Mystery Makes the World Go 'Round!
Starting June 21st and running through June 30, 2013, all Henery Press eBooks will go on sale for only $0.99!! Stock up on all your favorites, buy one for a friend, or just help spread the word.
But hurry, this HOT deal won’t last long.
As an avid book reader starting in middle school, I was against eReaders ever since they first appeared on the scene. Why would I want to read from a miniature computer screen when I could physically hold a novel in my hands? I love feeling my fingers flip the pages of a book I just can’t put down. My arms getting sore and achy from holding a book over my head as I curl up in bed all day reading. And nothing can compare to the smell of an ancient library book or an early edition discovered in some obscure bookstore—you readers and writers know what I’m talking about. [Read more...]
This year’s California Crime Writers Conference will be held at the Hilton Pasadena in Pasadena, California on Saturday and Sunday, June 22 – 23. This sold out conference showcases outstanding workshops, panels, experts, authors, and two AMAZING keynote speakers: Elizabeth George and Sue Grafton (managing editor Kendel Flaum will be front and center for those events!). She’ll also be dishing on two panels, plus one-on-one critiques, and the agent/editor meet and greet with up and coming new authors.
If you’re one of the lucky ones attending, be sure to say hello! And check out the CCWC website for all the details.
As always, feel free to reach out if you have questions or comments. We’d love to hear from you.
Cheers!
Henery Press is proud to announce that fifteen of its titles will soon be available in an audio book version.
“With such a significant portion of readers who also listen to books, this gives Henery Press, and our authors, the ability to reach a broader audience.” – Art Molinares, Vice President, Henery Press
The following Authors and corresponding series will soon be made available for our audio book listeners:
DINERS, DIVES & DEAD ENDS
LAST DINER STANDING
PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY
STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW
LOWCOUNTRY BOIL
LOWCOUNTRY BOMBSHELL
CROPPED TO DEATH
DESIGNED TO DEATH
EMBELLISHED TO DEATH
FRONT PAGE FATALITY
BURIED LEADS
BOARD STIFF
WHACK JOB
SWAN DIVE
ORDER: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca/ Barnes and Noble/ KOBO/ The Book Depository
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 21, 2013
Cherry Tucker’s in a stew. Art commissions dried up after her nemesis became president of the County Arts Council. Desperate and broke, Cherry and her friend, Eloise, spend a sultry summer weekend hawking their art at the Sidewinder Annual Brunswick Stew Cook-Off. When a bad case of food poisoning breaks out and Eloise dies, the police brush off her death as accidental. However, Cherry suspects someone spiked the stew and killed her friend. As Cherry calls on cook-off competitors, bitter rivals, and crooked judges, the police get steamed while the killer prepares to cook Cherry’s goose
•••••••••••••••••••
REVIEW: This is the second book in the Cherry Tucker Investigative series. It’s a little town in Georgia drama, revolving around an annual event the Brunswick Stew Festival.
Cherry Tucker is a local artist involved in her town. She’s dating a deputy sheriff Luke Harper, but has an ex-husband (sort of) who she married while in Las Vegas for a few hours before having it annulled, Todd McIntosh. Although Todd is an ex, he’s still a good friend and holds no animosity – in fact he’s still very much attracted to Cherry. This makes for some interesting conflict.
During the festival her friend and fellow artist Eloise Parker who has eaten about six sample bowls of the stew is taken very ill. Upset and trying to make people realize that Eloise, who had Crohn’s disease, was much too suddenly ill and she doesn’t believe it was her Crohn’s. When they reached the hospital it seems about 50 or more other people were also very ill, one in a coma. When Cherry goes to find Eloise’s room, she finds Eloise’s family crying and they tell her Eloise didn’t make it. Eloise’s father asks Cherry to help find out what happened to her, as he also doesn’t believe that her Crohn’s caused her death. He wants to know exactly what killed his daughter and won’t believe the police will give it the attention she deserves.
Cherry’s boyfriend as well as her sheriff uncle don’t want her involved in the case while they are investigating, but Cherry has very much a mind of her own…making her a cross somewhere between Lucille Ball and Stephanie Plum. Investigating in her own way, she has mishaps and yet somehow discovers that someone added arsenic to something served at the festival.
Larissa Reinhart has written a very interesting tale of murder, betrayal, romantic entanglement…you name it, this story has it! Very intriguing and fast paced. There are a lot of wonderful characters who quickly become your friends, family and enemies. It’s a twisting story of dysfunctional people, relationships, greed and more. There’s more than a little humor with a good bit of danger mixed in, making it a really great read.
Hope it doesn’t take too long to get back to Cherry and her next adventure!
Reading Order
1. Portrait of a Dead Guy
2. Still Life in Brunswick Stew
Copy supplied by the author.
Reviewed by Georgianna S.
Order: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release August 2012
In Halo, Georgia, folks know Cherry Tucker as big in mouth, small in stature, and able to sketch a portrait faster than buckshot rips from a ten gauge — but commissions are scarce. So when the well-heeled Branson family wants to memorialize their murdered son in a coffin portrait, Cherry scrambles to win their patronage from her small town rival.
As the clock ticks toward the deadline, Cherry faces more trouble than just a controversial subject. Between ex-boyfriends, her flaky family, an illegal gambling ring, and outwitting a killer on a spree, Cherry finds herself painted into a corner she’ll be lucky to survive.
••••••••••••••••
REVIEW: Move over Steel Magnolias and make room Stephanie Plum! Larissa Reinhart has written a great new mystery/murder series. It’s well plotted, action packed and the pace is stunning.
Cherry Tucker is the heroine. She’s just out of art school and trying to make a name for herself in the art world. She’s returned to Halo, her small Georgia hometown to live and try to earn a living. There are many great characters that feel like real folks you probably know or have met.
Like Stephanie Plum, she has a couple of “hot” guys interested in keeping company with her. Todd McIntosh, a drummer and seems to have a gambling problem…once talked her into marriage on a fun trip to Vegas. After just 3 hours and him disappearing to the gambling tables without a honeymoon, Cherry decided to have the mistake annulled (no harm, no foul). They remain good friends and Todd is still trying to regain lost ground. The other is a returned boyfriend, Luke Harper. He’s a high school sweetheart who often left her with a broken heart and the check at the Waffle House. Having grown up and gone through the military, he’s back in town for his step-brother’s funeral and the sparks are flying.
The story revolves around the funeral/murder of Dustin Branson, son of JB, the town big wig. Cherry’s gets a chance to paint a last portrait of Dustin for his somewhat flaky step-mom Wanda (Luke’s mother). I know, eewww! However, she needs the money and the experience.
This is a delightful story with humor, interesting situations and some real danger from some of the seedier characters. Cherry is one of those people who just can’t keep herself out of trouble though her intentions are the best.
It’s a fun read with lots of excitement, some hot kissing…sorry no farther. You’ll enjoy the great characters and the whole thing. I thoroughly loved this story and the next as well! Looking forward to the next Cherry Tucker mystery!
READING ORDER:
1. Portrait of a Dead Guy
2. Still Life in Brunswick Stew
Copy supplied by the author
Reviewed by Georgianna S.
We’re a bunch of foodies and food lovers here in the Hen House, so why not spend this FRIDAY FIVE sharing a few fab dessert recipes? Enjoy these five deliciously effortless treats guaranteed to satisfy your testy sweet tooth!
7 Butterfinger candy bars, crushed (6 inside the pie, one to garnish)
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1 (12 oz) carton Cool Whip
1 graham cracker crust
1) Mix first three ingredients together
2) Put in pie crust
3) Chill
4) Serve yourself a sizable slice of pie and let those taste buds soar!
1 cup peanut putter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1) Preheat oven to 350 and grease cookie sheets
2) Beat together peanut butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth
3) Add beaten egg and baking soda to peanut butter mixture and beat until well combined
4) Roll 1 teaspoon of dough into a ball and place on cookie sheet, place dough balls one inch apart and flatten with tines of fork making a cross pattern
5) Bake about 10 minutes or until puffed and a golden pale
6) Cool cookies on baking sheet about 2 minutes
7) Keep in air tight container at room temp (lasts 5 days) or munch on the peanut-buttery bliss immediately!
8 oz chocolate chips
6 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups whipping cream
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
1) Melt chocolate and water in saucepan
2) Whisk in the vanilla
3) Allow to cool
4) Whip the cream
5) Add the confectioner’s sugar
6) On low beater, blend in the chocolate
7) Scoop the Chocolate Mousse into a glass bowl and garnish to share with your fellow hens (or not)!
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
1 (18 oz) package lemon cake mix
¼ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1) Pre-heat oven to 375
2) Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy
3) Mix in ½ of the cake mix, the egg and the vanilla until smooth
4) Stir in remaining cake mix
5) Drop by teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet
6) Bake 8-10 minutes, then dive into these scrumptiously fruity treats!
1 (1 lb) package Oreo cookies, crushed
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1 (24 oz) package chocolate bark, melted
1) Mix Oreo’s in food processor until smooth
2) Mix the softened cream cheese with the Oreo’s by hand
3) Make into balls and put into the freezer until they are hard
4) Take out and dip into melted chocolate
5) Refrigerate the tasty morsels until your sweet tooth starts peckin’!
On this fabulous Friday, these hens are taste testing the Butterfinger Pie to celebrate a productive week at Henery. We’d love to know which dessert gets your feathers fluffin’, so try your favorite recipe and get clucking!
U
pon leaving the bookstore, everyone has this image for how they plan to break into their new book. They’re either cozied up in an over-stuffed chair, glass of wine in hand, the cat sleeping at their feet. Or maybe they see themselves laid out by the pool, sunglasses on, suntanned and bikini clad. Or perched at the coffee shop with a vanilla latte still steaming on the end table. There are a million and one more scenarios in which to enjoy a good book, none of which ever seem to work out as well as initially planned.
I should have seen this one coming. When curling up on the couch with my cup of hot tea, a new book, and a blanket, that monstrosity of a dog I thought I needed for companionship decides he also wants to be up on the couch. Crawling into my lap, trying to show me that he’s just as cuddly as that blanket, Fido knocks into my hand, spilling tea all over my lap and my book. After patting myself down and changing my shorts, I end up reading my newly tea-stained book out on the porch whilst throwing the tennis ball for Fido’s entertainment.
Heading to the pool with beach towel in hand, sunscreen dabbed on my nose, I stretch out near the water and pop that cover. Instead of the cool, gentle breeze I had planned for, I get the most vicious of Texas winds blowing the edges of my towel every which way and the pages of my book flapping to and fro like the wings of a chicken who thought he could fly. Conceding my defeat to Nature’s whim, I pack up all my stuff and end up enjoying my book indoors, watching the rain run down the window pane.
Things never seem to go as planned, but as long as there’s a good book nearby, the day will always be bright.