Christa Bakker's Blog: Writer's blog, page 2

Spekkoek (Indonesian layer cake)

It’s green!

I know, I know. The spekkoek in the picture was made with pandan, a bright green plant extract. This recipe, however, uses spices for flavour, but that makes the green layers brown instead. Still very yummy, though as you can probably tell from the picture and the ingredients, this is a dense, sweet cake! Cut it wisely…

Advanced tip: if you use two cake tins, you can have one in the oven while you put another layer on the other.

Ingredients:

500 g / 2.2 cups butter
400...

I’m on BingeBooks

Have you heard of BingeBooks? It’s a book discovery site where you can read the opening chapters of a book. No more Look Inside where you can only get as far as the table of contents. It’s like a try before you buy.

My books are on there too. They even featured me on the front page when Death by Naked Ladies came out!

It’s a fun website for book lovers, so check it out!

The post I’m on BingeBooks appeared first on Christa Bakker.

Death by Naked Ladies is out today!

Finally, Death by Naked Ladies is out in the world! Rather than praising it myself, I’ll show you other people’s thoughts:

You have to read the book to find out who the Naked Ladies are. Meeting the characters will delight you and get you hooked on this series set in lovely France. Recommended.

Christmas Angel on Amazon

This is a great cosy mystery to curl up with when looking for some small-town intrigue and humour!

Christine on Goodreads

The characters are interesting and the m...

Interview in the Cluesletter

Have you heard of the Cluesletter? It’s an amazing newsletter all about mystery: books, films, TV, but also events and current issues. And I was lucky enough to be interviewed!

In this month’s issue of the Cluesletter, you’ll find new releases and deals, and if you sign up and open the email before April 25th, you can enter the giveaway and win a paperback copy of Death by Naked Ladies! What are you waiting for? Go!

Sign up to the Cluesletter

The post Interview in the Cluesletter app...

Goodreads giveaway!

If you’re in the US or Canada, you’re in luck! I’m hosting a giveaway that you can enter for a chance to win one of 3 paperback copies of Death by Naked Ladies!

Head on over to Goodreads to enter your details and good luck!

Giveaway runs until 23 April.

The post Goodreads giveaway! appeared first on Christa Bakker.

Mother’s Day

If you’ve seen my Instagram post, you know the last few months have been busy for me. Since May holds both my birthday and Mother’s Day (for the US and The Netherlands), though, I wanted to get back to the blog.

My Mum with Princess Beatrix of The Netherlands.
There are more flattering pictures of her, but this one clearly demonstrates one of the reasons why I’m so proud of her

Why cozy mysteries? It’s one of the first questions people ask me when I tell them what I write. so what got me s...

Interview with the Cozy Mystery Author. By her main characters.

While I’m working hard on the revisions of books 1 and 2 of the Saint-Maurice Mysteries, ‘Death by Naked Ladies’ and ‘Beaujolais Blood’, I thought you might like to know why I’m doing what I’m doing. And since me telling you about me seems extremely boring, why not read between the lines while my characters ask me what they want to know?

Julie, raising a finger to her assistant to shut him up: First question, will you please tell him that I’m the boss, and he does not get to ask the first...

Summer Castle – a gothic short

Link below!

The local writers’ group sets writing prompts with two randomly chosen words. One of those was Summer Castle. Here’s what I did with that.

Joanna sat down on her favourite bench in the garden, arranging her skirts over the crinoline as she made herself comfortable. She’d been moping for a week. All her friends went to London for the season, but she still had to accompany her family to this dreary castle. Every confounded summer.

She sighed. When she was little, at least ther...

Speculaas spices

Feeling cozy? You will after you’ve baked with this spice mix. It’s warming and comforting and perfect for the colder months. Or any other time you feel like it, really.

38 tsp ground cinnamon8 tsp ground cloves4.5 tsp ground mace4 tsp ground nutmeg3.5 tsp ground ginger3 tsp ground white pepper2 tsp ground coriander2 tsp ground cardamom1.5 tsp ground anise

As you can see, this makes quite a large batch of the stuff. There are versions that use fewer spices (I’ve left out mace before, for i...

Spijs

How do you even pronounce that? I’d say ‘spice’ comes closest. And what is it? Well, It’s not marzipan, it’s not frangipane, but it does have lots of almonds. In fact, where marzipan has 3 parts sugar to 1 part almonds, this has a 50-50 ratio. Make this stuff a few days ahead of whatever you want to bake with it, so the flavours have a bit of time to mix.

Ingredients:125 g ground almond125 g sugarzest of 1 lemon and a little juice1-4 tbsp water1 egg yolk

Method:

Mix the almond with ...