Easter Crime Novels

Easter is Sunday, so you'd better start reading, even if you don't live in Norway. Here's a list of some great novels set during Eastertime.

Ship Of Danger by Mabel Esther Allan
Aunt Dimity: Detective by Nancy Atherton
Death and the Easter Bunny by Linda Berry
Easter Weekend by David Bottoms
Papa la-Bas by John Dickson Carr
Do You Promise Not To Tell? by Mary Jane Clark
Little Easter by Reed Farrel Coleman
Last Easter by Caroline Conklin
Holy Terrors by Mary R. Daheim
The House of Death by Paul Doherty
Cue the Easter Bunny by Liz Evans
Deadly Sin by PJ Grady
Gallery of Horror, edited by Charles L. Grant
Precious Blood by Jane Haddam
The Good Friday Murder by Lee Harris
Some Like It Lethal by Nancy Martin
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
Do Not Exceed the Stated Dose (short stories) by Peter Lovesey
And Four To Go (aka The Easter Parade) by Rex Stout
Midnight at the Camposanto by Mari Ulmer

And, some egg books: The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

Still need chocolate suggestions for Easter? Check out my other blog, DyingforChocolate.

Have a good holiday!

Valentine's Day Mysteries

Here's another holiday mystery list for one of my favorite holidays, Valentine's Day. Enjoy! Eat lots of chocolate!

Valentine's Day Mysteries

Love Lies Bleeding by Susan Wittig Albert
The Broken Hearts Club by Ethan Black
Claws and Effect by Rita Mae Brown
How To Murder The Man Of Your Dreams by Dorothy Cannell
Red Roses for a Dead Trucker by Anna Ashwood Collins
A Catered Valentine's Day by Isis Crawford
Hard Feelings by Barbara D’Amato
A Catered Valentine’s Day by Diane Mott Davidson
Love With The Proper Killer by Rose Deshaw
The Saint Valentine's Day Murders by Ruth Dudley Edwards
Plum Lovin’ by Janet Evanovich
Happy Valentine’s Day by Michelle Fitzpatrick
The Living Daylights by Ian Fleming
St. Valentine's Night by Andrew M. Greeley
Caveman's Valentine by George Dawes Green
Bleeding Hearts by Jane Haddam
The Valentine's Day Murder by Lee Harris
Deadly Valentine by Carolyn G. Hart
Sugar and Spite by G.A. McKevett
The Valentine Victim by Dougal McLeish
Valentine Murder by Leslie Meier
Love You to Death by Grant Michaels
Cat Playing Cupid by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
The Body in the Attic by Katherine Hall Page
A Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell
Valentine by Tom Savage
Murder of a Pink Elephant by Denise Swanson
Daughter Of The Stars by Phyllis A. Whitney

Short Stories
Crimes of Passion with stories by Nancy Means, B.J. Daniels, Jonathan Harrington and Maggie Right Price
My Heart Cries Out for You by Bill Crider
Valentine's Day Is Killing Me edited by Leslie Esdaile, Mary Janice Davidson, Susanna Carr
Crimes of the Heart edited by Carolyn G. Hart
Valentine’s Day: Women Against Men-Stories of Revenge edited by Alice Thomas Editor

Still have time to spare, take a look at my Chocolate Blog, Dying for Chocolate, for recipes, chocolate news and more. Chocolate is the gift of choice on Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Cemetery Cupcakes for Halloween

I posted this recipe on Murderous Musing/TeamBuilding Talk, my other blog, but I thought people who read Mystery Fanfare would want to see it--just in time for Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. And, I'm always "dying... for chocolate."

These spooky Halloween cupcakes are fun to make and eat. Use any one of the following decorating ideas on its own, or put several together to create a tray of different treats. Easy to bake, you can use any devil's food cake recipe.

To make a cupcake cemetery, spread devil's food cupcakes with chocolate icing. Dip the top of each frosted cupcake in crushed chocolate wafers to create the look of dirt, then insert shortbread-cookie tombstones, piping them with scary messages like "Boo!" or "R.I.P." in royal icing.

Top more devil's food cupcakes with chocolate ganache and chocolate-wafer "dirt," make a hole in the center of each cupcake with your finger, and position half a gummi worm to look like it's slithering out of the hole.

Happy Halloween! Boo!!!

Dying for Chocolate

Who doesn't like chocolate? There are so many mysteries devoted to chocolate, but rather than list them all, I thought I'd sweeten your day with a recipe for a Deadly Chocolate Flourless Cake.

A little background on all the chocolate in our office: Murder on the Menu/TeamBuilding Unlimited (my other hat) does an awesome chocolate tasting. We usually give our clients all the chocolate that's leftover after a tasting, and we bring bags to make it convenient. Nevertheless, even though we do our best to give chocolate away, our office always seems to be filled with lots--from 40% to 90% cacao-- from many different chocolate companies and regions.

So yesterday I decided to make use of some of that left over dark chocolate. I found a very easy fantastic recipe for a flourless chocolate cake. For the recipe go to my other blog: Murderous Musings/Team Building Talk.