Mysteries to cozy up with.
We finally have a cover! I absolutely love the cover. Thank you, Kensington Publishers for creating such a beautiful cover. The official release date for The Uninvited Corpse is March 27, 2018 and it’s available now for pre-order.
The flip-flops are out, the sunblock is all ready to be applied and it’s time to chill with a good book. Summer and reading go hand-in-hand so it’s always a good thing to have a few books ready to be tucked into a beach bag. Since I launched my newsletter in January I shared some of my favorite reads, with a bonus share of 4 books in June in preparation of the summer reading season. Today I’m sharing those books with you. Happy Reading!
June has flown by! Wasn’t it just Memorial Day? I’ve been busy and I have some photos. There’s been landscaping, baking, reading, writing and editing.
Lets start with landscaping. As soon as I could, I got outside and began the transformation from a very uninspired garden bed in front of our house to something that looks prettier and more deliberate. I’m not a gardener and that’s why the garden bed looked so uninspired for so many years. But since I had time this spring I decided to tackle the project. It’s not completed yet. I still have to work on the bed that runs along the side of the house and connects with the garden beds that run along the back of the house. I’m focusing on putting in what I like to call the “bones” of the garden. There’s a lot of green right now. Next year I’ll tackle adding perennials that have pops of color.
This is where I started. I dug up and transplanted what used to be right in front of the house. The soil was in terrible condition. That one last plant got moved after I took the photo. Nothing was safe. 🙂
Right in the center of the above garden bed I planted a dwarf Hydrangea. I love it. And on either side are Boxwoods. Then I dropped inches of mulch to help reduce the amount of weeds.
Still a work in progress. This is the garden bed on the other side of the front step. All the plants are in so I just have to finish weeding and dropping more mulch. That’s the plan for this week.
Now lets move into the kitchen. When rhubarb was in season I make a batch of rhubard-ginger muffins. There’s no recipe to share because they really weren’t that great. Maybe I’ll try again next year and tweak a few things.
I made a batch of Triple Chocolate Flourless cookies. Delicious! The recipe will be coming soon. I brought a container full of these cookies to the police department when I went on a second ride along and they were a hit. Cop approved. 🙂 I’ll share the recipe soon. But until then, here’s a photo.
We did have some unseasonably cool evenings (which I loved) so I did some roasting. For one meal I roasted new potatoes and a tray of string beans. Everything tastes so much better roasted.
I managed to get some work done. I’ve finished outlining a new book I’m starting and I also got the edits back for The Uninvited Corpse. This is getting real, people!
There you have it. What I’ve been up to these past few weeks. As June eases into July I can’t help but think about a summer vacation. I have a few ideas. What’s on tap for your summer? A vacation or staycation?
Today I’m sharing a peek into my kitchen of the goings on this past week. The temps here in Connecticut hit the mid-90s for three days. A heat wave. I’m so not ready for summer. Actually, I’m never ready for summer. I’m much more of a cool-weather type of gal. Give my sweaters and boots any day over flip-flops and humidity. Since today is simply beautiful I’m not going to dwell on the two icky days. Instead, I’m going to focus on the kitchen successes I had this week. Come on, take a look.
This week I worked on a recipe for soft & chewy chocolate chip cookies that will appear in the Uninvited Corpse. I do love this perk of writing.
A pile of shredded sharp cheddar cheese left over from making mac’n cheese.
I know what you’re thinking. What the heck? This is a new purchase and I’m now wondering where this bad boy has been all my life. This power spinner is life changing. Seriously. I’ve only used it a few times but now I can’t imagine not having it in my cleaning arsenal. This handy little gadget paid for itself when it kicked butt on my slider door’s track. Oven door? Awesome. And the list goes on and on. I got it from QVC and if you click here you can read more about it. I’m going to be ordering some new cleaning heads. I want a set for outside and for the bathroom.
Rhubard season! There’s a batch of rhubard-ginger muffins waiting to be baked.
What went on in your kitchen this week?
Recently I was asked why I chose a food blogger for my amateur sleuth in my mystery novel. The amateur detective in a cozy mystery tends to have a fun career (wedding planner, interior designer, baker) or an interesting hobby (knitting, quilting, gardening) and it’s an important hook for the series. When I set out to write The Uninvited Corpse I decided to make my amateur sleuth, Hope Early, a food blogger and in the video I explain why.
If you’re interested in cozies I found two websites that have extensive information on series published. The first one is Cozy Mysteries Unlimited and the second one is Cozy Mystery. If you’re a reader of cozies, what is a favorite profession or hobby of an amateur sleuth? If you don’t read cozies, what type of books do you prefer? I love reading across genres and I’m always looking for my next good read.