Book Review: IN A JAM by Cindy Dorminy

One of the wonderful and unexpected happenings that resulted from signing with Red Adept Publishing for my culinary mystery series was the introduction to some fabulous new authors so I could fill up my Kindle even more. I will NEVER live long enough to read all the books this baby can hold. But enough about that.

Cindy Dorminy is one such RAP author I encountered. With a title like IN A JAM, how could a foodie-mystery guy like me not pick it up? Well, it’s not a mystery. But that’s okay. What’s not okay is not including the recipe for this fabulous, award-winning strawberry jam that Andie has to figure out. C’mon, Cindy! Give!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The story premise is one we’ve seen before: the protagonist can only inherit fabulous wealth if certain conditions are met. If not met, xxx inherits, in this case, the small church in small-town Georgia.

But this is not a trite retelling of a trope. Andie is, ahem, shall we say a flawed character. The opening lines of the book hooked me immediately:

“Some might consider waking up in the drunk tank rock bottom. I call it Thursday.”

Andie has all sorts of issues that need sorting, but she is content enough with her life and acquaintances. Her only real friends appear to be the cops who pick her up on Wednesdays and deposit her in the drunk tank and who bring her Dunkin’ Donuts’ dark roast coffee with a double shot of caramel. They like her and worry about her, especially Officer Tinsley, who sees in Andie what she can’t see in herself.

Yes, Andie is content enough until an attorney shows up with the news that her grandmother (whom she hadn’t seen in 20 years or so) died leaving her a coffee shop and her lottery winnings—her considerable lottery winnings.

All Andie has to do is stay sober for six weeks while running the coffee shop, attend church several times a week, fit in with the community, and enter the local fair’s jam contest. Easy peasy, Andie thinks. Breeze into town, put in her time, collect the money, sell the coffee shop, then breeze out of town.

Uh, not so much. That pesky jam recipe, for example, that she just can’t figure out with the clock ticking down to the contest. And “fitting in” is challenging when most of the town wants her to fail so the money goes to the church, the rightful beneficiary, in many minds.

Andie learns a great deal about herself during her six week “sentence” in Smithville, Georgia, and she comes to realize that that was her grandmother’s plan all along. To help and hinder Andie in the plan is a delightful ensemble cast of quirky, supportive, gossipy, toxic, and thoroughly engaging characters. Oh, and the handsome town police officer, directed by Officer Tinsley to monitor Andie, is just the gravy on the biscuit.

Confronting obstacle after obstacle, Andie builds her character pretty much from the ground up. She goes from an anchorless party girl to a caring and thoughtful young woman deserving of the respect she garners.

Cindy Dorminy, I hope there is a sequel and that we learn more about Andie and her renewed life. Oh, and the sequel better have that strawberry jam recipe with the secret ingredient!

Book Review: Smugglers and Scones

Morgan C. Talbot began her delightful Moorehaven Mysteries culinary mystery series as a USA Today Best Seller with Smugglers and Scones. Great way to start, eh? Red Adept Publishing released this book almost a year ago.

The setting is Moorehaven, a B&B located in the home of now-deceased classic mystery writer, A. Raymond Moore. Per the dead author’s instructions, Pippa operates Moorehaven as a retreat dedicated to mystery writers. No one else can book a room, so don’t get your hopes up. Darn!

Moorehaven’s beautiful seaside community in Oregon offers a perfect blend of serenity and stimulation for the mystery writers working on their manuscripts.

A. Raymond Moore author quotes open each chapter and reveal this mysterious man and set up each chapter’s focus. Talbot chose a delightful device to enrich her story.

Put together a local tale that is almost a hundred years old, add in a boat crash and handsome murder suspect with amnesia, flavor with a speakeasy museum and a documentary being filmed, and, well, there’s more! This mystery provides many avenues of exploration.

The plot twists and turns in Smugglers and Scones keep the reader guessing right up to the end. The book features a panoply of potential villains.

As a writer of culinary mysteries, I am appreciative of the skill Talbot displayed in laying out the clues and taking unexpected paths toward the solution. The conclusion, after providing a good range of potential killers, is satisfying and appropriate to explain the murders. Murders? Oh, yes. There’s more than one in this cozy.

Seacrest, Oregon is peopled with the usual assortment of delightful, quirky, or just plain weird folk. When you add in the documentary film crew, an itinerant worker, and the authors who use Moorehaven for their writers’ retreats, you throw even more fun into the mix. And the mystery authors want to be part of the action. A real life murder to solve? They’re loving it!

Check out Morgan C. Talbot’s website, “Mysteriouser and Mysteriouser” at morganctalbot.blogspot.com to find information on her books and access to recipes and more!

Since I love blueberries, I picked this recipe to share with you. Thanks, Morgan, for allowing me to reprint this. Readers, trust me, you’re going to love these scones! My family did.

Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

Scone ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup granulated sugar

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

zest of 1 large lemon

½ cup unsalted butter, cold

½ cup Greek yogurt, plain

4 tablespoons milk (for thinning yogurt)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Egg wash ingredients

1 large egg, beaten

1 teaspoon milk

Glaze ingredients

1¼ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

Extra zest

Tips:

 - If you're using frozen berries, rinse them until the water runs mostly clear and pat them dry, then add them to the dough. - If you like a thicker, whiter glaze, add another 1/4 cup of confectioners' sugar.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F / 205 C.

2. In a bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest.

3. Chop cold butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture. Combine with pastry cutter or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

4. In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt and milk until smooth.

5. Add egg and vanilla to yogurt blend and whisk together. Drizzle over flour mixture and stir until moistened. Fold in blueberries. Dough will be sticky.

6. Using a 2/3 cup measuring scoop, add dough to scone pan sections and press into corners with spatula. If you don’t want to use a scone pan, flatten dough into a 1” high circle on floured surface and cut into wedges with very sharp knife. Place parchment paper or silicone baking mat on a baking sheet and transfer dough to it with spatula.

7. Brush tops with egg wash.

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

9. Let cool 2 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack.

10. To make glaze, whisk confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, unsalted butter, and zest together until smooth and drizzle over cool scones.

Additional Notes

Mr. Moore made his scones with heavy cream, but I found that substituting Greek yogurt, thinned with a little milk, cuts the fat content in half while preserving the luscious flavor. Plus, Greek yogurt instead of regular plain yogurt adds a sweet tanginess.

Gluten Free Version

For GF Blueberry Scones, simply substitute a 1-for-1 GF flour for the all-purpose wheat flour. The GF flour will be a little stiffer and reluctant to fully mix, so I set aside my spoon and worked the dough with my hands until fully blended. I also measured the dough into my scone pan with my hands, but that's entirely optional. These scones are so delicious, people won't know they're GF!

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Facebook: Looking for a new voice in culinary mysteries? Morgan C. Talbot has a tightly plotted mystery laced with mention of and recipes for delectable scones. Check out the review of SMUGGLERS AND SCONES and try one of the book’s recipes. http://bit.ly/2oC57fk

Twitter: Blueberry Scones w/ Lemon Glaze #Recipe and review of new book by culinary mystery writer @MorganCTalbot’s SMUGGLERS AND SCONES http://bit.ly/2oC57fk