Guest Blogger, Lynn Cahoon #guest #recipe #giveaway

 VMBURNS: I'm super excited to welcome guest blogger, Lynn Cahoon to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen.

If you’ve read a book in any of my cozy series, you know that food is important to me and my characters. In AN AMATEUR SLEUTH’S GUIDE TO MURDER, the first in my Bainbridge Island Mysteries, A Taste of Magic is a small bakery on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Or it is in my fictional version of Bainbridge. It’s owned by my main character’s best friend, Natasha Jones. She opened the bakery after she bought the little house on the mail street. At first, she sold cupcakes to the hordes of tourists that flood the island after the ferry arrives on the island.

Once she got her feet under her, she started making other delicacies, including wedding cakes. That’s where we find her and Meg Gates as she’s moving Meg back from Seattle home after her engagement fails. Of course, Meg asked her to do the wedding cake, but she was able to sell it to another couple.

Meg told her she hoped that her bad luck wouldn’t be passed on with the cake.

I haven’t made a cake for a while, but I did freeze peaches last summer. So I wanted to share my cobbler recipe with you.

Peach Cobbler

4 ½ cups peaches (I left them halved.) Layer them in a baking dish.

Mix together – 1/3 cup brown sugar with 1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Then mix with the peaches. Let set.

In a bowl, whisk together

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp kosher salt

2 ¼ tsp baking powder

Cut 6 tbsp of cold butter into the flour mixture with a fork or a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add ¾ cup buttermilk and mix lightly. (Mrs. Higgins, my Home Ec teacher, always warned us about over mixing dough and muffins.)

Make patties from the dough, 2 to 2 ½ inches in diameter and ½ inch thick. (I should have used my biscuit cutters.) Arrange them on the top of the peach mixture.

Bake until topping is brown and juices bubble thickly – about 35-40 minutes.

Let cool slightly – serve with vanilla ice cream.

READERS: What's your favorite cobbler? If so, what is your favorite? Blackberry? Peach? 

Let me know for a chance to win a copy of An Amateur Sleuth's Guide to Murder (US only please)

AN AMATEUR SLEUTH’S GUIDE TO MURDER

A Bainbridge Island Mystery

New York Times Bestselling Author

Lynn Cahoon

June 24th, 2025

An irresistible new series from New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon about an amateur sleuth who doesn’t just solve crimes, she writes about how to do it . . .

TIP #1: WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU COUNTS AS WORK EXPERIENCE

Meg Gates could use a guidebook for life. Indeed, she’s faced some challenges. She dropped out of college to work for a tech startup that failed—and her fiancé just took her bridesmaid to Italy on what was supposed to be Meg’s honeymoon.

Now, at twenty-six, Meg has taken the ferry ride of shame from Seattle back to Bainbridge Island to live with her family. At least she has her rescue cocker spaniel, Watson, by her side. But it’s Meg who could use a rescue—and she’s hoping it will come in the form of a part-time gig doing research for a bestselling mystery writer.

TIP #2: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW – OR WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW

That’s when the lightbulb goes on: Meg will write her own guidebook—a manual on criminal investigation. But before she can impress her new boss with her pet project, the author’s manager is found dead on the rocks beneath the author’s Gothic mansion.

Now it’s time to put her guide to the test, as Meg sets out to clear her employer of suspicion and solve the crime. But there’s one important caveat she’ll have to add to her guide—

TIP #3: BEWARE OF UNKNOWN DANGERS

Links –

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Amateur-Sleuths-Guide-Murder/dp/1496752090

BN https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-amateur-sleuths-guide-to-murder-lynn-cahoon/1146333215?ean=9781496752093

Apple - https://books.apple.com/us/book/an-amateur-sleuths-guide-to-murder/id6738454375

Kobo - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/an-amateur-sleuth-s-guide-to-murder

Anthony nominated, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon, pens several cozy mystery series set in the mountains, on the beach, and usually in a small town with relatable amateur sleuths who have the careers Lynn always wanted, including bookseller, chef, and writing retreat owner. Readers can expect a fun ride no matter where the mystery is set. She lives in Eastern Tennessee with her husband and two spoiled Keeshonds. She loves cooking, hiking, and exploring new and historic sites.