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

BRAKING FOR BODIES

Book 2 in the Cycle Path Mysteries

by

Duffy Brown

Evie Bloomfield puts the pedal to the metal—in the latest Cycle Path mystery from the national bestselling author of Geared for the Grave.
 
Moving from Los Angeles to small, picturesque Mackinac Island to work in a bike shop might seem crazy, but Evie knows it’s the best decision she’s ever made. That’s not to say she’s gotten rid of all her stress; after all, the upcoming Lilac Festival has everyone in town riding in circles.
 
But things really go downhill when a ferry full of tourists—including Evie’s friend Fiona’s former boss, the editor of a sleazy rag in LA—arrives on the island. No one knows why Peephole Perry came all the way to Mackinac, but things aren’t looking good for Fiona when Peep is found dead. Now Evie has to gear up and get a grip on the truth if she wants to clear her friend’s name...

Let's hear from author

Duffy Brown 

Braking for Bodies is the second book in my Cycle Path mystery series. It’s set on Mackinac Island, a chunk of land where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. The island has two main directions...up and down and with no cars that means everything is hauled by horses or bikes or on foot. If you live on the island for any stretch of time you’ll be in the best shape of your life from walking the hills or riding your bike because these are some hills!

And this is a really good thing so you can walk off all that fudge!

The town is mainly two streets, Main Street and Market Street. Main faces the water and the one street back is Market. There are the usual tourist shops of t-shirt etc but the one thing that will capture your attention right away is that there are 18...yes 18!...fudge shops in town. Ryba’s, JoAnn’s, Murdocks, Mackinac Fudge...you get the picture

Inhale the mouthwatering aromas. Partake in the deliriously delicious confectioneries. Revel in the experience – your palate will think it won the lottery! The Island doesn’t claim to have created fudge. But after one taste, you’ll agree that it was perfected here. The flavors are to die for.

The tourist center says…Born in the years following the Civil War, the tradition of fudge making is stronger than ever and fudge remains the Island’s most popular and tastiest souvenir.  

I think they sell TEN tons of the stuff a year. That is a LOT of fudge. And of course there are a bazillion kinds of fudge. In addition to perfecting recipes, the art of fudge making also plays an important role on the island besides eating it...you can watch it being made. There is actually a Fudge Festival every year. Holy cow! Nothing better than a fudge festival!

All the fudge shops have big windows where you can watch men…usually it is the guys doing this ‘cuse tossing fudge is hefty work. They throw big kettles of fudge onto big marble tables then use a thing that looks like a canoe paddle to flip the fudge up onto itself. This creates one big huge loaf of fudge. Then they toss in nuts and chocolate bits and bits of maple and toffee and cookie and peppermint etc…you get the picture on to the loaf as they flip it over and over and over as it cools. Once it does cool they cut the loaf into half-moons and sell it to the salivating customers lined up at the counters.

Sooooo, after all this talk about fudge, what is your favorite? Chocolate-chocolate, maple, Oreo, lavender (yep, it really tastes like lavender) peanut butter, pumpkin pie, turtle, raspberry, blueberry (it’s really blue!)

Tell me your fave flavor and share this blog on FB or twitter and I’ll give away two Braking for Body totes from the answers.

Here is a recipe from Irma who owns The Good Stuff fudge shop in the series.

Irma’s Drop Dead Decadent Rum Fudge…

From her fudge shop…The Good Stuff…on Mackinac Island

Ingredients:

1 pound quality semisweet chocolate chopped fine 

                                (please do not use chocolate chips for this one)

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

4 Tablespoons Dark Rum

pinch of kosher salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Line 8 inch square pan with wax paper or parchment paper. You want it to hang over the edge of the pan so you can lift it out.  Lightly grease (butter or baking spray) the 2 sides of the pan that the sling is not touching.  This will make it easy for you to remove the fudge later.

In double boiler first put in the chocolate, then dump in the condensed milk, and then the rum, vanilla and salt.

Stir over medium low heat. Do not let the water below the pot boil; you don’t need to let the water get that hot as you are looking for a slow melting. You don’t want to burn the chocolate

Dump in prepared pan and smooth it out. Let the fudge sit out overnight or several hours. Lift out the whole “sling” and then peel off the wax paper and cut it into small squares. It’s rich, so cut small squares.

Irma says: Irma won the Gold Ribbon at the Mackinac Island Fudge Festival with this recipe. Her secret…This fudge gets better with age. It’s best the second day!  

Anyone else want a piece of fudge really bad right now? Yum!

MY REVIEW

of

BRAKING FOR BODIES

I cycled through this fabulous mystery at record speed. What a fun ride it was!

Cozy mystery readers were given a marvelous gift when author Duffy Brown came on the scene. All you have to do is read BRAKING FOR BODIES to see just how blessed we are.

Set on real life Mackinac Island (Have you ever seen Somewhere In Time?), the Cycle Path mystery series will pull you in with Ms. Brown’s descriptions of this beautiful setting. It’s clear she has a real love for, and vast knowledge of Mackinac. The Grand Hotel is featured in this story, and it has strengthened my resolve to get there one day.

With a fantastic plot that had me from page one, BRAKING FOR BODIES as a fast, funny mystery that had me on the edge of my seat with anticipation as well as laughing practically through the entire book! Duffy Brown knows just the right combination of mystery, intrigue, and humor to make up the perfect cozy mystery.

If you’re thinking of getting BRAKING FOR BODIES, stop back peddling. Throw yourself in gear, and race to get your copy!

About the Author

Duffy Brown loves anything with a mystery. While others girls dreamed of dating Brad Pitt, Duffy longed to take Sherlock Holmes to the prom. She has two cats, Spooky and Dr. Watson, her license plate is Sherlok and she conjures up who-done-it stories of her very own for Berkley Prime Crime. Duffy's national bestselling Consignment Shop Mystery series is set in Savannah and the Cycle Path Mysteries are set on Mackinac Island.

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 

BRAKING FOR BODIES

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

"What's with the garlic and the bottle of olive oil?" I asked Fiona when I bumped into her, the two of us heading down to Shepler's Ferry Dock, which was crowded with tourists. "Spaghetti for dinner and I'm invited?"

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

Penelope held my hand tight, her eyes pleading. "You're going to fix this, right? You're going to make this all go away and get my life back to normal, right?"

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by 

clicking on the link in the 

upper right hand corner of this page.