Welcome to Libby's World
Where we celebrate all things chocolate, coffee, cats, and cozy. Full of gluten-free baking and sarcasm. Just so you know, Sir Figaro Newton (pictured above) is pretty much in charge.
I grew up in South Jersey where the sass comes from. I did not always want to be a writer. That seemed so far above my abilities it didn't even enter my mind that it could be possible. Instead, I worked a host of minimum-wage jobs that allowed frequent visits to the orthodontist since I was raising four kids in braces. My absolute favorite job was working in a bookstore. There was something very gratifying about putting the books in order on a bookshelf. My kids learned very young that the way to get out of trouble fast was to make me laugh. Humor has always been one of my love languages. Along with coffee. Here I am with my writing partner, Miss Eliza Doolittle. I have typed entire scenes one-handed just like this. I wrote my first book, Class Reunions Are Murder at the urging of my husband who had a lot more faith in me than I had in myself. And you'd better believe that I was both thrilled and stunned when it was published. It's a very fictionalized version of my life including my real-life cat, Sir Figaro Newton, and my real-life grandmother as Aunt Ginny Frankowski. Here we are below. I'm the one ripping open that present.
Growing up I wanted to be a pastry chef. That was before I was diagnosed with Celiac and Hashimoto's. Two diseases that mean gluten is your enemy. Gluten is the protein structure in most baked goods that makes them light and fluffy and stretchy so they rise and get all tender and chewy and lovely. Without gluten, most baking becomes a matter of magic and trickery. How can I make this dough think it's bread and not a yeasty doorstop? Being an avid reader of culinary cozies, I quickly learned how impressionable I am to the power of suggestion. If the main characters are eating cupcakes, I start craving cupcakes. The only problem is that cupcakes make me explode. When I began writing my series about a plus-sized, middle-aged woman with Hashimoto's starting life over in her hometown of Cape May (a lot of coincidences there) I wanted to include gluten-free recipes for people like me who could normally only lick the page. Now we can eat the book goodies too. All my recipes in Mystery Lovers' Kitchen are gluten-free.
Some Random Facts About Me
As I've gotten older I've become dyslexic. That means a lot of typing, backspacing, and retyping. I've typed entire words completely backward. Even I was impressed. I'm not always sure what's wrong with a word, I just know the red squiggly line means it's wrong.
I have always been a cat person. I give off a cat lady vibe, and wherever I go, cats in the area will chase me down meowing for attention.
I've been married for thirty-seven years, and my father still owes me a car for not getting divorced before my second anniversary.
I have written and performed in plays at my church. Here is me in one of my costumes. You're missing the hot pink velour pants. I look a lot like one of my best friends when she's not in costume. That may or may not have been an accident.
I can't remember most of my childhood or adolescence anymore, but I can name 70s and 80s rock songs by the first couple of notes.
I don't like seafood. Nothing. Nada. Not even ______ fill in the blank.
If you want to spend more time in my world, come on over to my website and sign up for my Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter. It comes out monthly most of the time and includes Figaro's self-help column which isn't that helpful unless you consider catnip holistic medicine. If you have a problem you want to receive some utter nonsense for, send Figaro a message. Here he is in his office waiting to make fun of you like he does me.
Enter my Giveaway!
Leave me a comment on my post and I'll let Figaro select a random winner to receive one of my books. US and Canada only. The giveaway ends Monday at midnight, MISCHIEF NIGHT!
Meanwhile, this is happening on my desk.
Poppy McAllister discovers that gluten-free Halloweens can scare up another case of murder in the latest installment of this delightful culinary B&B mystery series! - Kirkus ReviewsPoppy is none too pleased when her B&B is coerced into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour during Halloween season. Though her knack for finding dead bodies has given the place a spooky reputation, the Murder House is a completely undeserved nickname. At least it used to be . . .
While Poppy wrangles with some guests who can’t stop squabbling with each other—including a paranormal researcher, a very quirky pet psychic who freaks out her portly Persian, and an undercover tabloid reporter eager to catch her staff in a lie—one of them winds up facedown in a plate of tiramisu. And now she has bigger worries than getting her house TP’d . . .
Includes Recipes from Poppy’s Kitchen!
classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/
