Tulia's Fish Cakes @MaddieDayAuthor #CozyCapersBookGroupMysteries #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here. I'm still celebrating this week's release of Murder at the Toy Soldier, my 39th mystery novel. 

In the book, Mac's friend Tulia makes these fish cakes. Tulia owns the Lobstah Shack, where Mac stops by to pick up some takeout dinner for her and Tim on a night when their daughter Ella will be sleeping over with her cousin at their grandparents' house. Mac doesn't cook, but she likes to contribute so her husband Tim doesn't have to prepare dinner every night.

I hope you love these easy and tasty fish cakes.

Fish Cakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Ingredients

1 pound firm white fish fillets

1 egg

1 ounce tapioca flour

2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced, or 1 tablespoon dried

2 tablespoons lemon juice, divided

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated, or 1 teaspoon dried ginger

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ cup bread crumbs or panko

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup whole milk plain yogurt

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick silicone mat.

Pat dry the fish fillets with a paper towel. With a sharp knife finely chop (almost mince) the fish fillets.

 

Place the chopped fish, egg, tapioca flour, dill, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, grated ginger, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and use a fork or your hand to combine.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using an ice cream scoop, make small (about 2 inch) balls and set them on the baking sheet. Slightly flatten the balls with your hands and sprinkle with bread crumbs. (Mine were too wet to form balls, so I just spooned the mixture onto the parchment paper.)

 Bake on the middle rack for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden.

Stir 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice into mayonnaise and yogurt. Add salt, pepper, and more lemon juice to taste.

Serve with the lemony mayonnaise on a bun or for dinner with roasted potatoes and a green salad.

Readers: What fish dish do you enjoy? I'll send one commenter a signed copy of the new book along with a special prize of one of my author aprons!

🐟📖🐠

Murder at the Toy Soldier, Cozy Capers Book Group #8, is out and available wherever books are sold!

My most recent releases are:

A Poisonous Pour, Cece Barton #3,

Murder at Cape Costumers,

Scone Cold Dead, #13 in the Country Store Mysteries,

and A Case for the Ladies.

Check out all my writing.

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

#ReleaseDayNews - MURDER AT THE TOY SOLDIER is out from @MaddieDayAuthor!

Congratulations to our own Maddie Day on the publication of her 8th Cozy Capers Book Group mystery, MURDER AT THE TOY SOLDIER!

Cape Cod bike shop owner Mac Almeida is extra busy during a cold, wet February as she and Tim do their best as working parents of a preschooler and a baby. With Ella’s fourth birthday approaching, Mac uses her lunch break to shop for a gift at the Toy Soldier. Behind the counter is Zia Carven, a young woman Mac recognizes. Mac finds a gift Ella will love and Zia offers to gift wrap it. Mac plans to pick it up after work, but when she returns, she finds Zia slumped over the counter, dead, dried blood on a toy rifle nearby.

Mac’s mother, Astra, confides that she’d been trying to help Zia, and now the police want to speak with her, which worries Mac. Then Mac discovers that Zia had been in town searching for her birth mother, which only multiplies the questions—and the suspects. One thing is certain: Mac and the Cozy Capers book group will have to double down to find a killer who isn’t playing around . . . 

Available now, wherever books are sold!

"This is a fast-paced page turner that I could not put down. It was great fun to reconnect with the characters I have grown invested in. Though this is a series, it will be easy to jump in with this book. Then you will be hooked!" – Suzie on Goodreads

Spotlight on Maddie Day's Cozy Capers Book Group #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, delighted that Murder at the Toy Soldier, my eighth Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery, releases on Tuesday! 

To celebrate the new book, I thought I'd shine the spotlight on the entire series from book one to the latest.

When I was beginning the series, I created the perfect fictional coastal Cape Cod town for a cozy setting. If you know the upper Cape, Westham is vaguely modeled on Falmouth. I dreamed up Mackenzie Almeida, her bike shop, her family, and her friends in the Cozy Capers book group.

Murder on Cape Cod is book one.

My editor proposed the title, and then suggested that each following book would feature a location or business in Westham. "I can do that," I said.

Because Mac owns a bike shop and I no longer ride, I needed to do some bike shop research. Luckily, Falmouth has Corner Cycle, and the staff were more than helpful when I wandered in asking questions and taking pictures, especially in the repair room.

Many coastal US towns have shops that sell salt water taffy, so I made up Salty Taffy's candy shop as a Main Street business. Book group member Gin owns the store, and Gin and Mac are good friends and walking pals. But when Gin becomes a suspect in Murder at the Taffy Shop, the Cozy Capers get to work to clear her name.

I loved this display a local fan made for her library's Books in Bloom event - complete with taffy, seashells, and a mini bike!

Book group member Tulia owns the Lobstah Shack, a popular seafood lunch and takeout restaurant. In book three, Murder at the Lobstah Shack, Tulia opens her place in the morning only to find a body in the walk-in cooler.

Each book in this series includes recipes, and I was delighted when Doreen Sheridan over at Criminal Element included my recipe for lobster quiche from this book.

In the next book, Murder in a Cape Cottage, Mac and her boyfriend Tim are about to get married on New Year's Eve. Sure, finding a skeleton in the wall of their house as they start renovations threatens to throw a wrench in the works. It's only six days until the wedding, and Mac's grandmother Reba steps in to invent their wedding cocktail.

Murder in a Cape Bookstore, the fifth in the series, was a natural for a series featuring a book group, and the book hit #1 in cozy mysteries!

I took an intriguing research trip down a rabbit hole to find a tropical natural poison for the murder weapon. Let's just say this little blue creature plays a role!

In Murder in a Cape Cottage, I invented a local pub called the Rusty Anchor. It's the setting for finding the body in book six, Murder in the Rusty Anchor. Every time I write about the pub, I want to stop in for a draft beer and plate of hot, crispy Anchor fries - and then I remember I made it up! 

The most recent book is Murder at Cape Costumers, which I had a lot of fun writing. It's set at Halloween, using inspiration from a news article I had cut out from the Boston Globe and saved.

You can read the whole story in my guest post from last summer over at Jungle Red Writers.

And that brings us to Murder at the Toy Soldier, which you can bet I'll be celebrating on Tuesday! 

I shared Tim's recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies here on August 14, and you'll have Tulia's Fish Cakes next Friday. Mac's mom Astra shared a day in her life at Dru's Book Musings last Friday, and Monday I write about characters who need caring for on Debra Goldstein's blog, It's Not Always a Mystery. 

Mostly I'm just glad the book is nearly out and about to land in the hands of fans and readers everywhere. It's already had some lovely reviews, including from Dru Ann Love herself. 

• "This is a fast-paced page turner that I could not put down. It was great fun to reconnect with the characters I have grown invested in. Though this is a series, it will be easy to jump in with this book. Then you will be hooked!" -Suzie on Goodreads
• "...just the right pace, with an engaging plot and a variety of suspects (as usual) ... Maddie Day does an amazing job ... I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fantastic cozy mystery series to binge-read! - Katie K on Goodreads
• "...another fun, cozy mystery with an engaging cast, a solid mystery, and plenty of small town charm." - DeeG Reads on Goodreads
• "...a delightfully entertaining whodunit and one of the best books in this charming series." - Dru's Book Musings

Thanks for letting me shine the spotlight on this popular series. You have plenty of time to get caught up. Book nine, Murder in the Lighthouse, releases in February of 2027, and I've signed a contract for two more books after that!

Readers: Do you have a favorite Cozy Capers book? If you haven't read the series, which book will you begin with? I'll send one commenter a signed copy of the new book!

📚🍪🐟

A Poisonous Pour is out and available wherever books are sold!

Next up is Murder at the Toy Soldier, Cozy Capers Book Group #8, which releases in late August.

My most recent releases are Murder at Cape Costumers,

Scone Cold Dead, #13 in the Country Store Mysteries,

and A Case for the Ladies.

Check out all my writing.

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, so excited that Murder at the Toy Soldier releases in a week and a half. 

Here's the blurb:

Cape Cod bike shop owner Mac Almeida is extra busy during a cold, wet February as she and Tim do their best as working parents of a preschooler and a baby. With Ella’s fourth birthday approaching, Mac uses her lunch break to shop for a gift at the Toy Soldier. Behind the counter is Zia Carven, a young woman Mac recognizes. Mac finds a gift Ella will love and Zia offers to gift wrap it. Mac plans to pick it up after work, but when she returns, she finds Zia slumped over the counter, dead, dried blood on a toy rifle nearby.

Mac’s mother, Astra, confides that she’d been trying to help Zia, and now the police want to speak with her, which worries Mac. Then Mac discovers that Zia had been in town searching for her birth mother, which only multiplies the questions—and the suspects. One thing is certain: Mac and the Cozy Capers book group will have to double down to find a killer who isn’t playing around . . .

To celebrate, I'm bringing you one of the recipes included at the back of the book. 

In this book, Mac Almeida and her husband Tim have legally adopted his almost four year old niece, Ella, and his nephew Luca, age ten months. One Sunday Mac's niece Cokey, age six is visiting, and the girls make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with Tim to bring to family dinner at Mac's parents' home.

It's an easy, yummy recipe. I made it even easier by turning the individual cookies into bars.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour 120g

1/2 tsp baking soda 3g

1/2 tsp salt 5g

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature, 113g

1/3 cup granulated sugar 65g

2/3 cup light-brown sugar 140g, packed

2 tsp pure vanilla extract 10mL

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups rolled oats 135g

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 150g

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a two-cup measuring cup, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside.

Combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute.

Add flour mixture; mix until almost combined.

Stir in the oats and chocolate chips. 

Press the dough into a rimmed baking sheet. It might help to wet the back of your hand or use a damp rubbermaid spatula to spread the dough and even out the surface.

Bake until the the giant bar is light brown around the edges, but still soft in the center, 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven to a wire rack, and let cool 1 to 2 minutes. Cut into 2" x 1" bars or whatever size you like and continue to cool in the pan. 

Enjoy with the beverage of your choice.

Readers: What kind of cookie bars do you like? I'll send one commenter a code for the audiobook of Murder at Cape Costumers, the just prior book to Murder at the Toy Soldier!

🍪🍪🍪

A Poisonous Pour is out and available wherever books are sold!

Next up is Murder at the Toy Soldier, Cozy Capers Book Group #8, which releases in late August.

My most recent releases are Murder at Cape Costumers,

Scone Cold Dead, #13 in the Country Store Mysteries,

and A Case for the Ladies.

Check out all my writing.

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.