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DEATH OF A COOKBOOK AUTHOR is the tenth book in the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery series by Lee Hollis and is an entertaining page turner! I love that Hayley is an “older” woman, her children grown and on their own. She writes a successful food and cocktail column for the Island Times newspaper in Bar Harbor, Maine. The author includes several of Hayley’s columns sprinkled throughout the book and they add a peek into her personal life as she shares snippets of memories, anecdotes and recipes. It truly is a unique way for the reader to feel like they know the protagonist. When Hayley is invited to spend the 4th of July weekend at Penelope Janices’ estate and participate in a celebrity potluck casserole competition, Hayley can’t believe her good luck. It’s cute how she goes all fan-girl over Penelope, the famous cooking and lifestyle star on the Flavor Network. I’m sure I would act just like her if I ever had the chance to meet a famous television personality.
Hayley believes she overhears a plot between Penelope’s husband and assistant to murder the famous woman. However, it’s Penelope’s husband that ends up dead shortly thereafter and Hayley has a difficult time believing it was just an accident like the police say. Not one to shy away from asking questions and finding out the truth, she starts digging and uncovers a multitude of secrets that the rich and famous weekend guests have tried to hide… but could that make one of them a killer? I have to hand it to Hayley, even though she managed to make most of the guests mad at her, she doesn’t let it deter her. The exciting reveal pulls the reader in and keeps you turning pages faster and faster and just when I gave a sigh of relief that justice was served, the author threw in one last twist that I didn’t see coming!
The theme of the recipes centered around the celebrity completion are casseroles and Hayley has recipes galore that she shares with readers, along with some delicious cocktail concoctions! I’ll admit, I love casseroles for their ease of serving larger groups and the leftovers typically reheat well. I was intrigued by Hayley’s recipe for Summer Corn Casserole, which is actually a side dish… except I loved it so much I felt like I could easily make it a main vegetarian meal! Super easy to mix together and bake, the corn flavor shines through. And since frozen or canned corn may be used instead of fresh summer corn, I can enjoy this year round!
Amazon Synopsis
Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell will be cooking alongside top chefs at a cookbook author’s party. But a killer plans to ruin her appetite . . .
When Hayley’s idol, cookbook author and TV personality Penelope Janice, invites her to participate in a Fourth of July celebrity cook-off at her seaside estate in Seal Harbor, Maine, Hayley couldn’t be more flattered. She just hopes she can measure up. With a who’s who of famous chefs whipping up their signature dishes, this holiday weekend has all the ingredients for a once-in-a-lifetime culinary experience.
Instead, Hayley gets food poisoning her first night and thinks she overhears two people cooking up a murder plot. The next morning, a body is found at the bottom of a cliff. Tragic accident or foul play? To solve a real cliffhanger, Hayley will need to uncover some simmering secrets—before a killer boils over again . . .
A special thanks to Lee Hollis for providing a print copy of DEATH OF A COOKBOOK AUTHOR for one lucky winner. Contest is limited to U.S. residents only and ends Sunday, May 6, 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!)
- 2 - 2-1/2 cups fresh corn off the cob (about 5 ears) you can substitute frozen or canned
- 1 can cream-style corn
- 1 8.5 ounce box Jiffy corn muffin mix*
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (F).
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Combine both your corns, Jiffy mix, and sour cream in a mixing bowl.
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Melt your butter and add to the bowl and mix all together.
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Pour the corn mixture into a greased casserole dish and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with shredded cheese on top and bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.
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Remove from oven and serve.
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I successfully substituted a gluten-free cornbread mix for the Jiffy mix by weighing out 8.5 ounces of the mix and proceeding with the recipe as written.
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I was provided an advance copy with the hopes I would review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I do collect the Cooking Light cookbooks, and also I have a number of America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks. Other than that, I have a affection for celebrity cookbooks, although there is not one author I follow. Thanks for the chance to win!
I love the Gooseberry Patch cookbooks! They have great recipes with comments,stories and crafts thrown in!
I do love cozy series that have recipes in them.
Thanks for the giveaway!
No, I look through cookbooks and often find there is only one or two recipes I would make. i have found myself making more recipes out of cozy mysteries than cookbooks.
I don’t use cookbooks enough to have a favorite author. But, I was interested in the summer corn casserole to compare it to corn pudding. Very similar.
I don’t have a favorite cookbook author or series. I have a bunch of random cookbooks I’ve collected over the years that I love and honestly now, I find everything on pinterest for the most part.
No favorite. Just about all cookbooks have something I would like to cook!
I don’t really have a favorite cookbook series, although I do have a variety of favorite cookbooks. Most of them are southern style cooking. I get a lot of inspiration from blogs and sites like AllRecipes. I love those videos that show you how things are made!
A friend of my Mom’s who is an amazing cook, has self-published some cookbooks that I really love. They are my go-to cookbooks ~
I read most of the mystery series which contain recipes and involve a cook or baker as the main character. I enjoy these books, they’re always a fun read. the summer corn casserole is one of my Mother in law’s favorite.
I love corn casserole. It is always a hit with our family get togethers! There is no a particular cookbook/author/series that I use, but i do collect unique cookbooks……I have the original Nancy Drew cookbook, the Laura Ingalls Wilder cookbook, Patricia Cornwell’s cookbook, etc
Good heavens! Sour cream, butter, and cheese! It ought to taste fantastic.
I could sit and read cookbooks for hours.Just love recipes!! I even think about recipes when I go to bed!!!? Ha
I enjoy reading books that have recipes in them, they give me some ideas to maybe try (but most end up as epic fails on my part.. I’m not a good Baker or cook.. but I try sometimes if it seems like I can do it)
I can’t pick a favorite but I have adored all that I have read.
I am an avid cookbook collector and have way too many. I love cozy mysteries that have to do with cooking and read Cleo Coyle, Leighann Dobbs, Laura Childs, JoAnna Carl, Joanne Fluke, Diane Mott Davidson to name a few
We don’t use traditional cookbooks at my house. Our fave recipes are either just handed down or from family/church/organization cookbooks. I like reading mysteries much more than cooking or cookbooks lol! I do enjoy reading through recipes inside cozy mysteries though just haven’t tried any of them yet.
I have a cook book that our family got together and made and a Betty Crocker cook book. Thank you for a chance to win a print copy of Death Of A Cookbook Author.
No favorite cook book
Love to read – love to eat – hate to cook!
Not really, just favorites from friends and family.
I really like the Gooseberry Patch cookbooks I got, they have great tasting recipes.
We have several cookbooks on the counter that we go between but the old Betty Crocker we still use a lot! Thank you for the chance!
I haven’t heard of this recipe before and it looks yummy! Looks like it will be on the potluck menu this month. The book looks like a page turner too!
I have made this before…and my family loves it!
A neighbor had a series of HP cookbooks I liked – great photos of the dishes and easy recipes.
Ree Drummond’s cookbooks are awesome. Delicious recipes and great pictures. ?
“Do you have a favorite cookbook author or cookbook series you follow?” I always yearned to have those fancy “Gourmet” cookbooks from Gourmet Magazine years ago!
I like the Cook’s Country and Pionerr Woman’s cookbooks.
I don’t have a favorite cookbook.
I love cookbooks and have amassed a large collection of them by many different chefs. If I had to choose a favorite cookbook line it would be the Frugal Gourmet series by Jeff Smith. He filled his cookbooks with interesting information and personal stories to go with the recipes. I also enjoy the 3 book set that Alton Brown put out since it includes the chemistry of cooking.
I love cookbooks and have amassed a large collection of them by many different chefs. If I had to choose a favorite cookbook line it would be the Frugal Gourmet series by Jeff Smith. He filled his cookbooks with interesting information and personal stories to go with the recipes. I also enjoy the 3 book set that Alton Brown put out since it includes the chemistry of cooking.
Back in the day, I loved Betty Crocker cookbooks. But now I just look recipes up on Google.
I love The Pioneer Woman cookbooks! Country cooking at it’s finest.
Do not collect cookbooks
I have a community cookbook that I enjoy using. Some of the recipes are very detailed. I also find a few entertaining. There is a recipe for a chocolate cake. It calls for a chocolate cake mix and store bought icing. The summer corn casserole looks delish!
At one time I had 800 to 1000 full sized cookbooks. When down sizing I donated 500 or so and I’m happy with the ones I have so have only bought for as gifts.
My Fannie Farmer cookbook of the 60’s is one of my favorites. I also have recipes in 7 or 8 national cookbooks so obviously, ha, like those.
Nowadays it’s cooking from memory and baking with a quick recipe check to be precise if need be. After 55 years of cooking and baking etc. We have lots of favorites but I will still try new recipes if it sounds like our family would like the ingredients in that particular recipe. I still have lots of recipes on recipe cards in wooden, etc. boxes which someday will be considered primative. ?
I also have lots of recipes online in files.
Happy cooking everyone.
A lot of my favorite recipes are from my mom’s Betty Crocker cookbook.
I may just have to control my urge to try this recipe since I must wait for sweet corn season! Luckily, I won’t have to wait for the book…thanks for the chance!
I love church cookbooks—the old ones are the best. I have some from my mother that are about 60 years old—it’s fun to make those old recipes that you remember from childhood.
I love summer corn casserole, fresh creamed corn, corn salad, corn soup….. anything corn!!! I especially enjoy the casserole with ham and/or roast beef. I attend a pot luck at my senior center every month and I love sampling several of the items that appeal to me, then I ask for the recipes. I have several binders with foods have enjoyed.
This book looks right up my counter!!!
I enjoy reading cozies with recipes and have tried some of them too. I love this series by Lee Hollis so much. I am always awaiting the next book. Can’t wait to see wait Haley Powell and friends are up to next. And her column. What a hoot. I’m glad I don’t have a friend or sister that writes a column for a local paper. LOL Thank you so much for this chance.
I love just about all cookbooks and have tons of them. Some of my favorite ones are with Amish recipes. My all time favorite one is mine. Years ago I took tried and true recipes from my Mom, Granny and other relatives and friends and typed them up putting the recipes in sleeves and all in a 3 ring binder. I even have helpful hint section, information about spices, etc. I took about a year to make it. I did it the year after our daughter died to keep me busy. The next year I printed off and made 3 copies – one for my Mom, one for my husband’s Mom and one for me. When Mom died, I gave her copy to my best friend who says she treasures it. I still add to it with recipes that I find and make that people keep asking me to make.
I don’t have any one favorite – just got Joanna Gaines’ new cookbook! I have 3 of Ree Drummonds’, so maybe she’s my favorite so far! Also enjoy the Gooseberry Patch cookbooks, especially since I have recipes in 3 different ones (so far)!
I enjoy the Taste of Home cookbooks that they put out. This recipe looks delicious! Can’t wait to make it this summer.
I am really intrigued by the summary of the book. Don’t think I have come across a food and cocktail columnist main character in a culinary cozy before. Looks like a fun read!
Oh and I really loved reading Ruth Reichl’s cookbook and books.
I love all cookbooks. It fascinates me how so many people can take similar ingredients and make so many
different dishes. Thanks for the chance to enter a giveaway and for the delicious recipe.
My favorite cookbook author is Laura Childs! I especially love the recipes she shares in her “Tea Shop Mysteries.”
No, not really. I have read several cozies with recipes included, but I haven’t actually tried any of the recipes. I have copied the recipes thinking I’d try, and maybe some day, but hubby does the cooking and I’ve gotten spoiled to stay out of the kitchen. hahaha
I do like Laura Childs. And I have Debbie Macomber’s Table: Sharing the Joy of Cooking with Family and Friends. I also like collecting church cookbooks as they always have some tried and true recipes.
I love searching through cookbooks. Love my old Better Homes and Betty Crocker. I’ve had them since I got married and they’ve never failed me!
I enjoy getting recipes by going through various magazines at the library. I also have copied down some from cozies I have read, from friend’s posts and some cookbooks I have purchased over the years. Still have them on 3 X 5 cards!
Thanks for the chance to win!!
I have a cookbook that goes by states. The dish that’s considered from there. I only tried two disshes but I love the book. Just looking through it.
I have quite a few Taste of Home cookbooks. I really love them. I also like Food Network cookbooks.
I do not have a favorite series or cookbook author – I love too many of them. Books with recipes are a favorite!
I am a huge fan of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and I love when authors include recipes to go along with their stories Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I love cookbooks but really don’t cook much at all. Mostly my son just says make this please and says a bunch of ingredients and leaves the room. He is a good cook but after getting up at 3 am he is too tired to cook dinner. I don’t follow any specific books or chefs.
I love The Pioneer Woman cookbooks! (Practical and interesting recipes)
I read a lot of cozy mysteries with recipies. I have a Betty Crocker cookbook.
I don’t collect a specific author or series. I browse cookbooks and find what catches my eye and what one has recipes I’m interested in and that look yummy/
I mostly read cozies with a food theme like Maddie Day, Amanda Flower’s Amish candy store, Joanne Fluke, Tonya Kappes” Killer Coffee mystery series, Gayle Leeson’s Down South Café series and I could go on…….,
I love the recipe! It’s one of the top dishes my son requests.
No favorite cookbook, but I do like to look at them sometimes. I do like stores with “food” themes. This recipe sounds wonderful and I think I may actually make it.
I stand by my Mother’s Betty Crocker Cookbook but I do love to look at the recipes on Mystery Lovers Kitchen…thank you for the recipe on Corn…I can use this…
Marilyn [email protected]
I like the Betty Crocker cookbook. Thanks for the chance. Maceoindo(at)yahoo(dot)com