Friday, June 7, 2019


It's
Cozy Food Flashback Friday!

I don't know about you, but I love a tasty blast from the past!

Check out one of my 
all time favorite desserts in
this flashback from June 6, 2014.

🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽

I don't know about you but my favorite dessert is cake. 
Oh, and chocolate. Always good to have chocolate!
With out further ado....

TEXAS SHEET CAKE
  (Michele Masarech's recipe)

1 cup butter
1 cup water
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sugar
1/2  tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs (slightly beaten)

Preheat oven to 350 degress Fahrenheit. Bring butter, water, and cocoa to boil in saucepan. Remove from heat.

Add remaining ingredients, mixing after each addition. 

Pour batter into greased and floured 12 1/2" x 17 1/2" x 1" baking pan.

Bake 22 to 27 minutes.

FROSTING
(spread on hot cake)

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup cocoa
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/2 to 1 cup ground nuts

In saucepan, bring butter, milk and cocoa to boil.
      Add confectioners' sugar, adding more if needed
to make it of spreading consistency.
      Spread frosting on hot cake.
      Sprinkle with ground nuts.

Lisa's Note: My sister had a good friend (we miss you Joann) who made an amazing Texas Sheet Cake. She mixed the ground nuts into the frosting instead of sprinkling them on top giving the cake more of an appearance like in the photo below.

You can find Michele's Texas Sheet Cake
 and other great recipes in
A SECOND HELPING OF MURDER
by Christine Wenger
Book two in her Comfort Food Mystery series.


Trixie Matkowski is warming up to running her family’s diner in the small town of Sandy Harbor in upstate New York. But the only thing more demanding than serving up piping-hot comfort food twenty-four hours a day is getting to the bottom of a double homicide....
 
Trixie fondly remembers summers as a child spent visiting the shores of Lake Ontario. Not much has changed—there are still vinyl booths at the Silver Bullet Diner, families eating home-cooked comfort food, and days of swimming in the lake.
But before Trixie can say “Order’s up,” someone’s summer is abruptly cut short. One of the cottage residents is found dead, and Trixie suspects the crime might be linked to an unsolved disappearance in the picturesque town’s past.
As Trixie works with Deputy Ty Brisco to solve both mysteries, their shocking discoveries will shake up the small town. And when word gets out that she’s on the case, Trixie’s in trouble—after all, the murderer won’t spare her life just because she makes a killer corned beef sandwich....
Want to appear on my blog?
Take photos making a recipe 
featured on my blog
 and email them to me at
 lisaksbookreview@aol.com 
I will post them on an upcoming 
Cozy Food Friday!

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.

*********************************************************************


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

My Friday 56 this week will also be from
A SECOND HELPING OF MURDER
by Christine Wenger

I peeked out the pass-through window. The cops were seated in groups of four to twelve. Tables were moved around and the noise level was high. After the gruesome scene that they'd witnessed, and all the caffeine they'd consumed, they seemed ready to let loose.


🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽

Doesn't that cake look amazing?
Trust me, it is!

I hope you've enjoyed this 
Cozy Food Flashback Friday!

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

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 
upper right hand corner of this page. (on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click"View web version". Then follow the above directions.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019


JANE DARROWFIELD PROFESSIONAL BUSYBODY
Book 1 in the Jane Darrowfield Mysteries
By Barbara Ross


Jane Darrowfield is a year into her retirement, and she’s already traveled and planted a garden. She’s organized her photos, her recipes, and her spices. The statistics suggest she has at least a few more decades ahead of her, so she better find something to do . . .

After Jane helps a friend with a sticky personal problem, word starts to spread around her bridge club—and then around all of West Cambridge, Massachusetts—that she’s the go-to girl for situations that need discreet fixing. Soon she has her first paid assignment—the director of a 55-and-over condo community needs her to de-escalate hostilities among the residents. As Jane discovers after moving in for her undercover assignment, the mature set can be as immature as any high schoolers, and war is breaking out between cliques.

It seems she might make some progress—until one of the aging “popular kids” is bludgeoned to death with a golf club. And though the automatic sprinklers have washed away much of the evidence, Jane’s on course to find out whodunit . . .

MY REVIEW


As a fan of the Maine Clambake Mysteries, I was beyond excited to hear author Barbara Ross had a new series in the works, and I couldn’t wait to read it. I’m happy to say, this first in the Jane Darrowfield Mysteries was well worth the wait!

In JANE DARROWFIELD PROFESSIONAL BUSYBODY the murder didn’t take place until well into the story, which was a brilliant move by author Ross. I loved having the time to get to know Jane and see her for the strong, intelligent, tenacious character she is.

This was an entertaining, well written, clever mystery. Barbara Ross couldn’t have had better timing. It was on point throughout the entire book. Just when I would get comfortable with thinking I had everything figured out, she would throw in a curveball that had me scrambling for a new theory. Needless to say, the reveal totally surprised me. Well done, Ms. Ross.

If you’re a fan of senior sleuths (heck, even if you’re not), you’re going to love JANE DARROWFIELD PROFESSIONAL BUSYBODY.


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

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 
upper right hand corner of this page
(on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click "View web version".
Then follow the above directions.

Tuesday, June 4, 2019


A few wonderful cozy mysteries release today!
Are there any you're excited about?


In the latest in this New York Times bestselling series, San Francisco book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright investigates a mysterious spy novel linked to a string of murders...
 
Newlyweds Brooklyn and Derek are enjoying the final days of their honeymoon in Paris. As they're browsing the book stalls along the Seine, Brooklyn finds the perfect gift for Derek, a first edition James Bond novel, The Spy Who Loved Me. When they bump into Ned, an old friend from Derek’s spy days, Brooklyn shows him her latest treasure.
 
Once they're back home in San Francisco, they visit a spy shop Ned mentioned. The owner begs them to let him display the book Brooklyn found in Paris as part of the shop's first anniversary celebration. Before they agree, Derek makes sure the security is up to snuff—turns out, the unassuming book is worth a great deal more than sentimental value.
 
Soon after, Derek is dismayed when he receives a mysterious letter from Paris announcing Ned’s death. Then late one night, someone is killed inside the spy shop. Are the murders connected to Brooklyn's rare, pricey book? Is there something even more sinister afoot? Brooklyn and the spy who loves her will have to delve into the darkest parts of Derek's past to unmask an enemy who's been waiting for the chance to destroy everything they hold dear.


China and Ruby Wilcox are presenting their annual ''Not Just Plain Vanilla Workshop,'' always a huge hit with customers at Thyme & Seasons Herb Shop. But someone involved with the workshop is driven by a deadly motive, and China soon finds herself teaming up with the very pregnant Pecan Springs police chief Sheila Dawson to solve a vanilla-flavored murder. 

Sheila, happy to get out from behind the chief's desk, is investigating the death of a botany professor, a prominent researcher specializing in vanilla orchids. China is trying to help a longtime friend: the dead professor's ex-wife and a prime suspect in his murder. 

However, there's no shortage of other suspects: a betrayed lover, a disgruntled graduate student, jealous colleagues, and a gang of orchid smugglers. But the lethal roots of this mystery reach back into the dark tropical jungles of Mexico, where the vanilla vine was first cultivated. At stake: a lucrative plant patent, an orchid that is extinct in the wild, and the life of an innocent little girl. 

A Plain Vanilla Murder is a flavorful blend of mystery and herb lore, present sins and past secrets, and characters who are as real as your next-door neighbors—stirred together in an absorbing novel that only Susan Wittig Albert could create.


Small-town quilters look for a killer's pattern in this delightful new series by the national bestselling author of the Seaside Knitters mysteries . . .
On her morning jog, Portia Paltrow comes upon the dead body of antiques store owner and college professor Owen Hill, sprawled across the back doorstep of Selma Parker's fabric and quilt shop on Elderberry Road. The site of their Saturday morning quilting bee just became a crime scene. Violent crime is rare in the charming village of Crestwood, Kansas, and rumors are soon circulating of a burglary gone wrong. But who would rob a quilt shop? No, Owen Hill has been murdered.
Selma and her assistant manager Susan are understandably at loose ends over the crime. So while the tightly knit covey of quilters—who range from a new mother to a wise octogenarian—work together on a Crystal Pattern quilt for Selma's store's anniversary, they also get busy stitching together a patchwork of clues. But they'd better work fast—before a crafty killer bolts . . .

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

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 
upper right hand corner of this page (on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click"View web version". Then follow the above directions.

Monday, June 3, 2019

Summer of Giveaways!


Have you heard about 
Kathi Daley Books Summer of Giveaways?

All summer long, now - the Aug 31 you can head over to


all summer long for a chance to win books from Kathi and more wonderful authors!


I'm co-hosting with Kathi all summer long, so I'll be looking to see you there!


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

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 
upper right hand corner of this page. (on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click"View web version". Then follow the above directions.

Saturday, June 1, 2019


Goodreads has some 
great cozies up for giveaway! 
Just click the links under the books!


Purr-suing a killer …
 
The only thing that could make the High Cliff Shelter for Cats even cozier is a reading room where kids can snuggle up with a furry feline and a book. But as Lara and Aunt Fran prepare for the reading nook’s official opening, the health inspector in their New Hampshire town, Evonda Fray, decrees that the shelter qualifies as a “cat café,” thanks to the free snacks it serves to visitors—and that it must be shut down.
 
When Evonda’s body is found in her car clutching a copy of the cease-and-desist order, suspicion naturally falls on Lara and Aunt Fran. But there’s a whole litter of potential culprits, including a tenant in one of Evonda’s buildings who’d been ordered to give up his rescue cat, a disgruntled daughter-in-law, and more. Now Lara—with some help from her aunt and her spirit cat, Blue—has to pin the tail on the right suspect …


📚📖📚📖📚


Lilly Echosby just witnessed a murder on a pet cam. Or did she?

When a last-minute opportunity arises to accompany her boss to an art auction in Atlanta, Lilly throws some money at the problem of where to board her toy poodle Aggie (short for Agatha Christie). Posh Pet Haven offers the most luxurious canine accommodations in all of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The place even provides pet cams so anxious owners can check in on their pampered pooches.

But when Lilly tries to take a peek at her poodle, she gets a terrible shock—she witnesses what she’s sure is a murder. She thinks the victim may be the wealthy co-owner of Pet Haven. The police follow her lead but find no body, no evidence of a crime, and no video record. Starting to feel like the dog owner who cried wolf, Lilly decides to go undercover to catch a killer who may be hiding in plain sight …


📚📖📚📖📚


When their town is blanketed in suspicion and murder, it falls to the Crestwood Quilters to uncover a killer in this latest case from Sally Goldenbaum, the national bestselling author of the Seaside Knitters mysteries . . . 
 
Oliver Harrington II was one of the most beloved members of Crestwood’s community. Despite being the picture of health at age 52, he died from a sudden heart attack, leaving behind the family mansion on a sprawling piece of property. His twin sister Adele returned to the town she despises to claim her brother’s home, intent on turning it into a B&B. And she’s hired Po Paltrow and the Crestwood Quilters to craft quilts for the guest rooms. 
 
But Adele is not the only one interested in the future of the Harrington estate. A developer wants to put multiple houses on the land. The townsfolk just want their neighborhood to retain its small-town charm and not become a tourist trap. But when an autopsy reveals that Oliver was actually poisoned, suspicion falls on his sister. Po doesn’t believe Adele is guilty, leaving her determined to discover who else harbored deadly designs on the Harrington home . . .

Previously titled Murder on a Starry Night


📚📖📚📖📚


DISCOVER THE DELICIOUS MYSTERY THAT STARTED IT ALL! 
No one cooks up a delectable, suspense-filled mystery quite like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke's dessert-baking, red-haired heroine whose gingersnaps are as tart as her comebacks, and whose penchant for solving crimes--one delicious clue at a time--has made her a bestselling favorite. And it all began on these pages, with a bakery, a murder, and some suddenly scandalous chocolate-chip crunchies. Featuring a bonus short story and brand new, mouthwatering recipes, this new edition of the very first Hannah Swensen mystery is sure to have readers coming back for seconds...

Hannah already has her hands full trying to dodge her mother's attempts to marry her off while running The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden's most popular bakery. But once Ron LaSalle, the beloved delivery man from the Cozy Cow Dairy, is found murdered behind her bakery with Hannah's famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him, her life just can't get any worse. Determined not to let her cookies get a bad reputation, she sets out to track down a killer. But if she doesn't watch her back, Hannah's sweet life may get burned to a crisp.

Includes bonus short story and extra recipes!


📚📖📚📖📚


Charlene Morris knew Salem, Massachusetts had a spooky reputation. But when she decided to open her B&B there, she expected guests--not ghosts...

A grieving young widow, Charlene needed a new start--so she bought a historic mansion, sight unseen, and drove from Chicago to New England to start turning it into a bed-and-breakfast. On her first night in the house, she awakens to find a handsome man with startling blue eyes in her bedroom. Terror turns to utter disbelief when he politely introduces himself as Jack Strathmore--and explains that he used to live here--when he was alive. He firmly believes that someone pushed him down the stairs three years ago, and he won't be able to leave until someone figures out who. If Charlene wants to get her business up and running in time for the Halloween tourist rush, and get this haunting houseguest out of the way, she'll have to investigate. Though truth be told, this ghost is starting to grow on her . . .


📚📖📚📖📚


Sure to delight fans of Betty Hechtman and Maggie Sefton, A Crafter Hooks a Killer is the second installment in Holly Quinn’s Handcrafted mysteries.

Community Craft proprietor Sammy Kane suspects that a tantalizing thread links the deaths of her best friend and a bestselling author. But can she weave together the clues?

Samantha “Sammy” Kane is settling into her new life in idyllic Heartsford, Wisconsin, running her late friend Kate Allen’s craft shop, Community Craft when one early June day, bestselling crochet author Jane Johnson visits Heartsford. Captivated by Community Craft, Jane devotes a chapter in her new book, Behind the Seams, to the store. Sammy is honored, though satisfaction quickly turns to shock when she finds Jane strangled to death―her cold hands clutching a copy of her most recently published book, with the words “THE END” raggedly scratched into the cover.

Heavens to Etsy! Not only must Sammy contend with the author’s inauspicious demise, she has to untie some knotty details from her own past. It turns out Kate’s death was not what it seemed, and instead somehow hooked to Jane Johnson’s demise. Handsome Detective Liam Nash is on the “skein”, more than happy to see the shop owner again, if less than enamored by her sleuthing interventions. But this was Sammy’s best friend―she has to know.

Fortunately, Sammy has a “lace” in the hole. As a child, she formed the S.H.E. detective team with her cousin, Heidi, and her sister, Ellie. Having already reconstituted their partnership, the S.H.E. team searches for a pattern behind the latest death. As the case starts to unravel, will Sammy and team be able to sidestep Liam quick enough to stitch together the clues?


📚📖📚📖📚


Hayley Burke's fresh start as the curator of The First Edition Society's library in Bath, England, is about to take a rotten turn in this charming new mystery series from USA Today bestselling author Marty Wingate. 

Hayley Burke has landed a dream job. She is the new curator of Lady Georgiana Fowling's First Edition library. The library is kept at Middlebank House, a lovely Georgian home in Bath, England. Hayley lives on the premises and works with the finicky Glynis Woolgar, Lady Fowling's former secretary.

Mrs. Woolgar does not like Hayley's ideas to modernize The First Edition Society and bring in fresh blood. And she is not even aware of the fact that Hayley does not know the first thing about the Golden Age of Mysteries. Hayley is faking it till she makes it, and one of her plans to breathe new life into the Society is actually taking flight--an Agatha Christie fan fiction writers group is paying dues to meet up at Middlebank House.

But when one of the group is found dead in the venerable stacks of the library, Hayley has to catch the killer to save the Society and her new job.


📚📖📚📖📚


Every town has its secrets, but no one has a secret like hers. 

Amber Blackwood, lifelong resident of Edgehill, Oregon, has earned a reputation for being a semi-reclusive odd duck. Her store, The Quirky Whisker, is full of curiosities, from extremely potent sleepy teas and ever-burning candles to kids’ toys that seem to run endlessly without the aid of batteries. The people of Edgehill think of the Quirky Whisker as an integral part of their feline-obsessed town, but most give Amber herself a wide berth. Amber prefers it that way; it keeps her secret safe. But that secret is thrown into jeopardy when Amber’s friend Melanie is found dead, a vial of headache tonic from Amber’s store clutched in her hand.

Edgehill’s newest police chief has had it out for Amber since he arrived three years before. He can’t possibly know she’s a witch, but his suspicions about her odd store and even odder behavior have shot her to the top of his suspect list. When the Edgehill rumor mill finds out Melanie was poisoned, it’s not only the police chief who looks at Amber differently. Determined to both find justice for her friend and to clear her own name, Amber must use her unique gifts to help track down Melanie’s real killer. A quest that threatens much more than her secret …
 






Good luck everyone!

📚📖📚📖📚

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

Follow my blog by submitting your email in 
upper right hand corner of this page. (on the side bar).

Reading from your phone? Scroll to the bottom of your page and click"View web version". Then follow the above directions.