Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **AUTHOR SPECIAL TRIPLE** with DEBORAH PALUMBO

Welcome to my Friday bonus feature called Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **Author Special**!!  Today, in lieu of one of my own recipes, I’m going to introduce you to a new author who will share one of her favorite recipes. Not only will you and I occasionally learn how to make something new and delicious, but we’ll get a chance to check out some wonderful authors.

Introducing author, DEBORAH PALUMBO, and her favorite recipe for SWEET POTATO & CARAMELIZED APPLES CASSEROLE!

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  About the author, Deborah Palumbo….

First let me say this is really exciting, being here again on your wonderful blog, sharing my books with you and a favorite recipe!!

I’m a self-pubbed fiction author now but I began as a young gal who from age 7 through 18 wrote poems for God, but I always wanted to write novels; it was something innate. That dream however, didn’t happen until I was unfortunately stricken with a debilitating illness; as a result, I have 9 novels published on Amazon and many more are sitting in my file waiting to be dusted off!

I spin yarns in several genres, available as ebooks and paperback: Paranormal…laced with mystery and romance, historical, and mystery/crime…you know who dunnit with frustrated detectives who are hot on the trail of some killer. The one element they all have in common is they are all mystery based.

I also co-wrote a screenplay with actor/writer Jordan Rhodes. I loved the experience immensely, but writing novels is still much preferred.

Okay so now that we’ve gotten my humble bio out of the way, we’re ready for the meat and potatoes.

You know, this was a difficult decision for me deciding which of my mystery/crime novels to spotlight, ( last time I discussed my vampire series The Undeparted) so I decided to do a little blurb about all three, but mainly focus on my crime noir with a vintage detective, When the Temperature Rises. I realize crime noir requires certain taste buds, but I just happen to love the Detective McAllister series… Book 2 is a WIP by the way….and hope you guys feel the same way!

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BOOK PEEK  1 ~  WHEN THE TEMPERATURE RISES by Deborah Palumbo

Before I take you for a spin in Detective Humphrey McAllister’s 1941 black Ford Sedan right up to the crime scene of Sam Santino’s murder, I want to explain some things to you about Humphrey.

Humphrey was constantly skirt chasing; blonde dames were like magnets and he had absolutely no self control. His other device was consuming too much of the funny water. Yeah, yeah he shook those nasty habits like dance hall girls doing the hoochie coochie, but it’s hard to prove you’ve got your act together. Pot bellied Captain Milroy has lost all faith in his Detective and reluctantly turns over the Santino case to Humph. Humph has 48 hours to solve it or he’s gonna be demoted from homicide to following bed jumpers at sleazy motels.

Let’s fast forward just a bit shall we. Santino got himself whacked pretty good. He’s shot up full of bullet holes so that he looks like a damn piece of swiss cheese. He’s alive when Humphrey arrives, barely alive; Humphrey dials the emergency wagon for poor Sam, but Sam expires before the wagon arrives. Before his unfortunate demise though he tries to convey some kind of message to Humphrey, but he has too much lead in him to complete a sentence. There might be a clue though but Humphrey can’t decipher it.

So, Humphrey sweeps the apartment for tangible clues and one clue leads to another and takes Humphrey on a journey to some pretty interesting people on his list; some are voluptuous blonde dames that attract the Detective like magnets, others are boxers who could lay Humphrey out with one right hook. But the most interesting suspect comes right out of left field like some fly ball: Roberta, Humphrey’s ex wife.

Now what you have to understand about Humphrey is he’s still carrying a torch for Roberta, so hauling her in is the last thing he wants to do. In fact, Humphrey’s thinking he’ll see ice skating in hell before he slaps handcuffs on her.

So anyway, he pulls up to Roberta’s quaint rancher with the green shutters and wants to see if he can shake that feeling about her guilt, but when Ro’s cat Tuna gets out of the house and dashes into the bushes, Humphrey does the gentlemanly thing and scoots down through the bushes to save Tuna. That’s when Humphrey gets the shock of his life!

Now I can’t tell you bupkis about what happened for obvious reasons. Whether or not he slaps a steel bracelet on his ex and hauls her off or not or let’s her walk into the sunset….well, you’ll have to read the novel WHEN THE TEMPERATURE RISES to find out!

If you do I sure hope you enjoy it!

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book: “So you wanna make the bedsprings bounce?”

WHEN THE TEMPERATURE RISES by Deborah Palumbo

EXCERPT

June eleventh 1948

All right, so he wasn’t the brightest bulb down at headquarters, and so what if his specialty was peeking between the sheets and not those fancy crimes of murder and mayhem. A crime was a crime and sheet hopping was illegal, well, when money was exchanged that is. And another thing, a man should have a second chance; he has the right to redeem himself, especially when he hasn’t had a drop of the fancy water in two years and wasn’t doll dizzy anymore. That irrepressible soft spot for the dames, well, it was repressible after all. Too bad his wife wasn’t around to congratulate him. Besides, Humphrey McAllister had his good points. He was an eager beaver, had a lot to prove, could be a class A detective only if; only if he stays sober and keeps his pants zipped up that is; so the Captain really should stop busting his chops and cut old Humphrey a break. Humph was working hard on his deficiencies. He was determined to prove he had what it takes to make it in homicide.

BUY LINK: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/B0096CGW3W/ref=sib_dp_kd#reader-link

BOOK PEEK 2 ~  THE DOCTORS by Deborah Palumbo

The FBI agent, Donald P. Cobbs who wears big Stetsons and lizard boots in god awful colors can’t believe his ears. It’s the third informant from his case that died in some kind of freak accident. Now he’s gotta wait for another green horn fresh out of residency to be hired by Lanny Loch and Richard Pathroff and hope the new guy on the block will be his newest informer. Or victim? Hence Adam J. Frye.

Adam and his wife Maggie think the hard days of med school and residency are behind them; the money will start rolling in, life will be smooth working for Doctors Loch and Pathroff, but their dreams are shattered when some cowboy FBI agent pays them a visit informing Adam that his life is in grave danger. He’s the fourth associate of Loch and Pathroff. The other three are dead. As doornails.

It isn’t long after Cobbs’ visit that Adam gets suspicious over the sudden deaths of some of his healthy patients. The straw that breaks the camel’s back is a young woman who comes to Frye with suspicions of her father’s untimely death and asks him to “check things out.” That’s when Adam decides to help the FBI. He and Maggie uncover a diabolical scheme that involves the mob.

Adam having aroused suspicion unknowingly by one of the mob’s key players, is on their watch list. Suddenly the tables turn on Adam when he’s set up on his own wire. He’s guilty in everybody’s eyes. He’s got to prove his innocence to the FBI, and he’s got to do this before he’s either thrown in jail or killed by the mob; made fish bait like the last unsuspecting associate. He can’t make an error, it’s life or death.

THE DOCTORS by Deborah Palumbo

EXCERPT

His brain was numb. Who could be ringing his doorbell at 3:30 in the morning? He decided to ignore it and stay in bed, but the bell was persistent. It could be a neighbor in distress. Should he get involved? It could be some juvenile delinquent playing a prank. Come to think of it, neighbors had been complaining about the element in the neighborhood lately, delinquent kids playing jokes that weren’t so funny, like spray painting cars and breaking windows. People didn’t have enough money to buy themselves groceries let alone get a new paint job for their cars or repair broken windows. Things were tough on some of those Philadelphia streets.

The doorbell buzzed over and over again. It got on Jim’s nerves and his sleepy disposition succumbed to anger. Those nasty brats needed a good lesson and he was just the guy to give it to them too. A reformed delinquent himself, he knew how to handle punks, the kind he once was. He flung the blue swirled cover off of himself, the warmth of it gone; he was in black boxers and was bare chested with a myriad of ugly blue tattoos from those days in the gang. He stepped out of bed, grabbed the trousers he had worn only hours before, they were flung over a flea market chair next to an old bureau loaded with dust, and pulled them up around his thirty two inch waist. His wallet fell out of the pocket; he picked it up and stuffed it back in. He pulled the hoodie over his dark hair, stepped right into his carefully placed slippers by the side of his bed and shuffled to the door. He hit the intercom like a fool, knowing darn well nobody would answer him, which they didn’t. He looked out of the peephole into the hallway; the light was out so he couldn’t see anyone or anything in the inky dark. If he didn’t put an end to it then and there, scare the shit out of those numbskulls, they’d be back again, waking him up out of a sound sleep the next night. He knew they were getting off waking people up in the middle of the night. It had to end before it became habitual. But he’d have to go chase them down the flight of stairs; no doubt they ran faster than he did. Still, he had a few good sprints left in him. Besides, he was already awake, so the decision was made.

BUY LINK: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/B007WL4CRM/ref=sib_dp_kd#reader-link

BOOK PEEK 3 ~  EDGE OF DARKNESS by Deborah Palumbo

“Edge of darkness is a taut suspenseful Detective thriller laced with humor that reminds one of the wit displayed by the character of Lenny from Law & Order. It’s an interesting read that would easily translate to film as it conveys visuals to the reader. For every Mickey Spillane fan out there – Mickey’s back – only he’s a female and her name is Deborah Palumbo” … JORDAN RHODES Actor/writer

BLURB:  I’m not sure who I feel more sorry for: Alicia or Lieutenant Navarro. Alicia just lost her fiance to the hands of a vicious killer and is now being stalked by the same maniac who killed her boyfriend. She’s petrified because she knows he’s coming close and is determined to get her. Problem is, Lieutenant Navarro who is earnestly trying to protect her and solve the case is being accused by Alicia of being the killer. Everything sort of snowballs out of control for Navarro and suddenly he finds himself engulfed in circumstantial evidence that sure makes it seem that he is the cold blooded murderer.

He’s got to catch the killer now not only to keep Alicia and others safe but to prove his innocence.

But all he’s got is gut instinct. He’s got absolutely no proof, no evidence, no clues; not even the circumstantial garbage the DA loves to throw away in the trash.

One thing, a little hint: People aren’t what they seem.

BUY LINK: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/B007D3SM48/ref=sib_dp_kd#reader-link

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CONNECT WITH DEBORAH AT THE FOLLOWING HAUNTS:

WEBSITE: www.deborahpalumbo.com

BLOG: http://deborahpalumbotheundeparted.blogspot.com/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/deborahpalumbo2

GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6441876.Deborah_Palumbo

I hope you enjoy the recipe Deborah is sharing with us today on Karen’s Killer Fixin’s.  Happy eating!

Karen

P.S.  We’re at 68 recipes and counting with this posting.  Hope you find some recipes you like. If this is your first visit, please check out past blogs for more Killer Fixin’s. In the right hand column menu, you can even look up past recipes by type. i.e. Desserts, Breads, Beef, Chicken, Soups, Author Specials, etc.

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 A NOTE FROM DEBBIE: YUMMY RECIPE, my very own concoction!

SWEET POTATO & CARAMELIZED APPLES CASSEROLE

Two large sweet potatoes
Two red delicious apples
Couple of tablespoons of butter, or as needed
1/3 to 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Peel potatoes and slice in rounds. Place a single layer in buttered baking dish (8×8) and top with a layer of peeled, cored and sliced apple. Drop a dollop of butter over top and sprinkle sugar/cinnamon/salt mixture. Repeat the steps until all gone. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes to 1 hour.

For variety you may add raisins and caramelized onion to layers….it’s all scrumptious!

Serve this as a side dish with ham or beef, or with lunch. I suggest a provolone grilled cheese on seven grain bread with hot and sweet mustard. The sweet potato and caramelized apple casserole is a delicious side with a grilled provolone sandwich.