Cover Reveal: Batter off Dead

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Edith/Maddie writing from north of Boston, where fall has arrived with a vengeance.

Yes, I’m a summer lover. I’m already grieving the end of sweet corn from the farm a mile away, of my garden’s sun-warmed Asian eggplants and tomatoes of all sizes, of blueberries and raspberries, of swimmable-temperature water (all two weeks of it) and reading on the beach. Yes, I know sweater and boot season is coming, along with cider donuts and soups and hot tea. I’d rather have summer, thank you very much.

But let’s not get dark before the days actually do. I’m delighted to show you the cover of set-in-summer Batter Off Dead, Country Store Mystery #10! Read down for a giveaway.

Isn’t that fun? Depicted is the front porch of Jupiter Springs Assisted Living. (I’m not sure how Robbie’s kitty Birdy got there, but that’s the cover artist’s prerogative.) Here’s the blurb:

In Batter Off Dead, Robbie Jordan and her new husband Abe O’Neill are enjoying a summer evening in the park with fellow townsfolk excited for some Friday night fireworks. In attendance are senior residents from Jupiter Springs Assisted Living including Roy Bird, father to South Lick’s very own Police Lieutenant Buck Bird. Despite his blindness, Roy is a member of his group home’s knitting circle, spending quality time with some lovely ladies.
 
But when the lightshow ends, one of the knitters who sat with Roy is found dead, a puncture wound in her neck. The poor woman’s death echoes that of Buck’s mother— Roy’s wife—an unsolved homicide. To help find the killer, Robbie’s going to have to untangle the knotty relationships deep in the victim’s past…

The book releases February 22, which is suddenly seeming sooner that it had been. I’ve finished a Christmas Scarf novella in the Country Store series, to release in about a year, and am deep into first draft of Four Leaf Cleaver, book eleven (yes, which takes place around St. Patrick’s Day).

To celebrate, and to be sure you’re up-to-date on the series, I have codes for two audiobooks of the previous book, No Grater Crime, to give away!

Readers: What’s your favorite thing to make – or eat – from a batter?

Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

51 Thoughts

  3. While I don’t make things from batter myself, I have no problem eating homemade cookies and/or brownies. And I do like pancakes (with blueberries) a lot too.

  4. Muffin batter is tops for me; with blueberry, bran, pumpkin, chocolate chip, banana nut, cherry, carrot cake, and zucchini walnut amongst my favorites.

  6. This is the week I test three recipes for blueberry buckle for next summer’s Cape Cod Foodie novel, Murder Is No Picnic. Can’t wait! Love, love, love blueberry buckle.

  7. All good things begin with batter, don’t they? Cookies, cakes, muffins, waffles…oh my! In the fall, seems like there’s tons of pumpkin muffins around, but I’d rather have banana bread muffins. Hot with butter, please! Love your book cover – wonder if a knitting needle has something to do with that murder?

  9. WAFFLES, definitely. I have several waffle irons, and each makes a different shaped waffle: Swedish 5-heart pattern, square Belgian, standard round. I’m already looking forward to the continuation of Robbie’s story.

      2. Count me in for the Mickey Mouse waffles too! I’m good for all things Disney! And waffles! Lol!

  11. Such a Cozy and Enticing cover!!! Even if I was not familiar with your books, I would buy this book just from reading the title and the fun cover (including a kitty). BATTER = baking + DEAD = Murder…Life is good! I am with you, Maddie…I don’t do “COLD”…gimme Spring and Summer any day, and I am a happy camper! My all-time favorite yummies to bake are definitely SCONES. You’ll always find scones here. You have infinite options , and it is always fun to try new recipes. Currently we are enjoying a fresh batch of raisin scones, but very often we bake Cranberry Orange ones. Frequently we just bake plain ones, and enjoy them with homemade marmalade, or jams made from fruits on our ranch…mango, persimmon, strawberry guava, blackberry, peach or apricot…and top them of with a dollop of plain yoghurt instead of artery-clogging clotted cream…trying not to become BATTER OFF DEAD 🙂 Thank you for sharing your wonderful writing talents with us readers who devour your stories, hopefully accompanied by a delicious cuppa!!

  12. One of my favorite foods that start as batter is good old fashioned Coffee Cake. So easy to whip up. It almost makes you want to leave your warm bed. Almost.

  13. Pineapple Upside-Down cake – warm, just out of the oven. Perfect for Fall, my favorite season ! Can’t wait to read Robbie’s next adventure 🙂

  15. I love fall. Summer is great, but in New England you gotta love fall. However I noticed it was pitch dark at 7:00 pm the last two nights. I do not love that!

    Lovely cover and so in keeping with the Country Store series vibe. Best of luck with the book and good luck to the giveaway entrants.

  16. Love the cover. Who could not love a kitty going after a ball of yarn?

    Being a carboholic, I love anything made with batter, but what I make most are pancakes, especially pumpkin ones.

  17. My favorite things to make from batter are blueberry pancakes and brownies. They are both delicious!

  18. Lovely looking cover.

    And I’m with you on mourning the end of summer. Especially since I came back from vacation last night, and it isn’t even in the 60’s yet here at home.

  22. Another great cover! I think Birdy must be there to be a therapeutic visitation cat, who says it has to be a dog! Lol! My favorite batter food is pancakes, slathered with lots of butter with a little syrup to dip them in. I agree with you about summertime. I’m already missing it even though the weather still very much feels like summer here. I think it is just knowing that cold weather is going to be here before we know it.

  23. We enjoy making cakes and cookies. We make chocolate chip cookies, butterscotch scotchies and M&M cookies. Thank you so much.

  24. It used to be cake, I did a lot of baking when my son was younger & there were always kids visiting. My go to for unexpected visits was a delicious microwave chocolate cake that took very little time to make. These days I’m more likely to be making batter for pancakes for one!

  25. Oh, looking forward to this. I don’t bake much, but I did love to take brownies to Y potlucks when we had them. I’d vary toppings in sections, nuts, coconut, extra chips . . . so people could take what appealed to them.

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