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From
Elizabeth Lee (a.k.a. Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli)
SNOOP TO NUTS, the second in my Nut
House Series from Berkley, finds Lindy Blanchard and her grandmother, Miss
Amelia, in hot water all over again.
Miss Amelia, the best cook and baker in Riverville, Texas, gets voted
right out of the running at the county fair.
Not only doesn’t Miss Amelia win a prize for her Texas Caviar—known far
and wide as the best dish to come out of Riverville ever—but her dish
unfortunately poisons the new parson in town.
That’s only the beginning of Miss
Amelia’s troubles. She could be going to
jail while the townspeople divide up in their loyalties. All of this leaves Lindy and her boyfriend,
Hunter, a deputy with the Riverville Police Department, to wade through the
town’s characters—like Morton and Susie Q from The Barking Coyote Saloon, Cecil
Darling, the snobby Englishman at The Squirrel Diner, and Miss Amelia’s testy
friend, Ethelred Tomroy—who each has their own theory about what’s happening in
town.
When the church people get involved
and Lindy and Hunter go off to Tupelo checking out leads to a killer, the
killings widen and endanger all the Blanchards.
The thing with the Blanchard family
is that they’ve been around a long time.
Maybe they’re pretty well off now—what with the pecan farm and the Nut
House pecan shop in town—but they’re old fashioned enough to stand by their
friends, their relatives, and especially their Meemaw, Miss Amelia. It’s a tough time for Blanchards, but they
know how to handle a murder here and there.
The thing I like best about writing
these books is letting the relationship between Lindy, in her late twenties,
and Miss Amelia, in her seventies, blossom.
These two women learn how much alike they are, and learn to get around
the generational separation. There is a
lot of love between them, and deep respect, all the while they have fun
together.
As a grandmother, myself, I’ve
always thought older women got short shrift: sitting in their rocking chairs
and knitting, patting people on the head, dithering when asked what they think. Miss Amelia’s not like that. She can mix it up with the best of’em; bake
pecan breads; stock the Nut House profitably, take care of friends, see to the
whole family of Blanchards and still track down killers who dare to hurt the
town and the people she loves. Maybe
Miss Amelia isn’t Super Nanny, but she comes closer to the older women I know
than any other sleuth I’ve followed.
After the killers are safely put
away, Miss Amelia throws a Nut House party, serving dishes she’s renamed for
the occasion—all tongue in cheek. Here’s
that Texas Caviar of hers, christened with a name that suits the occasion:
SOCRATES’ FAVORITE
TEXAS CAVIAR
We
all know what happened to poor Socrates and the hemlock. Miss Amelia thinks a good dose of her caviar
would have saved the man and got a lot more thinking done.
SOCRATES’ FAVORITE TEXAS CAVIAR
SOCRATES’ FAVORITE TEXAS CAVIAR
2
(16 ounce) cans Black-eyed Peas, drained
1
(15 ounce) can diced Tomatoes, drained
2
fresh medium Jalapenos, stemmed, seeded, and minced
1
small Onion, diced
½
Yellow Bell Pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced
¼
cup chopped fresh Cilantro
6
tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
6
tbsp Olive Oil
½
tsp Salt
½
tsp Pepper
½
tsp Garlic Powder
1½
tsp Cumin
2
cps finely chopped Pecans
1/4
cp Garrison Brothers Straight Texas Bourbon
Mix
all ingredients, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Before serving, adjust seasonings to
taste. Serve with taco chips, crackers,
or toast rounds. DO NOT LEAVE THE
BOWL SITTING AROUND IF YOU’VE GOT MURDEROUS RELATIVES!
You
can double or triple the recipe, depending on the size of your crowd and how
hefty the appetites.
Giveaway: Today, I'm giving away a copy of Snoop to Nuts to one lucky commenter. See the word "comments" below? Click it! Remember to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. Now tell me, what older woman do you admire?
Elizabeth Lee, (pseudonym for
Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli) lives far back in the woods where nobody can find her
unless they call first and she decides to answer. Mostly her life is about deer and fox and
bear and raccoons—oh my! Part of her
life is about a bunch of kids—she thinks the number’s up to nineteen as of
now—that’s original kids and then grandkids.
She writes murder mysteries because it’s a great way to let off
steam. Get mad at a clerk in
McDonald’s? Ooops, do her in in the next
book. You’d never know she’s sweet as
sugar most of the time. Just watch your
back if you get invited to visit. Even
her husband, Tony, is nervous—with all those books on poisons and guns and
forensics sitting on their bookshelves.
