Welcome, Guest Author Ellery Adams

A Southern Dessert to Die For!

By Ellery Adams

It is impossible to set a novel in the South without mentioning food in every chapter. I love food! I love its colors, scents, taste, and texture and back when I first began writing A Killer Plot, I knew that by making my heroine the owner of a five-star restaurant, I could describe food to my heart’s content.

In A Deadly Cliché, the second installment in the Books By the Bay mysteries, Olivia considers expanding her epicurean interests by purchasing an old warehouse down by the docks and transforming it into a seafood eatery. Can’t you just picture it? Folks dining al fresco as they gaze out over the tranquil harbor, the starlight reflecting in the calm water and live bluegrass music skimming over the waves like low-flying shorebirds.

The best part about this minor plot addition is that I get to invent an entire menu for the Bayside Crab House. And what’s a boisterous, casual southern eatery without an incredible dessert assortment? So allow me to give you a sneak peak into Olivia’s next investment by providing the recipe for the Bayside Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie.

After you’ve baked these pies (the recipe makes two), why not share the extra treat with a friend? In A Deadly Cliché, Olivia is learning exactly what friendship means. Armed with this powerful weapon, she can survive a major hurricane, thieves, murderers, blackmail, and the possibility that her father—lost at sea over thirty years ago—might still be alive.

Bayside Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

2 (9 inch) pie shells

3/4 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup salted butter

4 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

2. In a medium saucepancombine sugar, corn syrup, and butter or margarine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool slightly.

3. In a large bowl blend eggs, bourbon, and vanilla. Mix well.

Slowly pour sugar mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Pour mixture into pie shells (I use Pillsbury ready-made shells for this pie, but if you’d like to make your own, I recommend this recipe.]

4. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes,

or until you spot a lovely golden bark.

Ellery Adams grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. Having spent her adult life in a series of landlocked towns, she cherishes her memories of open water, violent storms, and the smell of the sea.

Her latest release (March 1^st) is A Deadly Cliché: A Books By the Bay Mystery. “While walking her poodle, Olivia Limoges discovers a dead body buried in the sand. Could it be connected to the bizarre burglaries plaguing Oyster Bay, North Carolina? At every crime scene, the thieves set up odd tableaus: a stick of butter with a knife through it, dolls with silver spoons in their mouths, a deck of cards with a missing queen. Olivia realizes each setup represents a cliché. And who better to decode the cliché clues than her Bayside Book Writers group?”