October 20, 2017

Secrets and Pies by Jenny Kales - Guest Post and Giveaway

 

Book details
Cozy Mystery 3rd in Series 
Self Published Release Date - October 19, 2017
Approximately 200 pages 

Book description
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of Callie’s Kitchen! Greek-American restaurateur Callie Costas faces down another killer in the small waterfront town of Crystal Bay, Wisconsin. Recipes included!

Summertime in Crystal Bay means tourist season for Calliope “Callie” Costas, owner of Callie’s Kitchen, a Greek-meets-Midwest from-scratch eatery. Business is booming but so is the stress. Callie can barely keep up with the demand for her famous summer fruit pies and savory Greek delicacies, plus she’s agreed to bake dozens of “pitas” for the annual Greek Fest.

When Callie is asked to deliver cast party treats for a Murder Mystery Night at the historic Harris House, it seems like a welcome break from her hot stove. That is, until she finds herself an unwilling player in yet another suspicious death. Worse yet, the victim is a family friend and graduate student working on a project involving Crystal Bay’s colorful past.

Before long, a motley crew of suspects makes things as juicy as the succulent berries strewn around Callie’s Kitchen. And that’s not all Callie’s got on her plate. Add family obligations, a deepening romance with a local detective and unexpected personnel problems to the mix. One thing’s for sure: Callie’s got the recipe for a long, hot summer!

SECRETS AND PIES is the third installment in the Callie’s Kitchen Mystery series.

Meet the author - Jenny Kales
Award-winning writer Jenny Kales is the author of The Callie's Kitchen Mystery series. Though she's worked as a writer and journalist for years, fiction writing is her first love and her marriage into a Greek-American Midwestern family inspired The Callie's Kitchen mysteries, featuring Calliope Costas, food business owner and amateur sleuth. The setting of the story, "Crystal Bay," is inspired by a favorite family vacation spot - Wisconsin's beautiful Geneva Lakes. Kales is an avid reader, cook and baker and she's addicted to mystery TV, especially anything on Masterpiece Mystery or BBC America. She lives just outside of Chicago with her husband, two daughters and one cute but demanding Yorkshire terrier.

Website www.jennykales.wordpress.com,
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jennykalesmysteryauthor/
Twitter https://twitter.com/Jenny_Kales,
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard,
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jennykales_author/
Purchase Link - Amazon

Guest post
Murder on the Menu: The Delicious Synergy between Cozy Mysteries and Food

“Every woman should have a blowtorch.” This quote, attributed to Julia Child, is the epigram to my first Callie’s Kitchen Mystery, ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK. I chose to include it for many reasons (read the book to find out!), but also because it sums up my attitude towards writing a culinary cozy mystery series. Preparing and serving food can seem like an innocuous occupation, and yet it takes a strong woman to succeed in business and help to solve murders! With this in mind, Calliope “Callie” Costas, my Greek-American amateur sleuth and restaurateur, was born.

Callie is the proprietor of “Callie’s Kitchen,” a Greek meets Midwest eatery that serves the locals and tourists of fictional Crystal Bay, Wisconsin. Some readers might wonder why so many cozy mysteries feature sleuths involved in the food industry. My inspiration came from marrying into a Greek-American family, as well as my own interest in cooking and baking, but it’s more than that. Just like a good, spine-tingling mystery, food engages all of our five senses. Combine delectable descriptions of food, along with a puzzling murder mystery to solve, and that’s a recipe for entertainment.

Food plays a central role in Callie’s adventures, and sometimes it even slows her down just when she’d like to get into the middle of an investigation. Food is something that she shares in common with her caring, but sometimes overbearing father, George. George wanted her to take over his business when he retired even though she was determined to strike out on her own. Despite the fact that they butt heads from time to time, he is one of Callie’s biggest supporters and he even enjoys cooking for her, such as his specialty spanakopita, or spinach-feta cheese pie layered in phyllo dough.

Food can also provide an excuse for Callie to snoop and find vital clues. Who can resist her seemingly innocent gifts of baked goods and Greek specialties? Very few people, it seems, which allows her entry into places she wouldn’t otherwise get to investigate. It turns out that the key to many a suspect’s heart is through his or her stomach!

SECRETS AND PIES, my new Callie’s Kitchen Mystery finds Callie smack-dab in the middle of summer tourist season. Click here to buy it! In this third installment in the series, Callie is tasked with baking pies galore, both the traditional fruit kind, bursting with summer freshness, as well the crispy, buttery, savory Greek phyllo “pites” that she’s slated to bake for the town’s popular Greek Fest. When she’s asked to provide the cast party treats for a murder mystery night at a local historical hotel, food leads her into yet another mystery.

One thing’s for sure: even killers need to eat. Hence, the epigram for SECRETS AND PIES: “A hungry stomach will not allow its owner to forget it, whatever his cares and sorrows.” ― HOMER

I hope you enjoy SECRETS AND PIES, and that you’ll check out my first two Callie’s Kitchen Mysteries, available on Amazon.


Giveaway


TOUR PARTICIPANTS 
October 19 – A Chick Who Reads - REVIEW 
October 19 – Celticlady's Reviews - SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY 
October 19 – Blogger Nicole Reviews - SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY 
October 20 – The Power of Words - REVIEW, GIVEAWAY 
October 20 – A Holland Reads - GUEST POST, GIVEAWAY 
October 20 – 3 Partners in Shopping Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy, Too! - SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY October 21 - Books a Plenty Book Reviews - REVIEW, GIVEAWAY 
October 21 - Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY 
October 21 - A Blue Million Books – CHARACTER INTERVIEW 
October 22 – Babs Book Bistro - SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY 
October 22 – Cozy Up With Kathy - CHARACTER GUEST POST 
October 23 – Back Porchervations - REVIEW 
October 23 – Bibliophile Reviews - REVIEW, GIVEAWAY 
October 23 – Readeropolis - SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY 
October 24 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews - REVIEW, INTERVIEW, GIVEAWAY 
October 24 – Socrates' Book Reviews - SPOTLIGHT 
October 24 – View from the Birdhouse - SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY 
October 25 – Laura's Interests - REVIEW, GIVEAWAY 
October 25 – Readsalot - SPOTLIGHT 
October 25 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf - INTERVIEW 
October 26 – Melina's Book Blog – REVIEW 
October 26 – That's What She's Reading – REVIEW 
October 26 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW 
October 27 – Sleuth Cafe - SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY 
October 27 – Jane Reads - CHARACTER GUEST POST,   

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