S’more Murders (A Five-Ingredient Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Kensington (July 31, 2018)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages

Synopsis

Managing a fitness club café and collaborating on a cookbook with her grandfather are Val Deniston’s usual specialties, but she’s about to set sail into nearby Chesapeake Bay—straight into a murder case . . .

Since catering themed events is a good way to make extra cash, Val agrees to board the Titanic—or at least cater a re-creation of the doomed journey on a yacht. The owner of the yacht, who collects memorabilia related to the disaster, wants Val to serve the last meal the Titanic passengers ate . . . while his guests play a murder-mystery game. But it is the final feast for one passenger who disappears from the ship. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Now Val has to reel in a killer before s’more murders go down . . .

Includes delicious five-ingredient recipes!

Guest Post

The History Behind S’More Murders

A yacht on the Chesapeake Bay is the murder scene in the fifth book of my Five-Ingredient Mystery series, the Titanic-themed S’More Murders. As warm April weather brings boaters to the Chesapeake Bay, Val Deniston agrees to cater a dinner party aboard a yacht. Its owner, a collector of Titanic memorabilia, asks her to re-create the final meal served on that doomed ship—a ten-course meal for eight people. The collector’s trophy wife adds another dish to the feast, prevailing on him to serve s’mores as an icebreaker when the guests arrive. On the anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, the yachtsman welcomes his guests aboard and assigns them roles in a murder mystery game. Val soon reaches the chilling conclusion that the host is fishing for the culprit in a real crime. When someone disappears from the boat, Val and Granddad have to reel in a killer before s’more murders go down.

To write a book involving the re-creation of a meal served on the Titanic, I researched what the passengers had for dinner on that ship. How do we know what they ate? There’s a less gruesome answer than you might expect to this question. A few passengers tucked souvenir menus away. For example, the menu from the first-class lunch on April 14^th, 1912 survived because an American banker’s wife had it in her purse when she escaped the sinking ship. Obviously, the Titanic passengers didn’t get the same warning airplane passengers hear—leave your belongings behind. That was far from the worst failure of emergency preparedness on that ship. The lunch menu from the last day on the Titanic sold at auction in 2012 for around a hundred thousand dollars.

In the first-class dining room, dinners were elaborate multi-course meals based on French cuisine with concessions to hearty English fare. Waiters brought the food to the table on silver platters, offered guests a portion of every dish, and suggested a wine to pair with the food. Here is the menu from the last dinner served in that dining room.

Hors d’Oeuvres Variés

Oysters

Consommé Olga     Cream of Barley

Salmon, Mousseline Sauce, Cucumber

Filet Mignons Lili

Sauté of Chicken Lyonnaise

Vegetable Marrow Farci

Lamb, Mint Sauce

Roast Duckling, Apple Sauce

Sirloin of Beef, Chateau Potatoes

Green Peas  Creamed Carrots  Boiled Rice

Parmentier & Boiled New Potatoes

Punch Romaine

Roast Squab & Cress

Cold Asparagus Vinaigrette

Pâté de Foie Gras, Celery

Waldorf Pudding

Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly

Chocolate & Vanilla Eclairs

French Ice Cream

 

This is a restaurant menu, and no one eats every dish on a restaurant menu. But eating even one choice from each course would make for a pretty substantial meal. The one light course is Punch Romaine, a palette cleanser similar to a frozen champagne cocktail or an alcoholic sorbet.

The dinner Val serves on the yacht in S’more Murders is a slimmed-down version of the last dinner on the Titanic with fewer choices. She also modifies several dishes so that non-meat eaters don’t go hungry. For course number four, she makes a vegetarian stuffed squash (vegetable marrow farci). For course number eight, she prepares a mushroom paté, rather than a goose liver paté. Here is her menu.

Hors d’Oeuvres

Consommé

Salmon, Mousseline Sauce, Cucumbers

Stuffed Zucchini

Roast Beef, Chateau Potatoes

Green Peas, Creamed Carrots

Sorbet

Cold Asparagus Vinaigrette

Mushroom Paté

Celery

Waldorf Pudding

Cheese and Fruit

 

The guests at Val’s Titanic-inspired dinner get only as far as course number five before a storm and a killer combine to put the rest of the dinner on ice.

Thank you for the opportunity to visit this blog!  And thank you for joining us today Maya! (SBR)

 

About the Author

Maya Corrigan blends her love of food and detective stories in her Five-Ingredient Mystery series set in a fictional historic town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The first book in the series, By Cook or by Crook, was published in 2014. It was followed by Scam Chowder in 2015, Final Fondue in 2016, and The Tell-Tale Tarte in 2017.

Before taking up a life of crime (on the page), she taught university courses in writing, detective fiction, American literature, and drama. She won the 2013 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Unpublished Mainstream Mystery / Suspense. Her short stories, written under the name of Mary Ann Corrigan, have been published in anthologies.

When not reading and writing, she enjoys theater, tennis, trivia, cooking, and crosswords. Her website features trivia about food and mysteries.

 

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