Congratulations Kathy L! You are the winner of Ellery’s giveaway! Jessie has sent you an email to coordinate delivering your prize!
Jessie: In New Hampshire enjoying the sounds of the cheerful birds in my back garden!
I am so pleased to welcome Ellery Adams to the Wickeds today! I know many of you will be familiar with her books and all the hours of reading pleasure she has created. Take it away, Ellery!
The Novelist’s Test Kitchen
I don’t know about you, but I can’t relate to characters that don’t eat. There’s something incredibly human about sitting down to a meal with another person—even if that person is fictional. I’m intrigued by how they take their coffee, if they have breakfast for dinner, and which candy they have stashed in a desk drawer.
I enjoy describing food, but I had no idea how time-consuming creating food for a mystery series could be. I got my first taste (sorry, I couldn’t resist) of what it was like to come up with original recipes when I wrote The Supper Club mysteries. When I started The Charmed Pie Shoppe mysteries, I couldn’t keep up with all the emails focused on baking. Feeling like I was becoming more food blogger than novelist, I decided not to include recipes in future books.
My love for baking was renewed after I saw an episode of The Great British Bake Off. I was hooked! Chopped, Top Chef, Cupcake Wars, Zumbo’s Just Desserts, Nailed It!—I don’t think there’s a TV cooking competition I haven’t watched.
Eager to try some of these recipes, I put on my apron and recruited my daughter to be my sous chef. These photos show a small sample of the many things we’ve made together.
Between watching TV shows, reading chef memoirs, and working in my own test kitchen for the past decade, I’ve learned a bit about what it takes to craft a memorable dish.
In Murder in the Cookbook Nook, the seventh installment in my Book Retreat Mysteries, I combined my love of food with my love of literature (along with a dash of murder) to show the darker side of a cooking competition. And did I ever have fun! Sometimes, a writer’s passions form a perfect pairing. I hope that passion shines through the pages when you read this mystery.
Murder in the Cookbook Nook hits the shelves April 27th, but you could win a copy now (along with a culinary-themed surprise)!
How? Just share something you discovered by visiting my website: www.elleryadamsmysteries.com.