, remove from pot, and add more vegetables. Add leeks and chopped onion, do not brown. Cook all vegetables until they are soft.

 

If you are using sausage, remove vegetables from pot, add a bit more olive oil and sauté sausage slices until lightly browned. 

 

Return all cooked vegetables to pot. Add the stock and cook on low for about 10-15 minutes.

 

Add lentils and cook for 15 minutes, until lentils are soft but not mushy. 

Add wine. Simmer for 5 minutes.

 

Add kale or spinach and more stock if needed. Cook on low until greens wilt.

 

Add cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to taste. 

 

Her Own Revolution

The Château de Verzat Series, Book 2

 

A Woman Forges a Treacherous Path to Save Hundreds from the Guillotine

 

If Geneviève Fouquier-Tinville had the same rights as a man, she wouldn’t have to dress like one. She risks facing the guillotine herself when she replaces names of those she believes innocent on the list scheduled for the guillotine with names of those already dead. Her compassion for innocent people leads to both loss and love. 

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--WILD RICE, CHICKEN AND HAM SOUP

Nothing warms on a cold wintery day like a bowl of hearty soup. This wild rice, chicken and ham soup is one of my favorites. I use an Instant Pot to cook it, but a stockpot will also work.

For faster cooking, plan ahead. The next time you make wild rice, cook extra and freeze 2 cups. Likewise, dice leftover chicken and ham and freeze. Pull rice, chicken, and ham from the freezer an hour or two ahead of time to defrost before making the soup.

Wild Rice Chicken and Ham Soup

Ingredients for Wild Rice:

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup water

1-1/2 cups wild rice

Ingredients for Soup:

2 T. unsalted butter

1/2 cup onion, diced

1/4 cup celery, diced

1/4 cup carrot, diced

2 T. flour

3 T. dry sherry

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups cooked wild rice

2 cups cooked chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces

1 cup ham, diced

2 tsp. fresh thyme, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup whole milk

Rinse rice thoroughly before cooking.

Cook the rice in a rice cooker or Instant Pot. If you don’t have a rice cooker or Instant Pot, bring 2 cups chicken broth, 1 cup water, and 1-1/2 cups uncooked rice to a boil. Cover and simmer 50 minutes.

Sauté onion, carrots, and celery in butter. Cover and reduce heat to allow veggies to soften, approximately 5 minutes.

Stir in flour. Stirring constantly, cook for 1 minute. Deglaze pan with sherry, scraping up bits of veggies from bottom of pot.

Add broth, cooked rice, ham, chicken, thyme, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in milk. Gently simmer until heated through, but don’t allow the soup to return to a boil.

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR TONY-PAUL de VISSAGE WHIPS UP SOUTHERN VEGETABLE SOUP

Award-winning author Tony-Paul de Vissage’s first movie memory is of being six years old, viewing the old Universal horror flick, Dracula’s Daughter on television, and being scared sleepless. Nightmares and a lifelong interest in vampires followed, and now he’s paying back his very permissive parents by writing about the children of the night.  Learn more about Tony-Paul and his books here. 

When I get into writing a novel—whether it’s simply beginning it or after I’m deeply involved with the plot—I don’t want to stop for anything. That includes that mundane but necessary activity called eating.  Since I’m a total klutz in the kitchen, I’ve been known to let my stomach growl so loudly I begin typing in rhythm to its squeals and skirls. 

Give me finger food…chips, cookies, crackers or trail mix…something I can scoop up in one hand while I type with the other.

Hard-working authors do have to eat, however…to keep up their strength for those long writing sessions. Since I’m currently between companions, especially the kind who know how to cook, to keep up my strength while spending those long hours at the keyboard, I whip up easy-to-prepare foods that can be made ahead of time so all I have to do is toss them into the microwave, press a button, and get back to writing until the bell dings.

Fast and easy, that’s my motto. 

I like soups, especially in winter, and a cup of soup is as nourishing, filling, and warming in winter as anything a diner could wish. I’m offering this recipe for the Southern vegetable soup, using canned and fresh vegetables.

Southern Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

1 can mixed vegetables (with packing water)

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 fresh carrot (unpeeled & diced))

1 small white potato (with the skin left on & diced)

1 large slice Spanish onion (diced)

1 cube salt pork (if unavailable, use 2 T I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter)

1 cup water

Salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder to taste.

Scrub and dice fresh vegetables. Place in large cast-iron soup pan. (If none available, use regular large saucepan.) Add canned vegetables. (Do not drain, add packing water also.) Add crushed tomatoes and stir well to mix. 

Score salt pork and add.

Add seasonings, to taste.

Heat until boiling, then stir and cook on low until all vegetables are tender.

Pour into bowl and serve with corn bread or soup crackers.

Makes enough for four hearty servings.

Absinthe

Curse of the Green Fairy

Absinthe…the drink they call the Green Fairy…addictive and deadly, destroying sanity.

Absinthe…a beautiful young man, as seductive and habit-forming as the liqueur for which he’s named…amoral and beguiling, once he’s tasted, he can never be forgotten.

A marquis’ son raised in a New Orleans whorehouse, ripped from his lover’s arms and thrust into the world of French nobility, Absinthe strives to be what his father wishes. He may escape his past but his voodoo teachings follow him, causing death and madness to those he loves.

Cursed before he was conceived, born noble, forced into debauchery, then rescued by a father’s love…but is he really free?

Absinthe…behold, a beautiful monster.

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Tony-Paul’s latest novel is Essence of Absinthe, the sequel to his historical horror novel Absinthe. Set in late 18^th century New Orleans, in this historical Gothic, a young Frenchman in search of questions about his deceased brother discovers family secrets, ghostly possession, and spirits who refuse to rest.

Essence of Absinthe will be available March 15. 

KILLER CRAFTS & CRAFTY KILLERS HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE, PART 5

Is there anyone among us who doesn’t wish she had more hours in the day? We’re all constantly looking to save time so we have more time to do what we need to do or want to do. Today’s book suggestion is one that will help do just that. It makes a great gift for the busy working moms on your list or anyone else looking for timesaving dinner recipes and timesaving tips.

We'd Rather Be Writing

88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips

Have you ever wished you could find more time to do the things you want to do, rather than just doing the things you have to do? Most authors juggle day jobs and family responsibilities along with their writing. Because they need to find time to write, they look for ways to save time in other aspects of their lives.

Cooking often takes up a huge chunk of time. In We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips you'll find easy, nutritious recipes for meat, poultry, pasta, soup, stew, chili, and vegetarian meals. All of the recipes require a minimum of prep time, freeing you up to read, exercise, garden, craft, write, spend more time with family, or whatever.

Within the pages of We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips you'll be introduced to authors who write a wide range of fiction—everything from mystery to romance to speculative fiction to books for children, young adults, and new adults—and some who write nonfiction. Some of the authors write sweet; others write steamy. Some write cozy; others write tense thrillers.

Some are debut authors with only one published book; others are multi-published and have had long publishing careers. Some are New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors who may or may not be familiar to you, but being a bestselling author doesn't mean they still don't have to juggle their day job along with their writing.

The authors who contributed to this book are a rather creative and resourceful bunch when it comes to carving out time from their busy lives. So in addition to timesaving recipes, within the pages of this book you'll find timesaving and organizational tips for other aspects of your life. And if you happen to be a writer, you'll also find a plethora of great ideas to help you organize your writing life.

Authors who contributed to We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips include: Lisa Alber, Reggi Allder, Judy Alter, Krista Ames, Rose Anderson, Cori Lynn Arnold, Judy Baker, Beverley Bateman, Donnell Ann Bell, Paula Gail Benson, Kris Bock, Maureen Bonatch, Ava Bradley, Susan Breen, Lida Bushloper, Michelle Markey Butler, Ashlyn Chase, Judy Copek, Maya Corrigan, Mariposa Cruz, Melinda Curtis, Lesley A. Diehl, Conda V. Douglas, Nancy Eady, Helena Fairfax, Jennifer Faye, Flo Fitzpatrick, Kit Frazier, Shelley Freydont, Mariana Gabrielle, Rosie Genova, Marni Graff, Joanne Guidoccio, Margaret S. Hamilton, L.C. Hayden, Linda Gordon Hengerer, Heather Hiestand, R.Franklin James, Kathryn Jane, M.M. Jaye, Elizabeth John, Stacy Juba, Gemma Juliana, Carol Goodman Kaufman, Melissa Keir, Kay Kendall, A.R. Kennedy, Lynn Kinnaman, Marie Laval, B.V. Lawson, Claudia Lefeve, Alice Loweecey, Cynthia Luhrs, Sandra Masters, Lisa Q. Mathews, J.M. Maurer, Sandra McGregor, Kathy McIntosh, Claire A. Murray, Ann Myers, Tara Neale, Stacey Joy Netzel, Jayne Ormerod, Alice Orr, Laurel Peterson, Irene Peterson, Pepper Phillips, Caridad Pineiro, Kathryn Quick, Renée Reynolds, Josie Riviera, Elizabeth Rose, C.A. Rowland, Cindy Sample, Sharleen Scott, Terry Shames, Susan C. Shea, Judy Penz Sheluk, Joanna Campbell Slan, Karen Rose Smith, Lynette Sofras, Kaye Spencer, Skye Taylor, Lourdes Venard, Lea Wait, Regan Walker, Lois Winston, and Aubrey Wynne.

A percentage of the profit from We'd Rather Be Writing: 88 Authors Share Timesaving Dinner Recipes and Other Tips will be donated to No Kid Hungry.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR JO-ANN CARSON AND KILLER SALMON CHOWDER

Growing up, Jo-Ann Carson she dreamed of traveling the world like James Bond, searching for relics like Indiana Jones, and finding true love, so it's no surprise that in her Mata Hari Series she combines elements of adventure, danger and steamy romance. In her Vancouver Blues Series she slides into the realm of Urban Noir and explores the dark side of the city. These  books are mainstream suspense with strong romantic elements and are very-Vancouver. Learn more about Jo-Ann and her books at her website. 

This is a recipe that I learned when I lived up on the Haida Gwaii, a remote and pristine wilderness area of Canada often referred to as the northern Galapagos Islands. In my book, Black Cat Blues it’s served at the local restaurant on Granville Island called The Scuttlebutt.

Smokey’s Killer Salmon Chowder

Ingredients:

a few T. oil

1 medium cooking onion

4-1/4 cups water

2-4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

1 can (or equivalent) lima beans

2 fresh carrots, thinly sliced

2 stalks celery

4 cooked sliced bacon strips, cut into 1/2" pieces

4 cups milk

6 T. flour

1 lb. can of salmon (or equivalent fresh)

In a large, deep skillet sauté sliced onion in oil until it’s soft. Add cooked bacon.

Add flour and stir until it cooks. Add 1/4 cup water and stir until it thickens to make roux. Add more water if necessary.

Boil 4 cups of water. Add the roux and stir. Add potatoes, beans, carrots, celery and the fluid from the canned salmon. Add more water if it’s too thick.

Cook twenty minutes or so, until the potatoes are cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

Flake salmon with a fork and add to above. Always add fish at the very end of any recipe, because you don’t want to overcook it. This salmon is already cooked. You are just heating it up.

Add milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Serve.

I often garnish this with either shredded mozzarella or shredded cheddar cheese.

Black Cat Blues

A nightmare waits in the alley…

Stabbed in an alley behind the Black Cat Blues bar, private investigator Jimmy Daniels clings to life just long enough to tell Maggy Malone a secret.

Maggy, a curvy, blond, blues singer with a sultry voice and a razor sharp mind is starting her life over after a lousy marriage. Reluctant at first to get involved with a murder, she tells no one the secret.

But when the murderer stalks her, she changes her mind.

Maggy teams up with Jimmy’s brother Logan, a handsome suit with a tidy view of life. They figure out the killer is looking for gold buried on Gabriola Island by the notorious cult-leader Brother XII.

The body count rises. Will Maggy catch him? Or will she be his next victim?

And the lady sings the blues…

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR ANN MYERS AND CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

Ann Myers loves cooking, crafts, and cozy mysteries. Talk about an author who’s perfect for Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers! Ann lives with her husband and extra-large housecat in southern Colorado but feels most at home in Santa Fe. Learn more about her and her books (and find a few more recipes) at her website.

What an honor to be on recipe Tuesday! The first book in my Santa Fe Café Mystery series, Bread of the Dead, came out last fall and includes recipes for a Day of the Dead feast. A recipe inspired the book, or at least the title and the seasonal setting. Pan de muerto, or bread of the dead, is a buttery sweet bread flavored with anise seed and orange. The aroma alone will lure back the spirits, and the dough is often shaped like a skull and crossbones—fun! Plus the name seemed made for a culinary mystery.

  

My main character, Rita Lafitte, is forty-one, newly single, and living with her teenage daughter in a tiny rental casita. Like me, she’s a relative newcomer to the Southwest and New Mexican cuisine. Rita, however, is a culinary pro and learning from a master, her elderly friend and boss, Flori. At Tres Amigas Café they cook up delicacies from green chile stew to cheesy enchiladas. As amateur sleuths, they stir up killers. Rita investigates the death of her beloved landlord in Bread of the Dead. In Cinco de Mayhem (coming out March 29, 2016) the sleuths take on a bully chef, a dicey health inspector, and a killer with sights set on Rita.

 

One of the best parts about writing these culinary cozies has been the excuse to research, cook, and eat yummy New Mexican foods. For instance, I’ve learned a lot about bizcochitos, New Mexico’s official state cookie. Bizcochitos appear at important events such as weddings and quinceañeras and especially for Christmas. They’re tasty shortbread cookies flavored with anise, dusted in cinnamon sugar, and traditionally made with lard. Bizcochito experts swear by lard for the proper tender texture. I’ll admit I’ve made butter and shortening varieties, too, but that borders on confessing to cookie sacrilege.

Spelling is also a matter of taste. When legislators met to designate the cookie, debate ensued about the spelling: biscochito or bizcochito? Bizcochito made the bill, but both versions remain common and contentious. As a writer fearful of grammar offenses, I worry when I mention bizcochitos. However the cookies are too important—and too tasty—to leave out.

I initially planned to post a bizcochito recipe. But now, post-Christmas, even I have had too many sweets. This chicken tortilla soup is quick and light but full of flavor. It’s also flexible. For a vegetarian version, you could substitute butternut squash for the chicken. For even easier prep, use leftover chicken (or turkey) or rotisserie chicken. You can also adjust the chile heat—more or none at all—or add some New Mexican roasted green chiles if you have them.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs, bone-in or boneless, with skin and excess fat removed

6 small corn tortillas, divided for use in soup and as a garnish

3 T olive oil

½ large onion, diced

2–3 cloves garlic, minced

1 t dried oregano

1 t ground cumin

1 t ground coriander

1 T chile powder (start with mild or medium spiciness, add more heat to taste)

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes

5 c. chicken broth or water

1 (14.5 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1–2 T fresh lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes (mix and match as you like)

Corn tortilla strips

Fresh lime wedges

Chopped cilantro leaves

Avocado, diced

Sour cream

Crumbled Cotija cheese or other Mexican or fresh cheese

Stack all the corn tortillas and cut into 1/4” strips. Then cut the strips into approximately 2” lengths. Divide in half. Reserve one half for use as a garnish. The other half will dissolve into the soup as seasoning.

Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pan. Add diced onion and sauté until soft and translucent, 8-10 minutes. Next add garlic, cumin, chile powder, and half of the tortilla strips. Stir for 2-3 minutes.

Stir in broth and canned tomatoes. Bring to a boil.

Nestle in the chicken thighs, meaty side down. Wait for soup to boil again. Then lower to a simmer and cook uncovered until the chicken is very tender, about 40 minutes.

Turn heat to its lowest setting. Carefully remove the chicken pieces from the soup and place on plate or cutting board. Let cool slightly, until safe to handle, and then chop into bite-sized pieces. If using bone-in chicken, remove the bones first and discard.

Check the soup pot and skim off any excess oil if necessary.

Place chicken back in pot. Add drained beans. Adjust seasonings. More salt? Pepper? Hot pepper? Keep in mind that the garnishes will add flavor, too. Simmer to meld flavors, 5-10 minutes.

While the soup is in its final simmer, drizzle some olive oil on the remaining tortilla strips. Toss the strips to coat with oil. Heat a wide frying pan. Add the strips and fry, stirring, for a few minutes until they are golden and crispy.

Immediately before serving, stir 1-2 T of lime juice into the soup.

Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with tortilla strips, lime wedges (for diners to squeeze into their bowls if they want), cilantro, avocado, sour cream, and any other toppings.

Note: This is a great soup to make ahead or to freeze if you have any leftovers.

Bread of the Dead,

book 1 of the Santa Fe Café Mystery series

Life couldn’t be sweeter for Tres Amigas Café chef Rita Lafitte, decorating sugar skulls and taste-testing rich, buttery pan de muerto in anticipation of Santa Fe’s Day of the Dead bread-baking contest. That is, until her friendly landlord, Victor, is found dead next door.

Although the police deem Victor’s death a suicide, Rita knows something is amiss. To uncover the truth, she teams up with her octogenarian boss Flori, the town’s most celebrated snoop. The duo begin to sift through long-buried secrets and take full measure of duplicitous neighbors, but the clock is ticking and their list of suspects is growing ever longer. Just as the clues get hotter than a New Mexican chile, one of their main suspects winds up dead. Rita fears that the killer is dishing out seconds—and her order might just be up.

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