#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR EDITH MAXWELL AND 1888 #GINGERBREAD

Agatha-nominated and Amazon best-selling author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries and the Local Foods Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries (as Maddie Day), and the Lauren Rousseau Mysteries (as Tace Baker), as well as award-winning short crime fiction. Her story, “A Questionable Death,” which features the same 1888 setting and characters as Delivering the Truth, is nominated for a 2016 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. Learn more about Edith and her books at her website.

1888 Gingerbread

I’m delighted to be here today with a killer recipe! My 1888 Quaker midwife from Delivering the Truth, Rose Carroll, baked in a wood stove, which makes baking a little tricky. You have to remember to turn the pan regularly so it doesn’t burn on one side. Luckily our modern ovens are more forgiving.

One of the reference books I like to use is Miss Parloa’s New Cook Book and Marketing Guide from 1880. It includes all kinds of tips for kitchen hygiene and equipment. For example, in the section on Cooking Utensils, Miss Parloa tells us this: “The essential qualities in a utensil are that it shall be substantially made; be smoothly finished and without grooves or joinings; and that it shall be free from deleterious substances.” I agree!

But when you get to the recipes, they are all really large. “Pluck two chickens,” starts one. A cake might have a pound of butter in it. Her recipe for Soft Gingerbread reads, “Six cupfuls of flour, three of molasses, one of cream, one of lard or butter, two eggs, one teaspoonful of saleratus, and two of ginger. This is excellent.” I suppose it would be – but I don’t have any saleratus around the house, and if the end product turns out not to be excellent, I’ve just wasted a heck of a lot of flour, molasses, and butter.

So I turned to the Fannie Farmer 1896 Cook Book (reissued in 2011). Her recipe for gingerbread is somewhat more restrained in the amounts. And who doesn’t love a nice moist piece of gingerbread – with whipped cream on top, of course!

Here’s the recipe, adapted slightly.

Hot Water Gingerbread

Ingredients:

1 cup molasses

½ cup boiling water

2 ¼ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons ginger

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:

Butter a square pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Add the water to the molasses. Mix the dry ingredients. Combine the mixtures, add the butter, and beat vigorously.

Pour into the pan and bake thirty-five minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

(The original recipe includes this tip: “Chicken fat tried out and clarified furnishes an excellent shortening, and may be used in place of butter.” Not in my kitchen!)

Readers, what old-fashioned recipe do you like to use? Do you have one that’s been handed down in your family?

Delivering the Truth

Quaker midwife Rose Carroll becomes a suspect when a difficult carriage factory manager is killed after the factory itself is hit by an arsonist. Struggling with being less than a perfect Friend, Rose delivers the baby of the factory owner’s mistress even while the owner’s wife is also seven months pregnant. After another murder, Rose calls on her strengths as a counselor and problem solver to help bring the killers to justice before they destroy the town’s carriage industry and the people who run it.

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to enter the Spring into Mystery Giveaway for a chance to win more than 35 cozy mysteries PLUS a Kindle Fire. Click here to enter.

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR ROSEMARY MORRIS

The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer,
painted about 40 years prior to the time of The Captain and the Countess

Normally we feature a craft project on Mondays. Today we’re changing things up a bit with a visit from British historical romance author Rosemary Morris, here to tell us about the artist hero she created for one of her books. Learn more about Rosemary and her books at her website and blog.

The subject of this article is the effect of the hero’s artistic talents. in my novel, The Captain and the Countess.

In 1706, Edward, the Right Honourable Captain Howard, who served in Queen Anne’s navy, is on half-pay.

Edward appeared in my mind while reading The Command of the Ocean by N.A.M Rodger, in which he states: “Off-watch, seamen had time to relax, especially on men-of-war with their large crews. Music, reading and gambling were common pastimes. Some ships had bands – ‘trumpets, hautboys and violins in the case of the H.M.S. Duchess’.”

Many sailors, including the officers, put their free time to good use, learning foreign languages and developing their skills. Edward Howard took the opportunity to develop his abilities as an artist, and in that capacity he became exceptionally observant.

Edward first saw Kate, Countess of Sinclair, an acclaimed beauty, whose sobriquet was ‘The Fatal Widow’, when she stood in the doorway of his godmother’s salon, her cool blue eyes speculative.

He stared at her without blinking and whistled low, and wondered if her shocking reputation could be no more than tittle-tattle?

While Edward scrutinised her, unlike most gentlemen who took scant interest in female fashion, he noted that rumour did not lie about her Saxon beauty, which she made the most of. “Her ladyship was not a slave to fashion. She did not wear a wig, and her hair was not curled and stiffened with sugar water. Instead, her flaxen plaits were wound around the crown of her head to form a coronet. The style suited her. So did the latest Paris fashion, an outrageous wisp of a lace cap, which replaced the tall, fan-shaped fontage most ladies continued to wear perched on their heads.”  Later, he sketched her from memory.

Although Kate was ten years his senior, Edward enjoyed flirting with her during their first encounter. However, his sharp eyes saw beyond her outward facade. “A frozen glimpse of despair deep in her eyes unsettled him. Did he imagine it? He could not speak. Why should a lady like the countess despair?”

Edward was consumed both by desire for Kate and determination to paint her portrait. When he visited her, “he stared at the tips of her slippers resting decorously side by side on a footstool,” and he said, “Truth to tell, I would like to paint you with your skirts drawn up a little to reveal your ankles.”

He invited her on a picnic in the country and tried to persuade her to allow him the privilege of painting her portrait.

Kate, who was accustomed to artists clamouring to paint her, refused, and explained. “At my late husband’s command, I sat for my portrait. Never have I suffered such ennui. I never wish to experience it again.”

Edward, who intended to use his artistic skills to win her, persisted, but Kate declared. “I detest picnics because it either rains when one is planned, or the sun is too hot to eat and drink in comfort.” 

Undeterred Edward wagered a flask of perfume blended by the famous perfumier, Lille, against Kate’s permission to capture her in oil paint, if their picnic is not spoiled by inclement weather. Amused, Kate agreed but warned him that he would lose.

Although Kate flirted with him, she rebuffed his advances, but Edward was not fooled. His sixth sense told him she was attracted to him but would not succumb because, behind her smiles and seeming gaiety, she was the victim of deep-rooted unhappiness.

When Edward arrived on the day agreed upon for the picnic, it was pouring with rain, so Kate assumed she had won the wager.

Edward, who considered himself too young to marry, hoped Kate would become his mistress, yet, when they set out for his house in Chelsea, he was torn between desire and his wish to help her overcome the grief behind her fashionable façade.

When they arrived, it poured with rain, so Kate assumed she had won the wager. However, Edward led her to a summer house in which they would enjoy their picnic. He pointed out, that he had won because the summer house was part of the garden. “So,” he began triumphantly, “when the weather is more favourable, with your permission, I shall sketch you beneath the boughs of a spreading oak tree.”

“Captain Howard did you paint the interior?” Kate asked, intrigued by a scene of woodland carpeted with bluebells, in which she noticed timid rabbits partially concealed in the lush growth, a suspicious badger peering out from his set, and a wary fox peeping from behind a gnarled oak tree. “Were you not an officer in Her Majesty’s navy—and if you had the need to do so—you could command a living as an artist.”

There is much more to Kate’s young admirer than she had realised. As for Edward, as time passed, he fell in love with the countess and wanted to marry her; so he thanked fate, which determined that through his skill as an artist Kate, who had declared that she would never marry again, regarded him more favourably.

The Captain and The Countess

Why does heart-rending pain lurk in the back of the wealthy Countess of Sinclair’s eyes? 

Captain Howard’s life changes forever from the moment he meets Kate, the intriguing Countess and resolves to banish her pain.

Although the air sizzles when widowed Kate, victim of an abusive marriage meets Edward Howard, a captain in Queen Anne’s navy, she has no intention of ever marrying again.

However, when Kate becomes better acquainted with the Captain she realises he is the only man who understands her grief and can help her to untangle her past.

Buy Link

~~~~~~~~~

Today is the first day you can enter the Spring into Mystery Giveaway for a chance to win more than 35 cozy mysteries PLUS a Kindle Fire. Click here to enter.

SPRING INTO MYSTERY #GIVEAWAY!

Spring into Mystery!

Monday, April 11th - Monday, April 18th

How would you like the chance to win more than 35 cozy mysteries PLUS a Kindle Fire? Starting tomorrow and running through April 18th, Storytellers Unlimited is sponsoring a contest with this fabulous giveaway for two winners. One of the books available will be Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series. To enter all you have to do is go here. 

Remember, you have to wait until tomorrow to enter, but don't dawdle. The contest ends April 18th.

Good luck!

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR RANDY RAWLS

Today we sit down with mystery, thriller, and suspense author Randy Rawls for an interview. Learn more about Randy and his books at his website. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

I've been a writer of sorts all my life, starting in grade school. Over the years, I started many stories, but gave up. In the early 1990's, I managed to write THE END on one of my efforts and realized I truly could finish a story. I've been doing it since.

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

Hmmm. This is a tough question. It depends on how one defines "publication." Simple publication — about seven years. Publication with one of the big NY houses, never. However, Dating Death is my twelfth "published" book, so I'm satisfied with my "career."

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

Some of each. The first two books in my Beth Bowman series were traditionally published. Others, including Dating Death, are indie published. And, of course, I have some recovered rights that I e-published. Guess you'd call me a "jack-of-all-trades" in the publishing world.

Where do you write?

I write in my "office" on my PC, or kicked back in my recliner on my laptop. Also, hotel rooms, or wherever I happen to be when the mood strikes. As long as my laptop will boot, I can write—and do write.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

Definitely not one who needs (or wants) silence. I'm a news junky, so usually the TV is on in the background at one of the inane news stations with the talking heads spouting their endless repetitions.

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

First, from my life. Probably, a lot, although I cannot identify any one thing. I suspect that my characters capture aspects of people I've known here and there. In the case of villains, ones I've read, mixed with ones I've seen on TV or in the movies, mixed with those in my imagination.

Plots. I pull most of my stories from the news (remember, news junky). For example, Dating Death begins with a dirty politician in South Florida. I don't claim we have a monopoly on them here in paradise, but anyone who studies the news will soon realize that there are forces driving decisions other than altruism.

Describe your process for naming your character?

I have a tough time naming characters. Once in a while, a name will pop into my head, but often I have to compile lists of names and pick one. For example, Beth Bowman, the heroine of Dating Death. When I decided to write a female lead, the name Beth just seemed automatic. In my mind, it's a strong name implying feistiness, trustworthiness, and tenaciousness. Don't know why. It just does. However, I needed a last name for Beth and there, I was stuck. Finally, after deciding that Beth was a transplanted Texan, I decided to find a name that would identify with her background. Ah, the Alamo came to mind. So, I searched the names of its defenders. When I saw the name Bowman, I knew I had a fit. Beth Bowman was born.

           

Naming villains is even tougher. I want a name that stands out, that fits the personality I give him/her, something that will stand out in the reader's mind. In Dating Death, I pondered what to name the primary villain. I wanted something that showed an ego out of control, a Mr. ??. But, not a normal Mr., a special. Maybe a Mr. Initials. Not normal initials, though. I came up with Mr. ZZ. Then I had to find names that fit the initials. Aha, Zackery Zogby popped up perfect.

           

So, as you can see, naming characters gets complicated with me.

Real settings or fictional towns?

Fictional towns located in a real area. Since there is often a contentious, scowling police detective in my stories, I don't want any specific police department upset with me. Dating Death is set in Coral Lakes, Florida, a small city located somewhere between Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

This one forced a smile. No doubt in my mind. Dot. She is a homeless person in her sixties, who served 10 years in prison for killing her lover. Before that, she was a "kept" woman until she "aged" out and was being passed around like a used sponge. Now, she's a smart-mouthed Beth Bowman advocate and will follow and defend Beth anywhere, anytime.

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

Oh, my. My wife could probably answer this with a long list. However, trying to settle on one thing, I'll go with accuracy. When reading a book, if I spot something that is incorrect, it ruins my taste for the story—for example, a revolver with a safety, a clip in an M-16. Ugh. So, in my stories, I am quick to research a minor point to make sure I get it right. For example, in my second Tom Jeffries, I had a villain firing an Uzi on full automatic. It was important to me to know which way the barrel would kick, so I researched it. Once I had satisfied myself that I knew the answer, I wrote the scene. Did it add anything important? Probably not, but I knew it was accurate.

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

I have read so many fantastic books, but I'll stick with three that I reread every few years. They've been with me my whole adult life, and I'd be thrilled to have copies in my casket. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. If you're surprised at my last choice, read it. As with The Old Man and the Sea, there is a different story each time I read it.

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

Good question. Allowing a character to be killed off—one I wanted back in later stories. While his death was important to the first story, my do-over would be to find another way to handle it. I'm very careful now when I consider losing a character. He can be wounded and live for another appearance. For example. In Hot Rocks, my first Beth Bowman, I had a lovable villain named Bruce Langston. Bruce was seriously injured, but I left it open as to whether he recovered or not. This was accidental. As far as I could see then, I was finished with Bruce Langston. However, in book three, Dating Death, I needed a bad guy from Beth's past. Hot dang, I could bring back Bruce. Worked like a charm (for me, anyway).

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Authors, agents, and editors who lie to those seeking their advice. One of the biggest lies in the business is, "Just write a great book, and it'll be published." This business is built around "who you know" far more than writing ability. Joe Smucklewortzer can write the greatest book in history and never see it published. Yes, quality counts, but it's secondary.

           

The second is the successful writer who says, "I just sat down and dashed off a book, and everyone wanted to publish it." I'm not saying this has never happened, but I know the tough, tough road to publication. And it has little to do with "dashing off a book." Look behind the scenes and you'll discover that author's road to publication had little to do with "dashing off a book." Might want to check his/her family tree.

           

Wouldn't it be more beneficial to everyone if the author, the agent, and the editor told the truth? Yes, it might devastate some, but it would save many others the distress of learning the facts the hard way.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

I assume you mean after sufficient water and food. Then the answer is books, books, and more books. I cannot imagine life without reading. I would want enough so I never had to reread one—other than The Old Man and the Sea, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Alice in Wonderland, of course. So many years ago, patient teachers drilled into me the ability to read. I might not have appreciated it then, but I bless them now.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

No answer for this one. I've read far too many fantastic stories to signal out one. Heck, I can't even decide on one author. Every decade has produced a cornucopia of authors and stories that will live through the ages. And you can count back as many decades as you choose, long after you run out of fingers, toes, and ears—throughout your neighborhood.

Ocean or mountains?

No contest. Ocean. Soothing breezes, the cooing wash of the waves. Oh yes, ocean.

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

Country boy, born, bred, and will die that way.

What’s on the horizon for you?

Keep writing. Keep reading. Stay involved. Retirement allows me to do each of these. This year, I am Chapter President of the Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, Chair of the Architectural Review Board in my development, write for and handle the layout of our community newspaper, The Voice for All Seasons, and Secretary of our Men's Club. These kinds of things keep me young enough to write and read, my true joys.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

I have written three series: Ace Edwards, Dallas PI series; Tom Jeffries, South Florida PI series; Beth Bowman, South Florida series; Down By the River, a historical taking place in 1955-1956; plus assorted short stories. I also have a standalone that I'm shopping. All except the last one are available from Amazon. Check me out. You might find something you like.

Dating Death

The Chief of Police of Coral Lakes, FL has the goods on Roger Adamson, a dirty politician. However, the chief knows Adamson has additional information that could bring down a drug lord and disembowel his organization. Chief Elston asks Beth Bowman, a South Florida PI, to assist by becoming Adamson's consort/bodyguard while Adamson parses out data. Beth agrees, not realizing multiple homicides, a kidnapping, a tight frame for murder, and the loss of the man she loves await her. If not for Beth's homeless friends, all might be lost.

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

#TRAVEL TO #IOWA WITH GUEST AUTHOR LESLIE LANGTRY

DeWitt, Iowa from the author's childhood

Leslie Langtry is the bestselling author of The Bombay Family of Assassins Series and Merry Wrath Mysteries. She lives in the Midwest (sadly, not in her beloved Iowa) with her family and a lot of animals. Learn more about Leslie and her books at her website. 

Hello! I’m Leslie Langtry and I write two comic mystery series: The Bombay Family of Assassins Series and the Merry Wrath Mysteries. Both series take place in the Midwest, but the Merry Wrath Mysteries are specific to small-town Iowa.

My hometown was DeWitt, Iowa – a town of about 5,000 people. It was a brilliant place to grow up. As kids, in the summer we’d get on our bikes in the morning and show up in time for supper at night (I can’t remember how, but someone always fed us lunch somewhere along the line). Everyone mostly knew everyone else. If a kid fell off a bike, people would come out of their houses to patch them up. We didn’t need to carry our swim passes for the pool, because the teenagers behind the counter knew everyone. Of course, if you did something wrong, word got back to your house before you did. It was like that game – telephone – and more often than not, when the news of your picking Mrs. Smith’s prize petunias turned into attacking her with a chainsaw. But that’s just part of the fun.

I set my series in the fictional small town of Who’s There, Iowa.  The idea for the name came from two things: the town of What Cheer, Iowa and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico – where the towns named themselves after a game show. Who’s There is a bigger town than DeWitt – more like 20K. You can know every street and corner and still be a little anonymous. And that’s what my character, Merry Wrath, wants after her forced retirement from the CIA.

I have to admit, I miss it. Iowa is a gorgeous state with rolling hills and a huge sky where you can see for miles. There are green corn fields, lazy summer days, quiet snowy nights, and tuna noodle casserole. Lots of tuna noodle casserole. And Rice Krispy bars. How could I forget to mention the Rice Krispy bars? I wanted Merry Wrath to have all of that as a backdrop. Now she just has to keep her Girl Scout troop in line…

Marshmallow S’mores Murder, A Merry rath Mystery

What could be better for former CIA agent turned Girl Scout leader Merry Wrath than taking twelve little girls to Washington, DC for a bit of summer fun? Almost anything. Unfortunately, between her girls terrorizing the Secret Service and "accidentally" destroying the hotel pool, Merry has her hands full with this troop. And when her former handler, Riley, is kidnapped, Merry has to turn to an old friend from her spy days and her parents, Senator and Mrs. Czrgy, to help her wrangle the troop and rescue the man she once briefly called her boyfriend. 

Armed only with a perpetually AWOL parent, stalked by a runaway King Vulture, and plagued by a mysterious death from her past, Merry's mayhem weaves a wacky trail from moonshiners in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the bowels of the Japanese Embassy, to the ductwork of the International Spy Museum. With things heating up with current boyfriend, Detective Rex Ferguson, can Merry decipher clues from her past to find ex-boyfriend Riley and finally solve the murder of Yakuza boss, Midori Ito, before the target on her back is filled with lead? 

Buy Link 

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--CHERRY MUFFINS

Cherry Muffins

(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:

3 T. butter

2 T. cream cheese, softened

1 cup all fruit cherry spread

1 T. lemon curd

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 egg

1 teaspoon almond extract

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Melt butter in microwave. Allow to cool.  Whisk together cherry spread, lemon curd, and melted butter. Mix in cream cheese.

Mix together sugar, baking soda, and salt. Whisk into cherry mixture.

Whisk together egg and almond extract. Mix into batter. Mix in flour.

Scoop into paper-lined muffin tin. Back 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool on wire rack. 

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--CROSS STITCHED CONTAINER HERB GARDEN

This design is approximately 1-1/4" x 1-1/4" when stitched on 14-ct. fabric. The design colors will work well stitched on ivory, off-white, or cream Aida cloth or 28-ct. even weave or linen, worked over two strands.

Cross stitch with two strands floss. Backstitch with one strand black (DMC 310/Anchor 403)