Blackberry Pie Murder (40 page)

turned upside down to do this—it fit perfectly.)

! % { # 9 *

335

! % { # 9 *

Dip your impeccably clean fingertip in a bit of lemon juice and run it around the rim of the martini glass.
(
The

object here is to make it wet on top of the rim so the rim-

ming mixture will stick.
)
Turn the glass upside down in the shallow bowl and move it around a bit so that the rimming mixture coats the tip of the rim.

Set the rimmed glass on the counter while you make the drink.

Combine the drink ingredients in a martini shaker. Add ice and shake for 5 to 10 seconds, but not long enough to melt the ice cubes.

Strain the mixture into your rimmed martini glass, add the blackberry garnish, and serve.

Alternatively, you can make this in a pitcher filled with ice, stir until the mixture is icy cold (but not long enough to melt the ice—you don’t want it to dilute the martini), and strain the mixture into your rimmed martini glass.

Drop a fresh or frozen blackberry into your martini as a garnish.

Yield: 1 delicious martini that tastes like blackberry pie!

Hannah’s Note: If you’re only making one Blackberry
Pie Martini, you’ll have some rimming mixture left over.

! % { # 9 *

336

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Put it in the cupboard and use it to sprinkle on hot buttered toast in the morning to make cinnamon toast.

BLACKBERRY PIE COOLER

(NON-ALCOHOLIC BLACKBERRY PIE “MARTINI”)

The Rimming Mixture:

1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
(use the store-bought

kind—it’s ground rather than grated
)
1⁄4 cup white
(granulated)
sugar
The Drink:

2 ounces white cranberry juice

2 ounces fresh lemon juice

2 ounces Torani Blackberry Syrup OR fresh blackberry puree

The Garnish:

1 fresh or frozen blackberry as a garnish

Mix the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar together in a saucer or small salad plate that is slightly larger than the

! % { # 9 *

337

! % { # 9 *

rim of your martini glass.
(I used the cap of my flour jar

turned upside down to do this—it fit perfectly.)

Dip your impeccably clean fingertip in a bit of lemon juice and run it around the rim of the martini glass.
(The

object here is to make it wet on top of the rim so the rim-

ming mixture will stick.)

Turn the glass upside down in the shallow bowl and move it around a bit so that the rimming mixture coats the tip of the rim.

Set the rimmed glass on the counter while you make the drink.

Combine the drink ingredients in a martini shaker. Add ice and shake for 5 to 10 seconds, but not long enough to melt the ice cubes.

Strain the mixture into your rimmed martini glass, add the blackberry garnish, and serve.

Alternatively, you can make this in a pitcher filled with ice, stir until the mixture is icy cold (but not long enough to melt the ice—you don’t want it to dilute the martini), and strain the mixture into your rimmed martini glass.

Drop a fresh or frozen blackberry into your drink as a garnish.

! % { # 9 *

338

! % { # 9 *

Yield: 1 delicious non-alcoholic “martini” that tastes like blackberry pie!

Hannah’s Note: If you’re only making one Blackberry
Pie “Martini”, you’ll have some rimming mixture left over.

Put it in the cupboard and use it to sprinkle on hot buttered toast in the morning to make cinnamon toast.

! % { # 9 *

339

!
BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER
#

RECIPE INDEX

Tio Tito’s Sublime Lime Bar Cookies

24

Treasure Chest Cookies (Lisa’s Aunt Nancy’s

Babysitter’s Cookies)

44

Chip Chip Hooray Cookies

55

Grandma’s Buttermilk Pie

64

Cream Cheese and Herb Scones

84

Fettuccini “Porcini” (Australian Fettucini)

87

Rummy Tum Tum Cake

89

Rummy Tum Tum Chocolate Frosting

91

Winnie’s Fresh Blackberry Pie (“Blackbeard Pie”) 118

Fresh Blackberry Cookies

133

Orange Crisps

143

Chocolate Orange Crisps

145

Airy Berry Cookies

157

Chocolate Drizzle

159

Chocolate Hazelnut Crackles (Nutella Cookies) 183

Bacon, Egg, and Cheddar Cheese Toast Cups

196

Graham Cracker Cake

208

Triple Chocolate Cookies

216

Butterscotch Brickle Bar Cookies

258

Golden Raisin Whippersnapper Cookies

271

Blue Apple Muffins

285

Yummy Yam Cookies (Sweet Potato or Yam Cookies) 296

Easy Pralines

310

Blackberry Pie Martini

335

Blackberry Pie Cooler

(Non-Alcoholic Blackberry Pie “Martini”)

337

Baking Conversion Chart

These conversions are approximate, but they’ll work just fine for Hannah Swensen’s recipes.

VOLUME

U.S.

Metric

1⁄2 teaspoon

2 milliliters

1 teaspoon

5 milliliters

1 tablespoon

15 milliliters

1⁄4 cup

50 milliliters

1⁄3 cup

75 milliliters

1⁄2 cup

125 milliliters

3⁄4 cup

175 milliliters

1 cup

1⁄4 liter

WEIGHT

U.S.

Metric

1 ounce

28 grams

1 pound

454 grams

OVEN TEMPERATURE

Degrees

Degrees

British (Regulo)

Fahrenheit

Centigrade

Gas Mark

325 degrees F.

165 degrees C.

3

350 degrees F.

175 degrees C.

4

375 degrees F.

190 degrees C.

5

Note: Hannah’s rectangular sheet cake pan, 9 inches by 13

inches, is approximately 23 centimeters by 32.5 centimeters.

A Letter From Joanne Fluke

Years before Hannah Swensen unlocked the back door at The Cookie Jar, I went to visit a friend and her newborn daughter in Las Vegas. I flew out of Minneapolis in the middle of a snowstorm, happy to be escaping the cold Minnesota winter. When we landed in Vegas, I met my friend and switched to sandals for the drive to her place. As I stuffed my snow boots in my suitcase, I thought of how wonderful it was to breathe warm air that hadn’t come out of a furnace vent!

We drove out of town and took the road to Mount Charles ton. Soon there was snow on the ground and it got deeper and icier as we climbed higher. I thought I’d be relaxing by a pool in the warm sun, but it seemed that I was returning to cold weather much sooner than I’d expected!

We walked in to their log cabin near the mountain top.

Their access road wasn’t plowed and residents had to park on the shoulder of the highway. It wasn’t far and I marveled at the breathtaking scenery. How gorgeous! And how glad I was that I had my snow boots!

By the time we turned in for the night, I was imagining what might happen if someone lived in an exclusive, high-rise condo in this beautiful but terrifyingly isolated place. What if there was a blizzard? And what if a killer terrorized the residents who were stranded with no help from the outside world? This was the moment I knew I had to write
Dead

Giveaway
and set it high on Mount Charleston. I hope you enjoy reading it when it’s re-released in May 2014. Even though I know it’s fiction, I still can’t re-read it without shivering!

Prologue

The meeting took place in a high-rise office building, twenty stories above the Vegas Strip. The five men wore fashionably-cut business suits. There wasn’t a bodyguard in sight, the strains of Italian aria did not fill the air, and no one’s name was Guido.

The tanned blond man looked uncomfortable as he addressed the senior member of the group. “I’m sorry it has to be this way, but our only option is to take a hard line.”

Reluctantly, the older man nodded, perspiring heavily. “I know, I know. She thinks she’s in love and she won’t listen to reason. She doesn’t realize he’s playing her for a fool.”

“She’s already talked too much.” The short, thin man frowned. “We managed to take care of it this time, but we can’t take another chance.”

The older man peered into their faces for some sign of compassion, but no one would meet his eyes. “But she’s my daughter! There’s got to be some other way!”

The fourth member of the group, a heavyset man with a ruddy complexion, sighed deeply. “You know we’re reasonable men. If there’s another solution, we’re willing to consider it.”

“What if I personally guarantee her silence? Put a guard on her day and night?”

346

Joanne Fluke

There was a silence for a long moment and then the heavyset man shook his head. “We know your intentions are good, but you can’t control her forever. She’ll manage to slip her guard sooner or later and then . . .”

The fifth member of the group, silent until this point, held up his hand. “I know that I speak for every man here when I say that we respect your feelings for your daughter.” The heavyset man nodded along with the others. “And because of that respect which we all share, I have worked out a plan to keep her alive but eliminate the threat she poses.”

They all leaned forward as he outlined the details. An expression of anguish came over the older man’s face as he listened, but then he nodded reluctantly. It was better than nothing.

“It’s settled then.” The heavyset man sighed deeply. “So what about the boyfriend?”

The older man’s expression hardened as he rose from the table. “Do what you think best. I have no interest in him.”

Happy Smith wheeled another load of rubbish up to the industrial Dumpster. The wind whistled down the canyon and he shivered as he zipped up his windbreaker. The foreman would be plenty surprised when he came up the mountain tomorrow and found all the construction trash and debris hauled away.

A strange set of circumstances had prompted Happy to start work one day early. It had to do with the mission and their Sunday schedule. First they fed you the food, a nice chicken dinner with soup and mashed potatoes and little green peas. But then, after the apple pie that Miss Alden made in a big pan for the men she called her lambs, she herded them all into the chapel to say prayers all afternoon.

Happy had already resigned himself when he’d heard Miss Alden tell another man that he’d better hurry or he’d be late to work. And that had given him the idea. The slip from the DEAD GIVEAWAY

347

foreman was in his pocket and he’d folded it over so the date didn’t show. Miss Alden had been so excited about his job that she’d given him a nice yellow windbreaker and a pair of gloves from the charity box. And Sam, an old wino who’d been at the mission since they’d opened the doors, had loaned Happy his horseshoe ring for luck.

Happy turned around to stare at the building on Deer Creek Road. The foreman had told him it was almost finished, a high-rise with nine condos that took up a whole floor apiece. Even though he wasn’t supposed to do any cleanup inside the building, Happy had been itching to see those million dollar condos.

The parking garage was wide open, its iron security gates propped up by the entrance, waiting to be installed. Happy hurried in and climbed the stairs to the first floor. He knew he was snooping, but he wouldn’t touch a thing. No one would ever know he’d been inside.

When Happy opened the door to the first floor condo, he gasped out loud. It was carpeted with the thickest rug he’d ever seen, plenty soft enough to sleep on. And the rooms were so big they could hold every one of Miss Alden’s lambs, without anyone ever bumping into anyone else.

There was a smile on Happy’s face as he wandered through the rooms, trying to imagine being rich enough to live in such a place. The kitchen looked as if it belonged in a restaurant, with a walk-in freezer, a mammoth stove with four ovens, and enough shelves in the pantry to store food for a year.

After he had peeked into each of the rooms, Happy decided to head straight up to the penthouse. The foreman had told him they were putting a whole spa up there. Happy didn’t see how they could build a pool without digging a hole in the ground, but the foreman had assured him that was exactly what they were doing.

It took time to climb up nine flights of stairs, and even 348

Joanne Fluke

though he stopped to rest at several landings, Happy was panting when he pushed open the door to the penthouse. The sight that awaited him made him gasp in awe. Metal girders curved around in a series of interlocking arches to make a domed ceiling. It wasn’t finished yet, but several panes of glass were in place and Happy could see that there would be an unobstructed view in all directions. He stopped to look out at Mount Charleston and watched the pattern of the clouds just brushing its peak.

The view was so spectacular that, for a few moments, Happy lost himself in contemplation, forgetting the man-made marvels at his feet. Then he whistled in awe as he gazed down at the immense hole in the floor, lined with steel beams. He guessed they needed all that reinforcement because the pool was all the way up on top of the building.