Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **AUTHOR SPECIAL** with KIRSTEN WEISS!

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, KIRSTEN WEISS, and her favorite recipe for COCONUT & APRICOT SCONES!

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BIG SHOT
A Big Murder Mystery Series Book 1
BY KIRSTEN WEISS

Blurb

Small Town. Big Murder.

The number one secret to my success as a bodyguard? Staying under the radar. But when a wildly public disaster blew up my career and reputation, my perfect, solo life took a hard left turn to crazy town. And to bodies. Lots of dead bodies.

I thought my tiny hometown of Nowhere would be the ideal out-of-the-way refuge to wait out the media storm.

It wasn’t.

My little brother had moved into a treehouse. The obscure mountain town had decided to attract tourists with the world’s largest collection of big things… Yes, Nowhere now has the world’s largest pizza cutter. And lawn flamingo. And ball of yarn…

And then I stumbled over a dead body.

All the evidence points to my brother being the bad guy. I may have been out of his life for a while—okay, five years—but I know he’s no killer. Can I clear my brother before he becomes Nowhere’s next Big Fatality?

Buy this fast-paced and funny cozy mystery series now!

Murder mystery game included in the back of the book.

BIG SHOT
A Big Murder Mystery Series Book 1
BY KIRSTEN WEISS

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

Just to be clear, it wasn’t my fault.

It wasn’t my responsibility either. But when your client slips you a mickey, there’s a principle involved. Though after falling down a flight of hotel stairs, I wasn’t entirely sure what that principle was anymore.

I staggered to my feet, lost the rest of my dinner in a potted palm, and careened through the door into the hotel lobby.

Guests turned to stare, and why not? My blond hair fountained out of a high, pre-makeup-removal ponytail. Camo pajamas and flip-flops completed my tipsy party-girl look.

I staggered deeper into the chic gray and white lobby. Lights glinted off the chrome chandeliers, and I winced at their dizzying starbursts.

My fist clenched on my phone. Or at least I thought they did. My fingers were a little numb. But I’d expelled most of the drugs, and I was going to catch my wayward client, Toomas Koppel, and surveil him until it hurt. Him. Hurt him.

That wasn’t ego. I was well aware of my many flaws. But I also knew who I was and what I was. I was very, very good at surveillance.

Plus, I was an optimist. Personal protection agents, otherwise known as bodyguards, frequently were. We liked to think we were tough and cynical, since our job was to watch for trouble. But you didn’t get into this business if you didn’t think you and your client would survive it. Maybe that was why I’d been snookered by mine. I still had no idea why he’d drugged me, but I was going to find out.

I pushed through the hotel’s revolving door, tripped over my own feet, and fell flat on the sidewalk.

San Francisco was a beautiful city in the summer and particularly tonight. Fog coiled low above the streets and blurred the outlines of the elegant buildings like something out of a Sam Spade novel. But not even Sam Spade would voluntarily lie on a San Francisco sidewalk.

A wary doorman in green approached. “Mm, may I help you, Ms. Sommerland?”

“Where’d he go?” It was the first time I’d tried out my voice since I’d been drugged, and it was embarrassingly slurry. I clambered to my feet and rubbed my bare arms, chilled by a gust of fog. It blotted out the stars, and ghostly wisps reached with coiling arms to the street.

“Who?” the burly doorman asked.

“The guy I was with. Toomas Koppel.”

He pointed to the darkened street. My black Hummer glided past.

“Son of a…” I gaped at my swiftly vanishing vehicle. Shaking myself, I whirled on a valet. “How’d he get my car?” My Hummer was less than a year old, the first treat I’d had since my divorce. The thought of Koppel driving it made me ill.

The green-coated valet edged backward.

I exhaled, trying to get a grip. “Why did you give him my car?” I asked in a level voice.

“He had your room number,” the valet sputtered and raised his hands in a helpless gesture. “You two were together.”

My lips pinched. The entire hotel thought I was Koppel’s mistress. I didn’t look like much of a mistress. I’m a beanpole—too tall and too much lean muscle. But I’d been dressed to kill on the few occasions we’d been seen together. There were also our adjoining suites.

I scanned the street for a cab.

“Ms. Sommerland?” The bellhop pointed at my feet.

Red yarn trailed from the revolving door to one of my flip-flops. The yarn was the remains of a sweater I’d been knitting, and my left eyelid twitched. I’d been working on that sweater for weeks.

A silver-haired couple in formalwear emerged from a yellow taxi beneath the concrete awning. I yanked the yarn free and jogged erratically toward them.

The male half of the couple stuck his head in the open, front passenger-side door. He fumbled with his wallet and coughed, his mercury silk scarf dangling. “I know I’ve got a fifty in here somewhere…”

I squeezed through the open door and sat beside the cabbie. “I’ll pay it. Follow that Hummer.”

“But young lady, it’s nearly fifty dollars,” the man said. Judging by the suit, I guessed he’d come from a symphony or opera—both popular events on a Friday night.

The black-haired driver eyed me. “No one rides in front. And I don’t go anywhere until I get paid.”

I pulled my credit card out of the slipcover on the back of my phone and handed it to the cabbie. “Use this.”

“I insist on paying.” A hundred dollar bill dropped from his wallet to the sidewalk.

I leaned out and picked it up, handed it to the man. “Seriously,” I ground out. “I got this.” Straightening in the seat, I turned to the driver. “Let’s go.”

The cabbie’s jaw stuck out mulishly. “Not with you up front.”

“Fine,” I snarled, and stepped from the cab.

The old man shook his head. “But—”

“Enjoy your stay in San Francisco.” I hopped into the back and slammed the door. The cab smelled like pine freshener. “Now can we go?”

“Go where?” the driver asked.

“Follow that…” My Hummer was gone, and I bit back a curse. “Hold on.” I pulled up the anti-theft tracker on my phone. “Go two blocks east and make a left.”

He pulled from the curb. “So,” the cabbie said brightly. “You’re following someone?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“A client.” My client might be a blackmailer and all-around jerk, but he still got confidentiality. At least until he got to court.

I couldn’t wait.

The taxi sped up. “What sort of client do you have to follow?”

“The kind who stole my car.”

His shoulders twitched. “Ouchy.”

About Author Kirsten Weiss…

Kirsten Weiss writes laugh-out-loud, page-turning mysteries. Her heroines aren’t perfect, but they’re smart, they struggle, and they succeed. Kirsten writes in a house high on a hill in the Colorado woods and occasionally ventures out for wine and chocolate. Or for a visit to the local pie shop.

Kirsten is best known for her Wits’ End, Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum, and Tea & Tarot cozy mystery books. So if you like funny, action-packed mysteries with complicated heroines, just turn the page…

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Links to Kirsten’s website, blog, books, #ad etc.:

Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2SbppvH

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3wXKIQq

Nook: https://bit.ly/3uM72uv

Google Play: https://bit.ly/3Kup2mc

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3vP7vgN

Kirsten’s Website: https://kirstenweiss.com

Contact: kweiss2001@kirstenweiss.com

I hope you enjoy the recipe Kirsten is sharing today on Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. Happy Eating!

Karen

P.S. We’re at 586 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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COCONUT & APRICOT SCONES
[From Beanblossom’s Tea and Tarot]

Amazon bestselling author Kirsten Weiss writes laugh-out-loud, page-turning mysteries, including the Tea & Tarot cozy series. Her heroine in that series, Abigail Beanblossom, isn’t perfect, but she’s smart, she struggles, and she succeeds. Learn more about Kirsten at her website: https://kirstenweiss.com

Beanblossom’s Tea and Tarot is located in San Borromeo, a mythical town just south of Santa Cruz and loosely based on Capitola, CA. When they’re not solving crimes, part-owner Abigail Beanblossom manages the tearoom and Hyperion Night manages the Tarot side of the business. When Abigail’s not mixing up new tea blends, she’s inventing scone recipes.

If you’ve ever stopped in for afternoon tea, you may have had a scone or two. Likely invented in Scotland in the 16^th century, scones fall somewhere between a biscuit and a cookie. Only slightly sweet, they’re designed to complement a good jam, lemon curd, or clotted cream. And because of their mild flavor, they’re the perfect accompaniment to tea, as the Duchess of Bedford discovered in the 19^th century. She loved the combination of afternoon tea and scones so much, she introduced the pairing to her wealthy friends.

If you’d like to try baking scones yourself, here’s a simple and delicious recipe:

Apricot and Coconut Scones

Ingredients:

3 ¾ C bread flour*
¼ C sugar
3 T baking powder
½ tsp almond extract (optional)
¼ tsp salt
8 T cold unsalted butter
2 C shredded coconut
1 C chopped dried apricots
1 ¼ C milk

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Cut butter into cubes and mix into the flour mixture with your fingers, crushing the butter, until the mix is coarse and sandy.

If you’re using almond extract, mix it into the milk. Add the milk and almond extract mixture to the dry mix, and stir until almost combined. Add shredded coconut and chopped dried apricots. You may need to add extra milk, a tablespoon at a time, until the mix is incorporated.

Knead dough in the bowl. Roll out to 1” thick. Cut circles 2 ½ inches in diameter, or cut into triangular wedges 2 ½ inches at the base.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet until light golden brown. Circles take approximately 15 minutes. Triangles will usually take 20-25 minutes.

* You can use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, and it will give the scones a denser, more cookie-like texture. Bread flour will “lighten” up the scones, so they’re a bit more like biscuits (but not—they’re still scones).

Never Say Chai Blurb…

It’s Halloween season in small town San Borromeo, and Abigail and Hyperion are determined to make Beanblossom’s Tea & Tarot spooktacular. But when Hyperion’s boyfriend, Detective Tony Chase, is arrested at Beanblossom’s for murder, the duo is certain someone’s playing a nasty trick. And when the official investigation turns into a witch hunt, the stakes to unearth the truth are raised…

But a clever killer has plans to squash their investigation… and the two amateur detectives. If they don’t solve this puzzle—and fast—it will be out of the cauldron and into the fire for them both.

Never Say Chai is the fourth book in the Tea and Tarot cozy mystery series. A fast-paced and funny cozy mystery, packed with quirky characters, pets, and murder! Perfect for fans of Jana DeLeon, Janet Evanovich, and Donna Andrews. Pre-order the book and start this hilarious caper ASAP!

Tearoom recipes in the back of the book!

Kindle: https://amzn.to/3w9f6XB
Apple Books: https://apple.co/3tKIAcw
Nook: https://bit.ly/2Qm9w4U
Google Play: https://bit.ly/3vOXr7D
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3g8Ml6K

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Special Giveaway: Kirsten  will give away a $5 Amazon gift card to one lucky reader who comments on her Karen’s Killer Fixin’s blog.

Happy Reading!

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Thanks, Kirsten, for sharing your story with us!

Don’t miss the chance to read this book!