Killer Crab Cakes

Publisher: NAL Trade (September 29, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0451228367
ISBN-13: 978-0451228369

I wasn't sure what to expect for a cover with the title Killer Crab Cakes. I visualized a crab waving around a gun or knife. No crabs, but it is a nice colorful cover. The book is set in Rockport, Texas where James and I spent a month researching and working. He actually wrote a book and a half while were were down there while I researched, plotted, and cooked seafood. I'm much, much slower at this process than he is. It took a second trip down there to finish writing the book. Unfortunately we couldn't spend a second month down there. The second trip was just for a week, but the last touches were put on the book in Rockport.

Nicki and Nora

We finally settled on the names for the puppies. Who would have thought it would be that hard to name a couple little female pups. We went through a lot of names, but none fit them. I threatened to call them Jo and Anna since our youngest daughter, Joanna, recently moved out. I wasn't serious and she saw the humor in it.

I thought about Calamity and Belle, but we had a little goat named Belle. John suggested Min and Pin and Michael Davis went even further with Minnie and Pennie. Good names, but not for these two. Michael came up with a lot of good ideas for names on Facebook, some we’ve even used in the past for pets.

Finally we decided to name them Nicki and Nora. I like the salute to the mystery series, but since we didn’t have a boy pup Nick was changed to Nicki. Nicki also has a second meaning to us. When our daughters were little we read a book called No No Nicky. They loved that book. It was a book the whole family knew without actually seeing the pages, because we read so many times. Even though it was about a cat, it really fits the smallest pup. She climbs up my leg when I’m sitting and suddenly I have a tiny pup in my lap. She climbs so high, I’m afraid she’s going to fall. We do seem to say no, no to them a lot. They are only eight weeks old and have many things to learn not to do. Like don't go near the grumpy ol’ dog we’ve had for many years. I think he must look a little like Momma because they really, really want him.

They are getting more adventuresome which can be a problem because we have a pair of hawks that live in the nearby woods. Yesterday one flew right over them. Luckily it wasn’t interested in them because it had a big ol’ snake.

I’d forgotten how much fun babies were. We’ve had kittens before but never puppies this young. They will just make you laugh out loud and our house hasn’t had enough laughter lately.

A Very Nice Review

There is a very nice review of The Christmas Cookie Killer by Pamela James at the Mayhem and Magic blog. Thanks Pamela.

Mother's Day Puppies

We have two new additions to the family. Today James and Shayna went to Denton and brought home these two little girls. These little half-pints are seven weeks old Min-Pin/Chihuahua mixes. They napped in a plastic tub while I bought supplies.

Now we need to come up with names. Any suggestions?

Pot Roast

I finally bought a new crock-pot to replace the one I lost in the fire over a year ago. I never really used the old one that much at home. Actually I had two of the big ones, but they were bought to make nachos for the school math and science team home competitions while our daughter was on the team. James and I ran the concession stand for the teams for several years. You wouldn’t believe how many pots of cheese we’d sell in one competition. I would have to get up especially early on those mornings to start a batch in the first pot. The kids would start buying nachos as soon as we’d set up for breakfast. While setting up, I’d start the next batch in the second crock-pot so hopefully it’d be hot by the time the first batch was gone, so I could start the next pot of cheese, and then the next . . . I really hated nachos by the time our daughter graduated high school.

This morning I filled my new crock-pot with baby carrots, onions, celery, red potatoes and two braised chuck roasts. The smell is already getting to me and I haven’t even had breakfast yet. If it turns out tasting the way it smells, I’ll split it between us and my parents. I do love cooking a whole meal in one pot, not to mention I can work through the time I would normally cook supper.

New Review

There's a nice review of A Peach of a Murder on the blog of the Mystery Reader Discussion.

Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pie

I felt lousy today and work wasn’t going well. That seems to be happening more often lately. I decided to bake a pie. My next baking book is set during Thanksgiving, so I need something that says Thanksgiving. I thought about pumpkin, but I’m a little tired of pumpkin as a holiday pie, to tell you the truth. I remembered how much my mother-in-law liked sweet potato pie, so I decided to try that with a twist. I wanted to mix the sweet potato pie with a buttermilk pie and add a pecan topping. It kept me busy this afternoon and I didn’t feel like I was just wasting the day, since technically coming up with these recipes is work. It just came out of the oven and I thought it looked pretty good. Of course the true test will be the taste.