Interviews
A Message from the Author
Dear Friends,
Christmas conjures up delightful images -- a lovely Christmas tree with twinkling lights and ornaments, a sumptuous Christmas dinner with everyone's favorite dishes, hot chocolate stirred with a cinnamon stick, and
pajama-clad children rushing down the stairs on Christmas morning to see if Santa has left gaily-wrapped presents for good little boys and girls.
Hannah Swensen must have been very naughty this year, because in PLUM PUDDING MURDER, her surprise gift is one very dead Christmas Elf!
Of course the elf is not a real elf. He's Larry Jaeger, owner of the Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot in Lake Eden, Minnesota. And now that Hannah has discovered Larry's body, she feels obligated to solve his murder
during her busiest season of the year.
Mike Kingston, deputy sheriff and one of Hannah's boyfriends, warns her not to interfere with his official investigation. Norman Rhodes, town dentist and another of Hannah's boyfriends, offers to help her catch
the killer. Hannah's two sisters, Andrea and Michelle are in on the search for the killer, along with their mother, Delores Swensen, whose friend is a murder suspect without an alibi.
Larry Jaeger couldn't have picked a worse time to become a murder victim. Hannah's investigation faces a raft of interruptions. There are hundreds of special orders for holiday sweets at The Cookie Jar,
Hannah's bakery and coffee shop. Hannah's cat, Moishe, obviously believes that the Christmas tree in Hannah's living room is just a tree and should be treated as such. Norman is worried about the change in his
mother, Carrie Rhodes, and asks Hannah to find the time to discover why she's being so secretive.
Somehow Hannah manages to do it all and keep a cool head in the process… until she confronts Larry Jaeger's killer in the icy cold of a Minnesota night. Deep in the woods. Alone. With no one close enough to hear
her cry for help. Will Hannah manage to outwit the killer? Or will she become the second victim in the case the Lake Eden Journal is calling the "Crazy Elf Murder"?
Of course there are recipes - over thirty for you to try including the Swensen family's complete Christmas Eve Dinner. Every recipe was taste-tested by my family, friends, and neighbors. The consensus is that
Hannah's Minnesota Plum Pudding is to die for, the Fudge Mallow Cookie Bars are incredibly yummy, and you can't eat just one Christmas Lace Cookie.
I hope you enjoy reading PLUM PUDDING MURDER as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm including the recipe for Christmas Lace Cookies so you'll have something to munch while you read. Since it's time for holiday
fun, you may want to pick up two more of Hannah's Christmas adventures. SUGAR COOKIE MURDER involves a dead bride no one liked, a Lake Eden Christmas party, a blizzard, and the birth of Hannah's youngest
niece. The second half of the book contains over 80 potluck recipes from Lake Eden's finest cooks. CANDY CANE MURDER is a collection of three novellas. In Hannah's story, right along with some yummy cookie
recipes, someone does the unthinkable; they murder Santa Claus!
Thanks so much for your wonderful e-mails and snail mails. I just love being Hannah Swensen's biographer!
Jo Fluke
CHRISTMAS LACE COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position
1 and ½ cups rolled oats (uncooked dry oatmeal - use the old-fashioned kind that takes 5 minutes to cook, not the quick 1-minute variety)
½ cup melted butter (1 stick, 1/4 pound)
¾ cup white (granulated) sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon flour (that's right - one teaspoon)
½ teaspoon salt
1 and ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 beaten egg (just whip it up in a glass with a fork)
½ cup chocolate chips
Measure out the oatmeal in a medium-sized bowl. Melt the butter and pour it over the oatmeal. Stir until it's thoroughly mixed.
In a small bowl, combine the sugar, baking powder, flour, and salt. Mix well.
Add the sugar mixture to the oatmeal mixture and blend thoroughly.
Mix in the vanilla and the beaten egg. Stir well.
Add the chocolate chips and stir the mixture until it is well combined.
Line cookie sheets with foil, shiny side up. Spray the foil lightly with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.
Drop the cookie dough by rounded teaspoon onto the foil, leaving space for spreading. Don't crowd these cookies together -- no more than 6 or 8 per sheet.
Hannah's 1st Note: I used a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop to form these cookies. It was just the right size.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Pull the foil off the cookie sheet to a waiting wire rack and cool thoroughly on the foil.
When the Christmas Lace Cookies are cool, peel them carefully from the foil and store them in a cool, dry place.
If you want to dress up these cookies for special company, wait until they're cool and drizzle them with melted chocolate chips mixed with coffee. Start with ½ cup of chips mixed with 6 Tablespoons coffee and
microwave for 30 seconds on HIGH. Stir until smooth. If the mixture is too thick to drizzle, add additional coffee and microwave in 20-second intervals on HIGH until you're able to drizzle it on the cookies.
Yield: One batch of Christmas Lace Cookies makes about 2 and ½ dozen cookies. This recipe can be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled if you wish.