Friday, December 28, 2018

Drinks with Reads 2018 Recap




On Fridays, we match excellent reads with the perfect drink recipe with help from our favorite authors. Here are the recipes for all of 2018. Enjoy! 


January 
5 - Rebecca Marks, STONE COLD SOBER 
12 - Elizabeth Peters, STREET OF FIVE MOONS
19 - Daniel Silva's THE MARCHING SEASON
26 - Cathy Ace, THE CASE OF THE UNSUITABLE SUITOR

February
2 - Cate Holahan, LIES SHE TOLD
9 - Sparkle Abbey, BARKING WITH THE STARS
16 - Art Taylor, "A Necessary Ingredient", COAST TO COAST
23 - JD Allen, 19 SOULS


March 
2 - Carola Dunn, DOOMED FOR YOUTH
9 - Mary & David Putnam, THE INNOCENTS
16 - Carol Perry, IT TAKES A COVEN
23 - Charles Salzberg, SECOND STORY MAN
30 - Charles Soule, THE ORACLE YEAR

April
6 - Lisa Kaplan, Diane Mott Davidson's GOLDY BEAR CULINARY SERIES
13 - Shawn Reilly Simmons, MURDER ON THE ROCKS
20 - Vivian Chien, DEATH BY DUMPLING
27 - Kerry Hammond, MURDER MOST GEOGRAPHICAL 




May - Short Story Month  
4 - Deborah Lacy, "Taking Care," ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE
11 - Paul D. Marks, "Ghosts of Bunker Hill," ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE
18 - Terrie Farley Moran, "Inquiry and Assistance," ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE
25 - Edith Maxwell,"A Divination" MURDER MOST GEOGRAPHICAL



June
1 - Andy Siegle, TUG WILER SERIES
8 - R.G. Belsky, YESTERDAY'S NEWS
15 - Agatha Christie, DEATH IN THE AIR
22 - Robert Downs, THE FIX
29 - Susan Breen, MAGGIE DOVE DETECTIVE AGENCY

July 
6 - Peter James, DEAD IF YOU DON'T
13 - Art Taylor, "ENGLISH 398: FICTION WORKSHOP"
20 - Gary Basnight, FLIGHT OF THE FOX
27 - Devon Delany, EXPIRATION DATE


August
3 - Maya Corrigan, S'MORE MURDERS
10 - Lucy Burdette, DEATH ON THE MENU
17 - David Putnam, FIRE AT WILL
31 - Nancy Parrish, A CASE OF SYRAH, SYRAH

September 
21 - Kathy Krevat, THE TROUBLE WITH THE TRUTH
28 - Mollie Cox Bryan, ASSAULT AND BEADERY


October 
5 - Laura Child, GLITTER BOMB
19 - Ellen Byron, MARDI GRAS MURDER
26 - Devon Delany, FINAL ROASTING PLACE

November 
2 - Cathi Stoler, BAR NONE
9 - Carol Perry, BELLS, SPELLS AND MURDERS
16 - Peter James, ABSOLUTE PROOF
23 - Deborah Lacy & Pat Hernas, WUTHERING STACKS
30 - Martin Osterdahl, ASK NO MERCY



December
7 - Patricia Moyes, DEAD MEN DON'T SKI
14 - Alex Erickson, DEATH BY EGGNOG
21 - Our Favorite Stocking Stuffers
28 - 2018 Recap


None of these blog posts are suited for children under 21.

A Big Thank You to all of our guests. Happy New Year!


Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Paperback Stocking Stuffer Ideas


It's time to get serious about stocking stuffers and do we have some great paperback options for you. First off we have Carol J. Perry's Bell, Spells and Murders, a fun holiday cozy mystery with a side of witchcraft and mayhem. Here's the candy cane cranberry drink that Carol suggests to go with it

Mixing a little New Orleans Cajun Country and Christmas with a pinch of murder gets you Ellen Byron's A Cajun Christmas Killing.




For those who prefer shorter bites of mystery year-round, perhaps a subscription to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Single issues can be found in Books A Million and most Barnes & Noble stores. 










Fans of Michael Connelly may like his most recent Harry Bosch novel in paperback that's widely available in the US, Two Kinds of Truth. Although I see that Amazon has some international edition paperback copies of his most recent hardback, Dark Sacred Night. 



For fans of more traditional mysteries, pick up a copy of Agatha Christie's Poirot novel, Hercule Poirot's Christmas.





Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Mystery Themed Calendars



2019 is right around the corner and how can one plan one's busy mystery reading schedule without the perfect mystery or book themed calendar? 

No worries. We have you covered with the best of the best, starting with the Reading Woman calendar from Pomegranate Press, filled with 12 works of art featuring a woman in the middle of our favorite past time. 




If you miss our favorite Sherlock show, then the BBC Sherlock calendar above might be perfect, or the wall calendar with the floor plan of 221 B below.





Or how about an NCIS calendar? Or this fabulous Bodelian Libraries wall calendar from the Oxford Library.



Which one will you choose? 



Friday, December 14, 2018

Eggnog and A Mystery



It's time for holiday parties and murder with Alex Erickson's new novel, Death by Eggnog and an excellent eggnog recipe to match. If this doesn't get you ready for Christmas, I don't know what will.

Death by Eggnog, the fifth Bookstore CafĂ© mystery, opens with our heroine, Krissy Hancock, being recruited to fill in at the community theatre by her friend and town gossip, Rita Jablonski. Of course, Rita doesn’t bother telling her that the Christmas play is a musical. Krissy doesn’t have long to learn the lines, let alone the songs, and things only get worse when the man playing Santa ends up getting murdered.

Krissy is no stranger to solving murders in the small town of Pine Hills, so when her ex-boyfriend, Robert, is accused of killing Santa, she can’t help but investigate. Unfortunately for her, the director refuses to call off the play, so while she’s busy trying to solve a murder, she has to continue to sing and dance for a show that was doomed from the start.

Eggnog is not only a perfect beverage for this time of year, but it was also a favorite of our murdered Santa. In fact, he was drinking it when he died, though he never did say whether or not his personal recipe contained rum or bourbon (but yours can!)

The recipe:

6 beaten eggs
2 cups milk
1/3 cup of sugar
2 - 4 tablespoons rum (optional)
2 - 4 tablespoons bourbon (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
Whipped cream
Ground nutmeg

Stir together the eggs, milk, and 1/3 cup of sugar in a heavy, large saucepan. Cook and stir continuously over medium heat until the mixture reaches 160 degrees (should coat a spoon). Remove from heat. Cool by placing the pan in very cold water. Continue to stir while the mixture cools (1-2 minutes). Stir in vanilla, as well as your alcohol of choice (if you desire a kick.) Chill in the fridge for 4 - 24 hours.

When ready to serve, whip cream and remaining sugar until soft peaks form. Transfer chilled egg mixture to serving container. Fold in whipped-cream mixture and top each serving with whipped cream. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Makes approximately 10 4-ounce servings.

Alex Erickson can be found online on Facebook and 

Friday, December 7, 2018

Dead Men Don’t Ski and The Black Manhattan



Kerry Hammond is here to pair a book with a cold setting to a drink that will warm you up.

Dead Men Don’t Ski by Patricia Moyes is the first book in the Inspector Tibbett series. The series, which Moyes started writing in 1959, continued through 19 books and ended in 1993. I usually spend the month of December reading Christmas themed books or ones set in snowy places and this book was a perfect addition to this year’s reads.

Inspector Henry Tibbett has been asked by the powers that be to take a ski holiday, with his wife in tow, to keep an eye out for any strange happenings. The location is a mountain town in Italy and the others guests they meet are extremely interesting. When a dead body is found traveling down on the ski lift, Henry must take a second look at his fellow travelers, this time wondering if any of them are capable of murder.

I love the story, the setting, and the characters. Everything was reminiscent of the classic mysteries I love to read: Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Dorothy Sayers. Tibbett is a very likeable and competent detective, he keeps a level head and avoids making snap judgments—unlike the Italian Detective he is working with.  

I paired the book with a Black Manhattan, a variation of the popular Manhattan that uses Averna instead of vermouth. It’s a great drink for apres ski, or anytime it’s cold outside.

2 oz. rye whiskey
1 oz. Averna
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash Regans’ Orange Bitters No. 6
Cocktail cherry

Stir well with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a cocktail cherry.