Independent-minded Hannah Swenson makes her debut in a cleverly plotted cozy, full of appealing characters and delicious cookie recipes. Returning after her father’s death to her hometown of Lake Eden, Minn., Hannah opens her own shop, the Cookie Jar, where much of the town’s gossip percolates along with the strong coffee. Early one morning, she finds the driver of a delivery truck shot dead in the alley behind her shop. Hannah’s brother-in-law, Bill, the county’s deputy sheriff, recruits her to help him chase down the culprit. A surprising number of suspects emerges, but due to her cafe business and catering of local social events, Hannah is admirably placed to hear all, see much and investigate a little. Motives ranging from blackmail to extortion abound, as do descriptions of clothing and shopping. Cat fanciers will appreciate knowing how Hannah found her cat, but separating the wheat of the significant from the chaff of the irrelevant can be challenging. Fluke also stretches the imagination when Bill leaves most of the sleuthing to Hannah and when the sheriff’s men fail to discover a second body at the dairy where the first victim was employed. But these are minor lapses in a story satisfyingly packed with plot twists and red herrings. The Pecan Chews recipe is especially recommended. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hannah Swensen, amateur sleuth, runs an eat-in cookie establishment in little Lake Eden, MN. When the well-liked milkman is murdered in the alley near her shop, Hannah joins forces with the deputy sheriff, who just happens to be her brother-in-law. While delivering cookies, catering scouting events, and otherwise gadding about the community, Hannah gathers important clues. Family and other connections, concern with finding Hannah a “steady,” and several cookie recipes lend this debut series a small-town, rural flavor. This mystery is pleasant and easy to take.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

During your Chocolate Boutique party you and your guests will indulge in a chocolate tasting, create delicious chocolate-dipped stir spoon gifts, savor chocolate-dipped treats, play a chocolate-themed conversation game, and more. (Chocolate not included) Discussion questions are provided to ensure fun and fulfilling conversation.

Kit includes: Step-by-step Hostess guide, fun Gab Bag game and an easy-to-use CD-ROM containing– party invitation templates, chocolate tasting score cards, Fun Facts cards, Cocoa Questions, shopping list, AND Party music.

BONUS: FREE Pewter Charm! ($6.99 Value)

The brownie-lover’s bible.

Discover how to make the perfect classic brownie that tastes just the way you always wanted: moist and rich with an unforgettable chocolate glaze.

Brownie Points, the brownie-lover’s bible, features tested and proven, easy-to-make recipes for every imaginable kind of those deep, dark delicacies. Lisa Slater clearly and concisely explains everything about brownie baking methods including choosing the right chocolate, other ingredients and the equipment needed.

Brownie Points includes proven techniques and recipes for: – Brownie muffins and cupcakes – Tarts and mousse – Brownie cheesecake – Sugar-free date brownies – Brownie molasses cookies – Gluten-free brownies and more.

Bakers of all levels will welcome the interesting variations on each recipe and the fool-proof methods to ensure the perfect brownies every time.

About the Author
Lisa Slater has owned and operated a variety of eateries in New York City. She teaches cooking, caters and writes cookbooks.

“Chocolate and tobacco will never taste the same. Smokers and chocoholics will understand themselves better, thanks to Marcy Norton´s book, not as victims of their own addictions or indulgences, but as part of a vast, fascinating, and world-shaping episode of the history of cultural exchange.”–Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Tufts University, author of Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration

“Marcy Norton’s fascinating, beautifully illustrated, and deeply researched book traces the history of chocolate and tobacco as each crossed the Atlantic in the early modern era. Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures draws on a rich and varied array of sources, including artwork, shipping registers, religious treatises, medical manuals, Inquisition records, and poetry. Norton delineates how Iberians emulated and adapted American habits as they sought to fit tobacco and chocolate into their religious worldviews, medical practices, habits of sociability, and economic systems. This original and pathbreaking work deserves a wide readership.”–Alison Games, Georgetown University, author of The Web of Empire: British Cosmopolitans in an Age of Expansion, 1560-1660

“In Mesoamerica, tobacco was consumed as a paste to apply on the body, as an alkaloid to chew with lime, as a powder to sniff, or as a cigarette to smoke. Chocolate was originally consumed mostly by elites, mixed with corn flour, spices and honey. Marcy Norton deftly shows in Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures that European colonizers eventually embraced these patterns of consumption. Norton puts Spain at the center of the narrative on the early modern consumer revolution. She succeeds brilliantly in showing how tobacco and chocolate were consumed in Mesoamerica prior to the European arrival and how the Spaniards and their descendants sought to cleanse these two staples of their pagan, demonic associations.”-Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Alice Drysdale Sheffield Professor of History, University of Texas at Austin, author of Puritan Conquistadors