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MARDI GRAS MURDER, the fourth book in the Cajun Country Mystery series by Ellen Byron, contains an intriguing look at small town Mardi Gras celebrations while providing a humorous cozy mystery read! While I’ve attended the wild festivities of Mardi Gras in New Orleans (in my much younger days) Ms. Bryon paints a delightful and family-oriented picture of how the bayou celebrates the Carnival. Protagonist, Maggie Crozat, is roped into judging the town’s Miss Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen Contest, a contest she has always despised. Making matters worse, the head judge is pretentious and wants his favorite candidate to win the crown. When the judge is murdered practically in front of her, Maggie feels pressure to get involved and help solve the case. Except her boyfriend, Detective Bo Durand, is investigating and doesn’t want her involved. There is new tension between the couple and I wanted to turn the pages faster so I could find how it turns out. The pace of the mystery is lively and pulled me deeper into the story with each passing chapter.

As Maggie digs into the judge’s life, she becomes more aware of his involvement in the area’s historical society. I was fascinated by the author’s inclusion of the history of the area, especially the Orphan Train. This train brought numerous orphans into Louisiana in the early 1900’s for families to raise when no one else would take them. Even though some history is included, the writing is vivid and descriptive, providing substance to the story instead of dragging it away from the plot. Adding to the sense of festivities is Maggie’s dad’s involvement in the town’s annual gumbo competition. His attachment to and reverence of his special gumbo pot and the lengths he goes to creating Louisiana’s official state cuisine adds lightheartedness and humor. I adore Maggie’s family. They are close-knit yet at times there are some arguments and irritation which makes them believable because of the author’s great character development.

Maggie and her family own and operate the Crozat Plantation Bed & Breakfast. Maggie’s mother, Ninette is the cook for both family and guests, serving up mouthwatering dishes and desserts every day. One of the traditional desserts served during Mari Gras is King Cake. Maggie’s Grandmere came up with a recipe for Easy-Peasy King (Bundt) Cake instead of following Ninette’s labor intensive traditional recipe. While I’m not opposed to spending time in the kitchen, sometimes it’s wonderful having a convenient and easy recipe that looks and tastes like it was made 100% from scratch… and this recipe fits the bill perfectly. Canned cinnamon rolls layered into a bundt pan and then slathered with a brown sugar and cinnamon mixture before baking created a lovely cake, especially after the doctored icing was drizzled on. A few sprinkles of the traditional purple (for justice), gold (for power), and green (for faith) sugar completed the look before my guests were wowed by both the appearance and taste. I won’t be relegating Easy-Peasy King (Bundt) Cake to Mardi Gras only… it will definitely become a fixture anytime of the year I serve brunch!  

Amazon Synopsis

Southern charm meets the dark mystery of the bayou as a hundred-year flood, a malicious murder, and a most unusual Mardi Gras converge at the Crozat Plantation B&B.

It’s Mardi Gras season on the bayou, which means parades, pageantry, and gumbo galore. But when a flood upends life in the tiny town of Pelican, Louisiana―and deposits a body of a stranger behind the Crozat Plantation B&B―the celebration takes a decidedly dark turn. The citizens of Pelican are ready to Laissez les bon temps rouler―but there’s beaucoup bad blood on hand this Mardi Gras. 

Maggie Crozat is determined to give the stranger a name and find out why he was murdered. The post-flood recovery has delayed the opening of a controversial exhibit about the little-known Louisiana Orphan Train. And when a judge for the Miss Pelican Mardi Gras Gumbo Queen pageant is shot, Maggie’s convinced the murder is connected to the body on the bayou. Does someone covet the pageant queen crown enough to kill for it? Could the deaths be related to the Orphan Train, which delivered its last charges to Louisiana in 1929? The leads are thin on this Fat Tuesday―and until the killer is unmasked, no one in Pelican is safe. 

A special thanks to Ellen Byron for providing a winner with a hardcover copy of MARDI GRAS MURDER. Contest ends Sunday, October 14, 2018 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!)  

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Easy-Peasy King (Bundt) Cake

The Crozats generally leave the baking to Ninette or order delicious treats from Fais Dough Dough. But if Maggie's called upon to make a King Cake, she follows Gran's advice and takes a tasty shortcut, using cinnamon roll dough. Gran's super-easy King Cake recipe will have all your friends thinking you made one from scratch. Tradition dictates whoever gets the baby in their slice of King Cake has to provide the cake for the following year's Mardi Gras celebration.

Ingredients

The Cake

• 2 17.5 ounce cans jumbo cinnamon rolls (reserve icing packets)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

The Frosting

• 3 ounces whipped cream cheese
• Both frosting packets from cinnamon roll cans
• A little milk to thin the frosting
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Purple-, green-, and yellow-colored sugar
• 1 tiny plastic baby

Instructions

The Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F).

2. Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pinch of salt.

3. Layer the cinnamon rolls, one by one, in the bottom of a Bundt pan so they overlap. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over the top, pressing it into the uncooked buns gently with the back of a spoon or spatula.

4. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, until cinnamon rolls are done. Let cool. When the cake is completely cooled, poke the plastic baby inside it, then flip the cake over onto a plate or cake plate.

The Frosting:

1. Blend the cream cheese, icing packets, vanilla and milk together. Frost the cake.

2. Once the cake is frosted, sprinkle it with alternating rows of purple-, green-, and yellow-colored sugar.

3. Serves 8 - 16, depending on how big you cut the slices.

4. Alert guests to the baby so it doesn't become a choking hazard!

Notes

If you're interested in an authentic King Cake, bakeries around Louisiana will ship them during the weeks prior to Mardi Gras. 

 

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I’m celebrating both my one-year book-iversary for A GAME OF DECEIT and my birthday by giving away a $20 Amazon gift card and a print copy of my book!  Plus A GAME OF DECEIT e-book is on sale for only $0.99 at: https://www.amazon.com/A Game-Deceit

I am grateful to all of you who have been so encouraging to me both as a writer and a blogger this past year!

I’m also sharing my recipe from A GAME OF DECEIT for Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze. I’ve been making this cake for years and it’s always been a hit with it’s supremely moist crumb and refreshing, lemony flavor. Best of all, since it relies on a boxed mix, it’s easy to throw together so you can get out of the kitchen in a timely manner and have plenty of time to celebrate any special occasion! 

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Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 (3.4 ounce) box instant lemon pudding mix
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup sherry (or whole milk)
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup poppy seeds

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (or more as needed)

Instructions

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

2. Heavily grease a bundt pan with vegetable shortening (not butter) and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

3. In a large bowl whisk the cake mix and instant pudding mix together.

4. Add the lemon zest, sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs and sherry (or milk).

5. Using an electric mixer (either handheld or stand), beat until the batter is smooth, about 2 minutes.

6. Stir in the poppy seeds.

7. Pour cake batter into prepared baking pan and bake for 40 - 50 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted comes out mostly clean. A few moist crumbs clinging is fine.

8. Allow to cool in the pan 10 minutes before inverting cake onto a serving platter.

9. Allow to cool completely before drizzling with glaze.

Glaze

1. Whisk the powdered sugar and lemon juice together until smooth. If the mixture is too thick to drizzle, add lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.

2. Drizzle glaze over completely cooled cake.

3. Store at room temperature, covered, for up to 3 days.

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Amazon Synopsis

A father’s disappearance never solved, a mother’s secret taken to the grave, a daughter deceived…

Kathryn Landry thinks her life is just about perfect. She is the owner of a successful interior designer business in Newport Beach, California, and she has an attentive, supportive husband. But her world comes crashing down when her husband, Neil Landry, vanishes without a trace… in a situation almost identical to the disappearance of her father twenty years before.

With her father’s disappearance still a mystery, Kathryn is skeptical that the detective assigned to her case will be able to find her husband. Determined to uncover the truth, Kathryn is plunged into a world of politics, high-priced call girls and wealth. As she begins to search for her husband, a decades-old secret her mother took to the grave threatens to destroy all she holds dear. Caught up in a web of betrayals and deceit, and not knowing who to trust, Kathryn must find a way to survive as she discovers the past has a way of repeating itself.

“…Davis deftly keeps readers as up in the air as Kathryn throughout this well-crafted tale. An impressive thriller by an author worth following.” – Kirkus Reviews

“In A Game of Deceit author K. A. Davis offers up a taut, edge-of-your-seat suspense novel that will make you lock the doors, close the blinds, and wonder who you can truly trust. Don’t miss this great debut from Ms. Davis.” – Paige Shelton, New York Times Bestselling author of the Farmers’ Market, Country Cooking School, Dangerous Type, and Scottish Bookshop mysteries.

“In A Game of Deceit, K. A. Davis has crafted an emotional suspense with a taut, satisfying ending that should delight any fan of Mary Higgins Clark.” – Daryl Wood Gerber, Agatha Award-winning author of the Cookbook Nook, French Bistro Mysteries, and Cheese Shop Mysteries, and the stand-alone suspense novels, GIRL ON THE RUN and DAY OF SECRETS. 

“Sly, sexy and spellbinding, A Game of Deceit grabs you in the first chapter and doesn’t let you go until its breathtaking finish. Debut author K. A. Davis creates a riveting tale of betrayal, family, suspense and murder.” – Jenny Kales, author of The Callie’s Kitchen Mystery series.

“A Game of Deceit is a marvelous read packed with action, suspense and intrigue. I couldn’t put it down!” – Catherine Bruns, USA Today Best Selling Author of the Cookies & Chance mysteries.

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DEATH ON THE MENU, the long-anticipated eighth book in the Key West Food Critic Mystery series by Lucy Burdette, lived up to my expectations and even surpassed them! I am a huge fan of history and different cultures, so when I found out that Ms. Burdette combined a cozy mystery with an influence of the relations between the U.S. and Cuba, I knew I needed to read it. Never heavy-handed or dreary, the author brings the Cuban culture and food to life in her setting. I appreciated the way she explored the land-mined affairs between two countries, who are barely 90 miles apart, by creating social situations for the dignitaries and politicians to interact with. She effectively interjects the protagonist, Hayley Snow, into the mix by having her mother cater the events. When things go oh so wrong, Hayley is there to step up and help her mother and friends out. I could see the scenes, smell and taste the food, and feel the danger through the descriptive language used.

I also greatly enjoyed the bits and pieces of history woven in on the life and legend of Ernest Hemingway, which adds to the flavor of the Key West tropical setting. Ms. Burdette uses Hemingway’s Nobel Prize gold medal for The Old Man and the Sea, which is discovered stolen from its case. This is the catalyst that starts the plot off and from there, murder and intriguing subplots are woven in and my interest was captured from the beginning to the very last page. Hayley is a marvelous protagonist. Her personality and self-esteem has grown tremendously from the beginning of this series and I feel like she’s finally come into her own. Her relationship with her feisty octogenarian roommate is adorable and the interaction between these two strong females lights up the pages. I am so excited that this series is continuing and can’t wait to read the next installment!

With all the delectable Cuban foods mentioned on the pages, you’ll be drooling by the time you get to the end of the story. Fortunately, the author includes several recipes at the back of the book and I want to try them all. In the end I decided to try the Mojito Cake recipe first, since I was visiting family to celebrate my aunt’s 90th birthday and wanted to take a special dessert. The combination of lime and mint is amazing and will definitely have you thinking of mojitos on a hot summer day! A note: if you’re not a fan of mint at all (like a couple of my family members), leave it out. The lime-laden cake will still be delicious. I loved the lightness of the whipped cream frosting instead of the typical heavy, sugary frosting generally used. The whipped cream really allowed the refreshing flavors to shine through while being super easy to make. Garnished with fresh limes and mint, the elegance of this cake belies the ease of making it!

Amazon Synopsis

When a killer strikes just before flan time, beloved food critic Hayley Snow is forced to sniff out the killer before someone else bites the dust.

Hayley Snow, fiery food critic for Key Zest magazine, has just landed a ticket to one of the most prestigious events in Key West: a high-brow three-day conference at the Harry Truman Little White House. Even though she’ll be working the event helping her mother’s fledgling catering business, there’s plenty of spicy gossip to go around. But just before her mother’s decadent flan is put to the test, Key West’s most prized possession, Hemingway’s Nobel prize gold medal for The Old Man and the Sea, is discovered stolen from its case. 

Unsavory suspicions point to Gabriel, a family friend and one of the new busboys working the event, who mysteriously goes missing moments later. Anxious to clear his name, Gabriel’s family enlists Hayley to help find him, but right as they begin their search, his body is found stabbed to death in the storeroom. 

Hayley has no shortage of suspects to interrogate and very little time before the killer adds another victim to the menu in national bestselling author Lucy Burdette’s delectable eighth Key West Food Critic mystery, Death on the Menu.

A special thanks to Lucy Burdette for providing a winner with a hardcover copy of DEATH ON THE MENU. Contest ends Monday, August 13, 2018 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!)  

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Mojito Cake

In this eighth Key West mystery, Hayley and her mother, Janet, are catering a Key West/Havana conference at the Truman Little White House. This is the dessert they serve for the final dinner. The basis of this recipe came from a cookbook called Cuba! - Recipes and Stories from the Cuban Kitchen. I love lime cake and yellow cake and whipped cream, so you can imagine that this recipe was irresistible. I know Mojitos require rum, and yet I am not a big fan of alcohol-flavored desserts. So I chose to leave the rum extract out of the cake, and instead, add a teaspoon of rum. This gives it a little soupçon of flavor without overwhelming the cake. I also reduced the salt in the batter and the rum in the frosting. You can adjust the rum upward to a tablespoon if you choose. 

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder (low-sodium works fine)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon rum

For the Lime Mint Syrup

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, tightly packed
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

For the Frosting

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream*
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon dark rum
• Thin slices of lime, or lime zest, or mint leaves, for decorations

Instructions

For the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

2. Prepare two 8- or 9-inch cake pans by buttering them and lining with parchment paper. Butter the paper too. 

3. Mix the dry ingredients for the cake together and set this aside.

4. In your KitchenAid stand mixer, food processor, or with an electric beater, beat the butter well with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla extract, the lime zest, and the rum. Fold in the dry ingredients. Don't overmix. Stir in the milk.

5. Divide the batter into the two prepared pans and bake about 30 minutes for the 9-inch pans or about 40 minutes for the 8-inch pans, until the cakes spring back when touches. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, and then remove them from the pans and cool completely.

For the Lime Mint Syrup

1. Heat the sugar and water in a small pan until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat and stir in the mint leaves. Let them steep for 10 minutes, then strain them out and stir in the lime juice. Paint this glaze onto each layer of cake with a pastry brush.

For the Frosting

1. Whip the cream and sugar until stiff, and stir in the rum. Dollop half of the whipped cream onto the first layer. Place the second layer on top and spread the remainder of the cream over that. Decorate with thin slices of lime or mint leaves as desired.

Cinnamon & Sugar's Notes

1. If desired, split each cake round in half for four layers. To fill the layers with whipped cream and completely cover the cake, increase heavy cream to 3 cups and powdered sugar to 1/4 cup. If you prefer a sweeter frosting, increase the powdered sugar up to 1/2 cup. 

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CLAWS OF DEATH, the second book in the Cat Lady Mystery series by Linda Reilly, is a sweet, sentimental story that is also an entertaining whodunit with a mystical twist! Protagonist Lara Caphart, with her Aunt Fran, have turned their home into High Cliff Shelter for Cats in the small New Hampshire town of Whisker Jog. Lara has a “guardian”, a Ragdoll cat that only she can see, who guides her and helps match up felines with fur-ever homes. Even if you’re not a cat person, you can’t help but love the sweet scenes connecting kitties with homes, especially when children are involved. I also enjoyed the ideas Lara comes up with to involve the community with the shelter, especially having kids practice reading to the cats waiting for families! I also appreciated that Ms. Reilly starts the book with a list of feline characters living at their shelter. It’s an adorable touch.

The mystery plot is fast paced with plenty of suspects to guess about who murdered a local man and if the new resident in town, actress Deanna Daltry, is really guilty. I love mysteries that weave in long-ago stories that need unraveled in order to solve the current day crime. Ms. Reilly’s writing flows and the clues are sprinkled evenly throughout the story to keep the reader guessing and turning pages. The subplots added to the appeal of the book yet didn’t detract from the main event. The suspenseful conclusion had me turning pages faster and faster and ended on a sweet, emotional note. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for Lara and her mystical Ragdoll, Blue!

In the story, Lara meets her boyfriend’s uncle and makes a connection with the elderly man. She bakes him a Blueberry Buckle and thankfully the author includes a recipe for it at the back of the book. My family adores blueberries so I knew it would be a hit! There’s nothing better than sweet, ripe blueberries paired with a tender, moist cake. Adding some vanilla ice cream to each serving makes this the perfect summer treat!

Amazon Synopsis

Whisker Jog, New Hampshire, is a long way from Hollywood, but it’s the place legendary actress Deanna Daltry wants to call home. Taking up residence in a stone mansion off Cemetery Hill, the retired, yet still glamorous, septuagenarian has adopted two kittens from Lara Caphart’s High Cliff Shelter for Cats. With help from her Aunt Fran, Lara makes sure the kitties settle in safely with their new celebrity mom. 
 
But not everyone in town is a fan of the fading star. Deanna was in Whisker Jog when she was younger, earning a reputation for pussyfooting around, and someone is using that knowledge against her. After being frightened by some nasty pranks, Deanna finds herself the prime murder suspect when the body of a local teacher is found on her property. Now, it’s up to Lara, Aunt Fran, and the blue-eyed Ragdoll mystery cat Lara recently encountered to collar a killer before another victim is pounced upon . . .

A special thanks to Linda Reilly for providing a winner with an e-book copy of CLAWS OF DEATH! Contest ends Sunday, July 22, 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!)  

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Lara's Blueberry Buckle

Ingredients

Ingredients for cake:

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (preferably sifted)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Ingredients for streusel topping:

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter

Instructions

Directions for cake:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F).

2. Grease an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan.

3. In a bowl, blend the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter, 3/4 cup sugar, egg, vanilla, and lemon zest.

5. Alternately add the milk and the flour mixture to the sugar/butter mixture.

6. Add blueberries, stirring only enough to blend.

7. Pour batter into pan.

Instructions for streusel topping:

1. In a small bowl, blend the white and brown sugars, flour, and cinnamon.

2. With a fork or pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

3. Sprinkle evenly over the cake batter.

4. Bake at 375 degrees (F) for 40 to 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Cool on wire rack, then serve right from pan. 

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