It's Saturday!

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

Today I'm featuring 2 recipes from the cozy mystery 

PEACHES AND SCREAM

Book 1 in the Georgia Peach Mystery series

by

Susan Furlong

In the first Georgia Peach Mystery, when murder threatens her family’s orchard, Nola Harper is ready to pick out the killer and preserve the farm’s reputation…

To help run the family peach farm during her parents’ absence, Nola Harper returns to her childhood home of Cays Mill, Georgia, and soon discovers that things back at the farm aren’t exactly peachy. A poor harvest and rising costs are threatening to ruin the Harpers’ livelihood, and small-town gossip is spreading like blight thanks to Nola’s juicy reputation as a wild teenager way back when. But Nola really finds herself in the pits when she stumbles upon a local businessman murdered among the peach trees.

With suspicions and family tensions heating up faster than a cobbler in the oven, this sweet Georgia peach will have to prune through a list of murder suspects—before she too becomes ripe for the killer’s picking…

INCLUDES RECIPES

Available now for pre-order and releases 

Tuesday, July 7!

Susan had such a great time on the blog last week, she's back this week sharing 2 recipes from 

PEACHES AND SCREAM! 

Susan is also giving away a copy of 

PEACHES AND SCREAM 

to one lucky winner!

Use the Rafflecopter at the end of this blog to enter for your chance to win!

Giveaway open WORLDWIDE!

Photo from Google Images

Today's first recipe is

SWEET GEORGIA PEACH ICED TEA

Photo courtesy of Susan Furlong

Ingredients:

4 cups boiling water

3 family sized tea bags or 9–12 regular sized tea bags

5 ripe peaches— peeled, pitted and sliced

2 lemons— juiced

1 cup simple syrup*

5 cups ice

*Prepare simple syrup by placing 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe container. Microwave on high power for 2 – 3 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved. 

Photo from Google Images

Directions: 

Place 4 cups of boiling water in a large, heatproof pitcher and add tea bags. Let steep approximately 10 minutes before removing tea bags. 

Place prepared peaches into a blender and blend until smooth. Run liquid through a strainer to remove pulp and any leftover peach pieces. 

Add the juice of two lemons and the simple syrup, and stir. Pour peach mixture into tea and add 5 cups of ice. 

Serve with a slice of fresh peach as garnish.

Yields approximately one gallon of peach iced tea.

Photo courtesy of Susan Furlong

Doesn't that sound refreshing? 

Hmmm....What would go good with that tea?

Today's second recipe of course!

EZRA SUGAR'S PEACH SCONES 

Photo courtesy of Susan Furlong

Ingredients:

3 peaches

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup white sugar

½ teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

5 tablespoons unsalted cold butter

½ cup milk

¼ cup sour cream

Photo from Google Images

Egg wash:

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

2 tablespoons white sugar for sprinkling

Photo from Google Images

Directions:

Peel, remove pits and dice peaches into small pieces and set aside. Sift flour into a large bowl and add sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix well. 

Cut in cold butter until the dough mixture is crumbly. Do not overwork the dough.

In a separate bowl, combine milk and sour cream. Fold this mixture into the dry ingredients just until mixed. Add peaches. 

Place the dough into the refrigerator and let chill for 15 minutes. 

Remove cold dough and using floured hands, roll into 3 inch balls. Place balls on a lightly greased cooking sheet and flatten slightly. 

In a small bowl, whisk together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of milk. Brush this mixture over each scone and sprinkle with extra sugar. 

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Yields a 10-12 scones

Photo courtesy of Susan Furlong

Oh my. 

I have a big craving for peaches now!

Thank you so much, Susan!

MY REVIEW

Cozy readers, you are in for a sweet peach of a treat with this first book in the new Georgia Peach Mystery series. Author Susan Furlong has created a wonderful series with colorful characters, and a mystery that will keep you entranced until the very last page.

Protagonist Nola Mae Harper is a perfectly imperfect character which makes her so relatable. Poor Nola, she’s back home after traveling the world and before she can even adjust, she finds a body. While of course Nola takes part in the investigation (what good cozy heroine wouldn’t?), Ms. Furlong didn’t write Nola being a know it all. She stumbled with finding the truth like anyone inexperienced would.

The cast of supporting characters is like a bushel of peaches…some sweet, some bitter, and some hiding behind too much fuzz. ;-) Buy all are juicy to read and make for a perfect blend.

The writing in this story is crisp and clear. The words flow as surely as the author’s pen must have over the paper she wrote one (or her fingers on the keyboard). J It will be so hard for you to not read PEACHES AND SCREAM in one sitting. Yeah, it’s that hard to put down.

Oh, and each chapter starts with a delightful Georgia Belle fact. I wanted to go through the book and read them all at once!

PEACHES AND SCREAM is no doubt one of the top new cozies of 2015. Well done Ms. Furlong. Brava!

Make sure to check out the back of the book for mouthwatering peach recipes, and a sneak peek of Georgia Peach book 2, REST IN PEACH! 

Please keep reading and check out my 

installments of 

Book Beginnings on Fridays

and

The Friday 56

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Book Beginnings and Friday 56

 for this week are from 

PEACHES AND CREAM

Book 1 in the Georgia Peach Mystery series

by Susan Furlong

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted by Rose City Reader

Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading

My Book Beginnings and Friday 56 pick up where I left of last Friday. 

Click here to refresh yourself!

From Friday, June 26

My Book Beginnings this week...

As I continued, I noticed more than just a few of the locals rubbernecked as I passed, the sight if me eliciting curious stares and sudden whispers. I could imagine the return of the Harper family black sheep was going to crank the village's local rumor mill into full gear. Gee, it was god to be back. 

They may have dubbed Georgia as the "Peach State," but what they weren't saying was my hometown of Cays Mill was the pit. I should know; I was born and raised in this two-stoplight town and had spent most of my adult life trying to shake its loamy soil off my boots. That's why I surprised myself when home was the first place I thought of when my work situation took a turn for the worse. 

The Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda's Voice

Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's okay.) *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you. *Post it.

My Friday 56 this week...

I also stood, trying to make eye contact, although his eyes continued to look everywhere but at me. I recognized the signs from the remote villagers uncomfortable with strangers; Joe just wasn't used to holding conversation with folks. "Is there any way you'd be willing to barter with me?" 

Available July 7! 

About the author

Susan Furlong has lived throughout the United States, including the South, but is now happily settled in the Midwest on a small hobby farm with her husband and four children. Writing about peaches comes naturally to her as she grows several varieties of her own. Susan also writes the Novel Idea Mysteries under the pen name Lucy Arlington.

You can learn more about Susan by visiting her website at

www.susanfurlong.com

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GOOD LUCK!

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