Blog Tour and Giveaway- Pekoe Most Poison by Laura Childs

Happy Monday! I am excited to be part of this blog tour. Laura Childs 18th book in the Tea Shop Mystery series was released on March 7th.


Pekoe Most Poison was one of the best ones in the series. I couldn't put it down. Once you start you get so involved in the story you lose track of time and you are at the end. This one is so good it did just that. I am already looking forward to the next one. And don't you all just love the cover!

Series: A Tea Shop Mystery (Book 18)
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Berkley (March 7, 2017)
Language: English

Synopsis 

In the latest Tea Shop Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Laura Childs, Theodosia Browning attends a “Rat Tea,” where the mice will play…at murder.

When Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is invited by Doreen Briggs, one of Charleston’s most prominent hostesses, to a “Rat Tea,” she is understandably intrigued. As servers dressed in rodent costumes and wearing white gloves offer elegant finger sandwiches and fine teas, Theo learns these parties date back to early twentieth-century Charleston, where the cream of society would sponsor so-called rat teas to promote city rodent control and better public health.

But this party goes from odd to chaotic when a fire starts at one of the tables and Doreen’s entrepreneur husband suddenly goes into convulsions and drops dead. Has his favorite orange pekoe tea been poisoned? Theo smells a rat.

The distraught Doreen soon engages Theo to pursue a discreet inquiry into who might have murdered her husband. As Theo and her tea sommelier review the guest list for suspects, they soon find themselves drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse…

INCLUDES RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS




About the author:

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fund raising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.


Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:


The Tea Shop Mysteries – set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries – a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans’ spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries – set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe’s undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.


Laura’s Links:
Webpage – http://www.laurachilds.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/laura.childs.31




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Blog Tour and giveaway- Purr M For Murder by T.C.LoTempio

Happy Sunday! I am thrilled to be on this blog tour. T.C. LoTempio has a brand new series releasing on March 14th. Purr M for Murder( A Cat Rescue Mystery) is an enjoyable and fun read. The fresh new cast of characters will keep you going and the story is so well written you won't be able to put this book down.

Series: A Cat Rescue Mystery (Book 1)
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books; First Edition edition (March 14, 2017)
Language: English







Sydney McCall left behind an ex-fiancé and a New York advertising job to return home to Deer Park, North Carolina and help her sister, Kat, run the local animal shelter, Friendly Paws. Determined to save the shelter from financial trouble, Sydney and Kat organize a cat café fundraising event at a local coffee shop. Things are looking up until their landlord, Trowbridge Littleton, threatens to shut down the event. When Sydney drops by his art gallery to make peace, she finds Kat–along with Littleton’s dead body.

Local homicide detective Will Worthington–who just happens to be Sydney’s old high school crush–is highly suspicious of the sisters’ involvement. Desperate to clear their names from the suspect list, Sydney pounces on the investigation. With the help of one of the shelter cats, a savvy orange tabby named Toby, Sydney begins poking her nose into other local businesses whose owners may have benefited from Littleton’s death–until the killer notices she’s pawing a little too closely at the truth.




Character Guest Post:

Toby, Savvy Orange Tabby and Amateur Sleuth!
(Purr M for Murder, T. C. Lotempio)

Hello, my name is Toby. Up until a little while ago I was a resident at Friendly Paws Animal Shelter in Deer Park, North Carolina. I liked it there, but I yearned for the day when I’d find my perfect human – the yin to my yang, so to speak. I think that’s the main reason I developed a knack for being able to slip out of my cage and out of the shelter and wander around the streets of Deer Park at night. I’ve always considered myself a pretty independent fellow, but let’s face it, there’s a lot to be said for a nice soft fleece bed, toys to play with and three squares a day! I’d pretty much given up on finding that perfect human to share my catly life with…and then Syd walked into my life!

Syd is Sydney McCall. She’s the sister of Katherine “Kat” McCall, the director of Friendly Paws. The shelter was in trouble, and Kat called upon her sister who’d recently left her j ob in NY, to help. Syd has a lot of savvy marketing experience that Kat thought would come in handy with fundraising. The minute Syd looked at me, hunkered down in my cage, I just knew…and so did she. The fact that we share a love of mysteries doesn’t hurt, either. I admit to having a yen to be like other feline detectives, Nick and Midnight Louie for example. And Syd’s been a closet detective since she read her first Nancy Drew! So when she and Kat stumbled across that dead body, I couldn’t help but toss her a clue…or two.

Believe you me, as long as there are msyteries around the town of Deer Park, Syd will be solving them – with an assist from yours truly, that is. Meow!


About the author:

While Toni Lotempio does not commit – or solve – murders in real life, she has no trouble doing it on paper. Her lifelong love of mysteries began early on when she was introduced to her first Nancy Drew mystery at age 10 – The Secret in the Old Attic. She (and ROCCO, albeit he’s uncredited) pen the Nick and Nora mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime – the first volume, MEOW IF ITS MURDER, debuted Dec. 2, 2014. Followed by #2, CLAWS FOR ALARM. #3, CRIME AND CATNIP, was released in December. She, Rocco and Maxx make their home in Clifton, New Jersey, just twenty minutes from the Big Apple – New York. Catch up with them at www.tclotempio.net and www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com

Where to find them:

ROCCO’s blog:
www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com

Website:
https://www.tclotempio.net/



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Blog Tour- Kneaded to Death by Winnie Archer

Happy Saturday! I am excited to be on the blog tour. Kneaded to Death (A Bread Shop Mystery) by Winnie Archer is a First in a brand New Series releasing on March 7th.

Series: A Bread Shop Mystery (Book 1)
Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Kensington; Reissue edition (February 28, 2017)
Language: English




Synopsis:

Everyone swears by Yeast of Eden, the Mexican bread shop in town. But tonight, the only thing on the menu is la muerte . . .

Struggling photographer Ivy Culpepper has lots of soul-searching to do since returning to seaside Santa Sofia, California. That is, until the thirty-six-year-old enters a bread making class at Yeast of Eden. Whether it’s the aroma of fresh conchas in the oven, or her instant connection with owner Olaya Solis, Ivy just knows the missing ingredients in her life are hidden among the secrets of Olaya’s bakery . . .

But Ivy’s spirits crumble when a missing classmate is suddenly discovered dead in her car. Even more devastating, the prime suspect is Olaya Solis herself. Doubting the woman could commit such a crime, Ivy embarks on a murder investigation of her own to prove her innocence and seize the real killer. As she follows a deadly trail of crumbs around town, Ivy must trust her gut like never before—or someone else could be toast!

This brand new series will tickle your taste buds. Kneaded to Death is the first in the bread shop mystery , that is filled with fun and hours of enjoyable reading. With a fresh cast of characters that you want to get to know and a story so well well written you won't be able to put it down. I am looking forward to what Ivy and her friends will find themselves into next.

Guest Post:

Here’s my confession. I don’t eat gluten. Which means I don’t actually eat normal wheat bread. I know, ironic for the author of a cozy mystery series featuring…bread.


Then, to add insult to injury, my daughter and I started having our own gastro issues. Enough said there, but instead of only modifying the family’s diet for the two celiacs, we did the shift for the entire family of seven. Not easy, but over the years I’ve become quite adept at baking gluten free.

The thing is, even though we have to eat gluten free, we still love bread. And muffins. And cookies. And…well, you get the idea. We like it all. And so I set about figuring out how to make all the things we love—and how to make sure my kids didn’t feel deprived of these tasty treats. So I bake. Pretty frequently. I adapt recipes, I’ve finally found excellent cookbooks to guide me, and we eat bread. All kinds of bread.

Still, given that I can’t actually eat wheat-based products, isn’t it ironic that my new series is centered on a bread shop? But it really does make sense. When I was brainstorming ideas for the new book series, I knew there had to be a bread connection. It just made sense.

I’ve had so much fun making all the recipes that I used to make before we became gluten free eaters. I’ve adapted them and my family pretty much loves the fact that the series is about bread. They get to reap the benefits!

I’ve made a lot of tasty treats as I’ve written this first book, Kneaded to Death. Pan dulce, baguettes, croissants, and, my favorite, popovers. Not just any popovers. Gruyere and black pepper popovers adapted from a fantastic Austin, Texas chef. The best thing about popovers is that they are incredibly easy to make. Milk, eggs, flour, and salt. To make them with gruyere, add that yummy nutty cheese.

Now, for gluten free popovers, just use an all purpose GF flour blend instead of regular flour. They’ll turn out perfectly!

I hope you all enjoy Kneaded to Death, as well as the bread recipes I’ve included at the end of the book. But you get a sneak peak here of the popovers. Try them! You won’t be disappointed.


Gruyère and Black Pepper Popovers (16)

Recipe inspired
By Jodi Elliott, owner and chef of Foreign & Domestic Food & Drink
in Austin, Texas


INGREDIENTS
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups all-purpose
¾ cups Gruyère cheese, cut into small cubes
Grated Gruyère cheese on top just after baking.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 450 ̊ and place the rack in the bottom third of the oven. Place a dot of butter in the bottom of each muffin or popover cup and allow to heat in the oven while you make the popover batter.

2. Use a small saucepan to warm milk at medium heat. It should be hot, but do not bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the salt and black pepper until smooth. Stir in the warm milk.

4. Add flour to the egg mixture. Combine. The batter should be the consistency of cream. A few lumps are okay!

5. Remove the muffin pans from the oven. Spray the pans generously with nonstick cooking spray. Pour about ⅓ cup of the batter into each of 16 muffin cups or into the popover pan.

Place several cubes of cheese on top of the batter in each cup. 6. Reduce the oven temperature to 350. Bake the popovers until the tops puff up and are golden brown, about 40 minutes. Remember, do not open the oven door while baking. You don’t want the popovers to collapse!

7. Turn onto a wire cooling rack right away to preserve the crispy edge of the popovers. Using a sharp knife, pierce the base of each popover to release the steam. Sprinkle grated Gruyère over finished popovers, if desired, and serve immediately.



About the Author:

The indefatigable Winnie Archer is a middle school teacher by day, and a writer by night. Born in a beach town in California, she now lives in an inspiring century old house in North Texas and loves being surrounded by real-life history. She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with both yoga and chocolate, adores pumpkin spice lattes, is devoted to her five kids and husband, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.

Visit Winnie online:
WinnieArcher.com

Winnie Archer is the pseudonym for national bestselling author Melissa Bourbon. Learn more at http://melissabourbon.com. Twitter @MelissaBourbon