Cozy Up With Kathy: A Sprinkling of Murder - A Recipe, Review, & Giveaway

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

A Sprinkling of Murder - A Recipe, Review, & Giveaway

I'm so happy to give Daryl Wood Gerber the reins at Cozy Up With Kathy today. Daryl's latest book is A SPRINKLING OF MURDER, the first book in her new Fairy Garden Mystery series.

Honestly, I didn't think I'd be writing a new series again, but I am and I’m having so much fun developing the characters and digging into their lives, their loves, and their heartaches.

Here’s a little bit about the first Fairy Garden Mystery, A SPRINKLING OF MURDER.

Fairy garden store owner Courtney Kelly believes in inviting magic into one’s life. But when uninvited trouble enters her shop, she’ll need more than a sprinkling of her imagination to solve a murder . . .

Since childhood, Courtney has loved fairies. After her mother died when she was ten, she lost touch with that feeling of magic. A year ago, at age twenty-nine, she rediscovered it when she left her father's landscaping business to spread her wings and start a fairy garden business and teashop in beautiful Carmel, California. At Open Your Imagination, she teaches garden design and sells everything from fairy figurines to tinkling wind chimes and trickling fountains. Now she's starting a book club tea. But the light of the magical world she's created inside her shop is darkened one night when she discovers neighboring dog-grooming business owner Mick Watkins dead beside a fountain. To make matters worse, the police suspect Courtney of the crime. To clear her name and find the real killer, Courtney will have to wing it. But she’s about to get a little help from an unexpected new friend . . .

If you’re wondering why there are recipes in the book . . . Open Your Imagination serves tea on the weekends. There’s a harpist and delicious goodies like scones and muffins. Sometimes the teas follow a fairy garden class. Sometimes they center around a book club. What could be more fun for a fairy to attend than an event involving books? Fairies adore reading.

Courtney is not always the baker. A lovely woman who works at the bakery in the courtyard where Open Your Imagination is located bakes for the weekend festivities. And Courtney’s good friend, Meaghan Brownie, offers up recipes, too. Given her last name, she’s always trying to devise new brownie recipes. This is one of hers. Enjoy.

Peanut Butter Brownie

(serves 9-16)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 9-inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter, softened butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir well.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and stir until well combined.

Pour the batter in the prepared pan. You might need your fingers to press down and make even. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top, if desired.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 until a toothpick comes out clean.

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Review

A SPRINKLING OF MURDER by Daryl Wood Gerber

The First Fairy Garden Mystery

Courtney Kelly wanted some magic back in her life, as well as a measure of independence. So she left her father's landscaping business to start her own gardening shop, one that specialized in fairy gardens. Hard work and a positive attitude, along with a little something special, have helped Open Your Imagination thrive, but when she discovers her business neighbor dead in her shop, Courtney finds her store in trouble and herself a suspect. While Courtney never had a problem with the dead dog groomer, several other people did, including his wife and his landlord. Did they have something to do with his untimely death? Or was Courtney's neighbor, who decries that fairies aren't real and has been trying to undermine Open Your Imagination, behind the murder? With a sneaky reporter, an overprotective father, and a nosy councilwoman trying to get involved it's a good thing that Courtney has a very unique helper.

I was thrilled when I heard that there was going to be a mystery series with a fairy garden theme. I love fairies and have been wanting to create a fairy garden for some time. With A SPRINKLING OF MURDER Daryl Wood Gerber has created a wonderful world and inspired me to play in the dirt and welcome fairies to my garden and my life.

A SPRINKLING OF MURDER is adroitly penned with enough suspects to provide several twists and turns to the story. Aside from the possible villains, a variety of other interesting characters inhabit the Fairy Garden Mystery series; the best friend whose last name is Brownie and thus wants to sample every type of brownie made, the easy going old high school friend who will become a love interest, and Courtney Kelly herself, the likable protagonist with a good heart who wants to spread her wings. In fact, her heart may be too good. Courtney goes above and beyond to befriend those who vilify her making her a much better person than I! But my favorite character has to be the mischievous fairy Fiona. Yes, there are real fairies to be found amongst the pages here. Fiona is a feisty fairy determined to help Courtney...and have fun as she tries to get back in good graces with the fairy queen.

A SPRINKLING OF MURDER is an enchanting mystery that asks you to believe. Believe, not only in fairies, but in yourself and the intrinsic goodness of people.

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Sprinkling Of Murder (A Fairy Garden Mystery) by Daryl Wood Gerber

About A Sprinkling of Murder

Sprinkling Of Murder (A Fairy Garden Mystery)

Cozy Mystery 1st in Series

Publisher: Kensington (June 30, 2020)

Paperback: 304 pages

Fairy garden store owner Courtney Kelly believes in inviting magic into your life. But when uninvited trouble enters her shop, she’ll need more than a sprinkling of her imagination to solve a murder . . .

Since childhood, Courtney has loved fairies. After her mother died when she was ten, she lost touch with that feeling of magic. A year ago, at age twenty-nine, she rediscovered it when she left her father's landscaping business to spread her wings and start a fairy garden business and teashop in beautiful Carmel, California. At Open Your Imagination, she teaches garden design and sells everything from fairy figurines to tinkling wind chimes and trickling fountains. Now she's starting a book club tea.

But the light of the magical world she's created inside her shop is darkened one night when she discovers neighboring dog-grooming business owner Mick Watkins dead beside a fountain. To make matters worse, the police suspect Courtney of the crime. To clear her name and find the real killer, Courtney will have to wing it. But she’s about to get a little help from an unexpected new friend . . .

About Daryl Wood Gerber

Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber writes the nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mysteries as well as the French Bistro Mysteries. In June 2020, her new series, the Fairy Garden Mysteries debuts. As Avery Aames, she pens the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. Daryl also writes the Aspen Adams novels of suspense as well as stand-alone suspense. Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl appeared in “Murder, She Wrote.” She loves to cook, garden, and read, and she has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line!