Welcome Kayleigh Suggett -- We love guests who bring Chocolate Fudge Brownies!

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: One of the joys of hosting guests in the Kitchen is meeting new-to-us authors and introducing them to you. And if they bring Chocolate Fudge Brownies, even better!

I'd invited Kayleigh Suggett to join us last summer, then got to meet her last month at Bouchercon, the International Mystery Convention held this year in Calgary. It's her home, and a beautiful day's drive north for me -- win-win!

Kayleigh's kindly offering a combo pack of ebook + audio of her newest release, Burn After Cheating!

KAYLEIGH SUGGETT:  If there’s one thing my PI Verona Montero knows, it’s the value of a quick recipe, especially one that incorporates a whole lot of chocolate. Between stakeouts, there is rarely time to get in a proper meal in, and she’s seen enough of the dark side of life to know it’s too short to waste not eating chocolate.

In Burn After Cheating, Verona continues to ignore her mother’s advice to focus a bit more on her personal life and dives head-first into yet another murder case. Her best friend, Runi Soon, is certain that the death of Harry Kim was no accident, despite what the police say. He was found in his locked apartment, and the cause of death was ambiguous to say the least. Verona isn’t so sure, but she’ll do anything to help her bestie out, especially since Runi’s mom has started calling once a day for updates on the case, and Verona can imagine no hell worse than being forced to talk to her own mother every day. Plus, when hot divorce lawyer Quentin starts tagging along on her stakeouts, she’s suddenly wondering if she can’t have the best of both worlds: make her mother proud by finally snagging a mate, and solve her first ever locked-room crime.

Burn After Cheating takes place in the summer, which is a bit at odds with the Thanksgiving season, at least here in Calgary where the snow has been flying for a few months already. Still, I wanted to share what I imagine would be Verona’s favourite all-time recipe—the one she dreams about when she fantasizes about opening her own bakery, which she would name “Almost as Good as an O.”

This is an absolute dream for the holiday season, when you get all those last minute invites, and you suddenly realize the company Christmas party invite asks you to “bring a dish to share”. It doesn’t need an electric mixer, comes together in one bowl, and uses pantry staples you likely already have. Plus it is super, super, super chocolatey, soft and chewy—so it doesn’t need any icing, dusting, or fancy toppings to impress.

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (I use salted because I like the extra flavour it gives)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

⅔ cup cocoa powder

3 eggs

1 cup white flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 ℉. Melt the butter in a microwave safe dish.

Add both sugars and the cocoa to the butter and blend with a whisk.

Break eggs into a small bowl, beat with a fork, and add to butter/sugar mix. Mix well with whisk. If the batter has hardened a bit, just give it an extra push and the eggs will help to loosen it up.

Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture and stir in.

Add vanilla. Stir.

Lightly butter a 9x9 baking pan (I use the papers from the butter sticks). Pour batter in.

Bake for 40 minutes. (Baking times may vary based on your altitude, my original recipe called for 25–30 minutes so you may want to start with less time and check before upping it.)

Let cool for 15 minutes (this is almost impossible to do… but you must or it won’t slice!). This is pretty rich so I find smaller squares usually do the trick!

GIVEAWAY: Since it’s the holiday season I wanted to offer a prize pack that I thought would make your holiday multi-tasking easier: a free audiobook copy of Burn After Cheating, read by award-winning narrator, Carlotta Brentan (perfect for listening to when you’re baking or wrapping gifts!) AND  a free ebook copy of Burn After Cheating (for when you finally get to put your feet up!).

I love this combo personally, a chance to read (which is always my preferred way to take in a story), with the option to listen when I’m too busy—and I hope you do as well.

To enter, answer one (or both) of the following questions in the comments:

Verona’s dream bakery is named “Almost as Good as an O”. If you opened a bakery with a cheeky, punny, or sarcastic name, what would it be?

What is one piece of advice from your mother that you systematically ignored? 

(Leave your email address to be entered. Winner will be chosen Wed, November 18.) 

Kayleigh Suggett writes the mysteries she couldn't find on the shelf: fast-paced, unapologetically crass, and starring a "private dick" named Verona Montero. Inspired by Christopher Moore’s absurdist wit, her plots move faster than a billionaire fleeing a crime scene, bridging the gap between polite mysteries and gritty noir.

Years in customer service gave her front-row seats to human weirdness, which she puts on the page unfiltered, complete with a snide simile for every occasion. When not chasing killers through rainy Irish pubs, Kayleigh is a wedding singer, frustrated NYT crossword solver, and Crime Writers of Canada member living in Calgary with her family.

Website: www.kayleighsuggett.com

Substack: https://substack.com/@kayleighsuggettwrites

To Buy: https://mybook.to/BurnAfterCheating (Redirects to amazon, regardless of your location)

Indigo: https://www.indigo.ca/products/burn-after-cheating?variant=46813317464274 (For Canadians)

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/burn-after-cheating-kayleigh-suggett/1149827386?ean=9781648758324 For US

Audio: https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798899736896/