It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

This week's recipe is from

STRANGLED EGGS AND HAM

Book 6 in the Handcrafted Mysteries

by Maddie Day

Robbie Jordan’s rustic country store is growing in popularity. But when a dead body appears, it turns out that Robbie’s home-style cooking attracts hungry customers—and murder!
 
While Robbie scrambles through breakfast orders for her expanding clientele at Pans ‘N Pancakes, tempers run as high as the sticky August heat in South Lick, Indiana. Real-estate developer Fiona Closs plans to build a towering luxury resort at one of the most scenic hilltops in Brown County, and not everyone can see the sunny side of the imposing proposition—including Robbie’s furious Aunt Adele, who doesn’t waste a minute concocting protests and road blockades. When tensions boil over and a vocal protester is silenced forever at the resort site, Robbie ditches the griddle to catch the killer. But if slashed tires are any indication, she’ll need to crack this case before her own aunt gets served something deadly next . . .  
 
Includes Recipes for You to Try!

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CUCUMBER-DILL SOUP

The steamy Indiana August is too hot for hot soup, so Robbie’s assistant Danna thinks up this creamy refreshing cold soup to serve in the restaurant for lunch. Here’s a bit of the scene from ~ Maddie

Strangled Eggs and Ham:

Danna rolled her eyes. “My mom is way excited about that resort deal. She’s thinking tax revenues, obviously.”

“She’s the mayor of South Lick. Of course she is,” I said. I thought of Lonnie’s impassioned list of reasons the resort should go forward. “I actually think the people in support of the project have some pretty good arguments on their side.”

 “I’m not getting involved,” Danna said. “But I had an idea for a lunch special. We have lots of cucumbers, and you ordered buttermilk for something, right?”

I nodded.

“I can make a great cold cucumber soup and some savory biscuits to go with. I know you have dill out in your herb garden. Okay? It’s too warm for hot soup.”

“Sounds perfect,” I said.

Ingredients

2 English cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped
½ cup roughly chopped fresh dill
2 cups buttermilk
½ teaspoon kosher salt, more if needed

Dash habanero sauce
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more if needed

Directions

   Combine all soup ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Refrigerate in a covered container for at least 2 hours. The soup can be refrigerated for longer than two hours, but be sure to give it a shake before serving as it tends to settle the longer it sits. Adjust seasonings before serving.

Readers: What’s your favorite refreshing food in sweltering weather? ~ Maddie

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Maddie Day writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. As Edith Maxwell, she writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. With seventeen novels in print and five more in production, Maxwell has been nominated for an Agatha Award six times. She lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t killing people on the page or wasting time on Facebook. Please find her at edithmaxwell.com, at the Wicked Authors blog, and elsewhere:

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Please keep reading to check out my 

installments of 

Book Beginnings on Fridays

and

The Friday 56

Both the BB and 56 are from

STRANGLED EGGS AND HAM

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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.

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 Book Beginnings

I plopped down on the towel. Stroking through Lake Lemon's cool water had made me forget the controversy brewing in town, at least for a while. 

My 56

What I wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall. Or a ladybug on the table. Anything to hear what was up over there. Because something clearly was.

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).

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Author 

Kathi Daley

has a new book!

THE INN AT HOLIDAY BAY:

ANSWERS IN THE ATTIC

Fourth in the Inn at Holiday Bay Mysteries

A heartwarming cozy mystery series about losing everything, taking a chance, and starting again. 

After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a huge old seaside mansion she has never even seen, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal. What she ended up with was, an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat she couldn't seem to convince to leave, and a new family she'd never be able to live without.

In book 4 in the series, the remodel is almost complete and Abby and Georgia are planning a huge grand opening. The only thing left for Abby to do before Lonnie can wrap things up is to go through the items left in the attic by prior residents. Abby is just about to get started when a woman named Trinity Roswell shows up claiming to be the great, great, great, niece of Abagail Chesterton, the wife of the man who built the house, Chamberlain Westminster. Trinity, a woman in her thirties, is doing a family history and has questions about Abagail. Abby only knows what she has been told by others but invites the woman to help her dig through the contents in the attic. They figure that if Abagail did leave anything behind then the attic is where it would be stored. 

While Abby and Trinity seek out the last of the secrets the house once held, Colt is busy remodeling his own new home, Tanner has a new litter of puppies, Nikki is dating a man Georgia doesn't like and doesn't trust, and Annie notifies Abby about a death in the family.

📚📖📚📖📚

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

One lucky reader will in a Kindle copy of

THE INN AT HOLIDAY BAY

ANSWERS IN THE ATTIC

Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter

USA only

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GOOD LUCK!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think about today's blog!

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.

Take a look at the new releases out 

today and this week!

TUESDAY JUNE 18

A heartwarming cozy mystery series about losing everything, taking a chance, and starting again. 

After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a huge old seaside mansion she has never even seen, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal. What she ended up with was, an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat she couldn't seem to convince to leave, and a new family she'd never be able to live without.

In book 4 in the series, the remodel is almost complete and Abby and Georgia are planning a huge grand opening. The only thing left for Abby to do before Lonnie can wrap things up is to go through the items left in the attic by prior residents. Abby is just about to get started when a woman named Trinity Roswell shows up claiming to be the great, great, great, niece of Abagail Chesterton, the wife of the man who built the house, Chamberlain Westminster. Trinity, a woman in her thirties, is doing a family history and has questions about Abagail. Abby only knows what she has been told by others but invites the woman to help her dig through the contents in the attic. They figure that if Abagail did leave anything behind then the attic is where it would be stored. 

While Abby and Trinity seek out the last of the secrets the house once held, Colt is busy remodeling his own new home, Tanner has a new litter of puppies, Nikki is dating a man Georgia doesn't like and doesn't trust, and Annie notifies Abby about a death in the family. 

A killer is calling, and Ellison’s life is on the line. 

Ellison Russell is planning the event of the season—and she’s stressed. Why not yoga?

Because the yoga instructor gets murdered during class—and Ellison’s stress level rises exponentially. Now, in addition to raising a ridiculous amount of money, she’s babysitting a deranged cat (named after the devil himself), taking ten million phone calls (most of them from Mother), and finding more bodies (they’re popping up like dandelions after a spring rain).

There’s no such thing as balance when the killer makes it personal. Can Ellison catch a murderer or will her next namaste be her last?

THURSDAY JUNE 20

The curtain rises on Cherry Tucker’s debut as a high school set designer at the posh Peerless Day Academy. Cherry’s been hired for an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, but the drama director is hoping Cherry can also turn the spotlight on a malicious social media bully who’s sending poisonous texts to the faculty. The director’s got his own drama to hide, and the phantom texter seems eager to spill school secrets. When the principal’s secretary commits suicide, Cherry suspects foul play.

Deputy Luke Harper is ready to return as Cherry’s leading man. He’s eager to assist in finding the phantom culprit, but Cherry fears family secrets offstage may doom them to the role as star-crossed lovers. With the bully waiting for a murderous encore and her own family skeletons to hide, Cherry scrambles to find her brother and the mysterious texter before the phantom decides it’s curtains for Cherry and forces her to take a final bow.

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.

I'm teaching myself to crochet. Sort of. I've done better than I thought I would, but I'm not as far along as I hoped to be. Maybe I can draw inspiration from these cozy mysteries!

CROCHET MYSTERIES

by Betty Hechtman

This is the only crochet themed series I could find! And a good one it is!

Do you know of a crochet themed cozy mystery series I may have missed? I'd love to hear about it.

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.

I'm so happy to have author

Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

on the blog today!

Carolyn was kind enough to ask if she could give my readers a chance to win her book

GET UP THE GHOST . . .

Divorced mother Chantilly Adair didn’t take the job as the head of the Castleberry Georgia Historical Society because she thought it would be easy, in fact, she felt the exact opposite, and that suited her just fine. Desperate to get away from Birmingham and her ex-husband, she took her pre-teen son and high-tailed it straight to her childhood home in Castleberry, Georgia, and the echoes of her recently deceased parents. 

A tumble down a flight of stairs and causing a bump on the head hasn’t hindered Chantilly from rehabbing the historical presence in town, but finding the dead body of the town’s BBQ king just days before the annual BBQ competition puts her right in the local detective’s hot seat. 

When the spirit rumored to be haunting the dead man’s restaurant appears, Chantilly’s not sure which is worse, being accused of murder, or claiming a spirit might have had something to do with it. Now Chantilly must save herself from a life behind bars or a stay in the psychiatric ward, and still get the competition going on time. 

. . . and of course I said, YES!

📚📖📚📖📚

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

5 lucky readers will win their choice of a Mobi or ePub copy of

GET UP AND GHOST!

USA only

Enter using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post.

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A Chat with Carolyn

LKBR:  Thank you for being here today, Carolyn!

CRA: Thanks for having me!

LKBR: Please tell us a bit about you, and your different mystery series.

CRA: Gosh, where to start. I used to have a great job where I wore suits and dealt with business executives and traveled the country. I married a really great guy with two young girls that he had full custody of, and we got pregnant, so I decided to sack the job and the suits and the quiet of hotel rooms (which is the only part I miss!) to stay home and be a full time mom. Fast forward and after the deaths of my parents, I finally decided to take my writing habit seriously. I did some freelance journalism, marketing writing, and then finally, I wrote my first series. That series, The Angela Panther Mystery series, was the start of it all. I still write in it, and in fact, have a novella releasing in June. It’s a women sleuth’s series, not a cozy, and is about a psychic medium whose mother dies and comes back as a ghost. I was originally published through an Amazon imprint as well as a now defunct publisher, but I’ve taken everything self-published because I’m a bit of a control freak.

I have two cozy series, the Lily Sprayberry Realtor Cozy Mystery Series and the Chantilly Adair Psychic Medium Cozy Mystery series. Chantilly’s first book just released and her second will be out in the next month. Lily’s got 7 books out with one more coming in about a month. Both live in small town Georgia, and have been so fun to write!

LKBR: Any hints or spoilers you can give us about the next book in Chantilly’s series?

CRA: I’m really excited about Chantilly. In the first book, she’s introduced as a divorced mom of a tween boy. They move back home to her parent’s house after her husband left her. Her parents are deceased, so they’re staying in the house. She works for the towns historical society, and the offices are in an old house that also serves as the museum. She takes a tumble down the stairs at work, hits her head, and can suddenly see ghosts. Once she realizes what’s happening, she uses it to help her figure out a murder that she happens to be a suspect of. In book two, she’s still getting a handle on her new gift, and with the help of some friends, works to prove her best friend innocent in another situation. I love these characters. There are two older women, and they have a Golden Girls feel to them. So much fun!

LKBR: Any new projects in the works or any ideas you’re working on?

CRA: I’ve got plans for several more Chantilly and Lily books, but I’m also toying with a reporter cozy series because my journalism background is looking for something to do.

LKBR: When you first started writing, what were the most surprising things you learned about the writing, researching, and/or publishing of a book?  

CRA: I learned that you’re not going to please everyone, and not everyone will like what you write, or how you tell a story. I also learned that it’s very easy to mix past and present tense, but when you read it, it glares at you like it’s judging you. With the first, I’ve come to realize I write the Angela series to honor my heritage and my family, (mostly my parents) and the cozy mysteries I write because they’re fun and follow a pattern expected from readers. A writer has to write for their own reasons, and it’s not always because they want to make money. Sometimes, like with my Angela series, it’s an emotional reason. Writing the character Fran in that series is like visiting with my mom, and that’s therapeutic for me.

LKBR: Do you ever had to pull a character, or change a scene that you really wanted to keep because the powers that be recommended it? If yes, how do you cope with that?

CRA: I’ve got a great editor, and any time she tells me to switch something up, I usually do it. I found when I was traditionally published there were more requests to make my books fit a mold, but the Angela’s series aren’t cozies, and they tried to fit them into that mold.

They couldn’t.

LKBR: Have you ever gotten reader’s block? Just find it hard to get into reading because you are so into your writing?

CRA: Sadly, yes. I’ve been struggling with that for a few years now. I always say writing has ruined reading for me. It’s also ruined my eyes! I went from 20/20 vision to tri-focals. Getting old and writing are a brutal combination!

LKBR: Are there any magazines/publications that as a writer you subscribe to? Are these or others something readers could also benefit from?

CRA: My favorite is a mystery magazine. https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com

I just love Writer’s Digest too. Hard to be a writer and not read that. It’s filled with great information.

LKBR: Is there anything you would give up if you thought it would make you an even better writer?

CRA: I don’t think giving up something would benefit me. I’m working on trying to find balance, which isn’t easy. I tend to focus on one thing instead of dividing my time, but I’m forcing myself to not be that way. Too much of a good thing isn’t usually a good thing for me.

LKBR: If you could ask your readers 3 questions, what would they be?

CRA: Gosh, that’s a tough question. I think in general, I’d want to know what makes them read. Do they read because they like to explore other places, or because they like the escape, or is it something else? I’d also want to know what they like most in the books they read. The relationships, the mysteries, the puzzle? And of course, I’d want to know what they’d like to read from me.

LKBR: Anything else you’d like to share with us?

CRA: I’d like to say thanks to the readers that give the indie authors a chance. It’s hard to market our books, so the support is truly appreciated! And that includes bloggers like you, Lisa. Thank you so much for having me!

LKBR: Thank you so much, Carolyn for letting us get to know you better!

CRA: Thanks for having me!

Social Media:

www.facebook.com/carolynridderaspensonauthor

Instagram: Carolynridderaspenson

Website (is being redone, but my newsletter is here) carolynridderaspenson.com

Amazon Author Page

I’m also on Goodreads and Bookbub! 

More about the Carolyn

Carolyn Ridder Aspenson writes mysteries featuring imperfect women with a flair for telling it like it is. Her stories focus on relationships whether they're between friends, family members, couples, townspeople or strangers because ultimately, it's relationships that make a story. She writes the Angela Panther Mystery Series, The Inn at Laurel Creek contemporary romance novella series, and the Lily Sprayberry Realtor Cozy Mystery Series. 

Carolyn is also the founder of the Facebook author and reader collective, Sleuthing Women--Read...Sleuth...Solve...Repeat. A place for readers to connect with an exclusive group of women authors of female sleuth mysteries. 

Now an empty-nester, she lives in the Atlanta suburbs with her husband, two Pit Bull-Boxer mix dogs and two cantankerous cats, but you'll often find her at a local coffee shop people watching (and listening), or as she likes to call it, plotting her next novel.

Follow Carolyn here, or on Facebook at Carolyn Ridder Aspenson, author.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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.