Kate Collins's Blog, page 82

Spotlight Saturday: ONLY SKEIN DEEP

by Maggie Sefton



Today I'm spotlighting last June's release of the 15th in the Kelly Flynn
Mysteries-----
ONLY SKEIN DEEP.

Here's a blurb for those of you who aren't familiar with Kelly Flynn and the Gang:


Kelly Flynn and her boyfriend, Steve, couldn’t be happier as they await the birth
of their baby boy. As the Lambspun Knitters sit around the table crafting their keepsakes, the story of Giselle Callahan is a popular topic of conversation. Giselle is the young wife of Henry Callahan, a Fort Connor banking scion, who traded in his previous wife of forty years for a newer model. Giselle’s prowess as both a skilled country club golfer and social climber puts her on someone’s hit list. When she is found dead on the greens at the golf club, Kelly and her Lampspun crew worry that a vicious killer is in their midst. They must work fast to bring a  clever murderer to justice on the back nine before Kelly’s very special delivery...

Happy Book Day to Mary Kennedy

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

Don't you hate it when a favorite book series goes on hiatus for a while. (I know many of my Victoria Square fans have felt that way -- and it's on yet another hiatus due to a scheduling problem.  Insert pouty face here.)

To today makes the return of a wonderful series that went on the backburner for a while. It's the Talk Radio Mysteries by the Cozy Chicks own Mary Kennedy, and the new installment is called A DEADLY FUNDRAISER.

Mary's even got a dynamite video book trailer. Why not watch it now?



 Radio talk show host Dr. Maggie Walsh finds herself in the middle of a murder—again! An invitation to a glitzy fundraiser at a south Florida mansion sounds like the perfect evening. Maggie and her pals are digging up clues for a scavenger hunt when a real mystery lands in their laps. Suddenly the party’s over, and the killer is playing for keeps. Will Maggie and her team crack the case?

You can get A DEADLY FUNDRAISER from:

Kindle US
Kindle Worldwide
Nook
iBooks
Kobo


Check out Mary's website to find out about all the other wonderful books she writes.

Stewed Tomato Recipe

by Karen Rose Smith



Our tomato plants in our garden are finally producing!  This is late for tomatoes in Pennsylvania.  We've had a wet summer and that could be why.  We have a good crop this year.  I raise heirloom tomatoes from seed (no pesticides) and we never know the quality of the harvest.  I rotate types each year.  I make all types of tomato dishes from Baked Tomatoes that taste like pizza without the bread (the recipe is in my Caprice mystery DEADLY DECOR) to eating them in Blockbusters--Canadian bacon, tomatoes, lettuce and mayo, to a favorite dish that can be eaten cold or hot--stewed tomatoes.  It's a simple recipe that I use with macaroni and cheese, meat dishes, and as a summer cold soup.  The rest of the tomatoes we freeze for the middle of winter.  I use lots of them in soups.

Here is the stewed tomato recipe that works best for me.

STEWED TOMATOES

10 to 12 large fresh tomatoes (about 5 pounds)3/4 cup chopped onion1 1/2 tablespoon sugar1 teaspoon salt1/8 teaspoon pepper2 tablespoons tapioca
Drop tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes, then immediately into a pan of cold water. Remove stem and skin as soon as you can handle the tomatoes. Cut into small chunks.
In a large pot, stir together all the ingredients except the tapioca. (You can add oregano or basil or your favorite spice that is a good accompaniment to tomatoes.) Cover and heat to boiling.  Reduce heat and add tapioca.  Simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.  Leftovers can be frozen or the recipe can be halved. 

ENJOY!!!

When Pizza isn’t Pizza...IMHO!

I love pizza! My butt and bulging gut says Do Not Do but once in a while what the heck. And I usually order the same thing...pepperoni or if I’m feeling really adventuresome I’ll do sausage and mushroom.
But now my kids say I’m totally boring. Try something new they say. So I looked into the kinds of pizza out there and wow! There are a ton of different kinds.

The newest thing out there is cauliflower crust. I’m serious. Yep cauliflower. It has the same topping but the crust is veggie. I’m a cauliflower lover so this might allow me to eat more pizza. It has to be lower in calories, right?
And we have breakfast pizza. Bacon, sausage, scrambles, cheddar, sprinkle of hash browns.
There’s mac and cheese pizza...like pizza doesn’t have enough calories on its own! And sushi pizza with rice crust, sashimi, scallions, spicy mayo.


And what about a Maltese with potato, tomato, anchovies and olives. The Hawaiian with ham and pineapple, the tuna with corn, red onions and cheddar, the smoked salmon pizza with caviar, red onions and dill, and the baked ziti with mozzarella and ricotta.

So what do you think? 
Are you ready to try some of these? Anyone look particularly good? Or horrid? Or are you back at pepperoni and cheese with me.
Hugs, Duffy

Water, Water Everywhere

by Maggie Sefton




As I've mentioned before on the blog, one of my four daughters---daughter Serena---lives near Houston, Texas.  She actually is a NASA  Astronaut and Johnson Space Center is just a few miles away.







Serena and her family live in League City, which is a suburb of Houston.  This past weekend she and husband Jeff packed up bags of soil to help keep out any water which might come near their house.  Water has come into their neighborhood streets though as you can see.  Their house is the one with the tree----the photo on the left.  











They have not had to evacuate. . .yet.  We'll see
what tomorrow brings.

THE NAME GAME. THE SECRET BEHIND BOOK TITLES

By Mary Kennedy                               
 Have you ever wondered what goes into a book title? It's not as straightforward as you may think.  My newest Talk Radio release took some serious thought and in the end, I decided to go with something simple, something that told readers what the book was about. Readers of the series know that it revolves around Dr. Maggie Walsh, a New York psychologist who moved to sunny south Florida to host a radio talk show (like Frasier). And since it's a mystery series and she's an amateur sleuth, she solves a murder in every book. Just like Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote. In fact, my agent sold the series with the phrase: Frasier meets Murder She Wrote. The idea was intriguing enough that Penguin offered me a 3 book deal. The original titles in the series had to include two elements, radio and murder or death. Here is DEAD AIR, the first of the Talk Radio Mysteries. Dead Air was a clever play on words, since "dead air" is what everyone wants to avoid on talk radio.                                                        I went with a Deadly Fundraiser for book 4, because frankly I'm out of "radio" references and it just sounded like a "cozy" title to me. Here's the set-up. Maggie and her pals go to a glitzy fundraiser in Cypress Grove and stumble over a dead body. I wrote another Penguin-Random House series called The Dream Club Mysteries. The titles for these had strict requirements, too. Every title had to include 1) something to do with dreams and 2) death or murder. So book one is Nightmares Can Be Murder...                                                         Book 2 is Dream a Little Scream...                                                              And book 3 is A Premonition of Murder.                                                             Next week, I'll be running a fun contest, asking readers to suggest a title for Book 5 in the Talk Radio series.  It will be fun and I'll pick a winner and award an Amazon gift card. So stay tuned, and let's get the creative juices flowing! Mary Kennedy 

SPOTLIGHT ON LOLA WALSH FROM THE TALK RADIO MYSTERIES

   By Mary Kennedy                                

                              

Hi everyone, this is Lola Walsh from the Talk Radio Mysteries.  I'm borrowing Mary's blog today, because I have a lot to tell you. Yes, I know everyone's happy that Dr. Maggie (my daughter) is back in town with this new novella (A DEADLY FUNDRAISER), but what about me?

It's one thing to solve a murder in every book.
                                                            
And let's face it, we've been pretty good at it. I helped Maggie solve the murder of a guru in DEAD AIR. Guru Sanjay was one of her first guests on her radio show, and the guy was killed that same night!! It didn't look good for her sweet roommate, Lark. Yes, you and I know Lark wouldn't harm a fly, but the police didn't.                                                              And then I helped solve the murder of an actress in REEL MURDER. And I was there to help out when a phony psychic came to town and tried to steal Dr. Maggie's job at WYME.  (STAY TUNED FOR MURDER) So I've been a good sport about all this. But my real job isn't crime-solving, you know. I'm an actress, still waiting for my big break. And true confession time, it's not easy for a woman "of a certain age" to get a job in Hollywood these days. So I'm happy I moved to south Florida. The film business in Miami and South Beach is booming; it's called Hollywood East because so many producers love to film here.                                                                                                                                  
So I'm dutifully trotting along to auditions whenever I can take time out from "sleuthing" and watching my grand-dog, the adorable Pugsley. You probably remember him if you're a fan of the Talk Radio Mysteries. He appears in every book and is a little love bug.
                                                           
     
I hope you'll give  A DEADLY FUNDRAISER a try. Maggie and I, along (along with Vera Mae, her producer at WYME radio) attend a glitzy fundraiser at a south Florida mansion. All is well until we stumble over-you guessed it--a body!  So I had to put my career on hold--once again--and jump into the fray. Happy reading, and it's nice to be back in Cypress Grove!  If you're new to the series, you can jump right in with A DEADLY FUNDRAISER, a novella on sale as a pre-order right now for only $2.99. Release day is September 1. Kindle US: http://amzn.to/2w9PdeF
Kindle Worldwide: http://authl.it/B074W9MJBZ
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2uZ28MD
Nook: http://bit.ly/2ieuPmY...
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2whUfGC
iBooks: http://apple.co/2x0Ew
Have a great week-end!!

 

Be a Cozy Chicks Goodwill Ambassador!

How would you like to be a Cozy Chicks Goodwill Ambassador?

It's really quite simple. 

We're looking for cheerful readers who would like to spread the word about the Cozy Chicks.

What does that mean?

Distributing bookmarks and postcards from the Chicks to your favorite bookstores, libraries, book clubs, friends, and family.

Sign up (just click this link to our easy-to-fill-out form) and we'll send you a package of 250-300 bookmarks. Then share them! Easy Peasy!
 
Again, that form is here:  https://goo.gl/forms/Yaz9x1Zp8fmGscrH2

Remember, word of mouth is the BEST advertising there is. We hope you'll tell your friends about the Cozy Chicks, our books, and our blog.

Need a bigger Cozy Chicks Fix? Join our Facebook Group, where we post daily.  Just click THIS link!

 

Can You Go Home Again?

by Karen Rose Smith


Did you move away from your home town? If you did, do you often return?

I was born in York, Pennsylvania. I lived in my grandfather's home with my parents until I was five. Then my parents built a house next door and I watched it go up, timber by timber and brick by brick.  My father took "slides" of each day of the construction.
When we moved in, we didn't have air conditioning.  For the first two summers we slept on mattresses in the living room because the temperature was cooler.  We eventually got window units but I missed the "camping out" feeling of those summers. 
I attended Catholic school so friends weren't available until I was old enough to ride my  bike.  But I had neighborhood friends as well as school friends who I spent summers with.  Those were the days when we had a whole block to ourselves, everyone's yards and beautiful mature trees to play around. Even when I was a teenager, I remember sitting on a backyard swing and listening to a transistor radio to hear the latest Beatles song on a forward-looking station in Boston WBZ which would only be available after dusk. 
I lived with my parents until after college when I married my college sweetheart.  We lived an hour away and came "home" every few weekends. As an only child, I was grateful my parents considered my hubby their son. 



The hardest thing that I've faced is losing my parents and selling their house. Before I did, fate let me hold onto it for a while and I stayed overnight there once a week, emptying it but also keeping a journal and writing down memories in each room. 
I have to admit that York still feels like "home." 
All this is probably the reason my Caprice De Luca mystery series is based on a sleuth from a large Italian family. Her childhood home was my childhood home.  The house she lives in now was my parents' home. Every time I plot and write, I'm taken back there again. 

Do you return to your childhood home? What is your favorite memory?

Pet Hacks...the good kind

Hi, Everyone. Most of us have pets and it’s not all purring and snuggling. They have issues and here are a few ideas I ran across that just might help. 
I use the baking soda in the litter tray to keep odors down and my daughter always has an adorable bandana around Ginger’s neck to catch those pesky dribbles.

Electric cat: If your cat has static in her fur and gives you little shocks, take her into the bathroom with you when you shower. The steam will remove the static


Dribble Dog: Knot a bandana around your pup's neck to catch the drips
Oh those floor scratches: If little paws and claws are wrecking your wood floors, rub shelled walnut on the scratches; the oil helps hide the damage
Bad Dog: Your dog is more likely to behave badly when left home alone if he or she is bored. Any stimulating activity you can do with your pet before you leave will tire out their mind. When you leave, leave your dog with something to do! Whether turning on a TV will stimulate them with sights and sounds, or stuffing a rubber toy with their favorite treat, your dog will appreciate an activity while you’re away.
Bad Breath: Putting parsley in pet food will instantly freshen your dog's mouth, but you still need to "brush your dog's teeth.  Thunderstorm help: Rubbing your dog with uncented dryer sheets during thunderstorms minimize the effect of static electricity and help keep your dog calm.
Is it too hot to walk: Try out this simple test to see if pavement is too hot for your pup: Put your hands on the pavement for a few seconds; if the pavement is too hot for your feet, it’s too hot for your dog’s paws. 
Cold treats on hot days: Blend: 1 32 oz. container yogurt 1/2 cup peanut butter 2 bananas Freeze in ice cube tray. And remember to make some for yourself too. Yummmm.
Litter smells…yuck: Add baking soda to the bottom of the litter box to keep odors at bay
For long-haired dogs: try those made-for-humans Tangle Teezer things. They’re great!

Do you have any tricks that make owning a pet easier?