Happy New Year from Mystery Lovers' Kitchen!

LESLIE:  Common wisdom says that the Chinese character for crisis combines "danger" and "opportunity." Mr. Right, who speaks Mandarin and practices acupuncture and Oriental medicine, tells me that this is a myth. But myths can be wonderfully useful. And so, in this noisy, chaotic time in which we live, my wish for you is the ability to see opportunity in crisis. The unplanned, the unexpected, even the unwanted can lead us---and at times, force us---to the deepest discoveries and greatest pleasures.

Thank you, dear readers, for including us and our books and recipes in your lives, this past year and in the New Year to come!

DARYL:  My wish for you in 2017, sweet readers, is that you enjoy each day as it happens. Look for the bright moments. Search for the things that make you smile.

Reach for your dreams. Sing when you can. Dance as if no one is looking. Read with an open mind and open heart.

And treasure yourselves.





SHEILA: As this last year has shown, you can never tell what's going to happen. All the more reason to treasure the good moments, whenever and wherever they happen. None of this "I'll get back to it later" nonsense. Spend time with the people you care about. If they don't get in touch with you, reach out to them.

Forget about the laundry and the car tune-up and that stack of filing, and do the things that give you pleasure. Try new things--maybe you'll be a whiz at fly-fishing or furniture refinishing and you don't even know it. And we at MLK hope that our books and our recipes fall into one or the other category!

Be kind. Smile. Stop and smell the roses. And embrace the unexpected.

PEG: My wish for you in 2017 is that you find peace--peace with yourself (love yourself exactly as you are), peace with family and peace with friends.  Go out and cross something off your bucket list.  Do something just for you every day whether that's meditating, spending time on your yoga mat or just taking a hot bath (while reading a cozy mystery, of course!)

What we all wish is that our books have brought you pleasure, entertainment and a short escape from reality!




KRISTA: I wish each of you and your loved ones good health, and the time and ability to enjoy life. I'm going to try to walk away from all the machines and phones and cyber-madness for at least 1/2 an hour a day. Take a walk, brush your cat, play with your dog, or treat yourself to a relaxing cup of your favorite tea in pure blissful silence.

Thank you not only for being our readers, but also for being our friends.



LUCY: Ditto what my friends here on the blog have said--I had written about wishing you good health, but Blogger decided to erase me. So maybe another good one would be a sense of humor in 2017--I think we're all going to need that! Thanks for being our readers and friends!



CLEO:  Marc and I couldn’t agree more with you, Lucy, on a sense of humor for 2017...

“I do find things funny. When you see life through the eyes of someone with a good sense of humor, which my grandmother did, life is a human comedy.” --George Takei 

Likewise, our New Year's wish for all of you: laughter for your spirit, joy for your heart, and (no matter what curves life throws you) a sanity-saving sense of humor! Love, Cleo (Alice and Marc)

LINDA: My wish to you is for good health, good friends, and good reading! May the year to come bring more peaks than valleys, and more laughter than tears. Family and friends are what matter the most, so thank you so much for being such wonderful readers and friends.

Victoria Abbott aka Mary Jane and Victoria Maffini: We wish for all of you a wonderful 2017. Join us enjoying January, a month when we don't feel the need to shop, race about or live by lists.  May it be a year of curling up with good books, spending time with special friends and enjoying the things that money can't buy, like the bright flash of a cardinal against the snow.  

 Love to all our wonderful readers.