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

BERRIED SECRETS

Book 1 in the Cranberry Cove Mysteries

by

Peg Cochran

It’s cranberry picking time—in an all-new mystery series from the national bestselling author of the Gourmet De-Lite Mysteries…

When Monica Albertson comes to Cranberry Cove—a charming town on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan—to help her half-brother Jeff on his cranberry farm, the last thing she expects to harvest is a dead body.

It seems that Sam Culbert, who ran the farm while Jeff was deployed overseas, had some juicy secrets that soon prove fatal, and Jeff is ripe for the picking as a prime suspect. Forming an uneasy alliance with her high-maintenance stepmother, Monica has her hands full trying to save the farm while searching for a killer. Culbert made plenty of enemies in the quaint small town…but which one was desperate enough to kill?

INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES!

MY REVIEW

Author Peg Cochran has a new series! YAY!

Already being a fan of author Peg Cochran’s writing (I so miss her Vintage Lingerie series written as Meg London), I was beyond thrilled to hear about her new Cranberry Cove Mystery series. When I finally got a copy of BERRIED SECRETS in my hands, I was as excited as a child on Christmas Day!

For sure worth the wait, BERRIED SECRETS was everything I had built it up in my mind to be….no, wait…it was more! I was hooked on the book from page one and the beautiful image of Cranberry Cover author Cochran painted of the quaint town. I wanted nothing more than to climb into the book and explore more of the town, meet the people.

Monica Albertson is a fantastic new protagonist. She’s strong and spirited, but very real and relatable. I’m not sure who I’m going to fall in love with, but it’s a tossup between Monica’s brother Jeff and Greg Harper, the owner of the local bookstore. And the twins that own the candy shop, well, I’ll let you meet those ladies yourself. J

This was a wonderful story from the beginning until the last page, everything in this book flowed so well. It was a fast paced, intriguing mystery that urged me to keep reading, to turn another page, and I did. Before I knew it, and much too soon I was at the end. Oh, and major points to Peg Cochran for an amazingly original place to find a body!

And don’t miss the delicious cranberry recipes you’ll find at the back of the book!

If you are choosy about the new series you start, I would suggest adding this one to your list. I can’t say enough good things about it. Well, I can’t but this review would be as long as the book! 

On to the recipe!

Cranberry Butterscotch Bars

Ingredients:

¼ pound butter

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 6‑ounce package butterscotch bits

1 cup coconut

2 cups chopped fresh cranberries

1 6‑ounce package chocolate chips

1 can sweetened, condensed milk

½ cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Melt butter and add to graham cracker crumbs in a large bowl.

Press mixture into bottom of an 8" x 8" pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Sprinkle butterscotch bits over graham cracker mixture.

Top with coconut, a layer of cranberries and a layer of chocolate chips.

Spread the can of condensed milk over the top and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Bake approximately 35 minutes at 350 degrees 

Photos courtesy of Google Images

Your finished dish may vary in appearance

Mmm...Wouldn't these be perfect for a 

book club meeting or a tea party?

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 

BERRY THE HATCHET

Book 2 in the Cranberry Cove Mystery series

by Peg Cochran

Newly released on May 3, 2016

Cranberry farm owner Monica Albertson is once again bogged down in murder in the second Cranberry Cove mystery from national bestselling author Peg Cochran.

The entire town of Cranberry Cove is popping with excitement. Monica Albertson is baking cranberry goodies by the dozen and shopkeepers are decking out their storefronts for the first annual Winter Walk—an event dreamed up by the mayor to bring visitors to the town during a normally dead time of year.
 
But it’s the mayor who turns up dead during the grand opening ceremony, his lifeless body making its entrance in a horse-drawn sleigh. Monica’s mother and stepmother quickly become the prime suspects when it’s discovered that the mayor was dating both of them, and to make things worse, her half brother Jeff uncovers a clue buried near one of the bogs on Sassamanash Farm. Now it’s up to Monica to find out who really put the mayor on ice.
 
INCLUDES CRANBERRY RECIPES

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

Cranberry Cove was in an uproar. 

It was less than six hours until the opening of the town's first Winter Walk, an event designed to bring tourists---and their wallets---to Cranberry Cove during some of the darker days of the year. The festive Christmas season was over, the spring tulips were a long way yet from blooming, and the hope was that the Winter Walk would provide an infusion of much needed capital into the local economy between the two more popular seasons.  

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

Monica wondered how Stevens knew that. The village tom-toms must have been beating overtime. This was a record, even for Cranberry Cove. 

MY REVIEW

A superb story, and perfect addition to the Cranberry Cover Mystery series!

I was pretty sure author Peg Cochran could not top, BERRIED SECRETS, the first book in this series. Of course, I am wrong, and happily so. I never should have doubted Ms. Cochran’s writing abilities. Every book I read by this author is more brilliant than the one before.

The characters in the Cranberry Cove mysteries are simply a joy to read, and I have loved getting to know them. It really feels as though author Cochran has let the characters take on lives of their own. I could easily see myself living in the eclectic town of Cranberry Cove.

BERRY THE HATCHET is a fast moving, exciting mystery that I read in one sitting. Chapter after chapter I found myself turning pages faster with the need to get to the reveal. Wow! The ending was not one I would had ever guessed!

I’m already counting down the time to the next installment.

Make sure to check out the back of the book for some fantastic cranberry recipes!

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

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