Duffy Brown's Blog: New Cozy Series - Posts Tagged "south"
Sleuthing and the BFF...
Sleuthing and the BFF…
It’s that dark and stormy night we hear so much about, your car just broke down in the middle of nowhere and you forgot to recharge your cell phone. In the moonlight you see an old dilapidated farmhouse off in the distance.
The question is… Who’s walking to that farmhouse with you?
Sherlock has Watson with him, Perot has Captain Hastings, Nancy Drew has boyfriend Ned, Stephanie Plum has Lula. Some sleuths even have a cat or dog. Sometimes they even talk. I wish my cats talked. Actually I wished they did the laundry and vacuumed but I digress.
Every sleuth has a BFF to chat with, get into trouble with, drink with.
On TV Beckett has Rick Castle. The SCI people have each other kicking around and Lizbeth has tea-drinking Patrick Jane in the Mentalist.
It’s not just solving the crimes together that makes them BFFs, but sharing their personal lives. IMO it’s this personal touch that’s the most interesting part of the show or book. Don’t you love when Sherlock does something nice for Watson or Perot and Hastings travel and take on the chase together or when Becket and Castle turn to each other and say I know who the killer is!
That LuLa is a once-upon-a-time hooker makes for a great character, that Patrick Jane is hunting for Red John keeps us riveted, that Rick Castle is has a grown daughter and a boyfriend who is nothing like Rick and has his mother is living with him gives a human touch to finding killers and tripping over dead bodies.
In my book the Consignment Shop Mysteries protagonist Reagan has BFF Auntie KiKi. KiKi was once a roadie for Cher and spouts Cher-isms when giving sage advice like A girl can wait for the right man to come along but in the meantime she can have a darn good time with all the wrong ones.
When KiKi was born the angels chanted cha-cha-cha over her crib and turned her into Savannah’s resident dancing teacher, when Reagan’s mom was born she was wrapped in a blanket with pink elephants resulting in Reagan being named Reagan.
In Pearls and Poison, Reagan’s mom is running for city council and her opponent winds up dead…that’s one way to win an election. Daughter Reagan and Auntie KiKi run to the rescue to find the real killer discussing suspects over martinis.
Back to our dark and stormy night. We know who our sleuths have at their sides when going into that creepy old house. So who would you have tagging along. Who is at one person that when you show up at their house with a dead body grabs a shovel and doesn’t ask questions.
When life goes right to hell in a hand-basket, who do what at your side?
It’s that dark and stormy night we hear so much about, your car just broke down in the middle of nowhere and you forgot to recharge your cell phone. In the moonlight you see an old dilapidated farmhouse off in the distance.
The question is… Who’s walking to that farmhouse with you?
Sherlock has Watson with him, Perot has Captain Hastings, Nancy Drew has boyfriend Ned, Stephanie Plum has Lula. Some sleuths even have a cat or dog. Sometimes they even talk. I wish my cats talked. Actually I wished they did the laundry and vacuumed but I digress.
Every sleuth has a BFF to chat with, get into trouble with, drink with.
On TV Beckett has Rick Castle. The SCI people have each other kicking around and Lizbeth has tea-drinking Patrick Jane in the Mentalist.
It’s not just solving the crimes together that makes them BFFs, but sharing their personal lives. IMO it’s this personal touch that’s the most interesting part of the show or book. Don’t you love when Sherlock does something nice for Watson or Perot and Hastings travel and take on the chase together or when Becket and Castle turn to each other and say I know who the killer is!
That LuLa is a once-upon-a-time hooker makes for a great character, that Patrick Jane is hunting for Red John keeps us riveted, that Rick Castle is has a grown daughter and a boyfriend who is nothing like Rick and has his mother is living with him gives a human touch to finding killers and tripping over dead bodies.
In my book the Consignment Shop Mysteries protagonist Reagan has BFF Auntie KiKi. KiKi was once a roadie for Cher and spouts Cher-isms when giving sage advice like A girl can wait for the right man to come along but in the meantime she can have a darn good time with all the wrong ones.
When KiKi was born the angels chanted cha-cha-cha over her crib and turned her into Savannah’s resident dancing teacher, when Reagan’s mom was born she was wrapped in a blanket with pink elephants resulting in Reagan being named Reagan.
In Pearls and Poison, Reagan’s mom is running for city council and her opponent winds up dead…that’s one way to win an election. Daughter Reagan and Auntie KiKi run to the rescue to find the real killer discussing suspects over martinis.
Back to our dark and stormy night. We know who our sleuths have at their sides when going into that creepy old house. So who would you have tagging along. Who is at one person that when you show up at their house with a dead body grabs a shovel and doesn’t ask questions.
When life goes right to hell in a hand-basket, who do what at your side?
New Things for 2015...
It’s a new year and everyone is making resolutions. I suck at resolutions. I mean well but things just never seem to work out. So, I was looking on Pinterest and they have this board called New Thing to Try in 2015.
Somehow that made more sense or maybe it’s the wording. It just sounds more adventuresome and a lot more fun than You’re fat, Duffy, resolve to lose weight!
The first thing I’m going to try that’s new in 2015 is learning Italian! I’m off to Italy to discover my Italian Roots as grandpa Angelo was from Bisaccia, a tiny town just southeast of Naples. To try and not offend my relatives I thought it would be nice to try and speak the language. (though with my ability to learn foreign languages it might not work out that way) But at least I’ll try.
I’m also going to start doing Zumba more before this poor old body of mine completely falls apart. And the new thing for me is to start lifting weights! Picture me as Hercules by December. See, an adventure!
I’m going to try the fish oil routine as my eyes are failing and I guess fish have much better eyes. And I’m going to write three pages a day come hell or high-water. I need to get organized. Trust me, this is indeed a new and adventuresome path for Duffy Brown.
So there you have it, my new things to try in 2015. Do you have any adventures you’re taking on? Hopefully something fun and exciting and that will not make you look like Hercules.
Hugs and Happy 2015!
Duffy Brown
Somehow that made more sense or maybe it’s the wording. It just sounds more adventuresome and a lot more fun than You’re fat, Duffy, resolve to lose weight!
The first thing I’m going to try that’s new in 2015 is learning Italian! I’m off to Italy to discover my Italian Roots as grandpa Angelo was from Bisaccia, a tiny town just southeast of Naples. To try and not offend my relatives I thought it would be nice to try and speak the language. (though with my ability to learn foreign languages it might not work out that way) But at least I’ll try.
I’m also going to start doing Zumba more before this poor old body of mine completely falls apart. And the new thing for me is to start lifting weights! Picture me as Hercules by December. See, an adventure!
I’m going to try the fish oil routine as my eyes are failing and I guess fish have much better eyes. And I’m going to write three pages a day come hell or high-water. I need to get organized. Trust me, this is indeed a new and adventuresome path for Duffy Brown.
So there you have it, my new things to try in 2015. Do you have any adventures you’re taking on? Hopefully something fun and exciting and that will not make you look like Hercules.
Hugs and Happy 2015!
Duffy Brown
On the run...
Walker Boone here from the lovely city of Savannah, Georgia. The azaleas are in bloom, the magnolias are big as dinner plates and I’m on the run.
In Dead Man Walker coming out Feb 3, I’ve got my very own story to tell. It’s from my point of view and that’s the good news. The bad news is that I’ve kind of gotten myself into one big huge mess and it looks like Reagan Summerside and Auntie KiKi are the only ones trying to get me out of it.
You see there was this dead guy in a bathtub. Not my bathtub but his own and my housekeeper happened to stumble across the body. If I remember right it went something like…
“See, there he is, Mr. Boone,” Mercedes
said to me. “Just like I told you on the
phone, Conway Adkins dead as a fence post
in his very own claw-foot bathtub and
naked as the day he was born.”
“I take you added the washcloth?” I
said to Mercedes, both of us standing
in the doorway and staring at the corpse.
“Couldn’t be having the man laying
there with his shrivelness all exposed to
the world now could I. Not proper for a
man his age.”
“Or for the rest of us,” I added.
At first Mercedes was the number one suspect. That was bad enough because she’s a friend and she can’t be beat as a housekeeper. On both accounts--and with my dust-bunnies threatening to mutiny—I went after the rear killer.
I didn’t have a lot of luck, in fact I almost got killed a few times and then...somehow...I wound up the number one suspect.
“This is circumstantial evidence,”
I said to Reagan as we stood on the
sidewalk outside my house. “The police
have to see that someone’s setting me
up to cover their own butt.”
“It’s your butt that needs covering,
Walker Boone,” Reagan offered. “The police
found your .38 and it matches the bullet
that killed Conway. The cops are on their
way. You got to get out of here right now.”
I looked at my red ‘57 Chevy
convertible parked at the curb. “Might
as well put a target on my back driving
this thing.”
Reagan shoved her helmet at me.
“Take Princess.”
“A scooter? You want me to ride
a pink scooter named Princess?”
“Better than that being your
nickname in the big house.”
So there you have it...Dead Man Walker and that’s just what I feel like, a dead man. How in the world am I ever going to get out of this one?
In Dead Man Walker coming out Feb 3, I’ve got my very own story to tell. It’s from my point of view and that’s the good news. The bad news is that I’ve kind of gotten myself into one big huge mess and it looks like Reagan Summerside and Auntie KiKi are the only ones trying to get me out of it.
You see there was this dead guy in a bathtub. Not my bathtub but his own and my housekeeper happened to stumble across the body. If I remember right it went something like…
“See, there he is, Mr. Boone,” Mercedes
said to me. “Just like I told you on the
phone, Conway Adkins dead as a fence post
in his very own claw-foot bathtub and
naked as the day he was born.”
“I take you added the washcloth?” I
said to Mercedes, both of us standing
in the doorway and staring at the corpse.
“Couldn’t be having the man laying
there with his shrivelness all exposed to
the world now could I. Not proper for a
man his age.”
“Or for the rest of us,” I added.
At first Mercedes was the number one suspect. That was bad enough because she’s a friend and she can’t be beat as a housekeeper. On both accounts--and with my dust-bunnies threatening to mutiny—I went after the rear killer.
I didn’t have a lot of luck, in fact I almost got killed a few times and then...somehow...I wound up the number one suspect.
“This is circumstantial evidence,”
I said to Reagan as we stood on the
sidewalk outside my house. “The police
have to see that someone’s setting me
up to cover their own butt.”
“It’s your butt that needs covering,
Walker Boone,” Reagan offered. “The police
found your .38 and it matches the bullet
that killed Conway. The cops are on their
way. You got to get out of here right now.”
I looked at my red ‘57 Chevy
convertible parked at the curb. “Might
as well put a target on my back driving
this thing.”
Reagan shoved her helmet at me.
“Take Princess.”
“A scooter? You want me to ride
a pink scooter named Princess?”
“Better than that being your
nickname in the big house.”
So there you have it...Dead Man Walker and that’s just what I feel like, a dead man. How in the world am I ever going to get out of this one?
Southern Sayings…Love ‘em or Leave ‘em
I do declare…
I live in Cincy but sort of moved to the South when I started to write the Consignment Shop Mysteries. I had to suddenly start thinking and living like my characters. I guess I’m a bit of a method writer like there are method actors where they live the part to get into the part.
I had to acquire the taste for sweet tea, I do love fried okra so that was already in place but I no longer carry Chapstick in the back pocket of my jeans but have instead learned to wear lipstick every-single-day-of-my-life-no-matter-what-and-no-matter-where-I'm-going.
My thick wool sweaters have been relegated to the back of my closet and I’ve made room for light cottony cardigans. I have a front porch so I put a rocking chair on it and as far as my speech goes my family thinks I’m crazy as a June bug.
Some of the Southern sayings I’ve tired out with limited success here in Ohio are…
Oh! Bless your heart..." My kids think this is sort of adorable but actually this expression is commonly used when Southerners need an excuse for speaking ill of someone. Example- "She's as ugly as a mud fence, bless her heart." Even though the line was an insult it is made better by showing that you, in a way, feel sorry for the person.
And of course there’s Well Butter my butt and call me a biscuit. The fam thought I’d hit the vodka when I tried this one.
She looked like she’d been ridden hard and put away wet. I’ve used this one a lot all my life. That’s what I get from living so close to the Kentucky border.
He could sell a Popsicle to a lady wearing white gloves. Meaning the individual is so good at persuasion that he or she could talk his or her way into anything. The sales lady at Macy’s ran when I tried this one.
You can't get blood from a turnip. Meaning you can't get something from someone who doesn't have it. My accountant got this one right off the bat.
Madder than a wet hen and He's like a bull in a china shop and Cute as a bug’s ear. I’ve used these for years too so the fam didn’t blink an eye when I started working them into the conversation.
We were just sittin' around chewin' the fat. The kids told me I needed more veggies and fruit and forget the fat
Don't count your chickens before they hatch. I used this one on my next door neighbor and she was tickled pink she’d be getting fresh eggs
She was all over him like white on rice. I used this one on my other next door neighbor and she smacked her husband upside the head. Guess it hit a little too close to home.
You can't see the forest for the trees. Is another one I’ve used tons but my new favorite is Easy as sliding off a greasy log backwards.
So, next time you find yourself sittin' around chewin' the fat and sippin' on some sweet tea think about your favorite sayings Southern or otherwise and let me know here what it is and I’ll work it into Demise in Denim, book four of the Consignment Shop mysteries.
Go whole hog today and have yourself a mighty fine time.
Hugs, Duffy
I live in Cincy but sort of moved to the South when I started to write the Consignment Shop Mysteries. I had to suddenly start thinking and living like my characters. I guess I’m a bit of a method writer like there are method actors where they live the part to get into the part.
I had to acquire the taste for sweet tea, I do love fried okra so that was already in place but I no longer carry Chapstick in the back pocket of my jeans but have instead learned to wear lipstick every-single-day-of-my-life-no-matter-what-and-no-matter-where-I'm-going.
My thick wool sweaters have been relegated to the back of my closet and I’ve made room for light cottony cardigans. I have a front porch so I put a rocking chair on it and as far as my speech goes my family thinks I’m crazy as a June bug.
Some of the Southern sayings I’ve tired out with limited success here in Ohio are…
Oh! Bless your heart..." My kids think this is sort of adorable but actually this expression is commonly used when Southerners need an excuse for speaking ill of someone. Example- "She's as ugly as a mud fence, bless her heart." Even though the line was an insult it is made better by showing that you, in a way, feel sorry for the person.
And of course there’s Well Butter my butt and call me a biscuit. The fam thought I’d hit the vodka when I tried this one.
She looked like she’d been ridden hard and put away wet. I’ve used this one a lot all my life. That’s what I get from living so close to the Kentucky border.
He could sell a Popsicle to a lady wearing white gloves. Meaning the individual is so good at persuasion that he or she could talk his or her way into anything. The sales lady at Macy’s ran when I tried this one.
You can't get blood from a turnip. Meaning you can't get something from someone who doesn't have it. My accountant got this one right off the bat.
Madder than a wet hen and He's like a bull in a china shop and Cute as a bug’s ear. I’ve used these for years too so the fam didn’t blink an eye when I started working them into the conversation.
We were just sittin' around chewin' the fat. The kids told me I needed more veggies and fruit and forget the fat
Don't count your chickens before they hatch. I used this one on my next door neighbor and she was tickled pink she’d be getting fresh eggs
She was all over him like white on rice. I used this one on my other next door neighbor and she smacked her husband upside the head. Guess it hit a little too close to home.
You can't see the forest for the trees. Is another one I’ve used tons but my new favorite is Easy as sliding off a greasy log backwards.
So, next time you find yourself sittin' around chewin' the fat and sippin' on some sweet tea think about your favorite sayings Southern or otherwise and let me know here what it is and I’ll work it into Demise in Denim, book four of the Consignment Shop mysteries.
Go whole hog today and have yourself a mighty fine time.
Hugs, Duffy
Reading, Relaxing along with something tall, and cool
It’s summer in Savannah and Reagan Summerside and her sidekick Auntie KiKi are knee-deep in solving more mysteries. Not that they go looking for them mind you, but dead bodies just seem to fall across Reagan’s path. It’s all her ex’s fault! The way Reagan sees it when she got divorced that took one lifeless piece of crud out of her life and now the fates feel they have to fill the void by sending a whole bunch more her way.
Reagan and Auntie KiKi talk clues and suspects on Reagan’s front porch of her old Victorian. Bruce Willis, Reagan’s canine BFF sits beside her and a shaker of martinis sits beside Auntie KiKi. Talking dead people and whodunit it comes a lot easier while sipping something tall and cool.
Here are two of Auntie KiKi’s fave martini recipes. With or without booze they are totally delish!
Auntie KiKi’s Summer On The Veranda Watermelon Martini
• Sugar + kosher salt
• 6 oz watermelon juice (mash or use food processor and strain)
• 2 1/2 oz vodka or pellegrino sparkling water
• 2 1/2 oz Limoncello or orange liqueur or oj
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• Ice
• Watermelon wedges for garnish
Instructions
Chill glasses in freezer 10 minutes
Combine sugar and salt and dip you dampened glass rim
Fill cocktail shaker with the watermelon juice, vodka or sparkling water, liqueur and lime juice. Fill shaker with ice and shake 6-8 times.
Strain and pour into the glasses and garnish with a watermelon wedge.
Reagan’s Sexy Savannah Nights Martini
1 tablespoon finely grated orange chocolate
1 teaspoon sugar
2 orange slices
1/2 cup premium chocolate ice cream, at room temperature for 5 minutes
1 ounce orange vodka (or fresh squeeze orange juice)
Gently stir together the chocolate and sugar and put it on a plate. Run an orange slice around the rim of a chilled martini glass and dip the rim in the chocolate/sugar mix to coat.
Add the ice cream and vodka to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into the prepared glass and garnish with the remaining orange slice.
So, do you have a fave summer drink? Something you like to sip while reading on hot summer day?
Reagan and Auntie KiKi talk clues and suspects on Reagan’s front porch of her old Victorian. Bruce Willis, Reagan’s canine BFF sits beside her and a shaker of martinis sits beside Auntie KiKi. Talking dead people and whodunit it comes a lot easier while sipping something tall and cool.
Here are two of Auntie KiKi’s fave martini recipes. With or without booze they are totally delish!
Auntie KiKi’s Summer On The Veranda Watermelon Martini
• Sugar + kosher salt
• 6 oz watermelon juice (mash or use food processor and strain)
• 2 1/2 oz vodka or pellegrino sparkling water
• 2 1/2 oz Limoncello or orange liqueur or oj
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• Ice
• Watermelon wedges for garnish
Instructions
Chill glasses in freezer 10 minutes
Combine sugar and salt and dip you dampened glass rim
Fill cocktail shaker with the watermelon juice, vodka or sparkling water, liqueur and lime juice. Fill shaker with ice and shake 6-8 times.
Strain and pour into the glasses and garnish with a watermelon wedge.
Reagan’s Sexy Savannah Nights Martini
1 tablespoon finely grated orange chocolate
1 teaspoon sugar
2 orange slices
1/2 cup premium chocolate ice cream, at room temperature for 5 minutes
1 ounce orange vodka (or fresh squeeze orange juice)
Gently stir together the chocolate and sugar and put it on a plate. Run an orange slice around the rim of a chilled martini glass and dip the rim in the chocolate/sugar mix to coat.
Add the ice cream and vodka to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into the prepared glass and garnish with the remaining orange slice.
So, do you have a fave summer drink? Something you like to sip while reading on hot summer day?
Hobbies and Where They Take Us
Hobbies and where they take us...
So what do Iced Chiffon, Killer in Crinolines, and Pearls in Poison have in common? They are all mystery stories set around a consignment shop in Savannah. When I decided to follow my dream and write mysteries I went with the old adage of write what you know and love. I adore Savannah, Georgia and I’ve worked in an upscale consignment shop for fifteen years. That’s how the series Consignment: Murder was born.
Consignment shopping is the fun of wearing designer clothes on the cheap. I could never afford a Coach handbag or an Armani jacket but I do love the expensive look and great quality. Most of all I love bragging to my friends how much I paid! The conversation goes something like, “Oh, isn’t that a great Kate Spade purse.” And my reply is, “I got it at the Snooty Fox for forty bucks!” instead of the usual three-hundred and fifty!
For years I shopped consignment stores then decided I needed to work at the Snoot since I was there all the time looking for deals. My kids were some of the best-dressed on campus and I did it for K-Mart prices.
Don’t you love the name Snooty Fox! The Snoot is an upscale consignment shop. How many times have you bought something, wore it once, decided it wasn’t your color or didn’t fit the way you liked and you were stuck with it? Well, that’s where the Snooty Fox comes in. You can sell your green plaid jacket that you just had to have but then decided you hated at the Snoot because there is a customer out there who will love that jacket and pay you good money for it.
Consignment shopping is a lot like solving a mystery. It’s all about the hunt for the perfect scarf, skirt or shoes. I think that’s why mystery and the Consignment: Murder series seemed like a perfect fit. The hunt is on!
Working at a consignment shop and my love for Savanna led me to writing a mystery series and I’m always amazed at where someone’s hobby or special interest led them? Did you meet a best friend? Your mate? Take classes? Visit a place? Get an award for perfecting your hobby or even teach a class on it?
Hobbies enriched our lives and often take us to places we never expected...like a murder mystery series. Who would have thought.
So what do Iced Chiffon, Killer in Crinolines, and Pearls in Poison have in common? They are all mystery stories set around a consignment shop in Savannah. When I decided to follow my dream and write mysteries I went with the old adage of write what you know and love. I adore Savannah, Georgia and I’ve worked in an upscale consignment shop for fifteen years. That’s how the series Consignment: Murder was born.
Consignment shopping is the fun of wearing designer clothes on the cheap. I could never afford a Coach handbag or an Armani jacket but I do love the expensive look and great quality. Most of all I love bragging to my friends how much I paid! The conversation goes something like, “Oh, isn’t that a great Kate Spade purse.” And my reply is, “I got it at the Snooty Fox for forty bucks!” instead of the usual three-hundred and fifty!
For years I shopped consignment stores then decided I needed to work at the Snoot since I was there all the time looking for deals. My kids were some of the best-dressed on campus and I did it for K-Mart prices.
Don’t you love the name Snooty Fox! The Snoot is an upscale consignment shop. How many times have you bought something, wore it once, decided it wasn’t your color or didn’t fit the way you liked and you were stuck with it? Well, that’s where the Snooty Fox comes in. You can sell your green plaid jacket that you just had to have but then decided you hated at the Snoot because there is a customer out there who will love that jacket and pay you good money for it.
Consignment shopping is a lot like solving a mystery. It’s all about the hunt for the perfect scarf, skirt or shoes. I think that’s why mystery and the Consignment: Murder series seemed like a perfect fit. The hunt is on!
Working at a consignment shop and my love for Savanna led me to writing a mystery series and I’m always amazed at where someone’s hobby or special interest led them? Did you meet a best friend? Your mate? Take classes? Visit a place? Get an award for perfecting your hobby or even teach a class on it?
Hobbies enriched our lives and often take us to places we never expected...like a murder mystery series. Who would have thought.
Find any dead bodies lately
Reagan Summerside here and I think I’m losing my mind...bodies are going missing! How can this happen? I misplace stuff all the time like my keys and where the heck is my purse, I always misplace my purse—Old Yeller, big yellow plether thing that hold my life--but a body takes misplacing stuff to a whole new level.
It all started when I was cutting through a back alley to get to Walker Boone’s house. We just got engaged so I was taking a shortcut to get to his place fast. I would like to say I was in a hurry because I missed him and I did miss him but the fact is I had questions. I needed to know where were we going to live once we got married and who would do the cooking and what kind of toothpaste were we going to use? But that’s another issue and right now there’s a missing body.
When I was cutting thought the alley there was a white Caddy with a body in the back. At first I thought the person in the back was maybe a tired old soul needing a place to take a nap but no one sleeps with eyes open, right?
I would have stuck around to take a closer look but a big rat and bigger roach ganged up on me and I ran for it. When I bought Boone back to the car the body was gone.
Okay, this is all pretty bad but what makes the situation worse is that I know who owns the Caddy. It belongs to the Abbott sisters who live next door to me. They are adorable retired school teachers who supplement their income by being Savannah’s fave professional mourners. No one can get a funeral weeping like the sisters.
So what should I do? Call the cops? What if the sisters are responsible for that body? Then they’d be arrested and I can’t have my neighbors in jail now can I especially if they had a real good reason? Not neighborly at all. Should I just forget the whole thing like Boone suggests? He says I’m on dead-body overload from tripping across them all the time.
Got any suggestions? What would you do if you found a body and then it went missing? Here’s a recipe for one of Auntie KiKi’s martinis to help you find an answer.
Lethal In Old Lace
Consignment Shop Mysteries
Duffy Brown.
Auntie KiKi’s Death by Chocolate Martini
Chocolate martini for when you need both chocolate and a martini
1 1/2 ounces chocolate liqueur
1 1/2 ounces Creme de Cacao
1/2 ounce vanilla vodka
2 1/2 ounces half-and-half
chocolate syrup, for rim
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass rimmed with chocolate syrup. Add cherry skewered on toothpick. Does that sound delicious or what!
It all started when I was cutting through a back alley to get to Walker Boone’s house. We just got engaged so I was taking a shortcut to get to his place fast. I would like to say I was in a hurry because I missed him and I did miss him but the fact is I had questions. I needed to know where were we going to live once we got married and who would do the cooking and what kind of toothpaste were we going to use? But that’s another issue and right now there’s a missing body.
When I was cutting thought the alley there was a white Caddy with a body in the back. At first I thought the person in the back was maybe a tired old soul needing a place to take a nap but no one sleeps with eyes open, right?
I would have stuck around to take a closer look but a big rat and bigger roach ganged up on me and I ran for it. When I bought Boone back to the car the body was gone.
Okay, this is all pretty bad but what makes the situation worse is that I know who owns the Caddy. It belongs to the Abbott sisters who live next door to me. They are adorable retired school teachers who supplement their income by being Savannah’s fave professional mourners. No one can get a funeral weeping like the sisters.
So what should I do? Call the cops? What if the sisters are responsible for that body? Then they’d be arrested and I can’t have my neighbors in jail now can I especially if they had a real good reason? Not neighborly at all. Should I just forget the whole thing like Boone suggests? He says I’m on dead-body overload from tripping across them all the time.
Got any suggestions? What would you do if you found a body and then it went missing? Here’s a recipe for one of Auntie KiKi’s martinis to help you find an answer.
Lethal In Old Lace
Consignment Shop Mysteries
Duffy Brown.
Auntie KiKi’s Death by Chocolate Martini
Chocolate martini for when you need both chocolate and a martini
1 1/2 ounces chocolate liqueur
1 1/2 ounces Creme de Cacao
1/2 ounce vanilla vodka
2 1/2 ounces half-and-half
chocolate syrup, for rim
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass rimmed with chocolate syrup. Add cherry skewered on toothpick. Does that sound delicious or what!
This ain’t NYC!
I live in Cincy but sort of moved to the South when I started writing the Consignment Shop Mysteries set in Savannah. I had to suddenly start thinking and living like my characters. I guess I’m a bit of a method writer like there are method actors where they live the part to get into the part.
I had to acquire the taste for sweet tea, I do love fried okra so that was already in place but I no longer carry Chapstick in the back pocket of my jeans but have instead learned to wear lipstick every-single-day-of-my-life-no-matter-what-and-no-matter-where-I'm-going.
My thick wool sweaters have been relegated to the back of my closet and I’ve made room for light cottony cardigans. I have a front porch so I put a rocking chair on it and as far as my speech goes my family thinks I’m crazy as a June bug.
Some of the Southern sayings I’ve tired out with limited success here in Ohio are…
Oh! Bless your heart..." My kids think this is sort of adorable but actually this expression is commonly used when Southerners need an excuse for speaking ill of someone. Example- "She's as ugly as a mud fence, bless her heart." Even though the line was an insult it is made better by showing that you, in a way, feel sorry for the person.
And of course there’s Well Butter my butt and call me a biscuit. The fam thought I’d hit the vodka when I tried this one.
She looked like she’d been ridden hard and put away wet. I’ve used this one a lot all my life. That’s what I get from living so close to the Kentucky border.
He could sell a Popsicle to a lady wearing white gloves. Meaning the individual is so good at persuasion that he or she could talk his or her way into anything. The sales lady at Macy’s ran when I tried this one.
You can't get blood from a turnip. Meaning you can't get something from someone who doesn't have it. My accountant got this one right off the bat.
Madder than a wet hen and He's like a bull in a china shop answers.
Go whole hog today and have yourself a mighty fine time.
Hugs, Duffy
I had to acquire the taste for sweet tea, I do love fried okra so that was already in place but I no longer carry Chapstick in the back pocket of my jeans but have instead learned to wear lipstick every-single-day-of-my-life-no-matter-what-and-no-matter-where-I'm-going.
My thick wool sweaters have been relegated to the back of my closet and I’ve made room for light cottony cardigans. I have a front porch so I put a rocking chair on it and as far as my speech goes my family thinks I’m crazy as a June bug.
Some of the Southern sayings I’ve tired out with limited success here in Ohio are…
Oh! Bless your heart..." My kids think this is sort of adorable but actually this expression is commonly used when Southerners need an excuse for speaking ill of someone. Example- "She's as ugly as a mud fence, bless her heart." Even though the line was an insult it is made better by showing that you, in a way, feel sorry for the person.
And of course there’s Well Butter my butt and call me a biscuit. The fam thought I’d hit the vodka when I tried this one.
She looked like she’d been ridden hard and put away wet. I’ve used this one a lot all my life. That’s what I get from living so close to the Kentucky border.
He could sell a Popsicle to a lady wearing white gloves. Meaning the individual is so good at persuasion that he or she could talk his or her way into anything. The sales lady at Macy’s ran when I tried this one.
You can't get blood from a turnip. Meaning you can't get something from someone who doesn't have it. My accountant got this one right off the bat.
Madder than a wet hen and He's like a bull in a china shop answers.
Go whole hog today and have yourself a mighty fine time.
Hugs, Duffy
How they do things in the South!
I’m spotlighting one of my characters, Auntie KiKi from my Consignment Shop series. Auntie KiKi is the auntie we should all have in our lives. She’s a family-first kind of Southern gal, auntie to Reagan the main character in the series and leaps before she looks.
Auntie KiKi lives in a house that’s been in her husband’s family since before Sherman parked his unwelcome hide in Savannah. She teaches dancing so the young people of Savannah don’t look like idiots at their cotillion and so that the not so young can show off at their 50th anniversary party.
Auntie KiKi here in Savannah and as much as I hate to say it we’ve been getting more than our share of funerals lately.
Now I understand that we all got to go sometime and some sooner than others but being dead is no excuse for bad manners and that’s why I’m here to be setting things to rights.
First of all and most important you must always be keeping your “death-ready” pantry up to speed. The number of dishes (or grief therapy as I like to call it) brought to the grieving person’s house suggests your social standing in the community. Do you want to be last on that very list, well I should say not.
As soon as you get the call that Miss So-and-so is toes over there at the slumber house you need be rushing right over to the family with stuffed eggs, chicken salad, caramel cake and some pecan tassies. And everyone knows Pimiento cheese spread is the very paste that holds the South together through think and thin.
Remember that casseroles that contain cream of mushroom soup and Velveeta cheese are considered second tier presentations, but a can of cream of asparagus soup added elevates the dish to a higher status. And of course banana pudding is the Cadillac of southern desserts, so don’t be forgetting that.
And always remember it’s right important to refer to the deceased as successful, no matter how far from the actual truth that might be. The written description needs to include enough truth that the dead person is somewhat recognizable, but include enough flattery to please the grieving family and friends.
And of course you must encourage those relatives to attend who do the most carrying on. Someone discreetly weeping into a hankie just doesn't have the same appeal as multiple women screaming and throwing themselves onto the casket as it is being lowered into the ground. What good is a send-off unless it’s a mighty big one.
And as for the service…for heaven’s sake keep in mind that Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven is only appropriate for one of those Yankee funerals. In this part of the world Amazing Grace will do fine, thank you very much especially if there’s a martini two following right soon.
You all take care now, ya’ hear. Be sure to keep that death pantry stocked just in case and do let me know what’s your favorite dish to be sharing with your family and friends in these most unfortunate times.
Auntie KiKi lives in a house that’s been in her husband’s family since before Sherman parked his unwelcome hide in Savannah. She teaches dancing so the young people of Savannah don’t look like idiots at their cotillion and so that the not so young can show off at their 50th anniversary party.
Auntie KiKi here in Savannah and as much as I hate to say it we’ve been getting more than our share of funerals lately.
Now I understand that we all got to go sometime and some sooner than others but being dead is no excuse for bad manners and that’s why I’m here to be setting things to rights.
First of all and most important you must always be keeping your “death-ready” pantry up to speed. The number of dishes (or grief therapy as I like to call it) brought to the grieving person’s house suggests your social standing in the community. Do you want to be last on that very list, well I should say not.
As soon as you get the call that Miss So-and-so is toes over there at the slumber house you need be rushing right over to the family with stuffed eggs, chicken salad, caramel cake and some pecan tassies. And everyone knows Pimiento cheese spread is the very paste that holds the South together through think and thin.
Remember that casseroles that contain cream of mushroom soup and Velveeta cheese are considered second tier presentations, but a can of cream of asparagus soup added elevates the dish to a higher status. And of course banana pudding is the Cadillac of southern desserts, so don’t be forgetting that.
And always remember it’s right important to refer to the deceased as successful, no matter how far from the actual truth that might be. The written description needs to include enough truth that the dead person is somewhat recognizable, but include enough flattery to please the grieving family and friends.
And of course you must encourage those relatives to attend who do the most carrying on. Someone discreetly weeping into a hankie just doesn't have the same appeal as multiple women screaming and throwing themselves onto the casket as it is being lowered into the ground. What good is a send-off unless it’s a mighty big one.
And as for the service…for heaven’s sake keep in mind that Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven is only appropriate for one of those Yankee funerals. In this part of the world Amazing Grace will do fine, thank you very much especially if there’s a martini two following right soon.
You all take care now, ya’ hear. Be sure to keep that death pantry stocked just in case and do let me know what’s your favorite dish to be sharing with your family and friends in these most unfortunate times.
New Cozy Series
Murder, Mayhem and 4 of a Kind is the first book in my new cozy series, High Cotton Mysteries.
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