RELEASE DAY NEWS: A Death Long Overdue by Eva Gates

Congratulations to our own... 

EVA GATES

On the release of her new
Lighthouse Library Mystery

A DEATH LONG OVERDUE

When her former director is found dead in the water, librarian Lucy Richardson will have to get to the bottom of the mystery before the killer ends her tale.

It's summertime in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Bertie James's college class is having their 40th anniversary reunion. The opening night reception is held at the Lighthouse Library and Lucy and her colleagues have assembled an exhibit of library artifacts showing how libraries have changed over the years. After the reception, some of the women take a walk down the boardwalk to the pier, using flashlights to illuminate the dark path, but what's scarier than the dark is finding the former director of the Lighthouse Library floating lifeless in the water.

Helena Sanchez, the former director, wasn't much loved and spent the party being rude to almost everyone there. As a result, Lucy finds herself in deep water as she rocks the boat, questioning several suspects. But she'll have to batten down the hatches and fast before she's left high and dry...and right in the killer's crosshairs.

A DEATH LONG OVERDUE

To learn more or buy,

CLICK HERE

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Click to see more of our
upcoming releases.

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RELEASE DAY NEWS: Read and Buried (New Paperback Edition) by Eva Gates

Congratulations to our own... 

EVA GATES

On the release of the
New Paperback Edition of her
Lighthouse Library Mystery

READ AND BURIED

Librarian Lucy Richardson unearths a mysterious map dating back to the Civil War. But if she can't crack its code, she may end up read and buried.

The Bodie Island Lighthouse Library Classic Novel Book Club is reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne while workers dig into the earth to repair the Lighthouse Library's foundations. The digging halts when Lucy pulls a battered tin box containing a Civil War-era diary from the pit. Tucked inside is a hand-drawn map of the Outer Banks accompanied by a page written in an indecipherable code.

The library is overrun by people clamoring to see the artifact. Later that night, Lucy and Connor McNeil find the body of historical society member Jeremy Hughes inside the library. Clearly Jeremy was not the only one who broke into the library--the map and the coded page are missing.

Lucy's nemesis, Louise Jane McKaughnan, confesses to entering the library after closing to sneak a peek but denies seeing Jeremy--or his killer. When Lucy discovers that fellow-librarian Charlene had a past with Jeremy, she's forced to do what she vowed not to do--get involved in the case. Meanwhile, the entire library staff and community become obsessed with trying to decode the page. But when the library has a second break in, it becomes clear that someone is determined to solve that code.

READ AND BURIED

To learn more or buy,

CLICK HERE

📖

Click to see more of our
upcoming releases.

👓

RELEASE DAY NEWS: Read and Buried by Eva Gates (aka Vicki Delany)

Congratulations to our own... 

EVA GATES (aka Vicki Delany)

On the release of her new  
Lighthouse Library Mystery

READ AND BURIED

Librarian Lucy Richardson unearths a mysterious map dating back to the Civil War. But if she can't crack its code, she may end up read and buried.

The Bodie Island Lighthouse Library Classic Novel Book Club is reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne while workers dig into the earth to repair the Lighthouse Library's foundations. The digging halts when Lucy pulls a battered tin box containing a Civil War-era diary from the pit. Tucked inside is a hand-drawn map of the Outer Banks accompanied by a page written in an indecipherable code.

The library is overrun by people clamoring to see the artifact. Later that night, Lucy and Connor McNeil find the body of historical society member Jeremy Hughes inside the library. Clearly Jeremy was not the only one who broke into the library--the map and the coded page are missing.

Lucy's nemesis, Louise Jane McKaughnan, confesses to entering the library after closing to sneak a peek but denies seeing Jeremy--or his killer. When Lucy discovers that fellow-librarian Charlene had a past with Jeremy, she's forced to do what she vowed not to do--get involved in the case. Meanwhile, the entire library staff and community become obsessed with trying to decode the page. But when the library has a second break in, it becomes clear that someone is determined to solve that code.

READ AND BURIED

To learn more or buy,

CLICK HERE

📖

Click to see more of our
upcoming releases.

👓

RELEASE DAY NEWS: Something Read, Something Dead (New Paperback Edition) by Eva Gates

Congratulations to our own... 

EVA GATES aka VICKI DELANY

On the release of the 
*New Paperback Edition*
of her Lighthouse Library Mystery

SOMETHING READ, SOMETHING DEAD

Dark deeds in the Lighthouse Library threaten to send Lucy Richardson's soon-to-be-wed cousin Josie to an early 'til-death-do-us-part.

Winter falls on North Carolina's Outer Banks as Lucy Richardson and her friends joyfully help her favorite cousin, Josie O'Malley, plan her wedding. The owner and head baker of Josie's Cozy Bakery and her fiancé, chef Jake Greenblatt, want a small, simple wedding.

But to their horror, Josie's imperious grandmother, Gloria, descends with the "Louisiana Mafia": a gaggle of aunts and cousins who intend to take control of the wedding plans. Gloria doesn't do small and simple, and cousin Mirabelle has her own ideas for Josie's wedding, something grand and lavish--and paid for by Josie's parents, of course--that will kickstart her fledgling event planning business and get her work shown on the covers of wedding magazines. To make matters worse, Mirabelle focuses her full Southern charm on the prospective groom...and Jake doesn't seem entirely adverse to her attentions.

To smooth the waters, Lucy hosts a bridal shower at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library. But it turns deadly when Mirabelle collapses--soon after eating the gluten-free treats Josie prepared specifically for her. Now, to save her favorite cousin from prison, Lucy will have to bring a crook to book in this fifth festive Lighthouse Library mystery from national bestselling author Eva Gates.

SOMETHING READ, SOMETHING DEAD

To learn more or buy,

CLICK HERE

📖

Click to see more of our
upcoming releases.

👓

10th Anniversary Blueberry Muffins from Vicki Delany

By Vicki Delany

My good friend Mary Jane Maffini invited me to be a guest blogger back in February 2015 in celebration of the first Lighthouse Library book, BY BOOK OR BY CROOK (written as Eva Gates).  Blueberries aren't exactly in season in North America in February, so I think reposting this in July, just in time for berry season is more appropriate!.

Eva Gates' Blueberry Muffins 

I always make tons of these when the farm markets are overflowing with blueberries because they freeze perfectly, right up until it’s time to make another year’s batch. These muffins are traditional in my family for Christmas breakfast.  Nothing beats the taste of a fresh blueberry on a cold winter’s morning.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 tsp nutmeg 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Grease and flour a 12-cup muffin tin

In a medium bowl. whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, beat butter and ONE CUP sugar until light and fluffy, approximately three minutes with an electric mixer.   

Beat in eggs, one at a time and add vanilla.

Add flour mixture to sugar and butter slowly until incorporated.

Add milk slowly and mix on low speed until just combined. Do not over mix batter. 

Sprinkle the blueberries with a little bit of flour, no more than a teaspoon, just to coat them. Shake off excess flour. The step will prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffins. 

Fold blueberries carefully into the muffin batter. 

Pour batter into muffin tins.  

Mix remaining 1/4 cup sugar with nutmeg. Sprinkle on muffins for nice crunchy top.

Bake for about 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean if inserted in the middle of a muffin.

Let cool and remove from pan.

By Book or By Crook was the first Lighthouse Library Mystery.  The sixth is READ AND BURIED and it will be released in October 2019. How time flies!

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ENTER OUR 10th ANNIVERSARY

10-BOOK (+ TOTE BAG) GIVEAWAY!

And you can carry your books in this clever

tote bag with a special crossword puzzle 

featuring Mystery Lovers' Kitchen authors!

To enter our giveaway,
you must first use

the form below.

Then be sure to leave a
blog post comment.

You must do both
to be entered.

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2-WEEKS OF FAVORITE, RETRO POSTS!

We're throwing a two-week party to celebrate a decade of blogging at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen. Every day (through July 13), one of the authors of MLK will post a retro "anniversary" recipe from our blogging past. Stop back each day to see what we post. Each time you leave a comment on a post, you'll earn an extra entry in our drawing and increase your chances of winning our grand prize package. Be sure to use the entry form above to register with our contest *and* be sure to leave a blog post comment. (You must do both to be entered.)

GOOD LUCK and...

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY,

MYSTERY LOVERS' KITCHEN!

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Let's give a hearty welcome to our new MLK'er, Vicki Delany!! Woot, woot!

Please welcome Vicki Delany, a new member of our MLK team!  

She will be posting every other Friday, alternating with Sheila.

Vicki has been a regular guest on our site, so we're thrilled to have her become one of us.  Vicki is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Year Round Christmas mysteries for Penguin Random House, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane Books, and the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington. 

Vicki lives and writes in bucolic Prince Edward County, Ontario. She is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada.  Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. 

Photo: Iden Ford

Visit Vicki at www.vickidelany.com. On Facebook at www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor. Twitter @vickidelany

Take it away Vicki!!

Thank you so much Daryl for that nice introduction.

I am such a fan of Mystery Lovers Kitchen and I was so excited when the gang asked me if I’d like to be an actual member of the blog group.  What an honour!  I’ve posted before as a guest, but now I’m going to be a regular contributor. I hope you’ll stop by the 1^st 3^rd and 5^th Fridays and see what’s cooking at my house.

I'm a good baker and I like to bake, but I don't get much of a chance as I live alone. But when company comes or I've been asked to bring a dish, you'll find me elbow deep in the flour and sugar.  I am, if I do say so myself, quite a good cook.  I make a lot of dishes in the crock pot, because that makes a big batch and I can then freeze several meals. So I intend to show you some of those dishes as well.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to my Strawberry Rhubarb Bars. These are absolutely perfect for this time of year when fresh locally grown strawberries and rhubarb are available in abundance at your local farm stand.

Vicki Delany’s Strawberry Rhubarb Bars

Crumble Mixture for base and topping

1 cup 3 plus tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled from the fridge

2 ½ cups (390 g) all-purpose flour

¾ cup (95 g) graham cracker crumbs

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (62 g) large flake oats

½ cup (105 g) sugar

¾ cup (144 g) brown sugar, packed

1/8 teaspoon salt

 Zest of one lemon

 1 egg; 1 egg white

Filling

3 cups rhubarb sliced into 1-cm pieces

3 cups strawberries halved and then sliced

½ cup (105 g) sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons corn starch

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9 x 13 tray. Use a cheese grater to grate the butter onto a plate and then place the grated butter in the freezer while you mix the rest of the ingredients. This works best with butter from the fridge, not room temperature or frozen butter.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, ½ cup oats (do not add the 2 tablespoons yet), brown sugar, white sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Add the egg and egg white and mix them into the dry ingredients with a fork.

Get the grated butter from the freezer and add it to the crumble mixture. Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles crumbs the size of peas. Remove two cups of the crumble mixture to use as the topping and stir the 2 tablespoons of oats into this mixture.

Press the remaining crumble mixture into the greased pan into an even layer.

In a different bowl stir together the chopped rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, vanilla and corn starch. Spread on top of the layer of pressed crumble. Top with the reserved two cups of crumble mixture.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

My newest book is SOMETHING READ SOMETHING DEAD written by me as EVA GATES.  This is the fifth in the Lighthouse Library series set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. SOMETHING READ SOMETHING DEAD is now available in ebook and hardcover and will be out in mass market format in September.

Welcome guest Vicki Delany! Plus book #giveaway

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers. She is the author of twenty-three published crime novels, including standalone Gothic thrillers, the Constable Molly Smith series, and the Year Round Christmas Mysteries.  Under the pen name of Eva Gates she is the national bestselling author of the Lighthouse Library cozy series. Vicki lives and writes in Prince Edward County, Ontario. She is the past president of the Crime Writers of Canada.

Her latest release is God Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen:

In Rudolph, New York, it’s Christmastime all year long. But this December, while the snow-lined streets seem merry and bright, a murder is about to ruin everyone’s holiday cheer…

(SEE GIVEAWAY BELOW)

Is There a Grinch in Christmas Town?

I love Christmas. Almost everyone loves Christmas. 

Although most of us would agree that Christmas can come too soon. We complain (I certainly do) about decorations in the stores and seasonal ads on TV before summer’s even over, never mind Halloween arrived.

But still, a lot of us do our shopping ahead of time. I know people who buy decorations for next year the week after this year’s Christmas, and who start shopping around the time they put away the New Years’ Decorations.  Certainly, it’s a wise woman (or man) who starts her baking in plenty of time. A traditional Christmas cake or old-fashioned English pudding, full of rum or brandy, or sometimes both, needs to be started months ahead to be perfect for the big day.

It’s precisely to help out those early birds that the town of Rudolph, New York celebrates Christmas all year round.

Don’t rush to your atlases or Google maps looking for Rudolph because I made it up. It’s the town at the center of my series, the Year Round Christmas mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime.

Rudolph wants to be known as America’s Christmas Town and everything in Rudolph is about celebrating the holidays. All year round. They have a Santa Claus parade twice a year.  The usual one the first Saturday in December, and then another for Christmas in July.

But it’s in the autumn when the townspeople and shop owners of Rudolph really spring into high gear. And there’s no place busier than Victoria’s Bake Shoppe, owned by Vicky Casey.  This year, Vicky has more to worry about than whether or not her cakes will rise.  She’s fallen head over heels in love with the new chef at the Yuletide Inn.  When the son of the owner of the inn begins to implement “efficiencies”, all of the townsfolk are up in arms.  And no one is angrier than Chef Mark, who turns out to have a secret buried in his mysterious past.

Is there a Grinch in Christmas Town?

Good thing Vicky has these quick and easy cookies in her holiday-baking repertoire.

Vicki Delany’s Mother’s Stained Glass Cookies

Perfect for Christmas!  These cookies are so quick and easy and are always a huge hit in my family.  Be sure and prepare the dough a day ahead of baking.

Ingredients:

1 cup soft butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

½ tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

2 cups flour

1 cup slivered almonds

½ cup red glace cherries – chopped

½ cup green glace cherries – chopped

Directions:

Mix butter and brown sugar. Add vanilla, salt and mix until combined.  Add flour.

Stir in almonds and cherries.

Roll dough into logs, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate overnight.

Unroll logs and slice into ¼ inch thick rounds.  Place rounds on baking sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

You might find Vicky Casey baking these cookies at Victoria’s Bake Shoppe in Vicki Delany’s Year Round Christmas Series.  Perfect for those who like a little murder and mayhem in their holiday festivities. And don't we all, on occasion?

We Wish You A Murderous Christmas, the second in the series is now available.

GIVEAWAY!

Vicki would like to give away one copy of We Wish You A Murderous Christmas to a MLK reader. To enter, please leave ac comment below with your email address so we can contact the winner.  US entries only, please.  

Please note - Vicki is on a fabulous birthday bash and won't be able to respond to comments today, but other MLK'ers will, and she will contact the winner directly!

Keep in touch with Vicki here:

www.vickidelany.com

Facebook:  Vicki Delany & Eva Gates (evagatesauthor) and 

twitter: @vickidelany and @evagatesauthor

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