I have three more questions from Cozy Mystery readers, and I would love to get them answered before the year is over!
Gayle would like to find this book:
“a mystery that was not Rainbow’s End by Martha Grimes, but another one written in the 1990s that also mentions Exeter Cathedral and the Rondels – in the one I’m looking for, one of the embroiderers is killed at the beginning of the book.
I remember it is a police procedural and it opens (or very near the beginning) with one of the embroiderers being killed in the Cathedral precincts. It would be wonderful if someone recognizes the book.”
Brenda asks:
“I was just wondering if you knew of any winter/snowed in cozy mystery books.”
Annette would like the following recipe:
“I just read one of the Joanne Fluke’s books, Apple Turnover Murder, there was a recipe in there for “watermelon cookies”, I gave the book back to the library before I copied the recipe was wondering if anyone has the recipe.”
I’m going to begin by mentioning Cyril Hare’s An English Murder. The mystery (which is really well-written!) takes place in a mansion during snow-in conditions.
Also, Brenda, you might want to take a look at this entry (from 2009) about cold, howling wind, and snow.
OK, Cozy Mystery readers, you know the drill! Please post your responses so we can help our fellow Cozy Mystery readers.
Julia says
I can think of 3 great snowed-in cozies right off, including one of my all-time favorite mysteries:
Murder on a Mystery Tour by Marian Babson. This is a great book, but you will probably need to look in used bookstores for it because I’m not sure if it’s still in print. It revolves around a murder mystery weekend at an English country estate (now hotel) where the guest are snowed in and then start dying.
Original Sin by Mary Monica Pulver. This is a Christmas mystery, about a family house party who get snowed in with an unfamiliar guest and a newly discovered corpse.
Death Lights a Candle by Phoebe Atwood Taylor. To be honest I don’t remember the precise details of this one, I just remember enjoying it (as I do all the Phoebe Atwood Taylor/Alice Tilton books.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you so much, Julia, for telling us about all three of those snowed-in mysteries. I just ordered all three of the mysteries and am going to save them for next winter >>> when I need a reminder of what the season is supposed to feel like.
Marianne says
According to her website, murdershebaked.com, Joanne Fluke will be coming out with a recipe book in Oct., 2011. Can’t wait!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks, Marianne, I’ll be watching for it.
Nina says
Hi
Here are a some of snow bound that I could think of off the bat
Aunt Dimity: Snowbound , Nancy Atherton
Three blind mice, Agatha Christie,
Tied up in Tinsel – Ngaio Marsh
As for the Watermelon cookies, I also forgot to get the recipe but remember it was made with watermelon Koolaid the kind with no sugar added. Hope that helps.
Have a Happy New Year
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Nina, for the three snow-bound mystery titles. I just ordered them >>> which makes six after-Christmas gifts for me!
Brenda says
I did a search in Google and I hope this is the correct watermelon cookie recipe!
Kool-Aid Cookies (Watermelon Cookies)
Ingredients:
1 package (.17 oz) of Kool-Aid powder (the kind w/out the sugar added)
1 and 2/3 cup white sugar
1 and 1/4 cups softened butter (2 and 1/4 sticks)
2 large eggs, beaten (w/ a fork is fine)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 cups of all-purpose flour (pack it down when you measure it)
1/2 cup white sugar in a bowl
1. Mix the Kool-Aid with the white sugar
2. Add the softened butter and mix until it’s fluffy
3. Add the eggs and mix well
4. Mix in the salt and baking soda and make sure they’re well incorporated
5. Add the flour in half cup increments, mixing after each addition
6. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray or use parchment paper
*7. Roll dough balls one inch in diameter using your hands (or a cookie scoop about 2 tsp. size works well)
8. Roll the dough balls in the white sugar and place them on baking sheet
9. Bake at 325F for 10-12 minutes or until they’re just beginning to turn golden around the edges–you don’t want to overbake.
10. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 1-3 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Yields approx. 6 dozen cookies
* These can be made into cutout cookies at this step.
Just a couple notes:
~ I left mine on the cookie sheet to cool and they were fine.
~ I like my Kool-Aid a little strong and think these might be even better (although they are good, don’t misunderstand!) if they had just a bit more of the Kool-Aid mix. Next time, I’m thinking of halving the recipe (6 dozen cookies is a lot!) but adding more than half of the Kool-Aid packet. I’ll let you know how it turns out. 🙂
I copied this from the following website:
http://makingfeastingfun.blogspot.com/2010/06/kool-aid-cookies.html
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Brenda, for posting Joanne Fluke’s Kool-Aid Cookies recipe.
Carrie says
Some more books that you can add to the winter/snowed-in list are:
The Act of Roger Murgatroyd by Gilbert Adair
Aunt Dimity’s Christmas by Nancy Atherton
A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
The Alpine Christmas by Mary Daheim
Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn
Mistletoe & Murder by Carola Dunn
Crewel Yule by Monica Ferris
The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
The Winter Ground by Catriona McPherson
Christmas Cookie Murder by Leslie Meier
Mistletoe Murder by Leslie Meier
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Carrie, thank you so much for posting all of these titles! That’s a whole lot of snow-bounding!
I, too, thought that the M. C. Beaton was A Highland Christmas. However, my husband thinks that the title that both of us are looking for is Death of a Snob. (It has been so long since I read it, that I can’t remember for sure.) He said that this is the Hamish Macbeth mystery where Hamish is on an island and Priscilla ends up taking the Christmas gifts to Hamish’s family home.
Carrie says
Both books are in the Hamish Macbeth series by M.C. Beaton and their descriptions, according to Amazon, are:
A Highland Christmas: “In dark, wintry Lochdubh, Christmas Cheer is about as welcome as a flat tyre on a deserted road. The Calvinist element in town has always resisted what they view as secular frivolity, so for most of the townsfolk there’ll be no carols, feasting, gifts – or even whisky on Christmas Day! And for PC Hamish Macbeth there’s no holiday from crime – he finds himself hunting for a missing cat belonging to a lonely spinster. Curt and unfriendly, the woman is convinced her pet has been stolen but once behind her heavily-bolted door, Hamish can spot her true problem – she lives in fear, though of who or what he cannot guess. Then someone steals a Christmas tree and lights from the nearby village of Cnothan. So it is up to Hamish to sort all these problems out and he had better do it quickly, for the church bells will soon peal on the eve of Christmas. ”
Death of a Snob: “When Jane Wetherby offers PC Hamish Macbeth a holiday at her ‘Happy Wanderer’ health farm on the isle of Eileencraig, he is more than happy to accept. Unfortunately the visit doesn’t prove to be the pampering experience he had been hoping for. Windswept Eileencraig is inhabited by hostile islanders, many of whom would be more than happy to be rid of the ‘Happy Wanderer’ and its proprietor. And the company at the health farm is hardly better. The volatile party includes an ex-husband, an illicit lover, and Morag Todd, an unadulterated snob who criticizes everybody and everything. So when Morag is found lying at the foot of a cliff with a broken neck, no one seems too broken up about the event – leaving it up to Hamish to solve the death of a snob.”
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks, Carrie. My husband read Death of a Snob so long ago that he told me he really wasn’t sure. He thought that Hamish was stuck on the island, and Priscilla was stuck at Hamish’s family home.
Annette says
Also, Katherine Hall Page Body in the Snowdrift Body in the Sleigh.
Thank you so much for the kool aid recipe, I have the one that uses the sweetened koolaid, but I wanted this one as my husband is a diabetic and I want to try it with splenda. I think I will try either Lemonade, Cherry, Orange and use the matching extract to punch up the flavor. Thanks so much and Happy New Year to all. Hope you all have “cozy Read”!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks, Annette, for the addition of Katherine Hall Page’s book to the snowbound/snow-in list of mysteries.
If you get a chance, please let us know how those cookies turned out with your Splenda.
Gayle says
I guess 2 out of 3 requests getting answered is great except I am the 3rd requester. Hasn’t anyone read the other mystery that takes place in Exeter?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
I have been thinking about you, Gayle. We had such a great success for Brenda and Annette. I’m sorry that no one seems to be able to name your police procedural that features an embroiderer, the Rondels, and Exeter Cathedral.
Does anyone have an idea (not Rainbow’s End by Martha Grimes) of the book Gayle is looking for?
Julia says
The only police procedural I clearly remember that revolves around a cathedral town is A Finer End by Deborah Crombie. The town was Glastonbury though, so (with my limited knowledge of English geography) I may literally be miles off track. It’s an excellent book, though.
I remember another one I read several years ago that also revolved around an English cathedral, but I believe it was a cozy and the main characters were in a church choir – or one was the minister and the other one directed the choir…something like that. I don’t remember the name of that one (I have it, but not handy), but it wasn’t a police procedural that I recall so I doubt it’s the one you’re thinking of.
Gayle says
Julia – if you have the 2nd mentioned book I’d appreciate knowing the title/author. As the first murder definitely takes place in Exeter I don’t think it is by Ms Crombie – but I will check . Thanks
Brenda says
Gayle- are there any other details you remember? Like maybe a time period? I did some searching and found one that takes place around 1145, the murder does take place in Exeter Cathedral, but I’m not sure that it’s a cozy mystery, since I’ve never read it.
Gayle says
Thanks for asking Brenda, but no it takes place in modern times around the late 1980s or early 1990s. I know I had just read it when my friend told me about M. Grimes’ Rainbow’s End, in 1995 just before we went to England and decided to go to Exeter Cathedral to see the rondels (they, the Church and the ceiling are magnificant). Unfortanuately I just remember one of the embroiderer’s being murdered in the church, close to the start of the book and the entire book took place in England. I’ve tried Google and it keeps bringing up Rainbow’s End.