Click on book to visit Barnes & Noble

MURDER ON CAPE COD is the first book in the brand new Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery series by Maddie Day. This delightful book introduces us to protagonist MacKenzie “Mac” Almeida, owner of Mac’s Bikes, which caters to tourists visiting the quaint town. I admire Mac for being super handy and she not only runs her business but also does the bike repairs herself. I also enjoy the way the author portrays women succeeding in traditionally male-dominated roles in this new book. Ms. Day has created a great cast of supporting, loveable characters for Mac. I adore her grandmother, who is ready to jump in and help Mac out, despite having a busy life. She has supportive parents and her brother, Derrick, is a single dad raising his young daughter. It’s heartwarming to see the family pull together to raise the darling little girl. Another character that steals the pages she is featured on, is Mac’s African Grey Parrot. The bird’s amazing vocabulary brings humor in each scene.

When Derrick is accused of murdering a down-on-his-luck man, Mac and her cozy mystery book club comes together to help clear his name. I loved that one of the club’s members is the town’s former Chief of Police. While he doesn’t solve the crime, he does provide some guidance for the amateurs. It’s entertaining how the group relies on tips and tricks they’ve gleaned from cozy mysteries in order to investigate and follow along as they hunt for the killer. The author provide lots of books and author mentions on the pages and I found it a great way to add to my TBR list. Like a good cozy mystery, the author provides plenty of suspects that must be scrutinized and there are some emotional subplots that add to the depth of the story. The exciting conclusion brought all the threads together for an entirely satisfactory read!

Mac’s boyfriend, Tim, runs a bakery and likes to share his delicious treats. He bakes a delectable Cranberry Orange Bread which Ms. Day provides the recipe for, along with other yummy dishes. I appreciated the use of fresh (or frozen) cranberries, versus the usual dried cranberries. The tartness of the cranberries combined with the zing of fresh orange zest and juice brings a refreshing taste and the added crunch of nuts brings a delicious texture to this not-too-sweet breakfast bread. I appreciated that the recipe doesn’t over-do the vegetable oil and instead relies on the fruit and buttermilk for both flavor and moistness. This Cranberry Orange Bread is delicious on its own or add a smear of butter or cream cheese and settle in to enjoy with a piping hot cup of tea or coffee!

Goodreads Synopsis

A Cape Cod shop owner and her book club must find a crafty killer in this charming new series from the Agatha-nominated author of the Country Store Mystery series.

Summer is busy season for Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida’s bicycle shop, nestled in the quaint, seaside hamlet of Westham, Massachusetts. She’s expecting an influx of tourists at Mac’s Bikes; instead she discovers the body of Jake Lacey. Mac can’t imagine anyone stabbing the down-on-his-luck handyman. However, the authorities seem to think Mac is a strong suspect after she was spotted arguing with Jake just hours before his death. Mac knows she didn’t do it, but she does recognize the weapon—her brother Derrick’s fishing knife.

Mac’s only experience with murder investigations is limited to the cozy mysteries she reads with her local book group, the Cozy Capers. So to clear her name—and maybe her brother’s too—Mac will have to summon help from her Cozy Capers co-investigators and a library’s worth of detectives’ tips and tricks. For a small town, Westham is teeming with possible killers, and this is one mystery where Mac is hoping for anything but a surprise ending…

A special thanks to Maddie Day for providing a winner with a print copy of MURDER ON CAPE COD. Contest ends Friday, January 4, 2019 at 11:59 pm PST and is limited to U.S. residents. Please use the Rafflecopter box located below to enter. The winner will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!) 

Print

Tim’s Cranberry Orange Bread

Mac Almeida’s boyfriend, baker Tim Brunelle, makes this yummy quick bread for Greta’s Grains. Bake a day ahead of time for easiest slicing.

Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached white flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Zest and juice of one orange. If juice doesn’t equal 3/4 cup add orange or cranberry juice to supplement
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”-x-5” loaf pan with butter.

2. Chop cranberries in a food processor or by hand.

3. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Make a well in the center and stir in the egg with a fork. Add the orange zest, juice, buttermilk, oil, cranberries, and nuts, and stir until just mixed. Do not beat or overmix.

5. Pour batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean and the bread starts to pull away from the edges of the pan. Remove it from the oven and let cool on rack for fifteen minutes, then turn it out of the pan to cool completely.

6. Enjoy with butter or cream cheese and a cup of your favorite coffee.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Pin to Pinterest:

If you receive my blog post via email you will need to visit my website to view the video.

I was provided an advance copy with the hopes I would review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Click on book to visit Amazon

GAME OF SCONES is the first book in the brand new Sugar & Spice Mystery series by Mary Lee Ashford! The premise of Sugar & Spice is cleverly based on the names of the protagonist, Rosetta Sugarbaker Calloway, aka Sugar, and her friend, Dixie Spicer, aka Spice. Together they own Sugar and Spice Publishing Company, which publishes community cookbooks for fundraisers in St. Ignatius, Iowa. I truly enjoyed the insight the author provides about the details of creating the cookbook for their first client, the St. Ignatius Founder Day Committee fundraiser. The mouthwatering descriptions of the dishes Spice tests for the cookbook will leave the reader drooling, along with some interesting regional dishes mention that had me running to Pinterest to find out exactly what it was.

Ms. Ashford has created some fun, well-developed characters for this new series. Sugar and Spice work well together and have great interaction. I like the potential for romantic developments between Spice and the local sheriff (although something happened between them long ago that has caused a riff). And the handsome food photographer might just be interested in Sugar. The action starts right off the bat with a huge dispute between two elderly committee members, almost a cat fight, over whose scone recipe will be included in the cookbook. After Sugar finds one of the women murdered and Spice’s aunt is considered a suspect, they decide to start asking questions to get to the bottom of the mystery. There are plenty of suspects to keep the reader guessing and as the two women sift through the clues, the stakes turn even higher when their fledgling business is vandalized. The exciting reveal has some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming and I look forward to future installments in this delicious new series!

So many yummy dishes are described as Spice tests the recipes and styles them for the photographer. Ms. Ashford has a delicious way of helping the reader practically see, smell, and taste the dishes prepared. Fortunately, she includes a few recipes at the back of the book, including Spice’s aunt’s recipe for Bertie Sparks’s Proper English Scones. Buttery and rich, the addition of dried fruit brings some sweetness to each bite… but you’ll still want to slather the scones with creamy butter and some jam for an authentic taste. These Proper English Scones are a welcome addition to any breakfast, brunch, or tea time! I had the chance to share some of these scones with one of my elderly neighbors and she said she felt like she was back eating breakfast with her British mother… they were exactly like her mother made when she was young. I was touched that I could bring back such wonderful memories in a delicious way!  

Amazon Synopsis

As co-owner of Sugar and Spice Cookbooks, Sugar Calloway has seen simple confections bring friends together and spark fiery feuds. Except this time, the recipe truly is to die for . . .  
After losing her job as food editor at a glossy magazine, Rosetta Sugarbaker Calloway—aka “Sugar” to friends—isn’t sweet on accepting defeat and crawling back to her gossipy southern hometown. So when she has an opportunity to launch a community cookbook business with blue-ribbon baker Dixie Spicer in peaceful St. Ignatius, Iowa, she jumps at the chance to start over from scratch . . .  

But as Sugar assembles recipes for the local centennial celebration, it’s not long before she’s up to her oven mitts in explosive threats, too-hot-to-handle scandals, and a dead body belonging to the moody matriarch of the town’s first family. With suspicions running wild, Sugar and Spice must solve the murder before someone innocent takes the heat—and the real culprit gathers enough ingredients to strike again . . .
 

A special thanks to Mary Lee Ashford for providing a winner with an e-book copy of GAME OF SCONES. Contest ends Sunday, December 16, 2018 at 11:59 pm PST. Please use the Rafflecopter box located below to enter. The winner will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!) 

Print

Bertie Sparks's Proper English Scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups + 13 tablespoons self-rising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons caster or regular sugar
• 3 ounces butter, cubed
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 egg, beaten to glaze
• 1 cup raisins or craisins, or dried fruit of your choice

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees (F). Bertie recommends also preheating your baking tray. 

2. In a mixing bowl, add the sifted flour, salt, baking powder, and combine.

3. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.

4. Using a knife, stir in the sugar.

5. Put the milk into a cup and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and lemon juice, then set aside for 2 minutes.

6. Make a well in the dry mix, then add the liquid and combine it quickly with a knife. Dust some flour onto the work surface and place the dough on the surface.  *Add the 1 cup of raisins, or craisins, or dried fruit, shake some more flour on the dough and your hands then fold the dough over a few times until it's slightly smoother and the fruit is incorporated. Gently pat it into a round about 1-1/2 inches deep.

7. Take a 2-inch cutter and dip it into some flour. Cut into the dough, then repeat until you have four scones. Then press what's left of the dough back into a round to cut out another four. Try not to over work the dough; be light with your hands when reshaping.

8. Brush the tops with beaten egg, then carefully place onto the hot baking tray.

9. Bake for 10 minutes until risen and golden on the top.

Cinnamon & Sugar's Note

1. *I mixed the fruit in with the flour when I added the sugar with good results. Either way should work just fine. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pin to Pinterest:

If you receive my blog post via email you will need to visit my website to view the video.

I was provided an advance copy with the hopes I would review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.