Mysteries and Menus- Linda Wiken

Meow!

My guest blogger this week is author Linda Wiken!

Linda Wiken writes the Dinner Club Mysteries as herself, is writing the new Castle Bookstore Mysteries as Essie Lang, and has written the Ashton Corners Book Club Mysteries as Erika Chase.  She was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel and has also been short-listed for an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada for Best Short Story. She is a former mystery bookstore owner and still loves reading all the mysteries she can get her hands on.  She also loves singing in a choir, which is not always so pleasant for her Siamese cat, Keesha, who must endure hours of practice.

Thanks ROCCO!

Do you have to be a foodie to enjoy reading the Dinner Club Mysteries? No, but it does help. I mean, if you’re a fan of the cozy mystery, that’s really enough. Because, try as she may, event planner J.J. Tanner feels compelled to do some sleuthing in each of the three books.

The food is integral to her pals and cohorts, the Culinary Capers Dinner Club, but not to solving the mystery. I mean, poison is never the weapon, I’ll declare that up front. That’s because the Culinary Capers, for their monthly dinners together, use a real cookbook found on the bookshelves of your local bookstore. So, not wanting to be sued, poison is never an added ingredient.

In the first two books, events that J.J. had planned included a murder that wasn’t on the agenda. So, what’s a conscientious planner to do but try to solve the crime. Add the fact that one of the dinner club members just happens to be a suspect – sometimes more than one, and even J.J. herself – then it’s her duty to get involved.

It helps that she’s aided by sexy P.I. Ty Devine, although he’s usually doing it to keep her out of his investigation. Or out of danger. And those Culinary Capers are proving to be as good at following clues as at following recipe directions.

In the newest book, Marinating in Murder, which just came out last month, one of their own, police officer Alison Malkovich is the prime suspect after the body of her estranged husband is found in the back of her SUV. All hands aboard for this one.

If you are a foodie, you’ll enjoy being part of their many meals and, hopefully you’ll try the recipes included at the end of each book. In Roux the Day, the second one, they used the Mystery Writers of America Cookbook and with the authors’ permission, I included some of their recipes. It was a lot of fun to do and the Culinary Capers enjoyed talking about their books, too.

Food and mystery? They do go together and present a deliciously satisfying menu.

Thanks Linda!

If you like food, you will definitely enjoy the Dinner Club Mysteries!

Titles in Order:

Toasting Up Trouble

Roux the Day

Marinating In Murder

Hope y’all caught my review of Marinating in Murder on last weeks’ blog post!

NOW IT’S GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!

Linda will give away a copy of Marinating In Murder to one lucky commenter!

To enter, leave a comment on this blog post with your name and email address (entries without email will be disqualified). For extra entries, you can do any or all of the below:

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Winner will be chosen at random using random.org.  Don’t forget to mention all you’ve done in your comment. Contest ends midnight, April 22! Good luck!