MURDER, SHE WROTE

KILLER IN THE KITCHEN

Book 43 in the Murder, She Wrote series

by Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain

In the newest mystery in the USA Today bestselling series, there’s a battle brewing in Cabot Cove between two eateries. But when one of the combatants becomes a fatality, Jessica Fletcher will have to get cooking and find a killer… 

Jessica may not know everything about food, but she knows what she likes—and she definitely likes the Leg & Claw restaurant. Opened last summer by young couple Brad and Marcie, the Leg & Claw is their dream come true, combining Marcie’s sunny personality with Brad’s deft hand in the kitchen. But now their dream is turning into a nightmare.

Gerard “Pepe” Lebeouf is a renowned New York City chef who has a summer home in Cabot Cove. And now he’s decided to open two new restaurants in Cabot Cove—in an old warehouse right next to the Leg & Claw.

As Lebeouf and his crew renovate the warehouse, the people of Cabot Cove slowly come to the realization that the town’s newest celebrity may be more trouble than he’s worth. His “assistants” are little more than thugs, and the haughty Lebeouf is nowhere near as charming as he seems—leading to a nasty confrontation with Brad.

So when Lebeouf is found dead with a knife planted in his chest, Brad naturally becomes suspect number one. But plenty of others had a motive to kill Pepe, and it’s up to Jessica to uncover who really added a murder to the menu.

I’ve never read a Murder, She Wrote book and doubt I would have if I hadn’t been sent this one to review. My reason for not reading one? When I was a little girl I saw a movie called Bedknobs & Broomsticks with Angela Lansbury and she scared me to pieces!

Honestly, I don't even remember this movie anymore. And my family has told me over the years, I had no reason to be afraid of Ms. Lansbury in it. I do remember she was a witch in the movie. A good witch---I guess. But I was a bit of a sissy as a child and I believe it may have been a scene like the one below that caused my fear.  

So, I held this against Angela Lansbury and never watched the Murder, She Wrote TV show and never read the books. That being said, my apologies to Angela Lansbury, I’m sure she’s is a wonderful woman, and to author Donald Bain, it was nothing personal to him.

MY REVIEW

I really liked this book! 

KILLER IN THE KITCHEN is #43 in the series, and if the first 42 were anywhere as enjoyable, I have indeed been missing out.

The story was so well written. While reading, I was taken back to the times I “listened” to my parents watch Murder, She Wrote. Author Donald Bain does an incredible job of keeping the voice of the show alive.

The mystery was very compelling. I found myself turning page after page needing to see what would happen next. The next thing I knew, I was at the end of the book and telling myself, this may have been my first Murder, She Wrote, but it won’t be my last. 

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I'm so excited to be hosting a giveaway for 

one Signed copy of  

THE CAT SITTER'S WHISKERS 

Book 10 in the Dixie Hemingway Mystery series.

by author

John Clement

(Series created by Blaize Clement) 

Pet sitter Dixie Hemingway is on the prowl again in the newest installment of Blaize Clement's classic and beloved series of cozy mysteries, now written by her son, John Clement, using Blaize's notes and ideas for future adventures.

Set in the sleepy beach-side town of Siesta Key, Florida, THE CAT SITTER'S WHISKERS catches up with Dixie as she heads off for work one morning in the dimly lit hours before sunrise.

Her very first client of the morning is Barney Feldman, a Maine coon cat with a reputation for mischief who's guarding his vacationing owner's valuable collection of decidedly creepy antique masks. But someone's hiding in the house when she arrives, and they sneak up and knock her out cold. When the cops arrive at the house, there's just one problem: no one has broken in and nothing is missing.

Searching for answers, Dixie soon finds herself hopelessly trapped in a murky world of black market antiques, dark-hearted secrets, and murderous revenge… a mystery only she can solve.

Giveaway open to USA only. 

Please use the Rafflecopter for at the end of the post.

MY REVIEW

The Cat Sitter's Whiskers is a delightful installment to the Dixie Hemingway series! Once I started reading this story, it was hard to put the book down (In this case, close my laptop). 

Dixie is a no nonsense protagonist. She's strong and sassy, and certainly someone that doesn't let much stop her once she's put her mind to something. And when her mind (well, skull) gets whacked while cat sitting, she is determined to discover who did it and why.   

Congratulations John on book 10! Here's to more Dixie Hemingway and more John Clement!

THE CAT SITTER'S WHISKERS

Now available for pre-sale

Releases Tuesday, March 31

AUTHOR 

JOHN CLEMEMNT

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Follow my blog by 

clicking on the link in the 

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GOOD LUCK!

Note: Twitter users using the Twitter entries and the 

"I'm not on Twitter" entry, will be disqualified. Thanks.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BLOG TOUR

I so thrilled to be a stop on 

author Julie Seedorf's blog tour for

GRANNY SNOWS A SNEAK

Book 3 in the Fuchsia Minnesota Mystery series

Julie is giving away a Kindle copy of 

GRANNY SNOWS A SNEAK! 

If you don't win here, check her other stops. They may be giving away a copy too!

 I'll have them all listed at the end of this blog post.

(Upcoming dates with be in RED)

To enter the giveaway on my blog, 

use Rafflecopter at the very end of this post. 

Giveaway is open to Us & Canada

Winner gets a Kindle copy.

GRANNY SNOWS A SNEAK

Granny may be retired as Fuchsia, Minnesota’s one-woman undercover sleuth for the Fuchsia Police Department, but that doesn’t mean she still doesn’t need a trusty weapon. Her weapon of choice? A pink snow shovel. When Granny runs over a dead body with her snowmobile, she unwittingly sets off a chain of events that involves mislabeled corpses, empty graves, and stolen money––lots of it! Who’s at the bottom of this years old crime? Granny has an idea, but she has little time to investigate, when in just days she’s scheduled to marry the love of her life, Franklin Gatsby, in a post-Christmas ceremony. So, Granny decides to enlist the help of her friends and neighbors. Add in Christmas holiday excitement and the arrival of Granny’s family, who are all there for her wedding, and mayhem ensues. Of course, Granny can always count on her many furry friends to provide her with moral support, but it’s quite possible that Granny––that is, Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt––has a secret or two of her own, which may very well be revealed as GRANNY SNOWS A SNEAK.

A word from Julie

Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt better known as Granny in the Fuchsia, Minnesota Series takes after me when it comes to cooking. In fact, she does one better, she gave it up altogether. Who could blame her after my mishaps in the kitchen.

I should have a cooking show. It would be different from all the perfect cooking shows on television. No one would take it seriously and it would turn into a comedy. You see I am a messy cook when I decide to grace my kitchen and try a new concoction. My cooking show would be titled the Mishap Mash and feature burned food, messy floors and oops moments, a lot of oops moments.

I am not a neat, neat person. My house is a little messy. I did not grow up in an “everything in its place household.” I am comfortable if there are a few dishes on the counter or a coat is thrown over a chair. I don’t have a problem if a magazine adorns the floor or a table. My house isn’t a disaster but it is kind of messy from time to time. I spent a lot of years trying for perfection only to be frustrated and not content. I have the same philosophy in the kitchen.

Recently I was making a new salad to take to bible study. It contained shredded coleslaw, shredded carrots, and chopped green onions, raisins, cranberries, grapes and strawberries topped with a mixture of mayo, sour cream and strawberry vinaigrette. It was a simple recipe.

I got my little cuisinart chopper out and put the carrots in the bowl and shredded them. I then dumped them into a bigger bowl and continued on with the onions adding them to the carrots. It was a little messy and a few shreds dropped to the counter. I then added the shredded coleslaw to the mix. Some of the coleslaw decided to mix with the counter and floor.

I happily proceeded to add the raisins and the cranberries, flipping the boxes and the bags happily. Some of that decided to visit the floor and the counter too. Then it came time to mix the sour cream and the mayo and the vinaigrette. I popped them into my Cuisinart and pumped it on high. Did I mention the latch is broke so I have to hold it down before it will blend? It was a little bowl with a lot of mixture. It was so cute dripping onto the counter.

I added that to the rest of the mixture along with the rest of the ingredients. Then I had to mix it. I have a hearty mixing arm and the bowl overflowed. I was having so much fun. Dirty utensils built up on the counter too. I was happily creating a new concoction and the mess didn’t bother me.

I thought I should take a picture and post it on my blog but I didn’t. I didn’t want readers to be horrified. It was the perfect colorful mess and I had such fun creating it. That is why I think I should have a cooking show. I don’t really like to cook but when I do I have a lot of fun, especially creating a mess. It is part of being creative. When is the last time you have seen a messy cooking show where everything is not perfect? I could relate to a show like that. The perfect cooking show where everything turns out perfect makes me nervous because I could never create a dish without a mistake or a mess.

No, I am not a Martha Stewart or a Julia Child. I break the yolks when I fry eggs. I burn my vegetables. I substitute weird ingredients when I don’t have something on hand. I don’t worry about measuring correctly. My daughter-in-laws keep giving me timers and my husband keeps setting them for me but I still like the eagle eye baking method.

When we had Sam, my faithful pooch, he loved it when I creatively cooked. He would clean up my floor for me. Since I don’t have Sam to eat my floor concoction I do have to clean up after myself when the creativity is all over with. I can live with that because of the relaxation the not- being- perfect gives me.

www.escapewithdollycas.com

Tour Participants

March 23 – Babs Book Bistro

 March 24 – Community Bookstop

March 25 – Tea and A Book 

March 26 – deal sharing aunt

March 27 – readalot

March 28 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews

March 29 – LibriAmoriMiei

March 30 – Back Porchervations

March 31 – Christa Reads and Writes

April 1 – EditingPen

April 2 – Celebrating Authors

April 3 – A Blue Million Books

April 4 – Brooke Blogs

Author Julie Seedorf

Julie Seedorf is a Minnesotan. She calls dinner, supper, and lunch, dinner. She has had many careers over her lifetime but her favorite career was that as mother to her children. In later life she became a computer technician, opening her own business. In 2012 Julie signed a contract with Cozy Cat Press for her Fuchsia, Minnesota Series. Books included in that series are Granny Hooks a Crook, Granny Skewers A Scoundrel and released in November 2014, Granny Snows A Sneak. 

Learn more about Julie

Julie on the web

Julie on Facebook

Julie on Twitter

Julie on Amazon

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Want to follow my blog? 

Click on the link in the 

upper right hand corner of this page!

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It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

Today's recipe comes from

THE COZY COOKBOOK

It was was originally seen in 

INHERIT THE WORD

Book 2 in the Cookbook Nook Mystery series 

by Daryl Wood Gerber

THE COZY COOKBOOK

More Than 100 Recipes From

Today’s Bestselling Mystery Authors

Avery Aames/Daryl Wood Gerber

Ellery Adams ~ Connie Archer

Leslie Budewitz ~ Laura Childs

Cleo Coyle ~ Victoria Hamilton

B. B. Haywood ~ Julie Hyzy

Jenn McKinlay ~ Paige Shelton

Great meals don’t have to be a mystery—but they can come from a mystery. Selecting the most delicious recipes from some of the most popular names in crime solving, The Cozy Cookbook serves up mouth-watering appetizers, entrèes, and desserts that will leave your family or book club group asking, “Whodunit?”

In addition to recipes, choose a sleuth du jour from our menu of mystery series and get a taste of each of our authors’ bread and butter—page-turning puzzles and stay-up-all-night suspense in excerpts from their bestselling works.

Whether you like your meals sautéed, roasted, baked, or served cold like revenge, The Cozy Cookbook has something to satisfy every mystery fan.
This book contains previously published material.

THE COZY COOKBOOK 

is available for pre-order 

Releases on April 7!

On to the recipe!

JENNA'S MONTE CRISTO SANDWICH

~ From INHERIT THE WORD by Daryl Wood Gerber ~

The Monte Cristo sandwich is a classic. It was one of my mother's all time favorite sandwiches. She used to serve it for brunch on Sundays. It's such a perfect combination of sweet and savory, and you know, it's not too hard to make, even for me. It looks like it has a lot of ingredients, but don't panic. The whole thing layers together like a regular sandwich. The hardest, or messiest, part is dipping the whole shebang in the egg mixture and setting it in the hot oil. Again, don't panic. It's easy once you get the hang of it. Make sure you have plenty of confectioners' sugar on hand to make it pretty! Savor!

Makes 2 Sandwiches

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

4 slices bread (white or a brioche-style bread works great; gluten free bread                                     works, too)

1 tablespoon spicy mustard

2 slices cooked turkey

4 slices Swiss cheese

2 slice ham

2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil (canola preferred)

Confectioners' sugar, for decoration 

2 tablespoons jam

   In a pie plate, whisk together the eggs, milk, and cinnamon.

   To assemble the sandwich: Place the bread on a cutting board. Spread mustard on each piece of bread. Place turkey on 2 slices of bread. Top turkey with 2 slices of cheese. Then add the ham. Put remaining pieces of bread on top.

   To cook: On medium-low heat, heat butter in a large, nonstick skillet. Dip each sandwich into the egg mixture. Turn the sandwich to coat both sides. Set the sandwiches in the skillet. Cover with a lid and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, just until the underside begins to brown. Make sure you don't burn the bread. Flip the sandwich with a spatula and press down to compress the sandwich. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes or until the underside begins to brown. If necessary, turn once more and cook until the cheese has melted completely, about 1 to 2 minutes. 

   Transfer to a plate, and sprinkle with confections' sugar. Cut diagonally and serve with a spoonful of jam alongside. 

NOTE: All images are from Google Images and/or Pinterest. 

Your dish may vary in appearance.

Oh my goodness. 

My stomach just growled so loud! 

How about you? Are you wanting a Monte Cristo now?

Pre-order now.

Available 

Tuesday, April 7!

INHERIT THE WORD

Jenna Hart moved back to Crystal Cove, California, to recapture her joie de vivre and to help her aunt Vera run the local culinary bookshop and café. But it's hard to follow a simple recipe for relaxation when murder gets thrown in the mix...
 
The Cookbook Nook is set to host the town's upcoming Grill Fest, a tasty tradition which pits local amateur chefs against one another to concoct the most delicious dishes. This year's challenge: grilled cheese. But with competing chefs bearing grudges from past years, more mouths are running off than savoring the fare.
 
The expression "too many cooks" proves all too true when the eight-time champ is found murdered in the alley behind the café. Soon a local diner owner (and Jenna's "second mother") is suspected of bumping off the competition, and Jenna has to douse the flames before the wrong person gets burned...

Keep reading to check out my installments of 

Book Beginnings on Fridays

and

The Friday 56

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

This week's Book Beginnings and Friday 56 

are from a different book than the one featured for Cozy Food Friday. 

I've taken them from 

MURDER SHE WROTE

 KILLER IN THE KITCHEN

Book 43 in the Murder She Wrote series

In the latest in the USA Today bestselling series, someone writes a recipe for murder.…

Jessica loves the Fin & Claw restaurant, owned by young couple Brad and Marcie. And the restaurant is the couple’s dream come true. But when famed chef Gerard Leboeuf decides to open an eatery right next to theirs, tensions rise fast and hot—and lead to a nasty confrontation between Leboeuf and Brad. So when Leboeuf is found dead with a knife planted in his chest, Brad becomes suspect number one. But plenty of others had a motive to kill Leboeuf, and it’s up to Jessica to uncover who really added murder to the menu.

Pre-order now.

Available 

Tuesday, April 7!

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted by Rose City Reader

Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading

Book Beginnings this week is from

MURDER SHE WROTE: KILLER IN THE KITCHEN

 by Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain

Book 43 in the Murder She Wrote Mystery series

CABOT COVE INCIDENT REPORT

CABOT COVE SHERIFF'S OFFICE
TOWN OF CABOT COVE, STATE OF MAINE

On April 18 an officer from the Cabot Cove Sheriff's Office was dispatched to the area of the new waterfront restaurant at 23 Old Wharf Road on a 911 assault complaint. Responding officers found a white male lying faceup, apparently dead of wounds from a kitchen knife protruding from his torso. A pool of blood was under the body's left side. The victim was identified as the restaurant's chef and owner. Officer notified Sheriff Metzger, who arrived on the scene at 3:24 a.m. 

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.

Continuing with MURDER SHE WROTE: KILLER IN THE KITCHEN

My Friday 56

A party atmosphere had developed in the room, people leaving their tables to chat with friends at other tables, their conversations overriding the smooth Frank Sinatra recordings that came through the restaurant's sounds system. At the same time a certain tension had developed when it came to the staff. The waiters seemed to circle the room aimlessly, going empty-handed as they paced back and forth and went in and out of the kitchen.

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think

Also, become a Follower of my blog by 

clicking on the link in the 

upper right hand corner of this page