Book Bites: SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC

I am delighted to welcome Judy Penz Sheluk to the blog today to share a “bite” of her upcoming mystery novel SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC, which will be out from Imajin Books on August 21, 2016.

Who is your main character? Tell me about her. What is she like?

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable is a thirty-six year old woman who works in the fraud unit of bank’s call center. She’s been unlucky in love, having inherited the “Barnstable loser radar” but now she’s inherited something from her late father that is even more challenging: a house in Marketville, a small commuter town about an hour north of Toronto, Canada. The catch: she has to move into the house and find out who murdered her mother thirty years before. A mother Callie has always believed left voluntarily for “the milkman or some other male equivalent.”

What would Callie Barnstable choose for her last meal?

Homemade macaroni and cheese: for Callie, this is comfort food at its finest, and it’s mentioned in Skeletons after she had a particularly stressful day. Add a tossed salad and a glass or two of Australian chardonnay and she’s golden.

How about you? What would you choose for your last meal?

Cheese pizza, no other toppings. Why? Because I could eat cheese pizza every day for breakfast (cold), lunch (hot) and dinner (with a salad).

Why should someone bite into SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC?

I’m so excited by the early reviews. Midwest Book Review describes SKELETONS as, “A vivid production that translates to thoroughly engrossing reading right up to a completely unexpected, thought-provoking surprise conclusion.”

Diane Vallere, bestselling author of the Costume Shop Mysteries, and the incoming president of Sisters in Crime International, called it, “A complex plot, an extremely likeable protagonist, and a bombshell ending you never saw coming. A delightful and heartwarming mystery!”

And Annette Dashovy, USA Today bestselling author says it’s, “A thought-provoking, haunting tale of decades-old deception.” Don’t you love that? Decades-old deception!

Do you have a recipe you’d like to share?

Throughout the book, there is mention of Callie’s mother’s peanut butter cookies. My mother used to bake these cookies when I was a kid. The best peanut butter cookies ever.

Image courtesy of Mourgefile.com.

BEST EVER PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy; I prefer smooth, but if you like bits of peanut in your cookies, the crunchy peanut butter works well)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla (real vanilla, not the imitation stuff)

Cooking spray

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Beat butter, peanut butter and white and brown sugar with mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well after each addition.

Drop a tablespoon of cookie dough 2 inches apart onto baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray. Flatten each cookie in a crisscross pattern with the tines of a fork.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks. Allow to cool completely.

Sounds delicious! And your book sounds incredible!

And check this out:

SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC is now available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle for the special introductory rate of $0.99 (reg. $4.99). Find it here: http://getbook.at/SkeletonsintheAttic

You can connect with Judy on her WEBSITE, on FACEBOOK, TWITTER and GOODREADS, And you can learn more about SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC at Imajin Books.

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