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DEATH OF A BLUEBERRY TART, the twelfth book in the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mysteries by Lee Hollis, is one of my favorites in the series so far! The protagonist, Hayley, is settling into her new marriage with Bruce. If you’ve followed the series, you know that Hayley and Bruce have always had a contentious working relationship before they got together, so this newest release is a fun look at how they’re managing. It brings to light how effective the author is at developing the characters over the course of the series. And while this book can be read as a standalone, starting from the beginning builds on the admiration for the protagonist and her supporting characters. Death of a Blueberry Tart also includes Hayley and her best friends, Mona and Liddy’s mothers as central figures to the plot. This provides plenty of opportunities for some humor as the zany dynamics between mothers and daughters plays out on the pages, especially between Hayley and her mother, Sheila. Plus it gives the reader an opportunity to see Hayley through a different set of eyes and find out a little more about her life growing up.
When Sheila’s high school nemesis is found murdered, she becomes the number one suspect. She and her old high school friends immediately jump into investigator roles because if Hayley could solve cases in the past, then so could they. I greatly enjoyed how the author played the older generation of women against Hayley and her friends as each group tries to solve the case. With well-plotted clues and an additional murder thrown in to make the reader second guess themselves, the author wraps up the story with a rousing ending worthy of Helen Reddy’s song, I am Woman!
Another aspect of this series that I truly love is Hayley’s food and cocktail columns that she writes for the Island Times. It’s a charming break in the story and always includes yummy recipes. In this newest release I’ll have to admit I want to try every single recipe but after great deliberation, I finally decided to make the Blueberry Cream Cheese Bread first. It didn’t disappoint! Loaded with plump, fresh blueberries and tangy cream cheese, this bread is supremely moist and flavorful. I love how the recipe makes two loaves – or in my case, I made 1 regular-sized loaf and 3 mini-loaves to share* – so there’s plenty to go around. I added a powdered sugar drizzle to dress up the bread, but even without, Blueberry Cream Cheese Bread is a yummy sweet treat!
*I made the recipe long before the shelter at home started. This bread is a sweet, comforting treat and should store well in the refrigerator for several days for you and your family to enjoy.
Amazon Synopsis
It may not be front page news, but Island Times food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell and crime reporter Bruce Linney are now happily married. Before they can set sail on their honeymoon cruise, however, Hayley’s mom, Sheila, pays an impromptu visit—and promptly becomes the prime suspect in a murder.
The victim is Sheila’s old high school rival, Cassie Lemon-Hogg, known for her homemade blueberry pies and her home-wrecking flirtations. As Hayley teams up with her BFFs Liddy and Mona to clear her mother’s name, Sheila reunites with Liddy’s mom Celeste and Mona’s mom Jane for their own amateur sleuthing. The race is on between the moms and the daughters to find out who served this blueberry tart her just desserts . . .
A special thanks to Lee Hollis for providing 3 print giveaway copies of DEATH OF A BLUEBERRY TART! Contest ends Sunday, April 12, 2020 at 11:59 pm PST and is limited to U.S. residents only. 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!)
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1-1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons flour
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (F).
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In a mixing bowl, toss the blueberries with 2 tablespoons flour, then set aside.
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In a stand mixer, cream together butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each egg.
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In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly mix it into the wet batter until combined. Fold in your blueberries with a spatula.
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Pour the batter into two greased 9 x 5-inch bread pans and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
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Let rest for ten minutes, then flip the bread out onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely.
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For an optional drizzle to add over the bread, whisk together until smooth, 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 2 - 3 teaspoons milk or cream. Drizzle over the tops of the cooled bread and allow to set for 30 minutes before serving.
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I was provided an advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I have never been blueberry picking but it sounds like fun. Thanks for the chance
Jess
I’ve never been blueberry picking but I have been strawberry picking. This bread looks absolutely wonderful and I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for the recipe and the giveaway.
I have been blueberry picking many times. There was an elderly lady that lived down the road from us when we lived in the southern part of the state that had 3 bushes that were HUGE. She said she had lived there 30 years and they were big when she moved in. The one was so big they had a little tunnel on one side that you squeezed in through so you could pick from inside the bush to get to the big ones the birds didn’t get to. I think that while picking that by the time time you got all the way around the bush they had rippened so that you could just keep going round and round. Not one to waste anything, I would go every day and pick after the lady and all her family had gotten all they wanted and put them in the freezer as well as share with several elderly ladies that lived around my Mom. One year in particular when few of the ladies relatives were able to come to town to pick, I picked 104 pounds of blueberries off those three bushes. They were huge blueberries, but even being large it takes a LOT of blueberries to fill a bushel basket. Lot of hot, hard work but well worth it when you have blueberries all year to eat and to bake with. Since we moved, I sure do miss having free access to blueberries.
Oh my goodness, I can’t imagine picking 104 pounds of blueberries!!! But I’ll bet they were way tastier than anything you can buy at supermarkets… yum!!!
I have never been blueberry picking, but my friend used to have grape vines, and we picked them, with permission of course! I love blueberries, and the recipe looks delicious! Thank you for this chance!
It sounds amazing.
I cannot wait to bake this for my husband!
We’ve never gone blueberry picking, even though we consume gallons of it every year. I currently have 5 one gallon freezer bags of fresh blueberries in my daughter’s basement freezer. We eat is all year round with other fruits topped with yogurt.
No I don’t go blueberry picking anymore.
But try the same recipe using fresh strawberries. Also delicious!!
I remember going to pick blueberries in the woods with my dad when I was a child. When we got home, we picked through those huge buckets and cleaned the berries. Then my mom made pies, muffins, and, my favorite, blueberry buckle!
I have never been blueberry picking. I don’t even think there are blueberries around where I live.
When a kid. Every summer our parents sent us from AZ to OR to visit with grandparents for 2 weeks. If they were doing the tournament circuit it could be 2 or 3 months. Most every time we came up us kids would go out to the fields and pick whatever was ready. Blueberries, strawberries, green beans, etc. We would have a blast. We did our job. But. We made friends, too. For 5 years we did this until my Mom found out. We got a thorough dressing down about our lack of compassion. Mom felt that mostly poor folks did such and we were depriving someone of needed income. Most everyone disagreed with her. But she was adamant. So grams respected her wishes. What us kids did with what we had earned was buy ice cream treats from the truck that went by. For the grandfolks and us on those hot days. Mostly.
I used to go pick and had bushes back in Chicago.
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Love this series. I’ve read all the others and love them. Recipe looks good too.
I have never been blueberry picking. I’ve picked raspberries and blackberries for jam… but have never had the chance to pick blueberries. I feel like I’m missing out!
I have been blueberry picking in the past. In fact, I used to have a blueberry bush in my backyard. That was fun. Thanks for the chance to win.
I haven’t gone blueberry picking, but we always went out berry picking after dinner in the summertime when I was growing up. Lots of wild blackberries, raspberries, and occasionally other berries. This bread sounds so refreshing and tasty.
I used to have two blueberry bushes at my old house. I LOVED THEM. They were covered in blueberries! Loved picking them and making homemaker blueberry pie!
I have never been blueberry picking.
The book looks amazing and I can’t wait to try this recipe. The is VLF your great generosity.
I love picking blueberries. No pricking thornes and can stand up
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I have never picked blueberries but I have picked blackberries.
It’s been a while since the last time I went blueberry picking.
I take my grandchildren blueberry picking every year. We read Blueberries for Sal first!
I have never went blueberry picking (that I know of) but I am sure I would want to eat more than got taken! That is what I did with tomatoes when I was about 2 yrs old! This recipe is perfect for me and my neighbor to share! Thank you so much! I love books with Lee Hollis as one of the authors! Our library carries a LOT of your books!
I think I went when I was a little girl and we visited my grandparents in Maine. But since then I haven’t really lived anywhere that has good blueberries. But I do love them!
Tasty looking book and recipe.
multiple times!
This recipe really looks good. And no I have never been blueberry picking, but I do pick mine up in the grocery store!!
I never had but I would because I love blueberries!
I’ve never been on Blueberry picking, but I do go to the blueberry field near my Sister’s in Michigan to buy them.
I have picked wild blackberries but have not had the chance with blueberries. Blackberries seem much more common in the Southeast. But, I love blueberries and anything with them in it.
I’ve never been blueberry picking- that was one of the few things my grandparents didn’t have. Strawberries, raspberries, grapes, rhubarb, apples, walnuts, asparagus, horseradish….but no blueberries.
Strawberry and grapes and raspberries I have. The recipe sounds delicious. Thank you for the chance I’d love to read it and review it.
I have never been blueberry picking.
I’ve been blueberry picking a couple times.
I’ve never picked blueberries, but I have happy memories of picking strawberries each year with my family.
We have friends in Maine with a huge filed of low bush blueberry plants.
Summer visits are filled with trials of different ways to use the delicious berries.
Love blueberries and have my own bush. I get enough blueberries from it it produces enough for just me.
I’ve gone blueberry picking with my grandkids up in Washington state. Fond memories.
I have never been blue berry picking. Thanks for the giveaway.
thank you for the recipe. YUM I love this cover and the story sounds to die for. LOL sorry I couldnt resist. It sounds wonderful. Yes we go blueberry picking up in Michigan. We bring home a lot and I freeze them. My husband and I are blueberryaholics.
I have never been blueberry picking.
No, not a blueberry picker, but raspberries when I was a kid
Love almost anything cream cheese. Love the cover.
I have never been blueberry picking just when I pick them in the grocery store! LOL! I would love to read Lee’s book! Thanks for the chance!
There’s no place around here anymore. Used to take my kids when they were younger. But I LOVE blueberries, so I get them as often as I can get. Will definitely be making this recipe. Book sounds fantastic. Thanks for the chance.
I have never been blueberry picking.
I have never been blueberry picking. When my children were young, eons ago, we would pick wild blackberries. But blueberries we get from the grocery store. ?
I went blueberry picking is SW Michigan years ago at a fruit farm, but the best blueberries ever were found on a hill in the Arrowhead of Minnesota on a camping trip. Yummy!
I have never went blueberry picking, but my son used to love to eat them slightly frozen.
I have never been blueberry picking.