It's

Cozy Food Friday

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

Today I'm featuring 

TIGHTENING THE TREADS

Book 5 in the Mainely Needlepoint Mysteries

by Lea Wait

In the coastal town of Haven Harbor, blood runs thicker than water—and just as freely . . .

Antique dealer Sarah Byrne has never unspooled the truth about her past to anyone—not even friend and fellow Mainely Needlepointer Angie Curtis. But the enigmatic Aussie finally has the one thing she’s searched for all her life—family. And now she and long-lost half-brother, Ted Lawrence, a wealthy old artist and gallery owner in town, are ready to reveal their secret connection . . .

Ted’s adult children are suspicious of their newfound aunt Sarah—especially after Ted, in declining health, announces plans to leave her his museum-worthy heirloom paintings. So when Ted is poisoned to death during a lobster bake, everyone assumes she’s guilty. If Sarah and Angie can’t track down the real murderer in time, Sarah’s bound to learn how delicate—and deadly—family dynamics can truly be . . .

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On to the recipe

SARAH'S MAPLE CHEESECAKE

Submitted by: Lea Wait

Food photos courtesy of: Lea Wait

In my TIGHTENING THE THREADS: A Mainely Needlepoint mystery, published this week, Sarah Byrne bakes a special Maine cheesecake for her uncle’s 75^th birthday party. The recipe is in the book, and is especially appropriate for this time of year, when maple trees are being tapped throughout northern New England.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (about 1 package) A fast way to crush them is to put them in a 1 gallon sealed bag and roll over them with a rolling pin.

5 Tablespoons granulated sugar

5 Tablespoons softened butter

1 ¼ cups pure maple syrup

¼ cup cold heavy cream

3 eight-ounce packages of softened cream cheese

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 ½ cups sour cream at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract.

   Thoroughly mix cracker crumbs and 1 Tablespoon sugar with soft butter.  Press into bottom of 9-inch spring form pan and place in freezer.

   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

   Boil maple syrup for three minutes, remove from heat, and stir in cream. Refrigerate.

   With mixer, cream the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add four tablespoons sugar and the eggs, one at a time. When maple syrup in room temperature, beat it in. Then add sour cream and vanilla.

   Pour filling into chilled pan of cracker crumbs and bake for one hour. Cool on wire rack. Cover, and chill at least six hours before serving.

I don't know how anyone could turn down this 

easy and yummy cheesecake!

Tightening the Threads: Australian Sarah Byrne owns an antique shop on the coast of Maine and is one of the Mainely Needlepointers who create custom needlepoint. But until now, she’s never even told her best friend, Angie Curtis, how she ended up in Maine. Hers is a tangled story of a search for family, and now her secret is out. But families aren’t always welcoming … and could be deadly. 

USA Today best-selling author Lea Wait lives on the coast of Maine with her artist husband, Bob Thomas, and her black cat, Shadows. She writes the Mainely Needlepoint mystery series, the Shadows Antique Print mystery series, and historical novels for young people. Her memoir, Living and Writing on the Coast of Maine, also has tips on writing and the writing life. She invites readers to friend her on Goodreads and Facebook, and to check her website, www.leawait.com, which includes a link to a free prequel of TIGHTENING THE THREADS.

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Please keep reading and check out my 

installments of 

Book Beginnings on Fridays

and

The Friday 56

Both the BB and 56 are also from

TIGHTENING THE THREADS

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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

Haven Harbor's streets and yards were littered with green leaves that had fallen to soon.

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%

"Everyone in town will know soon."

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

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