It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

Today I'm featuring a recipe from the cozy mystery 

BASKET CASE

Book 1 in the Silver Six Crafting Mystery series

by

Nancy Haddock

First in a crafty new cozy mystery series from national bestselling author Nancy Haddock

There isn’t much crime in Lilyvale, Arkansas, but local authorities have their hands full with Ms. Sherry Mae Stanton Cutler and her housemates—a crafty group of retirees who’ve dubbed themselves the Silver Six. But when Sherry Mae’s niece, Nixy, arrives to keep them in line, Lilyvale also plays host to a killer.

When Leslee Stanton “Nixy” Nix gets the latest call from Lilyvale detective Eric Shoar, she knows it means trouble. There’s been another kitchen explosion at her Aunt Sherry’s farmhouse, and the dreamy-voiced detective has had enough. If Nixy doesn’t check on her aunt in person, the Silver Six could become wards of the court. But the trouble Nixy finds in Lilyvale is not at all what she expects.

The seniors are hosting a folk art festival at the farmhouse, featuring Sherry’s hand-woven baskets, when land developer Jill Elsman arrives to bully Nixy’s aunt into selling the property. When Jill is later found dead in the cemetery, Sherry is suspected of weaving a murder plot, and it’s up to Nixy and the Silver Six to untangle the truth.

Recipes and crafting tip included!

MY REVIEW

BASKET CASE is one of the cutest, most refreshing new cozy mysteries of the year! Author Nancy Haddock has created an extraordinarily, fun cast of characters. The “Silver Six” are such a handful, but there isn’t one of them I wouldn’t want for an aunt.

This first book in the Silver Six Crafting Mystery series is packed with fun, mystery, and just plain good story telling. I was captivated from beginning to end, sad when the book was done.

Ms. Haddock lets readers get a very good way into the story before she brings in the discovery of the murder victim. I’m so glad she waited. It really helped me to get to know and enjoy the core characters before they launched into investigation mode.

Excellent writing and a wonderfully plotted mystery make BASKET CASE one of the “must read” new mysteries of 2015. Don’t miss out on this one!  Nancy Haddock is sure to be an ongoing name in cozy mysteries.

Crafting tips, recipes, and an excerpt of book 2, GOODBYE GOURDEOUS, can all be found at the back of the book!

BASKET CASE 

is available now!

It's September and that means cooler weather is heading our way. YAY! 

I thought this recipe was perfect for a cool Fall evening. And it will certainly be perfect come winter! 

SHERRY'S CHICKEN AND ARTICHOKE CASSEROLE

Serves 10 - 12

Ingredients

6 or 7 half chicken brests, cooked deboned (and cut when cool)

3 14-ounce cans water-packed artichokes

4 teaspoons olive oil 

3 cloves garlic, pressed

Mix Together 

2 cans cream of chicken soup 

1 cup mayonnaise 

1 teaspoon lemon juice 

¼ teaspoon curry 

Set aside 1½ cups grated cheddar cheese 

Mix Together

2 cups Pepperidge Farm crumb dressing 

4 tablespoons butter, melted

Drain artichokes, and slice into smaller pieces before or after you mix with oil and garlic. 

In a casserole dish, layer artichokes and cut up chicken. 

Spread mayonnaise mixture over the top layer, then sprinkle cheese over mayonnaise mixture. 

Before baking, sprinkle dressing mixture on top.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Photos are from Google Images. Your dish may vary in appearance. 

Note from Sherry Mae:

The casserole should be warmed through when the cheese is melted and the crumb topping is browned. I use a 9 x 12, 3-quart casserole or baking dish when I cook for all of us, but you can divide the recipe to bake in smaller dishes for fewer people. 

This casserole freezes and reheats very well, though the crumb topping won't be crisp. A few minutes under a low broiler might brown and crisp the topping some, but be careful not to overcook. 

Okay all you summer lovers, does this dish make you ready for cooler weather or what? 

As always with the recipes I feature, if you try one out yourself, I'd love to hear about it and see photos!

About the author

Nancy Haddock is an award-winning and national bestselling author of mystery romance who now writes cozy mystery. Basket Case, the first book in the Silver Six Crafting mysteries, will be released in Sept. 2015 with 

Berkley Prime Crime.

Her earlier books, also with Berkley, are La Vida Vampire, Last Vampire Standing, and Always The Vampire. These books feature Cesca, aka Gidget with fangs, and are set in Haddock’s current hometown, St. Augustine, FL. She also contributed the St. Augustine-set short story “Medium Rare” to both the paranormal romance anthology Entangled 

and the boxed set Entranced.

Nancy draws on historic wealth, southern culture, and the plain old quirkiness of places for her books. A former speech pathologist and high school teacher in Oklahoma and Texas, Nancy now writes full-time. She lives with her husband and rescue dog Baron.

Nancy on the Web

Nancy on Facebook

  

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 also from

BASKET CASE

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...

I, Leslee Stanton Nix, Nixy to my friends, had never been called on the carpet for anything. Up until four days ago, that is. 

Now I had third-degree rug burns and the risk of being jobless. 

Why? Because my boss at Houston's Gate Fine Arts Gallery, Barbra (like Streisand) Vole, had blown her nonexistent fuse when the Lilyvale, Arkansas, police detective Eric Shoar had called me at work. His fifth call in the last month, the second in ten days. Shoar's deep, dreamy Southern drawl stirred my feminine interest, but deep and dreamy hadn't soften his complaints. 

"We had another incident at Miz Sherry Mae's yesterday," he'd begun. "Neighbors across the road reported booming sounds and smoke coming from the kitchen."  

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...

No surprise that the car incident trumped the church reconnaissance report. Sherry's friends were aghast over the news, and discussed it all the way through the meal of pot roast, veggies, rolls, and apple pie. I could see that Dab and Sherry were still a little shaken......

 

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