GIFT A LOT OF #ROMANCE, HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE--PART 6

Today’s gift-giving book suggestion is for all your family and friends who love a great romance—except in this case we’re talking ten great romances. Romance Super Bundle IV, 
Endless Love is a collection of ten romance novels by ten award-winning and bestselling authors. This ebook boxed set would make a great virtual stocking stuffer, and because it’s such a bargain—only .99 cents for all ten novels—you can treat as many friends and family as you like. While you’re at it, treat yourself. Take a break from all your holiday shopping, wrapping, cooking, and baking, and curl up on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and a romance or ten.

Stories include:

SEALs OF HONOR: MASON, Dale Mayer—Kill or be Killed. Part of an elite SEAL team, Mason takes on the dangerous jobs no one else wants to do – or can do. When he's on a mission, he's focused and dedicated. When he's not, he plays as hard as he fights. Until he meets a woman he can't have but can't forget.

FINDING HOPE, Lois Winston (writing as Emma Carlyle)—When Hope lands her dream job, she doesn't expect to fall for her married boss and keeps her feelings to herself, even after his wife walks out on him and their triplets. Ben finds himself developing feelings for Hope he knows better than to act on, given past mistakes. But three very determined tykes are out to find everyone a happy ending.

NEVER LET ME GO, Donna Marie Rogers—Hannah Porter's had a crush on Sheriff Chase Lowell since she was a kid, which seems to be the problem—he thinks of her more as a little sister than a romantic interest. But something changes following a robbery at the diner where she works. When Chase makes her safety his personal mission, Hannah makes it her mission to get him to see her in a different light.

STRANDED WITH THE SEAL, Amy Gamet— Former Navy SEAL Trevor "Hawk" Hawkins is on an unsanctioned mission to take down the man who killed his teammate. But when his car careens into another on a snowy mountain road, he finds himself stranded with a beautiful woman who has no memory of her life. The storm outside worsens and passion flares between them, but the woman's true identity has the power to destroy them both.

AUTUMN WISH, Stacey Joy Netzel—secret baby with a twist...Confirmed bachelor Sam Mallin hasn't the first clue how to care for the baby girl dropped on his doorstep. When his beautiful neighbor Nikki offers to help, he finds himself falling for both females. Is it possible Nikki's falling for him, too, or is he just the convenient, ready-made family she so desperately wishes for?

TRUTH ABOUT LOVE & MURDER (Love & Murder Book 1), Edie Ramer—The truth is that life is uncertain. Meg Quinn is co-guardian of her dying best friend's son along with her friend's brother, a former Marine. As the couple search for a missing veteran, they find out the truth about life and love … and murder.

SPLIT DECISION, Wendy Ely— Sports reporter Grace Avery is up for a promotion, but only if she gets an interview with the notoriously private, heavy weight champion, Rally Brewer. Grace discovers who Rally is beyond the boxing ring. Little does anyone know, as Grace gets Rally to open up, a two-year-old secret is in jeopardy. Is revealing his secret worth gaining Grace's love?

LILY AND THE GAMBLER, Linda McLaughlin—Respectability is in the eye of the beholder, or so Lily hopes. After her lover's death she pretends to be his widow and travels to California to marry a mine owner. Then she meets King Callaway, a charming gambler. King knows he's found his Queen of Hearts. But can he convince her to take a chance on a foot-loose card sharp? Only Lady Luck knows for sure...

EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, Ava Bradley—A wounded cop, a frightened woman, a desperate race to save a child in danger….Two people adrift in their own personal tragedies join together to save an innocent child from a power-hungry geneticist intent on creating a superior race. A Golden Heart award winner.

DEATH ON THE OCEAN FLOOR, Georgina Lee—Tetra Martin finds her roommate dead in a cave accessible only at low tide…and learns she's the main suspect. Her only hope is David Haines, her sexy supervisor who keeps her at a distance. But as the tide rises, so does Tetra's desire for him. Along with the killer's intent to make Tetra the next victim. USA Today Bestselling author.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR JUDY PENZ SHELUK AND ALMOND CRESCENT #COOKIES

Judy Penz Sheluk’s debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose was published in July 2015. Skeletons in the Attic, is the first book in her Marketville Mystery Series. Her short crime fiction appears in several anthologies. Learn more about Judy and her books at her website/blog. 

I love cookies. There I’ve admitted it. I can pass up a piece of cake (okay, maybe not carrot cake with cream cheese icing, but surely that could be counted as a vegetable?), and I’ve been known to exhibit moderate willpower when it comes to pie. Potato chips? Yes, I can actually stop at one. But cookies…love them. I’ve even been known to eat an entire box of Girl Guide cookies over the course of a weekend.

My passion for cookies probably stems back to my childhood. My mom wasn’t much of a cook (a trait I have sadly inherited), but she did make the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever tasted.

In my recent release, Skeletons in the Attic: A Marketville Mystery, my protagonist, Calamity (Callie) Barnstable, is searching for clues that might help her find out more about her mother—a woman who disappeared thirty years earlier, when Callie was just six-years-old. As Callie digs through a box of her mother’s belongings, she finds a peanut butter cookie recipe that bears a striking resemblance to the recipe my mom used.

But this is Christmas time, and it seemed only fitting to share a Christmas-y cookie recipe. For that, I went to The Hanged Man’s Noose: A Glass Dolphin Mystery, where Glass Dolphin antiques shop owner Arabella Carpenter is known for her love of Scottish shortbread. I also love shortbread, though my particular passion is for Almond Crescents. My mom used to make these every Christmas. She would let me twist the dough into crescent shapes, and if I was really, really good, she’d let me sprinkle powered sugar over them after they were freshly baked.

PS: if you really want the Peanut Butter Cookie recipe, email me at judy@judypenzsheluk.com and I’ll send you the PDF!

Anneliese’s Almond Crescents

Makes 45 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (the real deal, not the artificial kind)

2 teaspoons almond extract

2-1⁄3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup ground almonds (bulk food stores are a good place to find these)

1 cup powdered sugar (put in a sifter for best results)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets (enough for 45 cookies.)

Mix together butter with sugar and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and almond extract. Continue beating until incorporated. Stir in the flour and almonds. Work flour mixture into a firm dough.

Working with 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, shape into logs. The log should be slightly thicker in the middle than at both ends. Bend into a crescent shape. Place on greased cookie sheets.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until light brown. While the cookies are still warm sift crescents with powdered sugar. Cool on racks.

Skeletons in the Attic

What goes on behind closed doors doesn’t always stay there…

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know existed. However, there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder.

Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who is more than happy to expose the Barnstable family secrets. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--10 MINUTE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS

If you’d like to make personalized Christmas stockings but don’t have the time, talent, or patience, you can make these in under ten minutes. All you need are a few supplies from your local crafts store. And as an added bonus, each of these stockings cost only a few dollars to make. This is a quick and easy way to make stockings for guests who will be arriving for Christmas.

Materials:

Pre-finished Christmas stocking

Flat photo-insert Christmas ornament

Photo

Fabric glue

Using the stock photo that comes with the photo ornament as a template, cut out photo of person for whom the stocking is meant. If you don’t want to cut up an actual photo or don’t have one the correct size, scan a photo and print it out in the desired size.

Insert photo into ornament.

Glue ornament to stocking, and you’re done. Just allow the glue to dry before hanging up the stocking.

A MIDWEST MYSTERY WITH LOTS OF LAUGHS--HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE, PART 7

Christmas is coming. Are you ready? Need another gift for a mystery lover? Or maybe you need a break from all the holiday frenzy? Heat up some hot cocoa, cuddle up on the couch, and treat yourself to a visit to Ten Commandments, Iowa where nothing is what it first seems. Come for the secrets. Stay for the laughs. And watch out for a killer on the loose.

Elementary, My Dear Gertie is the novella sequel to the award-winning Talk Gertie To Me but can be read and enjoyed on its own.

Two years have passed since the happily-ever-after that isn’t doing so well. Nori Stedworth has moved in with the love of her life, Mackenzie Randolph, much to her parents’ displeasure. They’re coping as best as parents from Ten Commandments, Iowa can. They want Mac to make an honest woman of their daughter, and that means nothing short of marriage. Mac is all for exchanging I do’s. He’s even bought the ring, but before he can pop the question, an explosion hurls him and Nori right into the middle of a murder investigation. Gertie, Nori's alter-ego, can't help but lend her acerbic wit to the twists and turns as the town is turned upside down in the search for a murderer and arsonist, and yet another scandal envelopes the not-so-pious residents of Ten Commandments.

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#CORNWALL WALKING PATHS WITH GUEST AUTHOR CAROLA DUNN

Carola Dunn is the author of twenty-six mysteries and thirty-two Regencies. She was born and grew up in England but has lived in the US for many years. When not writing, she enjoys gardening, reading, and walking the dog. She has two grandchildren and cannot believe one is a teenager. Where did the years go? Learn more about Carola and her books at her website. 

The Joy of Walking

One of the features of England that I miss most here in the US, at least in the West, is the public foot paths. They crisscross the countryside, paying no heed to boundaries, climbing over walls and fences with the aid of stiles, crossing farmers' fields as freely as woods, hills, and dales.

Many of the paths are of ancient origin, medieval at least. Legally they are rights of way and can't be closed by landowners. The Ramblers organization zealously guards the public's access.

Cornwall, like the rest of the country, has footpaths everywhere. The main character of my Cornish mysteries, Eleanor, loves walking with her Westie Teazle on the cliffs and moors. She enjoys it the more because she spent most of her adventurous life traveling the world, working for an international charity.

On retiring to Cornwall, Eleanor looks forward to tranquility. She settles in a small fishing port on the North Coast and opens a charity shop, a peaceful occupation. But human nature is the same the world over. When crime comes to Port Mabyn, Eleanor finds the skills learned in far off places are not forgotten and become useful once again.

In the fourth book in the series, Buried in the Country, Eleanor’s talent for diplomacy is called upon by a friend from the past, a government official. He is holding a secret conference at a hotel on the cliffs near Tintagel, and he wants Eleanor to smooth relations between the antagonistic participants.

Megan's niece, Detective Sergeant Megan Pencarrow, is helping with security for the conference, although she's already on another case, the disappearance of a local solicitor. When two strangers turn up at the hotel, she can see they're villains. What she can't guess is whether they're a threat to the conference, connected somehow with the lawyer's disappearance, or contemplating some other nefarious business.

Now Eleanor's enjoyment of walking becomes vital to the story. Her description of the view of King Arthur's legendary castle ruins from the cliff top paths inspires enthusiasm in the young people. Their insistence on going for a walk, whatever the risk of being seen, leads to the revelation of what the two London villains are up to.

Caught in the act, the villains flee with hostages. The ensuing car chase takes them to fog-bound Bodmin Moor at dusk. Eleanor's familiarity with the rural byways helps Megan to follow and to rendezvous with her colleagues. They end up on Bodmin Moor, where the murderers disappear into the fog.

Night is falling. It seems they'll escape. But Eleanor often walks here. She knows the lay of the land and all the hazards: bogs, old mine shafts, precipitous quarry walls. She describes it for the searchers, and when she's denied a part in the search, she goes off hunting on her own.

Using every scrap of her local knowledge, combined with her talent at diplomacy and a few tricks she's learned in foreign parts, Eleanor emerges from the fog triumphant: She has captured one of the villains and he's spilled the beans.

Walking the footpaths of England, you are not at all likely to meet a murderer, of course. Nor will you meet a bear, a cougar, a skunk, a porcupine, or a rattlesnake; you won't even encounter poison oak or poison ivy!

Buried in the Country

After many years working around the world for an international charity in the late 1960s, Eleanor Trewynn has retired to the relative quiet of a small town in Cornwall. But her quiet life is short-lived when, due to her experience, the Commonwealth Relations Office reaches out to her to assist in a secret conference that is to take place in a small hotel outside the historical village of Tintagel.

Meanwhile, her niece, Detective Sargent Megan Pencarrow, is investigating the disappearance of a local solicitor when she is assigned to help provide security for the conference. Two African students, refugees from Ian Smith’s Rhodesia, arrive for the conference, escorted by Megan’s bête noire from Scotland Yard. They are followed by two mysterious and sinister Londoners, whose allegiances and connections to the conference and the missing solicitor are unclear. With a raging storm having trapped everyone in the hotel, the stage is set for murder, and it’s up to Eleanor and Megan to uncover the truth before more lives are lost.

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#DECORATING WITH GUEST AUTHOR KAREN PULLEN

Karen Pullen is the author of the Stella Lavender Mystery series as well as numerous award-winning short stories. She also runs a bed & breakfast in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Fern’s Old House

My new book, Cold Heart, finds Stella Lavender, State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent, continuing to work nights, buying drugs from paranoid drug dealers. But the physical danger and necessary betrayals are getting to her. When she sees a chance to work homicide, she’ll always take it. One afternoon she gives a hitchhiking teenager a ride to her babysitting job and together they find a gruesome murder scene. Stella joins the investigation, of course. But that’s as much as I’ll reveal, since this post is meant to have a decorating theme. Let’s put the “mystery” story aside and give you a peek into a subplot.

Stella’s grandmother Fern needs help. Fern’s house is falling down.

Small white farmhouses with tin roofs dot the North Carolina countryside wherever remorseless development hasn’t yet razed, paved, and commercialized. Functional, never showy, they’re often dilapidated, with a sagging porch and rusty roof. Such is the house that Stella was raised in by Fern, a free-spirited artist with male admirers wrapped around every one of her paint-stained fingers. Fern did her best. But fine art doesn’t command high prices in central North Carolina, and so Stella grew up in poverty, and she still can’t afford the expensive repairs Fern’s house needs.

Stella knows Fern’s porch steps are soft and the balusters rickety. Indoors, she sees the strategically placed buckets. But it takes a plumber who’s helping with a collapsed sewer line to insist something needs to be done, pronto.

Somehow (read the book!) Fern comes up with the money for repairs. Stella and Fern hire a contractor (a high school crush of Stella’s) who turns the old farmhouse into a beautiful place:

… my car rolled smoothly down Fern’s long lane, now evenly graded and covered with a layer of gravel. Someone had whacked down the brambly blackberry bushes but left the azaleas, blooming profusely in every hue of scarlet, pink, and purple. The lane curved around a stand of black walnut trees. And there was the new porch. Gone were the two-by-four barricades blocking off rotted steps, the buckets to catch leaks. The once-sagging floor was level and painted dark green. The porch rail and balusters gleamed shiny white, and two fans swirled lazily from a sky-blue ceiling, pushing a breeze down onto white rocking chairs. Pots of red geraniums decorated the steps. The scene lacked only a dog and a pitcher of lemonade, and I had brought the dog.

The lemonade was inside on a new red countertop. Fern spun with open arms. “Ta da!” She’d sewn herself a sundress in the same apple green as the kitchen walls. Tied round her waist was a black and white scarf in a checkerboard pattern matching the new vinyl floor. But the most amazing sight was the new stove, an ordinary four-burner gas stove. I felt like kneeling and kissing the little glass rectangle in the oven door, caressing its knobs, fondling each burner.

“I know, I know,” Fern said. “You like the stove.”

“I want to marry that stove.” I gave her a long hug, ignoring the complaints from my aching rib… “Show me the rest,” I said.

I oohed and aahed over the smooth, golden boards of the refinished pine floor in the living room, admired the gas-log fireplace. Fern pointed out the floor vents that would carry cool air into the room come July. “Of all the changes, that’s my favorite,” she said. “No more noisy window units!”

The second-floor bedroom used to be mine. I’d spent my childhood there, dreaming, dozing, peeling away layers of floral wallpaper. At fourteen, in a decorating frenzy, I’d painted over the entire mess in bubblegum pink, found a remnant of black carpet for the floor, and tacked an Indian bedspread to the ceiling to hide water stains. Pink, black, and batik.

Now, I couldn’t believe it was the same room. The walls were smooth and pale blue, with creamy white paint on the trim and beaded-board ceiling. Sunshine poured through newly glazed windows. Above the bed hung Fern’s painting of my old toys.

... Money can buy happiness. The improvements had entirely changed my perspective on Fern’s living out here by herself. No longer would I worry about Old Ironsides blowing up, or an AC window unit frying the knob-and-tube wiring, or food poisoning from egg salad stored in the old refrigerator that shuddered at the end of each cooling cycle. Fern wouldn’t step through a rotten porch floorboard and snap her ankle. She would be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. For a few moments I forgot about my case and savored a rare peace of mind, purchased for only twenty-eight thousand dollars.

Rosemary House Bed & Breakfast

I love the idea of renovation, modernizing an old home, restoring it to beauty and comfort yet keeping its original features. My love for old houses was one of the primary reasons I bought an old house in Pittsboro, NC and turned it into a five-room bed & breakfast. Some of the problems with Fern’s house were exactly those my B&B house had: blocked sewer line, space heaters and window units; rotten porch floor; leaks in the roof. Repairing those problems didn’t make it pretty, but they had to be fixed before we painted and decorated.

As Stella’s creator, I wanted to give her problems like those we all have–money, family, relationships. So, writing what I know, I created a falling-down farmhouse and worries about her grandmother, but then, taking pity, I gave her and Fern the resources to improve their lives. You’ll have to tell me whether it’s a satisfactory home reno! How about the color scheme? What’s your favorite part?

Giveaway: A randomly selected commenter will receive a signed proof of Cold Heart. Be sure to check back next Wednesday night to see if you won, as I will need contact information.

Cold Heart

Stella Lavender returns in a darkly delightful page-turner. As an undercover drug agent, Stella works nights, buying drugs from paranoid drug dealers. But the physical danger and necessary betrayals are getting to her. When she sees a chance to work homicide, she'll always take it.

One afternoon Stella gives a hitchhiking teenager a ride to her babysitting job in a wealthy neighborhood. Horror awaits them—the father lies dead in a pool of blood, and his toddler is missing. The puzzle quickly grows when a dizzying array of suspects provides more questions than answers.

Cold Heart draws the reader into Stella's dangerous world as she rummages through every strata of society in her relentless and sometimes unconventional pursuit of a cold-hearted murderer who won’t stop at just one victim.

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--DEBRA SENNEFELDER'S QUICK CRANBERRY EGGNOG MINI-POUND #CAKES

Soon-to-be mystery debut author Debra Sennefelder has two constant writing companions: her Shih-Tzus, Susie and Billy. She's been an avid reader since childhood and found writing came naturally for her. When she's not writing, she loves to cook, exercise (yes, really) and read. Learn more about Debra at her website. 

Once upon a time there was a writer who was in the midst of writing a manuscript while working a full-time job and caring for an injured dog at Christmas, and just when she didn't think her to-do list could get any longer, it did. She had to bake for her 20-plus co-workers. She needed something quick, easy and had a high yield because she was short on time. The countdown to Christmas day had begun and she needed her own little baking miracle. Then a flash of inspiration hit and within a couple hours she was packing up the cargo space in her SUV with treats for her co-workers. What saved the day? Cranberry Eggnog Mini-Pound cakes.

Let me first start by saying that I do prefer to make my own cake batter from scratch but I was a desperate woman and I needed fast more than I needed homemade cake batter. And I do have a fondness for Betty Crocker since it was the go-to for my mom when I was a kid. I looked through what I had on hand and that's when the inspiration sparked and I quickly gathered all the ingredients—eggs, vanilla, eggnog, cranberries. I used the eggnog in place of the milk. Add in some chopped cranberries and a plain pound cake became festive. Bake them in pretty molds and they become giftable (is that a real word? probably not but you know what I mean).

I always have a large roll of cellophane on hand and various ribbons stashed away for any occasion. I did have a stack of cake boards that I cut into small discs for the cakes. But that was a little time-consuming so now I just wrap the cakes in the cellophane. If you're really short on time you can bake one large cake or a couple of loaf cakes according to the directions on the box. I do love the smaller

These little cakes showed me that simple sometimes is the best thing we can do. We get so caught up in all the things we think need to be done for the holidays and yet these very easy treats have become one of my most requested desserts and I'm happy to whip up a batch.

The recipe? There really isn't one. But here are the basics and don't be afraid to experiment. I've made mini-petite cakes and added Bailey's Vanilla Cinnamon to the batter.

You'll need:

1 box of pound cake mix along with the ingredients listed on the box but you'll replace the milk with eggnog and you'll add 3/4 cup finely chopped cranberries to the batter along with a dash of vanilla. In addition, confectioners' sugar to dust each cake.

Tips:

For the mini-cakes pictured above I bake them for 18-22 minutes, it all depends on your oven.

I typically get 6-9 mini-pound cakes from each box.

If you're using mini-bundt pans be sure not to overfill each mold with batter or else you'll never get the cake out. (Been there.)

I wish you a joyous holiday season!