Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Lemon Tart

A recipe for murder!

•5 families living on Peregrine Circle
•1 flowered curtain tieback
•1 missing child
•1 body in the field

Mix with a long list of suspects and top with two very different detectives. Increase heat until only the truth remains.

Award-winning author Josi S. Kilpack introduces a new series of culinary "cozies" that is sure to tantalize mystery lovers. In this debut volume, cooking aficionado-turned-amateur detective, Sadie Hoffmiller, tries to solve the murder of Anne Lemmon, her beautiful young neighbor - a single mother who was mysteriously killed while a lemon tart was baking in her oven. At the heart of Sadie's search is Anne's missing two-year-old son, Trevor. Whoever took the child must be the murderer, but Sadie is certain that the police are looking at all the wrong suspects - including her!

Armed with a handful of her very best culinary masterpieces, Sadie is determined to bake her way to proving her innocence, rescuing Trevor, and finding out exactly who had a motive for murder.


Mom’s Lemon Tart
Crust
1 cup all- purpose flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter (cut into smaller pieces)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a food processor or mixer, combine ingredients for crust. Pulse together until a dough starts to form in clumps. Press into tart pan, making sure to cover bottom and sides evenly. Pierce the bottom of the crust with a fork and place in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. Place tart pan on a cookie sheet and bake until crust is a golden-brown color, approximately 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Filling
5 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons—DO NOT use concentrated lemon juice)
2 large eggs
Zest from one lemon (get zest from lemon before juicing)

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Mix cream cheese with electric beaters until smooth. Add sugar. Mix until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each egg. Stop and scrape bowl halfway through. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix until smooth.

Pour filling into tart crust and bake on cookie sheet for 20 to 30 minutes or until filling is set. Let tart cool on wire cooling rack. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled. Use whipped cream as an optional topping. It can be piped on instars or served on top with each piece. For extra flavor in the whipped cream, add a teaspoon of lemon zest..

I thought I had reviewed this book when I read it back in April? March? But I guess I didn't. So here you go.
I loved this book. Sadie is your standard neighborhood busy body. But not the kind you don't like. In fact, she is the one that everyone relies on to know things or to help out. She doesn't mean to get involved in a murder investigation. It just sorta happens. Can Sadie help it if she noticed something strange at Anne's house and walked in on a murder investigation? Or that she becomes a suspect because she notices things that others don't? Or that the murderer is not who you think it is?
I am usually pretty good at guessing who the bad guy is fairly early in the book. Imagine my surprise when it wasn't who I thought.
This genre is a departure for Josi. And I think she did a great job. Even though you will find this series of culinary mysteries at Deseret Book, it is not a Mormon book in the sense of the characters being Mormon, because they are not.
I have always loved Josi's writing. She has a way of telling a story that makes you love her characters and you feel as if you know them all personally. You can find my reviews of others of Josi's books here, here and here. You can purchase them here. Read Josi's blog here or go to
Josi's website here.
While you are at the website, you can preorder book two in the series, and read chapter 1.
Then when you get your copy of book 2, turn it over and open the back cover. Read about the author then turn the pages until you get to page 351. Notice that it is chapter one of book 3. Don't stop to read it yet because you need to turn the page two more times. See the top of page 347? Where it says Acknowledgements? yes? Scan down to the bottom of the page then back up one line. See that second word? Sandra? Woo Hoo!! that would be me.
And how do I know that it is on that precise page in that precise spot. Because I have my copy of the book sitting right next to me and I am headed to my room to do some serious reading.
Oh, and the reason I didn't tell you the title of book 2? Because it is the location of the next Where in the World?
Last time we were in Scotland and today we are headed not very far away from there. Here we can eat scones and crumpets, take the Jack the Ripper tour, see the changing of the guards. Hopefully we don't discover a dead body like Sadie does in book two of Josi's series. If you are my family you know that my sister, Sharon, (and I think my brother in law as well?) went there on her mission. Or you may know that President Hinckley went there, too.
But the easiest way to know, Head over to Josi's and read the first chapter.


Indeed.
add to kirtsy

10 comments:

tawnya said...

Yes, your brother in law as well...

So she's an LDS author doing a Diane Mott Davidson thing?

Sandra said...

Yep. And if you like Diane Mott Davidson's books, I think you will like Josi's as well. (and in book three, there is a recipe that I invented and named after me. I can't tell you what it is, but it involves cream cheese and chocolate)

tawnya said...

Mmmmm. Cream cheese and chocolate.

I have read all of Davidson's books. They are so bad and so predictable and my go to mind numbing crap!

Yeah, but then I would have to break my "I refuse to read LDS authors" pack...Hmmmm.

Sandra said...

But don't you read Shannon Hale? And Stephanie Meyre? You could add Josi Kilpack to that stack if you only read her culinary mysteries.

Josi said...

Thanks for the review, Sandra. And thanks again for all your help in the test kitchen--FWIW, I tried to read Davidson after we decided to make my books culinary mysteries. I've started two and didn't get past page 60. So I agree with Tawnya on that count :-)

tawnya said...

I don't read Stephenie Meyer because she sucks as a writer, LDS or not. I do read Shannon Hale but that's because she's not an LDS writer. She's just a writer who's religion is LDS. Is Josi the same or did she start in the LDS fiction genre?

I may pick it up if I don't have to darken the door of Deseret Book to get it...but I really like Davidson's culinary mysteries, so I'm not sure why I'd read another set. Does that make sense? I think I would have to be really bored and searching. I'll do some research and see what I think.

Josi, I don't understand what you agreed with me about? You didn't finish Davidson's books? I do own them all, so I have finished them. They ARE bad, but bad in a way that I don't have to think. They're my "bathtub" books in that regard!

David G. Woolley said...

Who is this Tawnya person? Darken the door of Deseret Book?

Don't worry Tawyna, the employees at Deseret Book aren't going to bear their testimonies, quote their favorite scriptures, call you to repentence, or ask you to do your visiting teaching.

But, did you last month?

Josi is a brilliant writer. I've eavesdropped on what she writes here and there. She is one of the best, and her writing compares well, if not far surpasses most everything out there, LDS or not. You're missing out if you don't darken the door of Deseret Book and get her stuff. She's terrific.

tawnya said...

Who am I? I'm Sandra's opinionated liberal writer sister who just happens to be Mormon and thinks that whether or not I fulfill ANY of my callings is, quite frankly, none of your business.

I've been instructed to only seek out things that are praise-worthy. I decided long ago that in order for that to be fulfilled, I should eliminate LDS fiction from my life. I've never been happier. So, really, why would I spend time in Deseret Book when I have more worthwhile pursuits and so little time to pursue them?

(Sorry, Sandra. Sorry, sorry, sorry.)

Josi - I'm sure your new book is lovely and when I'm next in the market for a no brainer tub book, I'll keep it in mind!

Sandra said...

Ok, I am only going to say this once, so everyone listen up.

I love and respect you both. I also respect both of your opinions and your right to have them and voice them. Please allow each other the same and try to not antagonize each other here.

Now, shake hands, say I'm sorry and if the best you can do is ignore each other then I'll have to be happy with that.

However, if you can have a disagreement where you both air your opinions but agree to disagree then I am ok with that.

And I find it interesting that I was in the middle of a post on unity and love this morning when I read these comments.

tawnya said...

I am sorry, Sandra, to you. The last thing I want to do is cause any more unpleasantness in your life. I had every intention of ignoring his existance for your sake since, for whatever reason, you seem to like him. Easy to do, mostly since I am only reminded of him when he comments here.

However, when someone is so blatantly condescending and patronizing to me, I find it hard not to stand up for myself. That praise-worthy thing again needs to be my guide and as such, will simply ignore his comments from here on out. He is not worth my time.

A note, though. If he out and out antagonizes...I will again be seeking your forgivness.