Welcome to my premiere posting of

Cozy Food Friday!

If you're anything like me, you love recipes. 

There are so many places to find them. Online, the newspaper, friends and of course 

Cozy Mysteries!

Every Friday I'll be sharing a recipe from 

a wonderful cozy. And there are tons to choose from!

I'm going to start with a recipe suggested to me 

by my friend Dawn Frazier. 

Tim's Basil Walnut Pesto

1/2 cup of walnuts, lightly toasted

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

2 cups of fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

freshly grated pepper and salt, to taste

1. Toast walnuts over medium heat, don't scorch

2. Set nuts aside to cool. Use 1/4 cup olive oil and pour into same pan, heat over medium heat. 

Peel garlic cloves, remove green sprouts, drop into hot oil. Once small bubbles form, turn off heat and tip pan so that cloves are completely coated in oil, set aside

3. In food processor, pulse basil leaves, nuts, garlic, and oil from pan until smooth.

With processor running, slowly add rest of oil until desired consistency, add grated cheese, season with salt and pepper

Dawn says she makes this recipe and it's easy and delicious!

You can find Tim's Basil Walnut Pesto 

and other great recipes in

MURDER AND MARINARA by Rosie Genova

MURDER AND MARINARA

Hit whodunit writer Victoria Rienzi is getting back to her roots by working at her family’s Italian restaurant. But now in between plating pasta and pouring vino, she’ll have to find the secret ingredient in a murder....
 
When Victoria takes a break from penning her popular mystery series and moves back to the Jersey shore, she imagines sun, sand, and scents of fresh basil and simmering marinara sauce at the family restaurant, the Casa Lido. But her nonna’s recipes aren’t the only things getting stirred up in this Italian kitchen.  
 
Their small town is up in arms over plans to film a new reality TV show, and when Victoria serves the show’s pushy producer his last meal, the Casa Lido staff finds itself embroiled in a murder investigation. Victoria wants to find the real killer, but there are as many suspects as tomatoes in her nonna’s garden. Now she’ll have to heat up her sleuthing skills quickly…before someone else gets a plateful of murder.

As always, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Also, become a Follower of my blog by clicking on the

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

My book today is

MURDER TAKES THE CAKE

by Gayle Trent

Book one in A Daphne Martin Cake Mystery series

"That's certainly not the phrase I'd have chosen, Dalph. 

But yours certainly is nicer." 

I laughed for the first time all day and took 

another bite of my sandwich. 

SHERLOCK'S HOME: 

THE ADVENTURE OF THE INDIGO INKSTER

by Pamela Rose

A much deserved Caribbean Cruise over the Christmas holiday has left the Sherlock family relaxed and ready for anything…or so they think. That’s until they come home to discover that the town’s favorite son, Sheriff Wavy Davey, and Finn Sherlock’s favorite hunk has met his maker beneath the waves of Lake Loveless…a name which now seems only too appropriate to the grieving Finn Sherlock. 

Indubitably, the well-laid plans of mice and women have gone awry at Sherlock’s Home Mystery Bookstore and the 221b Bakery. As the one-year anniversary looms ahead nothing is as it should be. The Sherlocks’ other personal relationships have gone askew in a similar fashion. Echo has become particularly adept at aborning the new before the old has barely set sail into the Caribbean sunset, taking on a definite international flair as she gets involved first with a Norwegian ship’s officer but soon appears to rebound, ooh-la-la, into the equally enticing arms of a delectable French chef. Even the newly reinvented Uncle Oz has turned himself into the dashing man about town, or so it appears as the flashy red Corvette would seem to indicate and the even flashier redhead on his arm. Unbelievably, Oz might be abandoning bakery treats to brainstorm treatises at a magazine dedicated to all things spooky and strange.

  

If the Sherlocks’ personal upheaval isn’t enough, another death occurs and Finn is called in to determine if somehow the newly deceased might just not be linked to the demise of her personal sheriff. Throw in the capers of the decidedly bacon-flavored zaney Maneys and the hot-to-trot nonagenarian, Eula May Binks, and the Sherlocks, individually and collectively, just might be in danger of losing their grip in Sherlock’s Home: The Adventure of the Indigo Inkster.

As I mentioned in my review of author Pamela Rose’s first book in this series, Sherlock's Home: The Adventure of the Contentious Crone, in Sherlock's Home: The Adventure of the Indigo Inker, Ms. Rose had my attention with the combined bakery and mystery bookstore owned by the Sherlocks. But it is the author's flair for telling a great story that kept me hooked.

You are in for an amazing and head spinning whodunit in this exciting second installment of the Sherlock’s Home mystery series.

I went from relaxed and enjoying an awesome cruise with the Sherlocks, to being broken hearted with Finn at the loss of Sheriff Wavy Davy. Who murdered the Sheriff and why? You’ll be kept guessing just as I was. Was I ever fooled when all was revealed. I never saw it coming, and I doubt you will either.

If you love a good mystery and an author who is as smart and sassy as her characters, you have got to read this series!

Author Pamela Rose

If there is one term that describes me it is ‘curious.’ My mother swore that upon my quarrelsome arrival into the world the first word I labored to wrap my baby lips around was why? Apparently I liked it where I was and none too pleased to leave. But, why is the question that even today haunts me. Answering that one dogged question means there’s not much I’m not willing to learn at least a little something about.

To that dubious end I have had more ‘careers’ then I care to contemplate, as I continue to sample my way through a smorgasbord of interesting occupational possibilities: college instructor, advertising prevaricator and shopping network writer somewhere at the top of my list of favorites.

So, while mining the universe for that one 'telling' detail my next book can't do without, the grand experiment commonly thought of as Pamela Rose's life, rambles on.

Take a look at my books on Amazon:

amazon.com/author/pamelarose
You can also find Pamela on Facebook!

Welcome to a new feature on my blog

Throwback Thursday!

Every Thursday I'll be sharing the name of a cozy series 

that is no longer in print 

(Though some are being released in ebook format)

Why share books that are no longer in print you ask? 

These are books that should not be forgotten simply because you can no longer buy them new.

With the use of the internet and used book stores, most, if not all of these titles can still be 

found for your reading enjoyment.

To kick off my first Throwback Thursday I have picked a series by one of my favorite authors,

Jenn McKinlay. 

Jenn currently writes The Cupcake Bakery Mysteries, The Library Lovers Mysteries, The Hat Shop Mysteries and under the pen name Josie Belle, The Good Buy Girls Mysteries.

But under the name Lucy Lawrence, Jenn wrote the wonderful DECOUPAGE MYSTERY series. 

This was a three book series (Oh I wish there had been more!) containing the titles...

STUCK ON MURDER

In the small New England town of Morse Point, Brenna Miller glosses over her painful past by watching her decoupage students create eye-catching projects out of cutouts, glue, and varnish. But when the mayor’s body is found stuffed in a trunk at Morse Point Lake, it’s up to Brenna to clear her enigmatic landlord’s name of murder—before his fate is signed, sealed and delivered.

CUT TO THE CORPSE

Decoupage teacher Brenna Miller is in over her head when she finds bride-to-be Tara with her fiance's dead best friend-and Tara holding the murder weapon. It's up to Brenna to get to the truth before Tara's future turns to shreds.

SEALED WITH A KILL

Autumn in New England brings out the changing leaves, and the leaves bring out the tourists. When Brenna Miller gets stuck as the tour guide for a group of leaf peepers, she tries to make the best of it. But it's hard to stay enthusiastic after the trial leads them straight to a dead body.

All three titles can be purchased on Kindle and Nook

CUT TO THE CORPSE and SEALED WITH A KILL can still be purchased new in paperback.

The first book STUCK ON MURDER in out of print in paperback. 

Try The Book Rack Of Murray. 

A wonderful new and used bookstore that ships! 

(click on store name for more information)

Tell them you heard about them from Lisa Ks Book Reviews!

Remember to check back here every Thursday for more great Throwback cozy titles!

Want to Follow my blog? Go to the top right corner of my page and click to follow!

And please, leave a comment. I always love reading what you have to say!

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Interview and Giveaway 

with author Camille Minichino

Under her own name, Camille wrote the Periodic Table Mysteries. Using the pen name Margaret Grace she writes the Miniature Mysteries. And using her pen name Ada Madison she writes the Professor Sophie Knowles Mysteries.

UPDATE
Camille is having so much fun with this giveaway 
and reading all your comments, 
she has added another book to giveaway...
MIX-UP IN MINIATURE!!!
Now there will be two winners!!!

Camille is giving away a copy of her book 

THE QUOTIENT OF MURDER 

the latest book in her 3rd series (Prof. Sophie Knowles)

Please enter using RaffleCopter at the end of the interview

LKBR: Thank you so much for stopping by, Camille. I know you’re a busy lady!

CM: Like you, I wouldn't have it any other way! I love getting up in the morning with many options in front of me. Thanks for adding to my fun today!

LKBR: I was fascinated to find you have a Ph.D. in physics. That explains your incredible knowledge when writing the Periodic Table and Professor Sophie Knowles Mysteries. How did you come to be interested in physics? 

CM: I was lucky enough to have two female math teachers in high school – in the fifties, no less, in a public school. By the time I realized that girls weren't supposed to do well in math or science, it was too late – those women had given me the great gift of their confidence in me and the belief that I could do anything I wanted to. From there on, it was an easy and natural path!

LKBR: You also make amazing miniatures which also led into a series. Where did you develop your love for the craft?

CM: Another legacy from childhood. My father was a laborer, very good with his hands. He built me a dollhouse. There was no other competition from a roomful of other toys as today's kids enjoy, so I spent a lot of time with a favorite cousin furnishing and decorating the house. 

LKBR: What led you to wanting to use your knowledge in these subjects to write mysteries?

CM: I loved to read mysteries, especially the whodunits, which were as much fun as algebra! Once I saw what Sue Grafton was doing with the A, B, C's, it was clear what I needed to do. I couldn't believe no one had already latched onto the periodic table, where there were more than 100 possibilities for a crime. Once I started, of course, it was hard to stop. Why shouldn't every aspect of my life be turned into a mystery?

LKBR: Do you have a favorite among your series?

CM: I know many authors feel this way: that the first series will always have a special place. But for many of us also, the latest book is a favorite. We like to assume that we get better with each book! At least, I hope I do.

LKBR: Would you share a little bit about your current work in progress?

CM: I'm starting a new series, the Post Office Mysteries, working on the first one now. Unlike the other three series, it's not based on one of my careers, except that I did spend Christmas vacations working at our local post office. It seemed to me that very few other jobs can claim to be such a crossroads of the lives of a town's citizens. Who's writing to whom? Who's getting mail from prison? From the IRS? Who's shipping packages to . . .  well, you see. Ideal for an amateur sleuth!

LKBR: Do you have any plans or ideas for a new series or maybe a standalone title?

CM: I did publish a standalone on amazon Kindle a couple of months ago. KILLER IN THE CLOISTER is based on another part of my life – 18 years as a nun. On the other hand, a second CLOISTER mystery is starting to brew . . . 

I'm also working on a book of short stories with a friend, which will contain some of our flash fiction as well as novella.
When you've lived a long time, there's a lot to write about!

LKBR: Please share three things about yourself that you would like your readers to know.

CM: 1.  I'm a teacher, even more than a physicist, mathematician, crafter . . . I love to teach and still do so.   

2. I'm a survivor of some nasty things as a kid. The dollhouse above was my refuge when things got rough. So were books. And teachers. I was very lucky to have all those options. I mention this only to encourage younger people especially those who might be having a hard time right now.

3. I LOVE television crime dramas. Guilty pleasure that I justify by claiming I'm doing research on story structure. No one believes me.


LKBR: Thank you, Camille for stopping by.

CM: Thank you very much, LKBR!


You can learn more about Camille at the following links.

Website: http://www.minichino.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Camille-Minichino/264074600273010
Twitter: https://twitter.com/minichino

Good Luck!!!

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

My book today is TAILING A TABBY 

by Laurie Cass. 

Book two in A Bookmobile Cat Mystery series

My copy is an ARC provided by author for review

Release Date: July 1. Available now for pre-order

She sighed again. "It's a downright mess."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

There was a pause. "Not really." Then she spoke in a lighter tone. "It'll work out. I'm sure of it."

INTERVIEW and GIVEAWAY

With Author Mike Martin

Mike is giving away a copy of his book 

THE WALKER ON THE CAPE

Winner will have their choice of ebook or a signed copy of the print version.

Please enter using RaffleCopter at the end of this interview

LKBR: Hi Mike. Thank you for being here.

MM: Thank you for having me Lisa. It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you for all the work you do here to help promote books and authors. We all appreciate it!!

LKBR: Aww. Thanks, Mike. I love doing it!

 LKBR: You write the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. Would you please tell us a little about it?

MM: The Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series takes place in Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada. It features Sgt. Winston Windflower, an RCMP officer and a Cree from Northern Alberta, who is stationed in the small town of Grand Bank. It is about history and mystery but it is also about food and fun and friends.

LKBR: What was your inspiration for the Windflower series?

MM: I was born in Newfoundland but haven’t lived there for twenty-five years but still have family and like to visit. I started to visit some of the small communities, like Grand Bank, on the island, because my partner’s father was born there and I just loved the place!! One of the things that inspired me was the light house in Grand Bank, I don’t know why but it just did. And as soon as I saw it I knew where my story would be set. That was the beginning and that lighthouse became the cover of the first book, The Walker on the Cape.

 

I didn’t know at the time that it was going to be a series. I just knew at the end of The Walker on the Cape that there was more to tell about Windflower. And that’s where the second book came in. Once again I was inspired by a scene. This time it was a boardwalk in Burin, Newfoundland that stretched all the way out into the ocean. It became the cover shot for The Body on the T.

LKBR: Do you do much traveling for research on your books?

MM: I travel each year to Newfoundland and spend a month wandering around. I am inspired by the ocean and the scenery and always find something to write about. Sometimes it is a short story or a poem but now I am also looking for inspiration for the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. Here are the kind of scenes that inspire me:

LKBR: Are you working on a fourth book in the series?

MM: I am thinking about the fourth book. I think I know where it begins but I have no idea where it might end up. I won’t start the physical writing process until the current book, Beneath the Surface, is through the first wave of promotion.

LKBR: What is your favorite thing about writing? Your least favorite?

MM:

My favorite thing about writing is almost everything. I love the feel of connecting to the creative current and I love writing the beginning, the middle and the end of a book. The beginning is great because you get the feeling that you starting a great adventure, the middle is where you have fun and explore the themes and characters that emerge. And the end of a book is so satisfying, although you never really know if it’s the end, or if there just might be another chapter.

My least favorite thing is probably the editing and rewriting. Ten, twelve or twenty edits later it gets to be a bit much. You just want it to be over.

                                               

LKBR: You're only allowed to have three books. (scary thought I know!) What books would you own? And sorry, they can't be books you have written.

MM:

That’s very hard. But I pick The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien (that way I get a trilogy), Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda, and anything by Charles Dickens, probably A Tale of Two Cities.

LKBR: Please share three things you would like your readers to know about you.

MM:

I am very grateful to have the privilege of writing. I am very grateful that people will actually read what I write. And if I could afford to I would gladly write for free and give away all of my books to anyone who would commit to reading them and passing them along to someone else.

LKBR: Thank you so much, Mike. Before you go, please share any links where readers can learn more about you. (Website, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

MM: The first book in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series was The Walker on the Cape

 www.walkeronthecape.com

The second book was The Body on the T

 www.bodyonthet.com

The third book, just out, is Beneath the Surface:

In the third installment of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, Sgt. Windflower is back on the scene of the crime. He is joined again by his trusted ally Eddie Tizzard, his rock-steady girl, Sheila, and a wide cast of supporters. Together they face down an international crime syndicate operating on the East Coast, and help Windflower deal with the modern challenges of sexual harassment and corruption while re-discovering his roots and inner strength.

 www.beneaththesurface.co

You can order Beneath the Surface from:

Chapters.ca

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/beneath-the-surface/9781927481882-item.html?ikwid=beneath+the+surface%2c+mike+martin&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0

BookLocker.com

http://booklocker.com/books/7411.html

Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Surface-Mike-Martin/dp/163263113X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399082176&sr=8-1&keywords=beneath+the+surface%2C+mike+martin

And follow Sgt. Windflower on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore

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REVIEWS

The first three books in the 

Soup Lovers Mystery series by Connie Archer

A SPOONFUL OF MURDER

A BROTH OF BETRAYAL

A ROUX OF REVENGE

A SPOONFUL OF MURDER

Winter is big business in small-town Snowflake, Vermont. Tourists arrive to hit the ski slopes--and what could be more satisfying after a chilly day of carving powder than a steaming bowl of soup?
When Lucky Jamieson inherits her parents' soup shop, By the Spoonful, she realizes it's time to take stock of her life. Should she sell her parents' house or move in herself? Does she really want to run a restaurant business? And what about her grandfather Jack, who seems to be showing signs of Alzheimer's?

But her life decisions are moved to the back burner after an icy blonde tourist is found frozen to death behind the soup shop. and Lucky is bowled over when her soup chef, Sage DuBois, is led out of the kitchen by the police. As suspicion and speculations snowball, Lucky decides that the only way to save her employee and her business is to find out herself who iced the tourist--and landed her chef in the soup...

Recipes included!

In A SPOONFUL OF MURDER, my first visit to Snowflake, Vermont was a delightful one. You know, with the exception of a dead body. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Lucky Jamieson, her grandfather Jack, the entire staff of By the Spoonful, 

as well as Dr. Elias Scott and Mayor Elizabeth Dove.

The entire story held my attention and the search for the killer kept me guessing. There were plenty of suspects to go around and so little to know about t

he victim, that anything was possible.

They were a few typos or mistakes in the writing, but that happens to anyone and should not be held against the author since it goes to so many others to be checked over and approved and they missed it as well. But the story was so interesting and I was invested enough in knowing who the killer was, that those minor glitches didn’t bother me. Maybe because my reviews normally have flaws and I am the self proclaimed queen of typos. 

We’re all human. It happens.

That being said, true cozy mystery fans will really enjoy this book. The setting, the people, and the storyline are just the reasons why we read cozies in the first place. 

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

A BROTH OF BETRAYAL

Even a town called Snowflake, Vermont, has a summer season. In August, Lucky Jamieson’s By the Spoonful serves chilled soups—celery and green onion, cream of asparagus—and salads. The shop also serves as a gathering place to talk about cold-blooded murder…A protest to stop the construction of an ugly car wash in the middle of the town’s picturesque Village Green is interrupted by the discovery of a skeleton that may date back to the Revolutionary War. While the remains pose a historical mystery, a present-day murder shakes the town to its core when local auto mechanic 

Harry Hodges is found dead in his shop.

Straining the patience of Chief of Police Nate Edgerton, Lucky soon finds herself in the soup again when her dear friend Elizabeth, the Mayor of Snowflake, goes missing. No matter how much trouble she has to stir up, Lucky is determined to use her noodle to uncover a killer and recover her friend…

Recipes included!

It was so good to be back in Snowflake, Vermont. A BROTH OF BETRAYAL reconnected me with all the delightful characters that I got to meet in A SPOONFUL OF MURDER. Lucky Jamieson and her grandfather Jack, as well as the rest of the characters from the first book, were as I remembered them, but even more fleshed out.

I enjoyed the storyline of the skeleton from Revolutionary War days and the connection it had to someone in present day Snowflake. The mystery of who killed auto mechanic Harry Hodges was well written and not an easy one to solve. And if two mysteries aren’t enough for you, the Mayor of Snowflake, Elizabeth Dove, goes missing! As the readers we get to know where she is, but her friends and co-workers have no idea. My only problem with this part of the story…for Elizabeth to be Mayor, it took too long for anyone to notice she was missing and do something about it. Putting that aside though, it was interesting to see all the storylines play out and to finally get to the reveal(s).

I liked A BROTH OF BETRAYAL and the characters enough to read the next book in the series.

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

A ROUX OF REVENGE

Snowflake, Vermont, is known for its skiing in winter—and its soup all year round, thanks to Lucky Jamieson’s By the Spoonful. Autumn brings golden leaves, pumpkin rice soup, the annual Harvest Festival…and murder.
 
Lucky’s soup shop is busier than usual this October, with groups of itinerant travelers in town to work the Harvest Festival. One newcomer seems to take a particular interest in Lucky’s young waitress, Janie, spying on her from across the street. Is the stranger stalking Janie?
 
After an unidentified man is found murdered in a van by the side of the road, simmering suspicions about the travelers are brought to a boil. But when Janie is put in harm’s way, Lucky must join forces with the travelers to turn up the heat on a killer…
 
Recipes included!

I’ve enjoyed my previous stays in Snowflake, Vermont so much that I just had to come back again when A ROUX OF REVENGE came out. And this was my most favorite visit of all. I was thrilled to be back with Lucky Jamieson, Jack her grandfather and the residents of this lovely town. Lucky’s soup shop, By the Spoonful was as welcoming as always with wonderful soups and sandwiches. Oh yeah, there was another dead body too!

I truly enjoyed learning more about Janie, Lucky’s young waitress. I was so intrigued as to how the mystery of the dead stranger in the van was going to tie into the storyline of the man watching Janie and the travelers in town who came 

to work at the annual Harvest Festival.

Ms. Archer weaved an amazing story in this third book in the Soup Lover’s series. I found myself constantly surprised with every new twist in the book. I was so caught up in the story that I didn’t want to put the book down.

A ROUX OF REVENGE has assured there will be a fourth installment in this wonderful series. And I for one am looking forward to it!

About the Author

Connie Archer is the national bestselling author of the soup lover's mystery series set in Snowflake, Vermont. A Spoonful of Murder, the first in this series from Berkley Prime Crime was released in August 2012. A Broth of Betrayal was released in April 2013.

Connie was born and raised in New England and now lives on the other coast.

Visit her website at http://www.conniearchermysteries.com and her blog at www.conniearchermysteries.com/blog. You can also find Connie on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ConnieArcherMysteries and Twitter @SnowflakeVT.