Karen’s Killer Fixin’s
**AUTHOR SPECIAL**
with JILL BROCK!
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, JILL BROCK, and her favorite recipe for CREAM CHEESE CHOCOLATE CHIP POUND CAKE!!
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A CANDY COATED LIE
A Maggie and Odessa Mystery Book 5
BY JILL BROCK
Blurb
Owner of O So Sweet Bakery, Odessa Wilkes should focus on her upcoming wedding. Instead, she is wondering why a dead woman called her looking for her fiancé. No one will give her an answer, including the man she’s about to marry. Everyone is lying. Between a dictatorial wedding planner, an anxiety-induced rash and deadly warnings, Odessa only has her best friend, P.I. in training, Maggie Swift to help her make it to her wedding – alive.
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A CANDY COATED LIE
A Maggie and Odessa Mystery Book 5
BY JILL BROCK
Excerpt
Chapter 13
When meeting Maggie Swift for the first time, you assume her to be a well-balanced person. Her pixie appearance lulled you into a false sense of safety. I understood otherwise. Her pocketbook would contain her son’s retainer along with a can of pepper spray. For laughs and giggles, she followed strangers to practice her surveillance skills.
When she wanted to become a private investigator, she found Frank McAvoy in the yellow pages. The ex-New York City Detective turned private investigator never knew what hit him. Before he realized what happened, she took over. In time, she doubled his client list and increased his fiber intake.
I stared down at a battered Lee. His eyes stayed on Maxfield. His former mentor loomed large in the small office as he remained a quiet observer. I sensed Lee wanted to ask questions. So did I. They would have to wait.
While working for the tenants of the LaGuardia Apartments, one of Comaneci’s men waylaid Lee. The likelihood of that happening again appeared high. Those odds increased if he went looking for his missing witness. Now Maggie wanted to throw in her two cents, giving Comaneci a new target.
Maggie sat at the edge of Lee’s desk and plastered on a magnetic smile. To his credit, Lee appeared cautious if not wary.
“Let me find her.” Maggie’s eager face said everything.
“You mean Frank,” Lee corrected. Without a license, Maggie needed to work under Frank’s supervision.
“Of course, I mean Frank. I’m talking about the corporate we.” Maggie made a circling gesture with her fingers.
“Frank McAvoy corporate?” I laughed in disbelief.
Maggie cut me a nasty look, which I ignored.
“Whether Lorenia Ramos left on her own or coerced by Comaneci, either way she stalls your case. The judge can’t give you a continuance forever,” Boyer said.
“Do you think he would stop at Ms. Ramos?” Maggie continued. Was this a reference to my vandalized van?
Lee took a deep sigh which made him touch a tender spot on his side. Did he realize he couldn’t run all over New York City? Lee appeared to waiver.
“Whoa!” I held up both hands. “What makes you think I want you to find her even when I don’t want Lee too?”
The indignation on both Lee and Maggie’s face said they didn’t appreciate my tone.
“I’m sure Lee went to Lorena’s home and asked the neighbors about her. He searched in obvious places, in full view of everyone, including Comaneci’s people.” Maggie wagged her finger at Lee.
When Maggie showed no concern about Comaneci, I worried. Delusional people can live with any nutty decisions they make. The people who surround them, not so much.
“Didn’t think anyone would notice me looking for her. When I went to her job, they told me she took some time off. People like Lorena don’t have the luxury of taking time like that. I wanted to search further, but I needed to tell the judge I had a problem.” Lee rubbed his eyes.
“I’m sure you went straight to the court.” Maggie shook her head in disappointment.
“Yeah, where some Comaneci’s so-called maintenance men happened to be,” I stated.
In the hopes that he might be on my side, I turned to Boyer to put an end to both Lee and Maggie’s search. Boyer appeared caught up in his own contemplation.
“Let McAvoy handle the search.” Boyer nodded at Maggie. “Try to find another tenant to testify, if you can.”
Maggie beamed.
“No!” I pointed my finger at her. Frank wouldn’t see this case. Maggie would raid the office slush fund, give Frank some money, and point him toward Atlantic City. He’d go humming and skipping all the way.
Maggie lips pressed tight in a scowl. Azure eyes that belonged to a wood nymph darken as her ire grew.
“Can I speak to you for a sec?” Maggie’s eyes widened.
“No.” I shook my head. At least in the office with the men I felt safe. In a fair fight, my height and weight would do nothing in a battle of wills. I wimped out. A determined Maggie’s unflinching glare propelled me out of the office.
Meet Author Jill Brock…
Jill Brock, a native New Yorker based her first book Pennywise, on her experience running a restaurant, being one of three sisters, growing up in Queens, New York and her love of mysteries.
She began the Maggie and Odessa Mystery series because she wanted to reflect the multicultural world that surrounded her, her sense of humor and her love of mysteries. Her new series The Thursday Night Book Club comes from the same source, of family and friends and living in New York City.
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Links to Jill’s website, blog, books, etc.
Twitter: @jillbrockbooks
Website: Jillbrock.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jillbrockbooks/
I hope you enjoy the recipe Jill is sharing today on Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. Happy Eating!
Karen
P.S. We’re at 419 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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CREAM CHEESE CHOCOLATE CHIP POUND CAKE
Note from Jill Brock…
My love of baking comes from my mother. This is a cake my grandmother and mother made. Originally, it was a plain Cream Cheese pound cake. My mother started adding chocolate chips to it. As I kid, I thought it was one big cookie, I’d have with milk after school. A traditional southern cake, it easy to make and travels well. The cream cheese makes it a moist and lighter cake than the traditional pound cake.
1 cup of butter
1 ½ cup of sugar
2 ¼ cup of unshifted flour
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 8 oz package of Cream cheese
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 12 oz package of semisweet Chocolate chip
All your ingredients should be at room temperature. Preheat your oven to 325. Use a 10 – 12 cups greased or nonstick Bundt pan for your cake.
- Combine all your dry ingredients into a bowl.
- Cream the butter and the cream cheese in a blender until smooth.
- Beat in sugar until fluffy.
- Add in eggs one at a time into bowl.
- Add your dry ingredients to the butter and cream cheese.
- With a spoon, add mix in your chocolate chips.
- Pour into cake pan and bake for sixty minutes.
- Bake at 325°F. Halfway through the baking time, tent with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning.
- Let the cake cool for 1- 2 hours in the cake pan, then invert over a serving plate.
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**SPECIAL GIVEAWAY**: Jill will give away an ebook copy of A CANDY COATED LIE to two lucky readers who comment on her Karen’s Killer Fixin’s blog.
Thanks, Jill, for sharing your book with us!
Don’t miss the chance to read this book!
tasty recipe
Good morning, Jill, and welcome to Karen’s Killer Fixin’s! I love a good mystery, especially with a woman sleuth. Your book sounds fun. I also can’t wait to try this recipe. Sounds delish! Thanks for sharing both with us today!
OMG! I new cozy author, giving us a sleuth with not only sass but wielding a spoon (I refer to them as wands, cuz that’s what they do, wield magic) in the kitchen with panache, too. I’m sunk. I enjoyed the excerpt, gal, and love that you’re from NY, lending your own rattle and hum to the genre. I’m a southern gal, but I love the energy of New York. If I could have two lives, I’d live one there. Anyhoo, thanks for the offer of a chance for a freebie and for the new kitchen temptation. Saving the recipe to make on one of my “cheat” days! 🙂 Lo
Not only a delightful introduction to Jill and her books but a recipe combo I’ve never heard of before! What a treat!
Thanks, Karen and Jill!
I have a recipe for cream cheese pound cake I use to make years ago. I never thought to put chocolate chips in it. We all would have loved it even more. Thank you I’ll for sharing it. I also liked what I read in the blurb and in chapter 13. I’ll have to check out your other books. I like meeting new authors.
Hi Jill,
This sounds like an exciting story with some humor.
I love cream cheese pound cake but I don’t bake much anymore. My husband would love this cake.
Thanks so much for joining us and sharing your book and recipe. The excerpt is intriguing and that recipe looks like a must try!! Thanks so much!!