SPOTLIGHT & GUEST POST ~ FINAL SENTENCE by Daryl Wood Gerber

In need of a change, Jenna Hart leaves the high-pressure world of advertising to help her aunt, Vera, open a culinary bookshop and café. Back with her family in Crystal Cove, California, Jenna seems to have all the right ingredients for a fresh start—until someone adds a dash of murder. 

As a marketing expert, Jenna wants to make sure the grand opening of the Cookbook Nook draws a crowd, and no one is better at getting attention than her old college roommate, celebrity chef Desiree Divine. But when Desiree arrives in quiet Crystal Cove to do a cookbook signing, the diva stirs up more trouble than business…especially when she turns up dead. 

Known for stealing husbands and burning bridges, Desiree left behind plenty of suspects—including Jenna. Though the celebrity’s life always appeared to be an open book, Jenna will have to read between the lines in order to clear her name, and catch a killer before another body is served cold.

FINAL SENTENCE can be purchased from Amazon

First of all, I have to say I’m not much of a cook.  This is something Jenna Hart from FINAL SENTENCE by Daryl Wood Gerber and I have in common.  But I LOVE reading books about food.  I think the one of the coolest things about Cozy Mysteries is that most of the times, the authors include recipes in the books!!!!  So today, Daryl drops by to share one of her recipes with us.  

This is one of the easiest appetizers to make on the planet and it is so pretty. When I first started writing The Cheese Shop Mysteries, I tried my hand at all sorts of cheese-y recipes. This was one of the first.  I often serve it at parties. Guests gobble it up. The mascarpone, a soft creamy cheese (almost like a cream cheese) holds the whole thing together.

The protagonist in new Cookbook Nook series, Jenna Hart, would go for this in a heartbeat. She’s not much of a cook, yet. She wants to become one. Her mother did all the cooking when she was growing up. In FINAL SENTENCE, the first book in the series, Jenna is not only trying to prove herself innocent of murder, she’s taking the plunge and testing her hand at five-ingredient recipes. You’ll notice that this recipe has just the right amount.

Savor the mystery!

MASCARPONE STILTON TORTE

Ingredients:

1 lb. Mascarpone cheese (room temperature, this is key)

2 Tbs. honey

8 oz. Stilton cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup pecan pieces

1/2 cup Craisins

Directions:

In a bowl stir the honey with mascarpone.

In a very small bowl-shaped dish (deep),  spray the sides with cooking oil.  Line the bowl with saran wrap covering all sides, be sure to push the saran wrap flat. Spray again with cooking spray.  Spread the sides and bottom with mascarpone mixture, about ¼” thick.

Cut stilton into slices about ¼” thick and line the bottom with slices. Then layer ¼” mascarpone, then more stilton. Keep layering until you reach the top. Top layer should be mascarpone. Tightly seal with saran wrap.

Refrigerate for a few hours until the mascarpone is firm. To serve, tip it over onto a serving plate and remove the saran wrap.  Push crushed pecans on sides and craisins on top.

Serve with your favorite crackers.

About Daryl Wood Gerber:

Daryl Wood Gerber is the author of A Cookbook Nook Mystery series, featuring an avid reader, admitted foodie, and owner of a cookbook store in picturesque coastal California. The series will debut in 2013. In addition, under the pen name Avery Aames, Daryl writes the Agatha Award winning, nationally bestselling A Cheese Shop Mystery series, the 5th in A Cheese Shop Mystery series, DAYS OF WINE AND ROQUEFORT will debut February 4, 2014.

Prior to her career as a novelist, Daryl wrote screenplays and created the format for the popular TV sitcom Out of this World. A fun tidbit for mystery buffs, Daryl was also an actress and co-starred on “Murder, She Wrote”, as well as other TV shows. Daryl is originally from the Bay Area and graduated from Stanford University. She loves to cook, read, golf, swim, and garden. She also likes adventure and has been known to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. She has been happily married for over twenty-five years, and Daryl and her husband have a grown son who has flown the coop.

Places to find Daryl Wood Gerber:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Follow Daryl Wood Gerber on tour:

July 1, 2013 - Mystery Playground

July 2, 2013 - Dru’s Book Musings & Socrates Book Review

July 3, 2013 - Melissa’s Mochas, Mysteries & More

July 4, 2013 – Romance Bandits

July 5, 2013 – Shelley’s Book Case

July 6, 2013 - Melina’s Book Blog

July 8, 2013 - Traveling with T & Books-n-Kisses

July 9, 2013 - Book of Secrets

July 10, 2013 - A Chick Who Reads

July 11, 2013 - Read Your Writes Book Reviews

July 12, 2013 - Bea’s Book Nook

July 13, 2013 - YA Book Nerd

July 14, 2013 - Cozy Up with Kathy

Daryl Wood Gerber is offering one paperback copy of FINAL SENTENCE.  Follow the Rafflecopter to enter.

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