Drink with Reads: Madness of the Q

 

Gray Basnight joins us today on Drinks with Reads to celebrate his new book, The Madness of Q, jus tin time for the holidays...

 

Glad to be back with Drinks with Reads. Here’s a stiff one, in honor of cryptologist and math Professor Sam Teagarden who makes his return in Madness of the Q.  He’s begrudgingly recruited by the FBI and CIA to help global chaos triggered by discovery of a 1st Century document found beneath an ancient church in northern Israel. Apparently written by Christian monks, it causes mass madness among cults and fanatics. Is it the encoded missing gospel, known in the theology world as the Quelle Document, or Q Document?  

 

Sam Teagarden accepts the mission to find out, only to learn that his main job, which has him careening from New York to Israel, Venice, Rome, and Berlin—is his own survival.  So Sam, if you make it back to New York, mix one of these, take a deep breath, and sip slowly. 

 

Have a Q-Tonic while devouring Madness of the Q

• Mix 3 oz of Quince brand gin with a dash of Quassia brand bitter spice and shake with ice; then strain over fresh rocks
• Add desired amount of Q Tonic brand tonic water (which contains real quinine, so take note if you have health issues) 
• Sprinkle two drops of Bénédictine sweet liqueur in honor of the mad monks who may have caused a 21^st Century stir of another kind
• Instead of a twist, garnish with little men scrambling up and out of the glass, reflecting the madness of it all
• Sip and enjoy

There you have it, a tangy version of the classic Gin and Tonic to accompany and soothe the fictional frenzy invoked through Madness of the Q.

 

More About Madness of the Q

 

The Quelle Document (German for the word “source”), widely known as The Q Doc, is a theorized missing source for much of the New Testament.

 

In Madness of the Q, it’s no longer a mere theory.  It’s real.  And when news of its existence leaks, Jonestown-style suicide erupts across the globe among two fervent groups who alternately fear or cheer that it may repudiate the foundations of Christianity. Because of his fame as a cryptologist in the prequel Flight of the Fox, math Professor Sam Teagarden returns to help determine its authenticity and end the spreading madness.  

Unfortunately, no one figured on a former Mossad agent hired by the Vatican to kill anyone who gets close to the truth, or an opposing atheist cult bent on making sure the truth is revealed.

      ***

Thomas Perry says: “Madness of the Q is a wild and breathless pursuit with Sam Teagarden on the run, desperate to connect with the right people and evade the wrong ones from New York to Israel to Italy to Germany in a non-stop plot that reminds us of Dan Brown, Ludlum, Fleming, and maybe even a bit of Umberto Eco.” 

— author of The Butcher’s Boy, The Burglar, and, A Small Town.

    

 

Comments are welcome via my website or at graybasnight.com.  

 

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About the author: After almost three decades in broadcast news, where he wrote fact-based stories, Gray Basnight now writes fictional ones. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, he’s lived in New York long enough to consider himself a native. His latest book Madness of the Q (Down & Out, December 2020), brings back math professor and decryption expert Sam Teagarden in an international thriller sparked by the discovery of an ancient, encoded Biblical parchment.  Prior books include Flight of the Fox, a political thriller introducing Professor Teagarden, who inadvertently uncovers revelations that could change 20th Century American history (Down & Out, 2018); The Cop with the Pink Pistol, a modern NYC detective mystery/romance; and Shadows in the Fire, a historical novel about two young slaves on the edge of freedom as the Confederate capital of Richmond falls in April 1865. Gray is a member of the Mystery Writers Association, Authors Guild and Thrillerfest.

THREE TREATS TOO MANY by Debra H. Goldstein

  

Champagne cocktails are the order of the day for author Debra H. Goldstein as she introduces us to her latest novel, Three Treats Too Many. And yes, there are three champagne cocktail recipes to highlight the book...

When a romantic rival opens a competing restaurant in small-town Wheaton, Alabama, Sarah Blair discovers murder is the specialty of the house . . . 
 
For someone whose greatest culinary skill is ordering takeout, Sarah never expected to be co-owner of a restaurant. Even her Siamese cat, RahRah, seems to be looking at her differently. But while Sarah and her twin sister, Chef Emily, are tangled up in red tape waiting for the building inspector to get around to them, the attention-stealing new establishment, right across the street, run by none other than Sarah's greatest nemesis, is having a field day thanks to its delicious vegan specialties. 
To compete, Sarah’s restaurant considers showcasing three treats a day. Because each treat will need to be paired with a perfect drink, here are the three Emily and Sarah suggest for tonight.

Glass number one (saucer champagne)

St. Germain Cocktail

3 oz. Champagne

1 oz. St. Germain Liquor

1 tsp. of fresh lemon juice

Glass rim dipped in superfine sugar

Garnished with a peach

Glass number two (champagne flute large)

Pink Fling Cocktail

2 oz. watermelon juice

1 oz. Campari

3 oz.  Prosecco

1 oz. lemon fizzy water

Garnished with watermelon wedge

Glass number three (martini glass)

Traditional Lake Vista Martini

2 jiggers of Hendrick’s Gin

A whiff of Dry Vermouth

A whiff of Olive “juice”

Garnished with two LARGE anchovy or garlic jalepeño olives

Judge Debra H. Goldstein authors Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series including recently published Three Treats Too Many, 2020 Silver Falchion finalist Two Bites Too Many, and

January 2019 Woman’s World Book of the Week One Taste Too Many. Debra also wrote Should Have Played Poker and 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories have been chosen as Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer finalists. 

House of Desire - Whisky and Wine

Margaret Lucke flings words around as a writer and editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of four mystery novels: House of Desire, House of Whispers, Snow Angel, and A Relative Stranger (an Anthony Award finalist). She is also the editor of Fault Lines, an anthology of mystery short stories published last year by the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime. She has taught writing classes for more than 20 years, and she has published two how-to books on the craft of writing. Let's see what drink she's chosen to match her novel, House of Desire. 

In my new novel, House of Desire, reluctant psychic Claire Scanlan attends a gala fundraiser to save a grand San Francisco Victorian. There she encounters a mysterious young woman, Roxane, who is invisible to everyone but her. Roxane is a “soiled dove” plying her trade in the mansion in 1896. She has discovered a secret portal that lets her slip into what she calls the Future House when she needs to escape the most brutal of the men who buy her favors. 

When the party’s organizer is murdered in the mansion, Roxane is the sole witness. Terrified, she flees back to her own time. Claire’s philandering brother-in-law is accused of being the killer. To clear his name she must find the elusive Roxane—which means risking a perilous journey into the past from which she may never return.

The Burnham Mansion in the story is based very loosely on the Haas-Lilienthal House, where the preservation group San Francisco Heritage is headquartered. I had the pleasure of working on their staff a number of years ago. One of the many liberties I took was to give my house a piece of history that the real house doesn’t share. In the 1890s the fictional Burnham Mansion was a parlor house, or upscale bordello, known as Chez Celeste. 

The action in House of Desire moves back and forth between Claire’s contemporary world and Roxane’s Victorian-era environment. Among the many things that differentiate the past and present in the book are the beverages people drink. In the 21st century scenes, Claire and her cohorts are likely to choose wine—a full-bodied zinfandel or a crisp chardonnay. The gentlemen who patronize Chez Celeste will often purchase a tot of whiskey, poured from a decanter so they won’t notice that it has been watered down even though they are being charged full price.

While Chez Celeste didn’t offer cocktails, they were popular in the Victorian era. When looking for Victorian whisky recipes, I came upon this one, which Charles Dickens apparently enjoyed when he visited America. It may be the original cocktail, or at least 

the first to be called by that name.

The Cock-Tail

1 teaspoon super fine sugar or simple syrup

2 ounces of rye whiskey

3 ounces of water

4 dashes of bitters

Nutmeg

Combine first four ingredients and stir. Top with grated nutmeg

Note: This recipe need not be limited to whiskey. The 19th-century instructions say that rum, gin, or brandy will work as well. Whatever your pleasure, I hope you enjoy your drink.

Bio:

Margaret Lucke flings words around as a writer and editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of four mystery novels: House of Desire, House of Whispers, Snow Angel, and A Relative Stranger (an Anthony Award finalist). She is also the editor of Fault Lines, an anthology of mystery short stories published last year by the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime. She has taught writing classes for more than 20 years, and she has published two how-to books on the craft of writing.

You can find Margaret on Twitter: @margaretlucke 

The Corpse with the Crystal Skull by Cathy Ace and the Jamaican Ginger Kicker

Cathy Ace joins us today to tell us about her novel, The Corpse with the Crystal Skull and match it with the perfect drink. Cathy is one of our favorite authors here at Mystery Playground and we're thrilled that's she's back with us today. 

The Corpse with the Crystal Skull is the ninth Cait Morgan Mystery, and this time Cait is in Jamaica, celebrating her 50^th birthday with her husband Bud. They’re staying at a luxurious private estate owned by the eccentric Freddie Burkinshaw, who is discovered shot to death in an inaccessible room at the top of a tower reputedly built by Cait’s namesake, Sir Henry Morgan. 

Thus begins a tale that becomes increasingly complex, and mysterious. Cait has to grapple with her conscience as she’s forced to consider people she counts among her tiny group of friends as suspects; there’s the thrill of hunting down lost treasure; some shenanigans involving hidden passages, and a high-security task Bud’s been sent to Jamaica to undertake, aided by his secret-service colleagues. It’s complicated. Ian Fleming has a few things to answer for, and there’s more than a walk-on role for an ageing Italian movie star. 

Anyone who’s read a Cait Morgan Mystery knows Cait enjoys a drink, and in Jamaica she’s spoiled for choice. She’s become mildly addicted to a grapefruit-flavoured soda called Ting, which she sometimes adds to gin – but she usually resets to her standard gin and tonic for the evenings. But something she invented during her time in Jamaica is a drink she calls the Jamaican Ginger Kicker. Inspired by the Moscow Mule, Cait took vodka, added a splash of pineapple soda for a little sweetness, then added real Jamaican ginger beer (yes, Jamaican ginger beer has a specific flavour – it’s spicy! – and, yes, it’s worth getting the real thing). The full recipe appears below – you might want to try one of these when the weather is hot, you settle down with a good book (maybe even this one, to get the entire beach-side vibe), and you need something long and refreshing. It’s got some bite, but the pineapple adds depth, and sweetness. Lime is an essential ingredient – you certainly need one to squeeze into the drink, and maybe another, for decoration. Cheers, folks!

Recipe:

• Large glass, with ice cubes
• 1 measure of vodka 
• Splash of Grace brand Island Soda Pineapple (add to taste)
• Bottle of Grace brand Island Soda Ginger Beer
• Squeeze one LARGE wedge of lime into the drink, add a small one for garnish (garnish is your choice!) 

STIR GENTLY

(Tip: put your ginger beer, pineapple soda, and vodka in the fridge to chill beforehand)

(NOTE: Crystal Head vodka – shown in the photograph – is made in Newfoundland, Canada, and was the “brainchild” of the actor Dan Ackroyd. It’s a peaches-and-cream corn-based vodka, which this author prefers it for its pure, clean flavour. And the bottle, designed by artist John Alexander, is spectacular!)

ABOUT THE BOOK: Welsh Canadian globetrotting sleuth, and professor of criminal psychology, Cait Morgan, is supposed to be “celebrating” her fiftieth birthday in Jamaica with her ex-cop husband Bud Anderson. But when the body of the luxury estate’s owner is discovered locked inside an inaccessible tower, Cait and her fellow guests must work out who might have killed him – even if his murder seems impossible. Could the death of the man who hosted parties in the 1960s attended by Ian Fleming and Noël Coward be somehow linked to treasure the legendary Captain Henry Morgan might have buried at the estate? Or to the mission Bud and his secret service colleagues have been sent to the island to undertake?

You can find Cathy on Facebook, and on Twitter @AceCathy. 

Nacho Average Murder and The Quarantine Margarita

The fabulous Edith Maxwell joins us today writing as Maddie Day for a fabulous quarantine cocktail to celebrate her latest Country Store Mystery, Nacho Average Murder. And one lucky reader (US residents only) can win a copy of the book. to enter just comment below naming your favorite warm weather drink. Now let's hear about Nacho Average Murder.

Robbie Jordan, who normally lives, works, and cooks in southern Indiana, loved being back in her hometown of Santa Barbara for her high school reunion. And I loved putting her there. She indulged in eating avocado huevos rancheros, quesadillas, artichokes, and of course nachos. What better drink to accompany that kind of food than a margarita?

I know the best margarita recipes include fresh-squeezed lime juice and Cointreau or Grand Mariner with the tequila. Uh-oh. I didn’t have either enough fresh limes or an orange liqueur. But you know what? During a time of quarantine, we make do. 

When I make the drink, I like to use a dollop of frozen limeade. It’s quick, easy, cold, and already sweet – and I had some in the freezer. I also had tequila in the liquor cabinet. In lieu of an orange liqueur, I thought I’d see how the Cardamaro my son brought me from Italy would work in the drink. You might know Amaro, but here’s the description of Cardamaro: “A wine-based aperitif, infused with cardoon and blessed thistle (two artichoke relatives), then aged in oak. The result has the richness and weight of sweet vermouth, and only a gentle herbal bitterness.”

Artichoke? Works for me, and it worked for the drink. 

Quarantine Margarita

For one drink, mix in a tumbler or shaker:

2 ounces (1/4 cup) frozen limeade (yes, scoop it right from the can)

2 ounces tequila of your choice

1 tablespoon Cardamaro (or any orange liqueur)

2 ice cubes

Sprinkle kosher salt on a plate. Wet the rim of a pretty Mexican glass and press it upside down onto the salt. Decant the drink contents, straining out the ice, from the tumbler or shaker into the salted glass. Stick a slice of lime on the rim and enjoy a mystery set in Santa Barbara!

Readers: What’s your favorite warm-weather drink? I’d love to send one of you (US only) a singed copy of the book!

Agatha Award-winning author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries and multi-published short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she pens the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. With twenty-one books in print and more in production, Maxwell/Day lives north of Boston, where she writes, gardens, and cooks. Find her at Maddie Day Author and as @MaddieDayAuthor on social media.

In Nacho Average Murder, Robbie Jordan temporarily leaves Pans ’N Pancakes, her country store in South Lick, Indiana, to visit Santa Barbara—where wildfire smoke tinges the air, but a more immediate danger may lie in wait.

While looking forward to her high school reunion back in California, Robbie Jordan’s anticipation is complicated by memories of her mother’s untimely death. At first, she has fun hanging out with her old classmates and reuniting with the local flavors—avocados, citrus, fish, and spicy Cali-Mex dishes. But when she gets wind of rumors that her mother, an environmental activist, may not have died of natural causes, Robbie enlists old friends to clear the smoke surrounding the mystery. But what she finds could make it hard to get back to Indiana alive . . .

The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense and the Violet Hour

The new collection The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense (Crippen & Landru) gathers sixteen stories by Art Taylor—among them stories which have won a dozen of the mystery genre’s leading awards, including the Edgar, the Anthony, and multiple Agatha, Derringer, and Macavity Awards. Recently, another of Art’s stories—“Better Days” from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine—was named a finalist for this year’s Agatha Award for Best Short Story (read all the nominated stories at that link). Last year, Art wrote a Drinks with Reads post for “Better Days”, and today he offers another cocktail to accompany his new collection.  

The sixteen stories in The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense cover more than twenty-five years of my writing career. Needless to say, re-reading those stories myself offered opportunities for reflection about that quarter-century of work—where I started as a writer, where I’ve evolved, and where (hopefully) I’ve improved. Some of the individual stories seemed reflective themselves: characters thinking about their lives, pondering existential issues, debating hard choices. The title story especially is steeped in nostalgia, swirled with a bit of melancholy, and topped with a dollop of regret.

The cocktail I’ve chosen to accompany The Boy Detective is called the Violet Hour. I know of at least two mentions of that phrase in books on my shelf. In The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto, Bernard DeVoto writes about the martini being suited to “the violet hour, the hour of hush and wonder, when the affections glow and valor is reborn, when the shadows deepen along the edge of the forest and we believe that, if we watch carefully, at any moment we may see the unicorn.” And in Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale, James Bond christens his famous version of the martini as The Vesper: “It sounds perfect and it’s very appropriate to the violet hour when my cocktail will now be drunk all over the world.”

While each of those references refer to gin drinks and speak specifically to early evening—day easing toward night—the Violet Hour recipe below is bourbon-based and a drink I would more strongly recommend as a nightcap alongside some late-night reflections of your own: your senses settling, your mind wandering, memories tiptoeing around the edges of your thoughts. 

My friend Brandon Wicks introduced me to this drink. I’m not certain of its origins, and Googling “Violet Hour cocktail” will turn up several other cocktails with markedly different ingredients. But this specific recipe has become a regular at our house, and I’m glad to share it here. 

The Violet Hour

2 oz. bourbon

.75 oz. sweet vermouth

.25 oz. dry vermouth

.10 oz. blackstrap rum (a little over half a teaspoon)

2 dashes old-fashioned bitters

Build in a single old-fashioned glass with no ice. Stir.

Serve at room temperature. No garnish.

Here Come the Body and The NY Sour

Today we celebrate the first book in the Catering Hall Mystery series, Here Comes the Body. Written by long-time Mystery Playground fan favorite, Ellen Byron as Maria DiRico, Here Comes the Body, delivers a catering packed punch and a great drink below.

In Here Comes the Body, the first Catering Hall Mystery from Maria DiRico, Mia Carina moves back home to Queens after being cleared as a person of interest in her husband’s presumed death. She’s there to help her father Ravello, a capo with the Boldoni crime family, turn a rundown banquet hall that was surrendered to him by a broke gambler into a successful, legitimate enterprise. Mia has always wanted her father to go straight and she’s determined to help succeed. But who knew working for a catering hall could be as dangerous as working for the Mob?

Many is the night Mia comes home in need of a drink. Being a Big Apple native, even if she’s an outer borough girl, she turns to local recipes, like this one…

THE NEW YORK SOUR

Ingredients:

2 oz. rye or bourbon whiskey

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

1 oz. simple syrup

½ oz. fruity red wine

Ice

Directions:

Combine the rye or bourbon whiskey, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, cover, and shake until outside of shaker is frosty, about 30 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass that’s filled with fresh ice. Slowly and carefully poor the wine over the back of a spoon held just above the drink's surface so wine floats on top.

Recipe by Mary-Frances Heck, Bon Appetit

BIO: Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won an Agatha award and multiple Lefty awards for Best Humorous Mystery. Her new series, the Catering Hall Mysteries, written as Maria DiRico, was inspired by her real life. She’s an award-winning playwright and non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like WINGS, JUST SHOOT ME, and FAIRLY ODD PARENTS. But her most impressive credit is working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. 

The Lost Boys of London and #Cocktails

We welcome Mary Lawrence to Mystery Playground to introduce her new novel, The Lost Boys of London. This is the 5th book in the Bianca Goddard Mysteries. 

Today I’m celebrating the upcoming release (April 28) of The Lost Boys of London—a Bianca Goddard Mystery. The series features the daughter of an infamous alchemist who uses her wits and a bit of alchemy to solve murders in the slums of London during King Henry VIII’s reign.

In the Lost Boys of London, Bianca's husband is fighting the Scottish rebellion while Bianca remains in London creating medicines for the sick. When a boy is found hanging from a church dripstone Bianca is consulted about a sole piece of evidence--a sweet-smelling cloth. Bianca suspects the murder may not be an act of impulse, but something far more calculated. And when her young acquaintance, Fisk, goes missing, Bianca fears he may become the next lost boy...

I chose the Smirking Priest Gimlet to go with my latest book. The name came up on a cocktail drink name generator but I couldn’t find a recipe so I conjured my own. I took a basic gimlet and added a touch of red—appropriate for a murder mystery. Enjoy this while you read about some dastardly priests working at cross purposes in The Lost Boys of London. 

EXCERPT:

The priest at St. Benet’s, Father Wells, began each day with a meal of poached quail eggs. While he waited to be served, he studied the silvery gray light outside his window, which overlooked a long stretch of enclosed garden—alas, still dormant and showing no signs of waking. The overcast sky promised another dreary day, and he felt his mood adversely affected. It made him think—why was it that one associated sunshine with a sanguine disposition? He tapped his spoon on the table as he considered this, then the spoon stopped midair. Likely, it was because sunshine was so uncommon. It was like a gift from God every time colors were lit to their full intensity. He nodded, content with his explanation.

   Finally, his meal arrived. The platter was lowered in front of him and his wine refreshed. His cook had arranged the twelve eggs—one for each disciple—around the periphery of the plate; an artful attempt to symbolize the seating at the Last Supper. In the center was a slice of bread, toasted lightly on one side—Jesus. 

He scooped up an egg and deposited it on one corner of the toast, then raised it level with his mouth. “Peter,” he said, naming the first apostle, and he bit off the corner. With each successive egg he named a disciple and ate “him” along with “Jesus,” saving “Judas Iscariot” for last, taking the time to bite “Judas” in half and watch his little yolk bleed. 

SMIRKING PRIEST GIMLET RECIPE:

• 2 ounces fine Gin
• 1 ounce Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice
• 1 teaspoon Pomegranate Juice

In a shaker with ice combine the gin and lime juice. Shake for a minute. Strain into a chilled glass. Drizzle in a teaspoon of pomegranate juice which will sink to the bottom to look like a spot of blood. Enjoy!

Ed Ruggero and Blame the Dead

Ed Ruggero joins us today on Drinks with Reads to celebrate his new thriller, Blame the Dead with a drink called the Sicilian '43. 

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Blame the Dead is a thriller set against the chaotic background of the World War Two Allied invasion of Sicily. 

Former Philadelphia beat cop Eddie Harkins is not surprised when the Army makes him a Military Policeman; he is surprised when, in the bloody summer of 1943, he is tapped to figure out who gunned down a surgeon in a US Army field hospital. Harkins, who has spent his Army time hauling in drunken GIs and breaking up traffic jams, has never worked a homicide. The lurching start to his investigation proves he is in over his head, but Harkins is not one to back down from a fight. 

  Cooperation is hard to come by in part because the victim—who was universally despised—bullied and tormented nurses. Harkins hears, “He got what was coming to him,” so often he stops scribbling the response in his notebook. Harkins’ low rank bestows little authority in his battles with the hospital commander, who is hiding bigger sins in his camp. Then, just when Harkins is starting to drag some facts from the chaos, a key witness is shot to death. Meanwhile the flood of broken bodies never slows as the hospital leapfrogs forward just behind the battlefront. Harkins is exhausted and demoralized, clueless, filthy, and far from home, and everyone is struck dumb by the heat.

The Sicilian ‘43

Eddie Harkins and his fellow soldiers would have been thrilled to get their hands on a cool drink, especially one with impossible-to-find ice. Creating this beauty of a cocktail in wartime would have been challenging; but with a thriving black-market, the more inventive and determined GIs might have made a go of it.  The inspiration for this cocktail comes from Sicily’s orange and lemon orchards, and the name is a variation on the “French 75,” a cocktail that gets its name from the French 75mm field gun of World War One. The Sicilian 43 is a nod to the land where the Allies first cracked the walls of Hitler’s “Fortress Europe.”

1 oz fresh blood orange juice

1 and ½ oz gin

½ oz Maraschino Liqueur

¼ oz Amaro Averna (an Amaro from Sicily is best; it’s a bitter liquor like Campari, easy to find, but Campari would also work as a substitute)

2-3 oz Prosecco

Orange twist 

Combine orange juice, gin, maraschino, and Averna in a cocktail shaker, fill with ice, and shake. Strain into a cocktail glass and top with Prosecco. Garnish orange twist.  Drink a toast to Victory in Europe!

Rum Coolers and Murder at the Taffy Shop

Agatha and Macavity finalist Edith Maxwell, author of the Quaker Midwife Mysteries and award-winning short crime fiction joins us today for Drinks with Reads. As Maddie Day she pens the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. With twenty books in print and more in production, Maxwell lives north of Boston, where she writes, gardens, and cooks. Today she's whipping up the Pineapple Run Cooler...and giving away one of her books.

Pineapple Rum Cooler

In Murder at the Taffy Shop, it’s August, full season on Cape Cod, with plentiful sunshine and tourists alike. When Mac Almeida heads out for her early daily walk with her friend, she finds a horrified Gin staring at Beverly Ruchart, an imperious summer person, dead on the sidewalk in front of Gin’s candy shop, Salty Taffy’s.

Lots of people wanted Beverly gone. But when the police find the murder weapon in Gin’s garage, the Cozy Capers book group members put their heads together to clear Gin’s name and to figure out who killed the woman whom almost everyone disliked. Mac’s bike shop is vandalized one night, and when the killer later invades her tiny house to finish her off, Bella, Mac’s African Gray parrot, comes to the rescue.

Mac Almeida’s friend and book group member Zane King owns the only liquor store and distillery in town. He recommends this summer drink to Mac, a perfect cooler for a Cape Cod summer day, using his own King’s Bounty rum. In this version, I use a rum made locally near me north of Boston, but any good rum will do.

Pineapple Rum Cooler

Ingredients

Pineapple juice

Rum

Tonic water

Lime

Fresh mint

Directions

For one drink, mix two ounces each of pineapple juice, a good rum, and tonic water. Squeeze half a lime into the drink. Crush a mint sprig and swirl it through the drink. Add more juice if you like it sweeter, or substitute seltzer water for the tonic if you prefer it less sweet.

Murder at the Taffy Shop, releasing March 31, is available exclusively in paperback from Barnes & Noble for the first year, then it will be re-released on all platforms and formats. I’m happy to send one commenter here a signed copy of the book(US residents only)!

The Heartless and A #Giveaway

Author David Putnam has a new book out and his partner-in-crime and wife, Mary, has been making drinks to celebrate. The book is called, The Heartless, and we're giving away FIVE copies of the book to the first five people who comment (US residents only). Let's see what Mary has been cooking up to celebrate David's book...

David often gets questions about his main character, Bruno Johnson. As the series began to unfold, I too, asked questions about a character who appeared in, THE DISPOSABLES. His name is Junior, and is the inspiration for this drink.

But before we get to Junior, a note about the name, “Bruno Johnson.”  Bruno's an amalgamation of several people David worked with in real life, combined with some elements from his imagination. The name was taken directly from a male but he was a dog, a scrappy wired-haired terrier that belonged to David's childhood friend, Bill.

Earlier this year, our two rescue dogs were joined by a puppy a friend gave us. All the dogs we’ve had in our 25 years together came with names from previous owners or shelters, so our “rookie pup” -- a Queensland heeler -- was the first dog we’ve ever named. A tough (and scrappy) lovable little guy who reminded us of Bruno in the book. So now that name has come full circle.

Meanwhile, the big dog in David’s first Bruno book, named Junior, went missing in the story for awhile. I kept pestering David (so did some other fans): “What ever happened to Junior?” Dave finally gives us some answers. In the new book, THE HEARTLESS (release date: Feb 2020), we learn how Junior originally came into their lives and how he got the name “Junior” – short for Junior Mint. 

Cheers!

And if you want a boffo glass to serve it in, check out these super easy instructions to make fabulous bullet hole drink ware. And of course Mary made that too! 

Here's the recipe for the drink...

The Junior Mint

Ingredients (for one 1.5 oz shot)

1/2 oz. Irish Cream

1/2 oz. Frangelico

1/2 oz. Peppermint Schnapps 

Optional: Whipped Cream, Chocolate sauce, Junior Mints!

Chill glass, decorate with chocolate sauce. Mix booze, top w/whip cream (regular or chocolate) and a junior mint!

 Don't forget to comment below because the first five people to comment will win a book from David. We'll need your email address as well so we can get your address.