Aired February 2022
📖 CAKE & PUNISHMENT BOOK BLURB 📖
In the first of a delectable new Southern-set baking cozy series, Sophia Cummings, pastry chef extraordinaire, must craft the perfect cake for an old friend’s wedding while sifting through the suspects in a murder.
Bucolic Rumford, Kentucky has glowing fields of bluegrass, a fine selection of bourbons, and now a professional pastry chef. Broken-hearted Sophia Cummings has come home from New York City. She’s not there a minute before she’s charmed into making her high school friend Charlotte’s wedding cake. The kitchen at the Rumford Country Club seems perfect until Chef Emile’s body is discovered, sprawled near the stove, a cast iron skillet on the floor close by.
With one look at the shiny, new frying pan, Sophia knows it’s not Emile’s. She offers her knowledge to Sheriff Carter and her talents to Evelyn, the manager, who needs an interim chef. The mood in the country club is grim: Emile’s peppery personality had burned members and staff alike. Sophia wonders which one of them burned him?
Hart: Oh, the Cozy Community! They want to talk about books! (holds up Cake & Punishment)
Cox: Yay!
Hart: Okay, let’s see, YouTube, are we live? Potentially, hopefully, yes, we are!
Cox: Awesome.
Hart: So exciting. Oh, my goodness, I’m like, “How do I angle the book so it’s shown?”
Cox: I’ve got my eReader; it’s black and white; boring.
Hart: (waves) Hi, everybody!
Cox: (waves)
Hart: Hi, Jill, Hi Renee, Crystal. Oh, my gosh, I am so excited, and I also love how it’s ‘the Angela episode’ and how we have our different usernames, so they can tell us apart with this. (laughs)
Cox: (laughs)
Hart: We’re like, “Okay, it works, it works.”
Cox: Yeah.
Hart: It’s like ‘the other Angela’ (big smile).
Cox: I was going to put “the other Angela” (on screen), but then I’m like, “Put what my Twitter name is so they know” (Angela YarnivoreGirl).
Hart: I don’t want to mispronounce, so, Yarni, how do we pronounce this?
Cox: So, as Crystal Tea Knits knows, because she also is addicted to knitting and she pairs cozies perfectly with her knitting, which I just love to see on her Instagram, it’s YarnivoreGirl, because, you know, like, carnivore but I devour yarning.
Hart: That’s what I thought, but I was like, “Okay, I might butcher this and put my foot in my mouth,” but I love, I think it’s such a cute name. I kind of taught myself to knit and I just do scarves and blankets, like, nothing super intricate. I mean, I lose track with the counting. I can’t do the designs, so, whenever I see you or Crystal, I’m always going, “Oh, my goodness, they’ve got talent!”
Cox: I remember you did a scarf. I remember seeing it.
Hart: I do, and it’s so funny, I have one where I did, it was supposed to be a scarf, and then I just kept going and it became like this weird, it became this huge blanket for like a king-size bed. And at one point, Max was on it and he kind of blended in because my dog is white fluff with the fur and the blanket was white. So, it was just a very cute photo, and I’m going, “I made that and that’s my baby. Oh, perfect.”
Cox: (holds up eReader to the screen) Here’s my Cake & Punishment, but I just clicked on it. I started off with the eBook and then I finished off with the audiobook and I had borrowed it from the library and my library loan has ended, so I’m going to have to use my memory.
Hart: Oh, library loans, and then I know some people have the Kindle, what is it? The Kindle Unlimited, and when you have Amazon Prime, I think you get ten downloads, but you have to give back a download to get a new download, and I don’t want to do that. I’m like, “These are now my ten.” I know I’m supposed to give them back, but these now are mine.
Cox: Yeah, it’s hard.
Hart: Oh, my goodness, I was excited to talk about this book. I love the title. I think it is so cute. We were chatting beforehand that we both enjoyed it, so, Welcome to Cake & Punishment, the February livestream discussion. I’m trying to angle the book cover and this one is one of those, you don’t see this anymore where it’s the paper on it. (unfolds the book cover) Usually, with cozies, we’ve got the paperbacks, but no, not this one. This one feels very official.
Cox: Yeah, I love, too, not having seen the cover in color before. I love the pink icing letters of the title Cake & Punishment very much in line with the wedding cake and Valentine’s Day for February; nicely done.
Hart: I think it worked out perfectly and you had to remind me because it kind of went over my head. I didn’t make the connection. This is our second baking cozy mystery in a row and I love baking cozies. I probably should have made that connection before, “Oh, we have a theme going right now,” but I do love my baking cozies. I even brought a cupcake to the livestream because, you know, cupcakes and cozies, they just go together. So, I’m really happy with the book selection. Y’all are always doing a good job. I made a note because some of y’all were asking, we’re doing the yearly TBR, and you guys seem really excited about that as a planner. I’m excited, so, next month is The Cracked Spine (by Paige Shelton). April is On Borrowed Crime (by Kate Young). May is The Secret, Book and Scone Society, and I always feel like that’s a mouthful I’m going to trip up and, you know, during the livestream, at some point, when I’m talking very quickly, I will trip that up. But that is Ellery Adams’ book. June, we’ve got another sort of Tea & Treachery (by Vicki Delany). I’m thinking tea biscuits, tea cookies, and then July another crafting for you, Murder, She Knit (by Peggy Ehrhart). I thought of you when that one won.
Cox: Yeah, I think I have all of them on my shelf behind me already. (laughs)
Hart: I thought of you with that one. And then, August, the themes are shopping and or clothing. So, Hems and Homicide (by Elizabeth Penney), Cloche and Dagger (by Jenn McKinlay), Tagged for Death (by Sherry Harris) or 50% Off Murder (by Josie Belle). The voting is currently going on. I think we’re up to eighty-something votes. It was so funny, this was one of those polls where the two books were going back-and-forth, they were tying. So, your votes are going to make a difference. I just wanted to mention right off the bat that’s the TBR so far. We’re currently working on it. It’s a work in progress, but we’re getting there. So, September, October, November, and then we’re going to have the December Buddy Read. So, there’s still some more Twitter polls that’s going to be in the mix for y’all, so be on the lookout for those. And then, for those commenting tonight, we have the giveaway, and I didn’t realize it until, again, I think the stars aligned, it is the book birthday for Put Out to Pasture by Amanda Flower, and that’s the book for tonight. It came out today, it’s the book for tonight, so I’m excited.
Cox: And Amanda Flower’s books, you just know they’re going to be a hundred percent awesome.
Hart: I feel as if it kind of works, though, too. She’s doing the farming, we got the baking, I mean, food, different types of food, kind of works. I think it goes with it.
Cox: Yeah, and the last book also took place in Florida, which I appreciated because that’s where I live. And then, this one is also in the South in Kentucky. So, that was cool. I’ve been thinking about, I wonder why the author chose Kentucky. I was thinking, you know, New York, I’ve never been to New York, my parents are from Pennsylvania, that’s as far as I’ve gone in the United States. But I wonder why she chose Kentucky and not like Virginia, right? That’s still the South, isn’t it? But closer to New York.
Hart: I had to look it up. So, I’m going to go with Maymee, that’s how I’m going to pronounce the first name. Maymee Bell is Tonya Kappes. I don’t know how we’re going to pronounce this last name. Again, this is one of those, you read it. How you pronounce it sometimes different than you’re saying it in your head. But K-a-p-p-e-s, so, she’s written a lot of other cozies under her other name, her real name, Tonya. So, this is her pen name, and now I’m curious, going, “Yeah, what are your settings for your other books? What are your other characters like?” So, maybe, we can figure that out a little bit more once we dive into her as this other cozy mystery name.
Cox: Yeah, good to know. (reading comments) Nancy and Debbie say that they believe that she lives in Kentucky, so that makes sense.
Hart: Okay, I also love cozy mysteries. Like, when it comes to country, oh, my gosh, obviously, I love cozy mysteries. I love country music and cozy mysteries; like, that reference was amazing to me because you don’t usually get country music references with them because whenever they pop up, I always get so excited. That combination, I don’t know why, but that always makes me really, really happy. I have a mug that says, “I Love Country Music & Coffee.” I almost want one now that says, “I Love Country Music, Coffee & Cozy Mysteries.” I was really happy we had the Dolly Parton reference and other stuff; she kind of gave it that little Southern feel that way too. I just want to go in with that tone with that. You just reminded me that was one of my notes in my head.
Cox: Yeah, it’s like Hallmark movies and plaid; it just goes together, right?
Hart: (laughing)Yes, then you’re going to have the guy come, he’s going to be in his flannel, he’s going to be the secret mayor and volunteer firefighter.
Cox: Flannel, that’s what I meant.I live inOrlando, it’s not really the South. I grew up in Iceland. So, you know, yeah, flannel. That’s what I meant, not plaid.
Hart: Oh, no, I think it kind of works. I think they work together. I bought, I hate the name of the App because you always think it’s the other meaning, but Procreate, like, you’re a procreator, you’re a creator of content. So, one of the brushes I purchased was for plaid and for like the flannel. I was like, “This is so great! Now I can do the backgrounds with that.” So, I’m actually really excited that you made that reference because I just got that digital download probably a week ago, and I’m so excited to start doing more creations with it.
Cox: Yeah, that sounds great.
Hart: Oh, my goodness, apparently, we are just not meant to be in New York City when it comes to cozy mysteries. There’s something to this where I swear Cleo Coyle is the only one who’s ever able to do a city-based cozy mystery.
Cox: (nodding) Yeah.
Hart: Honestly, like, we just belong in small towns. I mean, we’re going back to Kentucky and, again, I’m from Massachusetts. I do say y’all. I don’t know where that came from instead of ‘you guys’ – it definitely sounds much nicer – but I don’t know if we would call this the Yankee accent. But Noah, the ex-boyfriend, has the Yankee accent, so I’m going, “Do I have a Yankee accent?” and I’m listening to the audiobook and she’s doing the Southern accent, the drawl. So, definitely, getting all sorts of Southern vibes with this.
Cox: Yeah, the narrator in the audiobook, because I started reading just the eBook and then switched to the audiobook, she was amazing. And her different accents for the characters, and the voices, and Noah, it was just amazing. She really brought a lot of life to it, so it made me, when I first heard her do the voice of the main character, I was like, “Oh, my gosh!” It made it more, like, imagining her more of like a neutral kind of, like, your accent, I would say is neutral. Like, you really can’t tell where you’re from.
Hart: Thank you.
Cox: And I was expecting the main character to have more of a neutral accent, and listening to the audiobook, it made me realize that she has a deeper connection than I initially first thought to her hometown. And always hearing her call her mom, Bitsy, all the time, I’m like, “Oh, my gosh, I would never call my mom by her first name.” And my mom’s first name is Rachelle, which is nothing like Bitsy, because again, she’s from Pennsylvania, but that was really cute too. And the whole town calling her Bitsy, oh, you know, Bitsy this-and-that, I think she’s probably just glad that no one called her Bitsy junior.
Hart: We got to talk about Bitsy a little bit. This woman, so, I believe it was Regina, I just saw you pop up a second ago in the comments, she had one, I always post questions to Instagram stories and her comment was that the mother would’ve been a great sleuthing duo and she would’ve kept Sophia in check a little bit more. But this woman, oh, my goodness, she wanted an Amber Alert put out on her daughter, who’s a grown woman, and I lost it. I was enjoying that scene so much because the cop is the love interest, so she’s telling the cop, “You’ve got to put an Amber Alert out on my daughter.” I mean, can you imagine that conversation of talking to the guy you kind of have a crush on and your mom is asking to have an Amber Alert put out on you.
Cox: Right, he’s like thirty years old. That’s only for children that are gone. She’s, technically, not even lost.
Hart: I was getting the biggest kick out of the mother. She was such a kind of town gossip. So, this is probably jumping a little bit ahead, but this woman probably would’ve been a really good sleuthing partner because she just knew everybody in town, knew all of their business, and they kind of gave her a pass for it too. Like, “Oh, that’s just her. Oh, she’s just doing her thing.” Like, she would’ve been a really good Watson.
Cox: Yeah, I know when we first moved here to Florida, we lived in a small town and it was hard for me because my dad was in the Navy. So, we came from Iceland to Florida and everybody knew everybody, and like for generations, not just current alive people, but everyone had known everyone for generations, and it was really hard. I never did fit in, so it’s a lot like that in this story where it’s like everybody just knows everything about everyone, including Bitsy.
Hart: So, this is kind of probably not semi-spoiler because this comes up relatively probably near the middle, we figured this out. So, this is where I was kind of confused for a minute because, again, I called him the sexy sheriff. We have our love interest, who is the cop, he is in charge of the small town and he is very dashing. So, Carter catches her eye when she goes for coffee and he’s just really cute and sweet. I was so caught off guard when it turns out he actually went to high school with our leading lady, our main sleuther, and I’m going, “This is a small town, right? How do we not make this connection? How did your busy-body mother not tell you this?” So, how did that kind of occur with the small-town vibe, because I would’ve thought that would’ve come up sooner, almost.
Cox: Right. I think, you know, having been a teacher for a long time now, I have kids who were in my class that are grownups, and only once or twice, if I seen them out again in real life, but like they could be like your age, like 30, you know? And I remember she said in the book, he had scraggly kind of like greasy hair then, and now it’s like she just looks at his dimples and just swoons.
Hart: That kind of took me by surprise that they went to high school together. I was kind of waiting for the moment of how he knew everybody because we figured out early on, okay, this is Charlotte, this is her wedding, they went to high school together. Her other friend was Madison, okay, we know their connection. Okay, she met Brett with the whole college element, so we kind of figured out how the crew came together. So, Carter is Brett’s best man, and I was kind of trying to figure out how he fit into this sort of social equation, and I wasn’t getting there. Then, all of a sudden, you’re going, “He was here the whole time. He wasn’t a part of the equation. He was already there. He’s part of the answer.”
Cox: Yeah, and especially because being in a small Southern town, they accepted him. He didn’t have to prove himself in any kind of way. So, you kind of knew that he belonged there.
Hart: I think, this is my whole thing, too, when it comes to cozy mysteries, when the cops are just totally incompetent and it requires the citizen sleuther to take up arms and solve the murder. He was capable. I almost want to give him a pat on the back and say, “Oh, you were going to figure out the mystery all on your own, weren’t you?” And he totally was, at the very end, he had asked for handwriting analysis for the books with our murder victim; so, he was comparing the notes. He had them write to the wedding party, to what was put into the files, and I’m going, “Oh, that was a really good idea. Carter’s smart.” I’m going, “Oh, thank goodness. We have a small-town sheriff who can actually do their job in a cozy mystery.”
Cox: I think it might have been to further emphasize the comparison of her leaving and going to New York in that fast pace. So, she’s taking that fast pace to solve the mystery, and he’s just kind of, you know, Southern, taking his time, you know, “We’ll get there.”
Hart: Yeah, he was going to solve it.
Cox: But then he started to ask her, “What did you find out?” so that was interesting.
Hart: (responds to comment by Debbie Lind) I liked Debbie’s comment. She loved that he actually talked to her about the case throughout. It was so funny when she has the note of suspects in the bakery and then he sees her, I think, it was back at her house, or her soon-to-be house, she had a chalkboard. So, he’s finding her in these different locations and it’s like no matter where she is, she’s thinking about the mystery, and in all the different locations, he’s talking to her about it each time. I just thought that was so cute, and I liked that they did the actual kind of Murder Mood Board with that; so, another little like kudos. Check that one.
Cox: Very good. I saw you also put on Twitter about their whole relationship as far as always seeming to kind of argue with one another.
Hart: I put that? That they argued?
Cox: I think so, I don’t know. I was working today. I was peeking as things were flashing up. But they did seem to kind of have a little bit of confrontations here and there. You would think that Carter really liked her, but then she would think, “Oh, well, maybe, he’s just doing his job, and he doesn’t feel that way.” Kind of giving her mixed signals until that dinner at her parents’ house.
Hart: Yeah, I will give you that because I actually made a note of that very early on, because I was confused as a reader, when he bought her coffee the following day, she calls him up thinking she’s going to have a little flirty phone conversation, and he’s all business.
Cox: Yeah, “I just need the witness statement signed.”
Hart: Talk about hot and cold one second. I mean, whiplash! As a reader, I didn’t know what to think. I mean, if Sophia, again, in this character, what is she supposed to take away from that interaction? (shakes her head) Eh, men.
Cox: But she did find a good one which, you know, that other man towards the end of the book that came, I was like, “What? No way!” I did not see, maybe, if you haven’t finished, sorry, but I did not see her ex, Noah, being the one to come in and take over as the chef. I’m like, “Really?” She’s had this romantic moment, she’s finding this place, a bakery, you know, that isn’t hers technically, but she’s loving, like, everything is going her way, and then he’s back! (grimaces) Errr!
Hart: That was one of those moments where you got to take a moment, like, you just close the book or you go like, “I’m going to go make another cup of tea and then we’re going to come back to this.” Again, I feel that’s one of those moments where you’re supposed to just roll with it. I mean, again, real life versus a book, you’re going, “This small town is where he ends up? Of course it is.”
Cox: Yes.
Hart: I was annoyed with the fact that he was the one who kind of “saved the day” at the end.
Cox: Oh, yeah!
Hart: She wasn’t really confronting the murderer, but we had that sort of standoff of, “Oh! I now know what happened.” So, he hears what’s going on, and he calls Carter, the Sheriff, to come and help. And I’m going, “Why was it him?”
Cox: Yes!
Hart: I was so frustrated. I’m like, “It was Noah, who had to call?” Couldn’t it have been Patrick and giving him some redeeming moment or one of those, “Oh, I’m a great kid, actually, see!”
Cox: And, of course, Noah had to be like, “Well, I am the one who saved you.” – “No, you didn’t.”
Hart: I’m going, “You made a phone call.” I didn’t like him being involved, even in a small capacity.
Cox: (smiling, shakes her head)
Hart: He cheated on her. She found him in the throes of it with somebody else.
Cox: Honestly, I’m surprised that Bitsy didn’t give him a talking to, while he was there. That would’ve been a scene I would’ve liked to have read.
Hart: (responds to comment by Stephanie Koch) This is great. “I was reading on my stationary bike and when Noah came back, I was riding with fierce.” That’s amazing, like, you’re speeding up. You’re like, “Oh, I’m angry.”
Cox: Burn double calories during that scene.
Hart: That’s amazing.
Cox: (reading comments) I see a lot of mentions, too, about all the interesting Southern sayings that happened. I tried to remember any of them, but I’m not a note taker, and I listened to the audiobook, mostly, but they were amazing, and I’ve seen some of you guys type them into the chat. They added so much to the story.
Hart: I took a couple of screenshots and posted them on Twitter; even just, again, I love things where it’s a love letter to cozy mysteries in a cozy mystery. That was so much fun. The librarian going, “You’re like a sleuther in a cozy. I can recommend one.” I mean, that just made my little heart so happy. My little reader heart was jumping with joy in my chest.
Cox: Yes, as a reader and a librarian, I was beyond the moon. And then this afternoon, I had a kid come into the library and say to me, “Do you like to read mysteries?” And I’m like, “Do I like to read mysteries? Why, yes, I do.”
Hart: That’s so cute. Oh, my goodness, that is so adorable. I love that.
Cox: You’re awesome. It’s the best job ever. I get to read for fun at home. I get to talk about reading with kids all day and get them to read; it’s great. It’s like cozy mystery brought to life except no mystery, and I love my husband and kids. (laughs)
Hart: (big smile) You’re like, “This is the happily ever after part of the cozy mystery; after the dead bodies, after all the drama. This is the happily ever after portion.”
Cox: That’s right.
Hart: That is so cute. (responds to Mama Rox 2.0 “Book 2 was excellent as well”) Okay, here it is, you read book two. I wrote down the title. So, right now, there are only two books in the series, which is, I think, actually kind of nice for me in a way, because when you fall into a series and all of a sudden there are eighteen books and you’re going, “Okay, this is going to be my life for the next two weeks, now.” So, at least, now, I can, hopefully, when, not if, when she publishes additional books, I’ll be caught up. So, the next book is Better Off Dead, and that one, it looks like Madison is going to be the main suspect and Carter’s the boyfriend in book two, which I was happy about; that was in the book blurb, so that’s not really spoilers. It’s in the book blurb, so I was excited about that.
Cox: Yeah, I definitely want to start two for sure. (reads comment by Crystal Tea Knits) Crystal Tea, yeah, “Starting tomorrow, on Kindle, definitely reading book two.” I agree.
Hart: I mean, I love that cozy mysteries also aren’t, I don’t know how to phrase it, they’re very easy to just fall into in regards to the series. You just want to pop in, like, the next DVD or something, and I know people don’t pop in DVDs anymore, but you’re just watching a show on Netflix and just hit the next button, hit the next button. To me that’s kind of what cozy mysteries are, you just sort of fall into it, you just want to keep bingeing them, you just want to keep reading them. Once you’re in that world, you want to stay there. So, I’m glad everyone’s on kind of the same wavelength of, “Yes, we want to stay in Kentucky. We want to stay in Rumford.” I like how it’s called, what is it? The RCC. “We want to be there in the RCC.” (Rumford Country Club)
Cox: I was kind of picturing The Help, the book, and the movie kind of in scenes with the club, the social club, the Friends of the Library. And even though it was modern day and not in the fifties, it still had that vibe to it.
Hart: I remember that book. I remember I loved that book when it came out, and I read it before it was the movie and everything else. I’m not someone who lends out books, but I lent that one out and I was like, “Oh, you’re going to read this and like it!” I just remember passing that book around to people. I think that’s great that that’s the book that you referenced because that’s something I was like, “Oh, yeah, you got to read this one.”
Cox: To tell you, I’m 43, so, I did that with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone because my junior year of college, my children’s lit (literature) professor is like, “This is a book series, a book, that’s starting to have some buzz around it,” because it was only the one book at the time, “and it’s called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” and I’m like, “Well, I’m not usually into fantasy, but I’m going to choose that for that very reason.” And I read it and fell in love, and passed it around to everyone I knew, and then it became like this giant thing.
Hart: Oh, yeah, I remember. I think, when I first fell into the series, it was only three books had been published, so I came later than you, and I remember having to wait for the next books to be written and come out. I remember my dad having to take me to Barnes and Noble, and one time he was like, “Oh, we’re just going to go to BJ’s and get it.” I was like, “But you’ve got to bring me like the moment it opens,” and they have all the books piled high, and then he wants to go shopping and do his actual errands. I’m like, “No, no, I’ve got to go home and read.”
Cox: Yeah, and it’s the same with cozies. I keep on, I only live a mile from Barnes and Noble, and it’s a two-story Barnes and Noble, and they all know me. I worked there for a while. I have given them a recommendation on where I think the Cozy Mystery aisles should be placed in the store because it was nice. But now, the anime people are directly next to me, and I’m like, “Anime and Cozy Mysteries, we just do not jive.” I go all the time so I can just quickly look and browse, and I know exactly which series are brand new, that just came out, that weren’t there the last couple of days I was there before.
Hart: Oh, my goodness, I’m so jealous of that. Like, to be so close to Barnes and Noble and to know the staff. Ah! Your life is a cozy mystery. (laughing)
Cox: (big smile) It is, it truly is, but I’m looking for more in a series, and I’m like, “No, I need more. I need to know more about this.” And one of the first cozy series I ever read, I still have them all, because I love them, but it left on a cliffhanger and she didn’t get renewed by the publisher or something, and so I never found out what happened because she never got to write them.
Hart: Which series?
Cox: I don’t remember. It was a magic series, a magic cozy mystery. I’ll have to find it and post about it later.
Hart: Oh, my goodness. I want to know now.
Cox: Yeah, I just hope the same thing doesn’t happen because the publishing date of this book is 2018? I think.
Hart: I believe, yes. I remember, yeah, I’m pretty sure it was.
Cox: Like, man, four years ago, now. Two books? I think of some other cozy mystery writers, like, one of our favorites, Bree Baker, you know, she’s like pumps them out in all different kinds of names. She’s got like four pseudonyms. I want this author to do the same thing.
Hart: I mean, there was one, I’m trying to remember.
Cox: Maybe, she’ll see this, and she’ll be inspired to write more.
Hart: I mean, I would love that. There was a book that ended on a cliffhanger. I can’t even remember what the series was but she was looking for her lost mother and I’m like, “Is she going to find her?” and I never found out if she actually got to meet the mother. It was very much like Queens of Mystery there, the Acorn TV show with the mother being gone and there’s a whole backstory about it. So, in that book series, I’m going, “No, like, where’s the next page?”
Cox: Yeah, yep.
Hart: (reading comments) Oh, my goodness, okay, so, I just saw someone pop up. There it is! (displays comment by Falicya mystery sleuth) So, this was the question I saw, “What did y’all think of who the killer was?” That is a good question. So, first of all, did you guys solve the mystery? I think that’s an important part of this.
Cox: This is my first cozy mystery that I solved. I knew it from the beginning. I even knew the reason along the way, and I’m very proud of myself. Finally! (big smile)
Hart: (smiling, clapping) Oh, I feel like we’ve got to do the applause. Where did it go? I do this every time. I finally learned how to use all the overlays and stuff, and I’m like, “Is there a sound section?” I learned how to do videos or upload little things so we can do the little video. (displays image: Welcome to The Cozy Mystery Book Club) We’ve got to make something now, where it’s like we solved the mystery and there’s applause.
Cox: Yeah.
Hart: You know, a chorus of angels singing.
Cox: The magnifying glass or put a virtual sleuth hat on my head or something.
Hart: (smiling, displays a large, colorful word: SLEUTHER) How do we do the arrow? (points to side of screen) She’s the sleuther! She solved it!
Cox: (responds to comment by Debbie Lind “I did guess the killer in this one”) Oh, Debbie did too. Good for you!
Hart: Oh, that is so cute. I’m glad people are solving it. I’m pretty sure this was one of those mysteries where I was pretty much there with it but, again, I sort of was just loving the tone, the theme, the vibe of it all. I wasn’t playing the okay, “Here’s my list of suspects game,” because sometimes I do that. Sometimes, I’m like, “It’s not so-and-so, it’s not this person.” Like, I knew in my head, but I didn’t have my little notepad. I mean, again, I have my notepad (holds up notepad) so I was pretty much there, though. I was like eight-five percent of the way there with him. It was only the reason I was sort of missing because he kept saying, “Oh, I don’t want the job as the head chef.”
Cox: (nodding) Ah-huh.
Hart: When he said that more than once, I had this moment of, “Okay, either he is a very chill guy, he’s going to be great in this series forever more or he’s the killer.” It’s only one of the two things.
Cox: Right.
Hart: And then I knew full throttle, he was the killer, when a pack of gum fell and he was like, “Okay, it’s totally his; it’s Patrick’s. He chews the gum. He was here. He killed him.” And I’m like, that is a lot of information and a lot of motive to put on a pack of gum.
Cox: Yeah, he was framing Patrick. He was just jealous.
Hart: So, when did you solve it?
Cox: Really early on, I knew it was him because I’ve, like, process of elimination, right? He was my first one. I thought it was him and I just kind of kept that in my head. And then as she’s talking to everybody, I’m like, “She’s not even considering him at all.” She didn’t look at him at all, which was so weird because she was suspicious of everybody, even, was it Natalie? The lady who was accused of having the affair with him.
Hart: Oh, yeah, then there was Ella. So, there was Ella, Natalie, she even accused Brett the fiancé for accusing the BFF’s Charlotte, more than once.
Cox: Her friend’s fiancé, that wouldn’t make for a good wedding.
Hart: No, I mean, her motivation for being the sleuther, she wants to save the wedding. I really don’t know how that motivation in accusing the groom kind of coincide. But we’re just going to let that go for the time being, I guess.
(displays & responds to comment by Colleen C “I did know the killer. I noticed that person was the one who was giving her all her clues”) I just saw Colleen’s comment. It was, “He was giving her the clues.” He was definitely kind of throwing Patrick under the bus from the get go, even before the gum fell and the epiphany of the light bulb there which, again, I think was a little much for him. But, yeah, he was definitely, like, “Oh, there’s this affair, there’s this, and Emile did that.” So, yeah, he was a little too helpful.
Cox: Yeah, he was.
Hart: I mean, I also kind of didn’t want it to be anybody else because I liked her friends. I liked the other people she was interacting with, so if we had to let go of a character, who’s not going to stay in the community, I’m okay with it being him.
Cox: Exactly. He was just the (makes air quotes) “assistant” anyways.
Hart: I mean, I also got to say killing a guy for the job title, that’s a little cruel and harsh, that’s rough.
Cox: Yeah, it definitely is.
Hart: So, did anyone think it was Patrick? I mean, I liked this kid. I thought he was really sweet in a hard situation.
Cox: I felt bad for him, you know, and hearing that his dad didn’t support him with what he wanted to do and just kind of having to be that Southern hometown-baseball hero rather than what he really wanted to do; that was tough to listen to.
Hart: I felt so badly for this kid. The more she looked into him trying to figure him out as the suspect, the more I liked him, and the more I felt badly for him, and I’m rooting for him. I could kind of see the whole, “Oh, we’re going to make him into a red herring or a potential suspect over here,” – “Oh, he has a skull tattoo,” and “Oh, you know, he’s kind of being a little flippant over here,” but we find out the dad is, he beat him. We find out this kid, when he’s on the bus to baseballs, is at the front of the bus talking to the driver. I mean, he just seemed, every time we learned more about him, the more innocent he seemed. And I made a note of it somewhere, but she goes to his school and then she snoops through the coach’s office,
Cox: (laughing) Yeah!
Hart: and then she sees Patrick and calls him out, going, “I thought you were going to be at work,” and he doesn’t support this, like, he kind of has a tone and she’s going, “Oh, he had a tone,” and I’m going, “If I’m a kid in the hallway and my boss that I’ve known a day is asking me why I’m not at work, I might not have been, you know, super-friendly or understanding in that moment either.” I mean, the way she was trying to play it off, “Oh, he had a tone,” Yeah, you kind of put the kid on the spot, like, what did you think was going to happen?
Cox: Man-o-man, I was tsking that school librarian for letting her on that campus.
Hart: Yeah, she snuck her in for career day!
Cox: Yeah! She said something about, “Oh, you know, security nowadays in schools is too tight,” and “My back hurts from all these years of lifting books,” and I’m thinking, “Is that going to be me?” But it’s not, I use a book cart. Thank you very much.
Hart: I was going to say my lower back is tight from sitting at the computer and also from sitting reading. So, sitting and reading is also a little bit of a danger. I’ve got to get up and stretch every once in a while. Oh, my goodness.
Cox: (reading comments) Yeah, like, a lot of people thought it might be Patrick’s dad as a good suspect. He would’ve been a good one.
Hart: (responds to comment by Tracy D “I hope the author follows up on that character – Patrick”) Yes, Tracy, I want more on Patrick. I mean, if she wants to do her own little spinoff novella because, again, the more we learned about him, the more I liked his character. This poor kid is having one of those ‘opposites attract’ from the wrong side of the, he’s in love with Alice, who’s a country club member’s daughter, and she’s not allowed to see him, but he’s in love with her. And, now, he wants to be a big baseball star to prove to the parents he’s good enough for the daughter. This poor kid, I mean, honest-to-goodness, I’m rooting for Patrick. I know he’s a fictional character, but I’m on his side.
Cox: Yeah, I definitely hope that he is in book two.
Hart: And whoever has read book two, you can tell us if he’s there or not. Otherwise, I’m going to make a little petition in my head and be like, “Okay, so, eventually, at some point, we’re going to have to do something to get Patrick his own little side story.
Cox: Unless he’s like off at culinary school in book two, that’s okay.
Hart: Yes, that will also give me the closure I need. Otherwise, someone who’s into fan fiction here has to do something with him. Oh, we also had our little kitten, our little cat, Duchess (holds up book and points to the white cat in the lower left-hand corner of the cover). I like how she just sort of adopted her mom’s cat.
Cox: Yeah, she cat-napped her, but Duchess was happy. I love how she’s like, “I don’t think Duchess wants all that attention.” It was just too much for her and her mom like always picking her up and kissing her and snuggling her.
Hart: I feel like there was a cartoon that I cannot place with the show, but there was a kid in a cartoon who would pick up the animal and hug it too hard; and in the cartoon, the animal’s eyes would kind of jump out of its head. That was what I was picturing every time this lady picked up the cat of her hugging it. I’d be like, “I want out!”
Cox: Elmyra on Tiny Tunes, (laughing) because I used to watch it every day after school.
Hart: Maybe, I mean, I’m trying to place the image in my head; it’s a cartoon character.
Cox: Red-haired girl with a big bow, yeah. (Hart smiling) Love you and hug you and squeeze you to itty-bitty pieces; that’s what Bitsy would do.
Hart: That’s exactly, this cat, I mean, you kind of get the vibe as soon as she’s there, the cat goes and sleeps in her bed, and I’m going, “My dog is my child, I love him so much,” and whenever he stays and hangs out with my parents or he interacts with somebody else, it’s totally fine that he enjoys them, he loves them, but I’m like, “I’m still your mom. I’m still your person.” But if he were to ever actually just run off and want to be with somebody else, my heart would break. So, in my own little head, I’m going, “The mother, also, her heart was not broken. She was not looking for this cat.” So, I think, maybe the cat was supposed to be the substitute for the daughter. But now she’s got the daughter, so she doesn’t need the cat. She doesn’t have the reaction that I was kind of expecting for someone who’s holding the animal to the point where it’s wanting to run away. Now, she’s got the daughter, the animal can run away now.
Cox: Exactly, that’s what I was just about to say; not to get deep, but now she’s got her daughter to love and squeeze. She doesn’t need the cat anymore.
Hart: (displays comment by Marta’s Magical Mystery Class “*Rescued* Duchess like she maybe wished somebody would rescue her from Bitsy or something?”) Rescue her, yeah, like we have our own little back story for the cat. I mean, you can also tell this cat is probably like a little spoiled princess. She’s so cute on the cover. (holds up book and points to Duchess) The audiobook cover is different than the physical book.
Cox: Oh, I’ll have to look at that.
Hart: In the audiobook cover, she’s kind of off to the side, but still at the center, and she’s right next to a different cake. So, apparently, this book cover was meant to have her on it. Like, she was just meant to be the focal point for the book cover. So, as readers, we’re supposed to love her too.
Cox: Well, you know, there are lots of cat cozy mysteries as well, and dogs too.
Hart: (displays comment by Stephanie Koch “From the cover I was thinking hmmm is the cake going to do something at the wedding to cause a ruckus”) Okay, I was thinking this too. (holds up book and taps the cake on the cover) Yes, she bakes the cake. Cake is a part of the story but, for some reason, part of me wanted to have Emile be found over a cake or have like flour on him or something. I wanted more cake references.
Cox: We have another cozy mystery where the guy was found dead in the cake mix. They had to shut everything down for health reasons. Maybe that’s why the author decided to stay away from that.
Hart: Maybe, I mean, also the skillet, it was too new.
Cox: Yes.
Hart: I mean, that was kind of a clue but she made a really big deal of it when she first saw it; she’s like, “I am a baker! I know these things,” which I thought was really cute. But, yeah, I was kind of wanting him to be found over something or in something, but it’s okay. I’ll let that go; it was still a clue.
Cox: Yeah, I really enjoyed it.
Hart: (displays comment by Patti C “Clothes in her size at the house too”) Okay, I just saw the comment. Yes, we got to talk about how Madison just sort of set her up for like, “Here’s the path to your life, now. We have two roads. This is your road.”
Cox: Yeah, come look at this beautiful bakery that you remember from childhood that has only been out of business for just a couple of weeks and they still have fresh ingredients in the back they can use. And, you know, this house that’s just perfect with, uh, had a pond or a lake out back. I just wanted to go visit. I’m like, “I want to live there. I want to sit on her little patio porch on the back overlooking the water and just chill.” That would be so nice.
Hart: I love how she just knew that this was her house and, again, the comment with the clothes in her size, she was ready for her to move in there. She immediately showed her the kitchen and she’s ready to go. She’s in love with the kitchen and she’s going, “I have the bed is all set up. We have all the furnishings that you can purchase just as they are.” I mean, she basically set this house up so all she had to do was walk in. She didn’t even have her toiletry bag or anything, when she’s like, “Yeah, I’m just going to stay over for the night.” I mean, as one does, apparently.
Cox: Yes, after cooking chocolate chip cookies and wishing she had burnt them so that other people wouldn’t get it.
Hart: Oh, my gosh. I had a moment with that because I’m going, “Is that sabotage? Do I like this moment?” Because she left the kitchen a mess and then she has that moment of, “Well, if they live here, the kitchen’s going to be a mess at some point, get used to it.” I like how she just wrote it off.
Cox: Yeah, but they weren’t interested. I think the wife wanted to go see the master bedroom or the walk-in closet or something. I’m like, “Maybe she’s not a cook or a chef; kitchens don’t interest her.”
Hart: Yeah, I also wasn’t sure if she liked the fact someone was in the kitchen or not. Like, you can’t picture yourself in the kitchen if someone’s already in your kitchen. It’s like, “This is yours. I don’t belong in here. I’m intruding.”
Cox: Yeah.
Hart: So, I definitely think the vibe was there. (responds to comment by Crystal Tea Knits “I thought her mom was going to buy them for her at one point”) That’s what I thought too! When, okay, at the very end, spoiler-y moments, when she finally decides to stay in town and she goes up to Madison at the wedding and she goes, “Oh, yeah, there’s already a buyer.” I thought the mother was going to just gift them to her; that’s what I was expecting.
Cox: Yeah, she probably would have, if things wouldn’t have turned out the way they did.
Hart: When she said there was another buyer, I thought the parents were going to be going, “Yes, we’re buying you the house,” because, again, this isn’t a rental and she has an apartment in the city. So, I’m thinking, “Oh, she wants to rent and do other stuff.” Maybe, this is their ‘Welcome to your hometown’ – ‘Welcome with your return’ so I was a little disappointed that it was, “Oh, no, it’s you.” I’m going, “It would’ve been so cute if it was a gift by the parents.” I thought that would’ve been so nice.
Cox: Yeah, yeah.
Hart: It was a nice little touch how she already had her initials on the key chain, though; so, Madison’s a keeper.
Cox: Yes, good friend, very good friend. And all the people that kept on asking for her to bake for them, like, she’s never going to get out of here; bake for this birthday party, bake for a wedding, bake for a birthday party, and there was something else; and, bake for the gardening club or something like that. I’m like, “She’s there, she’s there forever. She’s going to fall in love with it and realize that this is what she was really meant to do.” And she did, and that just made me happy because sometimes you just need a book that goes along with what you want to happen, you know? It’s kind of like when you have everything in your day going exactly the way you wanted, this cozy was kind of like that for me.
Hart: (displays comment by ubiquitousfiend “I worried that Noah had bought them for her and I was super relieved when that wasn’t the case”) I just saw this comment and I’m going, “That’s a good point!” You thought Noah had purchased them and you were relieved it wasn’t the case. Oh, that would’ve been so sad if he bought them out from under her. Ugh!
Cox: I never thought of that.
Hart: No more Noah.
Cox: No, this book, well, I read it on the eBook in Audible. I might have crashed my car or thrown my Kindle against the wall. (laughing)
Hart: (big smile)I mean, that’s a good point too. She already has the client tell us that happened. They always say, what is it? “Word-of-mouth is the most important thing,” and this small town has word-of-mouth down to a science.
Cox: Oh, yeah.
Hart: Her mother is probably eighty percent of that.
Cox: Right.
Hart: I thought it was adorable and a little sad, at the same time, how the mother is bragging about her and her pastry career, and she’s telling everyone how proud she is, but she’s not telling the daughter herself.
Cox: Yeah.
Hart: So, I’m going, “But at least she’s proud of her; she’s talking her up.” I just wish she had kind of given Sophia a little bit of that ego boost, a little bit of, “Yeah, you’ve got a great pastry business and you’re totally capable of this.” It was wonderful that she’s talking her up to all these people. I just wish she said a little bit more to our leading lady.
Cox: Yeah, it kind of tied in with Sophia calling her Bitsy rather than mom and, maybe, by her staying in town, and Bitsy seeing all the amazing things that she’s able to do, maybe, that’ll change. We’ll see.
Hart: (displays comment by Crystal Tea Knits “I thought Noah was going to stay and I was freaking out get rid of the bum”) Oh, you thought Noah was going to stay in town. Yes, we got to kick him out; him and his Yankee accent. We got to get rid of him.
Cox: Oh, I just saw a comment about the dessert names. Yes, the dessert names. Were there recipes in the back of this book? Because, oh, my gosh, the one that had me drooling was the skillet apple pie. I am a sucker for apple pie and when she was cutting up the apples, it reminded me of my granny. We would go to the Amish stand when we visited her, and she would cut, oh, my gosh, I need this book. She would cut up the apples and make apple dumplings. And there was another part in the book where she said she even used just store-bought cookie dough and put one ball of cookie dough on top of the other and was like, “Everybody knows that that will make an airier lighter cookie.” And I’m like, “What? I need cookie dough!” Has anyone ever done that before?
Hart: (holds up book opened to Recipe pages) I know, I’m like trying to show people, there’s so many recipes, and the one I was waiting for, I mean, we got to talk about this at some point, too, was the Red Velvet Crunchies. She has in here your Apple Pie, so I’m just going to tell you guys the recipes. We have Red Velvet Crunchies, The Surprise Puffs. I love how she had all the different fillings in there too. She has what? Six or eight different kinds of fillings.
Cox: Yes!
Hart: The Southern Skillet Apple Pie, Banana Pudding Cupcakes, Kentucky Butter Cupcakes, which I like how we’re calling them Kentucky Butter Cupcakes, not Butter Cupcakes, Kentucky Butter Cupcakes, and then Kentucky Derby Pie. So, we have a few recipes.
Cox: (reading comments) Yeah, I see the Kindle version has it too, Marta says. This book is going to have to go from a library loan to being mine (Hart smiles & laughs) because number one, I need to read it again because I loved it that much. And number two, I need to make these recipes like one a weekend until I’ve made them all.
Hart: It’s so funny that I love baking cozies as much as I do, and I love the baking shows. The Great British Baking Show is one of my favorite comfort shows. Again, the number of times I’ve seen the same seasons, and I’m like, “I know you win, James.” I know James doesn’t win the season, even though I’m rooting for him at one point. I know he doesn’t win with Scotland. It’s Scotland, great cakes, with the seven of them (competitors) over there. I’m like, “I know you don’t win, but I love you anyways.” I love baking stuff, but I have never heard of that. That was so random to me. I don’t bake, so maybe that’s one of those things; I like watching it, I like reading it, but I just don’t do it myself. That was such a random tip I have never heard before. I want that to come up on The Great British Baking Show. I’m like, “Someone explain this, I want to see it done.”
Cox: Yeah, I know I have a friend who bakes delicious chocolate chip cookies, and the only difference that she does from the back of the Nestle chocolate chip cookie bag is that she whips the butter, I think, and that creates more air. So, I’m like, “If the butter can do that, then I think stacking those cookies can make them better.” That’s an easy one.
Hart: They used to have, what was it? Cupcake Wars, and I’m going, “If you have Cookie Wars of some sort, would this be one of those tips or tricks that comes up?”
(displays & responds to comment by Jill “Angela, I love baking shows and books and I don’t bake at all!”) Oh, yeah, okay, thank you! Thank you! Jill and I are on the same wavelength. You don’t bake but you also like the shows. There’s something to baking shows and baking cozy mysteries, and my oven is storage. (laughs)
Cox: I like to bake, but I don’t like baking shows. (laughs) I’m the opposite.
Hart: Maybe that’s because you have your own way of doing it, and it’s going to mess you up or you just got your own little vibe; baking is your thing. You don’t need anyone else doing their little tips and tricks trying to prove that they can bake.
Cox: (nodding) I’d miss the good part, which is the tasting, if I just watch the show. But if I do it myself (big smile).
Hart: It’s so funny, too, I think that there’s got to be some sort of academic study out there of why people love The Great British Baking Show or other cooking shows, The Food Network, when you can’t taste the end product, but you’re still watching the show for the end product. I think there’s something to that. I don’t know who’s done studies on that, but I find that fascinating.
Cox: (reading comments) Yeah, I will wish it was a real bakery too; that would be so good. I wonder if the author based it on a real bakery or if it’s her imagination. If it’s real, I think we should all do a road trip. (big smile)
Hart: (big smile)I have to admit that was a really cute name, For Goodness Cakes. My punny heart loved that.
Cox: (big smile) Yeah.
Hart: Oh, does anyone else have to eat? (holds up a cupcake) Yeah, you know, bring in cupcakes, and because I’m me, you can’t even see the frosting on this one. But (shows another cupcake) this frosting looks so good, as I try and angle it. I couldn’t just buy one. I couldn’t even just do that. So, clearly, for reading the cozy and discussing the cozy, you just got to get something; got to get a little sweet treat.
(displays comment by Patti C “There is a Hallmark baking show? Wow”) Oh, my gosh, yes. I actually had a Murder, She Baked moment because the very end of the first movie in the series with Alison Sweeney, she has been using her chalkboard, and at the very end, Mike – she has her baking chalkboard notes, you can flip the chalkboard and then you see the suspect list – and her love interest detective there, Mike, flips over the board and sees her list of suspects. And, so, I totally had a flashback to that, and I’m going, “Oh, this book is giving you total Murder, She Baked vibes, Joanne Fluke.
Cox: Yeah.
Hart: Oh, my goodness, I was just so there for that moment. I love it when they have the Murder Boards with Agatha Raisin. I mean, she’s got her chalkboard here, so, I just wanted to say the Murder, She Baked one, like, I got total vibes from that.
(displays comment by Holly M “The whole time I wanted cookies or one of those Banana Pudding Cupcakes”) You wanted cookies. Oh, my gosh, yes, this entire book.
Cox: Oh, yeah, Banana Pudding Cupcakes, I’m with you Holly, and my husband loves banana pudding, and we have a local ice cream shop just down the road, also, that has banana pudding ice cream that he loves to get. He would devour those; is that recipe in the back?
Hart: Yeah, that was one of them!
Cox: It is?
Hart: The banana pudding one, yeah, that was one I just saw.
Cox: While we’re sitting here talking, I bought the Kindle version. (Hart laughs) So, it is now mine forever. So, I’m going to be doing some good baking.
Hart: (big smile) Oh, my goodness, I love that you’re like, “I got to buy this. I got to add this to my collection.” I do that too, sometimes, if I really, really love a book too, and I have it as an eBook, sometimes, I will just get the paperback copy so I have the physical copy as well because I just love the book so much. I just need all the different formats.
Cox: You have to have both. You never know if you’re going to be out somewhere where you need your entire library with you or you’re at home and you just want to pull one off the shelf and just read it because you just need it. (turns to grab a book, opens it, takes a sniff and exhales; closes book and smiles with a content look)
Hart: Well, cozy mysteries, I love how this is just one I have on my kitchen table because, apparently, this is my life now. There are just cozy mysteries all over the place. I tried to put the ones that are coming up behind me. I’m not really sure if I can angle that correctly. So, we got Tea & Treachery over there. The Cracked Spine is over there, but even just like the covers, they’re so bright and cute and fun.
Cox: (nods) Yeah.
Hart: I just like having them around me. So, this one’s a little bit more muted, but The Secret, Book and Scone Society, it has scones on the cover. The color is a little bit more, it kind of goes with the dark, I have the black book covers over there with my, was rainbow shelves; but it has food on the cover, and the scriptwriting is gorgeous; even The Cracked Spine, that one has the animal. I think it’s a dog on the cover and the books are there too. I just love looking at cozy mysteries. They make you smile.
Cox: They do, they do, and if you’re having a bad day, if the cover doesn’t make you smile, the blurb on the back with the puns will make you laugh. So, it’s all good.
Hart: I love the title of this Cake & Punishment. I always want to know how people come up with the pun titles. I’m always amazed. I’m going, “This is a skillset that is so underrated,” and whoever is the agent or the editor who comes up with these titles, they deserve all the extra credit, gold stars, increase in pay because this is kind of what sells some of the cozy mysteries, when you see the title, and you’re going, “Okay, this has my attention now,” let me read the blurb and now I’m sucked in.
Cox: Yeah,I remember during your December author, one of your Author Chats where you had all the authors, and I asked one of the authors about those puns, particularly, because I buy a lot of cozy mysteries and I always read the back out loud to my husband because I like to hear him groan when we get to the pun part. And she had talked about that and it’s such a critical part of the cozy mystery genre; it just makes it so amazing.
Hart: Oh, yeah, I think it’s so funny, too, again, the cozy mystery community, I feel as if we really do have our expectations of (gestures checking off a list) fun title, colorful book cover, and a very cute and cozy blurb that has to do with murder in the back.
Cox: Right.
Hart: All these things that we’re looking for, and you can tell who loves the genre, who knows the genre, and you can just fall into it because they’re a part of the community and it’s like, “I’m one of you. I know what you’re looking for.” So, I definitely kind of got that vibe here, which is why I think I got so excited when they had references to cozy mysteries in a cozy mystery. I’m like, “This is so meta, but I love it.”
Cox: Yeah, the librarian was even describing cozy mysteries, just like that. I’m like, “Yes, that’s exactly right. It has to have all those things; small town, and you know.
Hart: (responds to comment by Debbie Lind “Angela, my husband teases me about my reading too”) Another husband, another husband teasing about the reading.
Cox: Yeah, shame on them. It’s okay, my husband likes to read, so I told him he needs to write a cozy mystery series. I came up with the idea, but I’m not a writer, so I gave him the premise. I gave him the punny titles. He just has to sit down and do it. So, we’ll see.
Hart: I love that! Oh, my gosh, again, with your life as a cozy mystery. He’s going to be his own leading sleuther; that’s adorable, that is so cute.
Cox: He can write the stories. I’ll read them.
Hart: (displays & responds to comment by Falicya mystery sleuth “We are a tribe”) Oh, that’s so cute. We are a tribe. (big smile)
Cox: (big smile) Not everybody understands cozy mysteries; it’s very important. The anime people that have to stand behind me, they don’t understand cozy mysteries. Some of them will turn around, every once in a while, and I’ll see them pick it up and be like, “Do you see this?” They just don’t get it, “Is it a comedy? Is it a murder mystery? What is it? A romance?” Yes.
Hart: I love how it’s a subgenre within the genre. So, we got mysteries, then we get cozy mysteries, then within the subgenre, we have the tropes and archetypes. So, it’s like, sometimes, they get so specific, like, it’s a baking cozy, a return to small town, again, you can tell I’m doing the book we just did. So, we got like a return to small town, with the baking cozy, with the love interest, who’s a cop; like, you can get so specific and there’s a cozy mystery for that.
Cox: Yeah, it was great. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I am going to start the second one tonight.
Hart: That makes me so happy. I’m so glad you enjoyed the book because, again, I love the fact that it really is the books that people submit that they vote for. I don’t even vote for them myself with the polls because I don’t want to influence, because when they do tie, that is genuinely the Book Club members voting that way. The only time I vote is when somebody doesn’t have a Twitter and they say, “Oh, I want to participate and I don’t have a Twitter, how can I do this?” And I go into my own personal account and I vote that way for them. So, I’m really excited when we like the book. I’m like, “You guys chose a good book. This was all done by you.” So, I’m like, (claps) “Applause to The Cozy Mystery Book Club members, you did this!”
Cox: And the polls are awesome because no matter which one wins, you can add them all to your TBR list. So, win-win.
Hart: I actually had to get a new notebook as my eyes widen. I’ve had the same notebook where I’ve been taking down your requests, so I got a new one, and I transferred over all of the requests and I’ve been putting them under the theme headings. I’ve been grouping them. So, now, there’s less flipping involved because, before, the post-it notes were looking very creepy and crazy, like, it was a very beautiful mind-esque sort of notebook. And I ran out pages, like, that was when the new notebook was born, because I literally ran out of pages, because you guys recommend so many awesome books. So, now, we got the new notebook. We got the themes with the headings, so I’m keeping track; and even the ones that don’t win, we have our second poll. I love how we have the January poll, which is like the comeback, return ones that were almost the winners.
Cox: Yeah.
Hart: So, even if it doesn’t win, it’s still staying on the list. So, don’t worry if there’s a book you’re hoping to see, and it’s not there quite yet, it might be.
Cox: We might need some, oh, I’ve got my knitting needles because I have to fiddle with something, I think we might need recipe bookmarks for this book.
Hart: That’s a cute one. That’s a good idea. I like that. I’ve been working on, so, I put together little gift bags because I’m going to Malice Domestic, which is in April, I believe, so if any of The Cozy Mystery Book Club members see me in person, (holds up a beautiful gift bag packed with swag) I was putting together little gift bags to give you guys for when we run into each other in real life. They have the swag room so the bookmarks are going to be down there. You guys can grab the bookmarks, and I’m probably going to put a few other things down there, but for our Book Club members, who we actually see each other in real life, you know, it’s real life instead of the computer, I was putting together little bags. So, we got the vinyls, we got tea in here, we got candy, and we also have an enamel pin, has a little heart confetti thing. I was putting together just little gift bags to give you guys. And I also had very special stickers made that say SLEUTHER which is why you just reminded me. (holds up brand-new stickers) They say SLEUTHER on it, and I designed it with Procreate, so they’re all colorful and cute.
Cox: Beautiful!
Hart: You just reminded me of that because I’ve been working on the cozy mystery swag. So, when you’re like, “Oh, bookmarks that have recipes,” I’m going, “Oh, I’ve been doing so many other things, I haven’t thought of that.” That’s a great one to put on the list of future swag to do but I was putting together this one. We have the vinyls but, now, I got to do something with the ingredients or recipes.
Cox: Yeah, I have to make a Word Search for this one too. I haven’t done that. I don’t think that I did one for last month. No, wait, did I do one for last month? I don’t know.
Hart: I’ve been putting them on the Instagram Highlight Reel. So, if you have made a Word Search, it is saved, and they’re usually on the website. If anyone ever does anything, I will post it, so just let me know.
Yes, I did make the little gift bags. I even put them in my, I put together a little tote. (holds up bag) They’re in the tote and I’m ready to go! And what I did was, they’re all the same but different; there are different candies in here. We have everything from Godivas to different types of tea to different vinyls. There’s always going to be a vinyl, there’s always going to be tea, but we have different flavors and different things in there. So, it’s the same swag but different. You’re still going to get a vinyl that’s handmade by me and everything else, but it’s going to be a different type of vinyl. So, I hope you guys like that.
If there’s not an enamel pin in there, as I go looking, I put in, I love how like the moment I start to talk about the thing, I can’t find the pen that I put aside. They’re sleuther pens. They say #Sleuther on them and they’re very official and pretty looking. I have some very cool swag to share with you guys! So, if you guys are going to Malice Domestic, please try and find me because I have something for you.
Cox: Gosh, I’ve never even heard of it. Where does it take place?
Hart: It’s going to be in, I believe, Maryland. I’m in DC, so it’s not that far away, which is why it’s a possibility and exciting and everything else. So, it’s not too far away. My mom is going to come watch my little baby, my little boy Max, my little fur baby. So, yes, I put together little gift bags, so if you guys are going, make sure you try and see me at one of the events and the gift bag is for you.
Cox: That sounds awesome. I think you should come to Disney World after so you can come visit me. (laughs)
Hart: (big smile) I went there when I was probably in elementary school. I haven’t been to Florida since then. And there’s a romance author where I think all of her books are set in Florida, so I’m going, “I need to go there someday when all Covid is over.” I need to just go to all the different states and just do a little traveling adventure.
Cox: I know! I don’t think, I only have gone to one book convention here and it was the Twilight book convention back when Twilight was super big. It was awesome. It was so much fun, but that’s the only one I’ve been to.
Hart: That is so cute, though, I love it when people actually post when they go to Forks, Washington, and every single time I’m always surprised it’s a real place, and they take a photo in front of the Twilight house. I like when people do those things.
Cox: That would be so fun. Imagine if you went to Kentucky and you could imagine where, or just pick random houses, you’re like, “This is Sophia’s house and this is her bakery.” And just like Harriet the Spy, that book, if you read that when you were little, just kind of make up your own little world, well, not your own because the author already made it, but.
Hart: It’s so funny, I was playing around with the little, so, again, when I was doing the Bingo Boards one time, I was looking up all the icons for, we got the hospital, we got the supermarket, and, so, I really want someone to develop just a map of their cozy mystery, like, every single cozy mystery needs their own little hometown map. I want everyone to have a little map of, like, “This is where we are,” and I just think that’d be so cute. I mean, they don’t have to do it. I just love it as a reader, in my head, when I picture how the place is laid out because some people are so creative with graphic designs. When I go on Fiverr, because, again, you guys know I’m always doing, I’m always having little cozy companions made up, and I’m always thinking about things for future events, and I go in and I’m like, “I don’t know what I would need this for, I don’t have a map that needs to be drawn up, but you have this map on your profile, it looks amazing, I love it.” I just think that’s so cool and so cute.
Cox: (reading comments) I see some other Harriet the Spy lovers. Harriet the Spy might be like my first ever cozy mystery, if you really think about it.
Hart: (responds to a question in chat) So, it is Malice Domestic. I will clarify. So, last year, it was virtual. And then the year before that, I believe, it was, was it in person? I did it once before and it was such a fun event. It was one of my favorite book events, and I’ve been to quite a few. Before Covid hit, I was going to a lot of different events. My dissertation was on The Romance Genre Fandom, so I was going a lot, especially romance-related events. And then I go to Malice Domestic and the environment, the way everyone was interacting was just such a great sort of tone. Everyone was friendly. Everyone was down-to-earth. Everyone was just so approachable and it was great. It was a very small sort of cozy.
Cox: Cozy!
Hart: Yeah, I was going to say it was small enough, it wasn’t overwhelming. I appreciated how everything was laid out. They did a great job with it, so I’m hoping (fingers crossed) the same situation.
(reading comments) Oh, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, oh, (claps) your first Book Club!
Cox: (claps) They’re all so amazing.
Hart: Oh, thank you so much for joining! And if you are new, I will just mention, if you take a photo of our Book of the Month and you share it anywhere or you post it to Instagram, your Stories, whatever, just let me know, and you’ve got a cozy mystery bookmark coming your way. And I always put in extra swag, too, because that’s just what I do. So, there will be other things in there as a special ‘Thank You’ for sharing the cozy mystery love. Just want to make sure you know about that. And everyone who’s commenting, last month it took me, I had the best time doing it, so it’s not like it’s a chore, but there were so many comments, it took me like a week to go through them.
Every comment tonight counts, so, every comment translates to one giveaway entry and tonight’s giveaway entry is Put Out to Pasture by Amanda Flower. All of your comments are going to be giveaway entries so be on the lookout for the winning announcement. So, if you have anywhere in the comments and other things about the book, anything about The Cozy Mystery Book Club, things coming up, comment away; those will be your entries. Just want to make sure I throw that in there.
(responds to comment by Crystal Tea Knits “Thank you, Angela, so much for my mug. I love it!”) Oh, you got the mug, yay! She posted twelve months in a row.
Cox: Wow!
Hart: Posted twelve months of photos; she is on her game.
(reading comments) I’m glad you guys are getting the envelopes. I try and put, with the Etsy store, it’s so funny, so, I finally got my (makes air quotes) “profits.” I almost shared a screenshot; it was sixty-four cents, that’s what I made from the Etsy store.
Cox: (big smile, thumbs up)
Hart: And I’m like, “And how much money did I spend on stickers and everything else?” Like, it’s not for profit. There’s no profit being made. It was so funny when I saw that, though, I was like, “I made sixty-seven cents,” and I spent, what, fifty on the stickers to get them made from Sticker Mule. So, it’s not trying to be a business or something like that. It’s literally just so I know who wants what or if you’re a part of the Book Club, I want to be able to send stuff your way. So, basically, it just accounts for the shipping if you’re International, and things like that, because that is out-of-pocket and that can get expensive. So, basically, it’s just taking care of shipping, if anything. So, if there’s an Etsy order, you will be getting a lot more than what was in your order. I will guarantee you that.
Cox: And it’s all good! I have one of the old original Cozy Mystery Club mugs and I have a shirt and I have bookmarks and all kinds of things; it’s awesome.
Hart: I was having the best time going through the old Zazzle store, because I hadn’t updated it in the longest time because I, myself, again, it’s not for profit, it’s just if someone says, “I want a shirt that says ‘I’m a Sleuther’ or something,” I will do that. And, so, I’m like, “Oh, I’m going to Malice Domestic. I want something.” So, I’m going into (air quotes) “my store” to buy something. And it’s so funny, I get an email from Zazzle saying, “You made a sale.” I’m like, “I’m the one who purchased it, thank you.” And for Zazzle, I think you have to have, again, I don’t do any of the royalty percentage earnings, so I think it said something like, “You earned one penny,” or like the one cent, and I’m going, “So, it costs myself an extra penny; it’s fine.” (laughs)
Cox: (laughs)
Hart: Again, I don’t do it for profit; it’s simply because I love you guys. You ask for certain things and I, myself, you know, when I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I was going through my Buffy phase, I had the sweatshirt that said Buffy, so we need sweatshirts to say ‘Cozy Mystery Lover’ on them; it’s just what we do.
Cox: (nods) We do.
Hart: I love how my last note was just For Goodness Cakes is the name of the bakery and I love it. That’s one of my last notes.
Cox: It just wraps everything up so nice, you know, it was pure joy.
Hart: I mean the tone of it was super fun and lighthearted. As a sleuther, she was likable and you could follow her. Again, I don’t have anything against unlikable heroines, but there was something about her where you kind of felt like you’re on her shoulder watching the sleeping occur and you just liked sitting there watching how everything played out.
Cox: Yeah, yeah, she was almost like a friend, you know, kind of like when we get together as a Book Club. It’s like we don’t truly know each other, but we do sort of know each other, and we have an interest in common. (big smile) It was the same, she was like a friend who liked cozies also. She just happened to be the main character in one.
Hart: (big smile, responds to comment by Nancy Janette “I’m drinking from my Cozy Mystery Book Club mug right now!”) Oh, you’re drinking from your Cozy Mystery mug! Oh, my gosh, you guys are so cute. I love getting to chat cozy mysteries with everybody. Again, you guys are the best sleuthing family in the world. I love it. I really do enjoy, I look forward to this, I enjoy chatting with you, I mean, you (Cox) are a sweetheart. I’m so glad that you’re here, again, chatting with me, doing the guest hosting for the event tonight.
Cox: Aww, thank you.
Hart: You’re so sweet.
Cox: I love doing it. It’s an honor. It truly is.
Hart: I love being able to type in ‘the Angela episode’. Every time I type that in, I think it was in the Newsletter, I had the biggest smile on my face. I just get the biggest kick out of that.
(reading comments) You love the Southernism; that’s so cute.
So, if you guys have any final thoughts about the book, questions, queries, whatever, if there’s a certain scene that you would hope we discussed, quote, character, anything, please comment away because, otherwise, I love how every time I think I say it, my voice is always straining, like, “You’re not used to talking this much. What are you doing to me vocal cards?” So, if you guys want to comment now, otherwise, we’ll probably call it a night in probably a few minutes or a little bit, because you have reading to do for book two with this. (holds up tonight’s book)
Cox: Yeah, I do. I’m excited to read it. I need to look at those recipes and get my ingredient list for that skillet apple pie.
Hart: Oh, my goodness, again, with the whole, “I wish I was a baker,” but also, at the same time, it’s probably a really good thing I’m not because I would weigh way too much. I would be eating all of the sugar, butter, it’s probably healthier for my entire lifestyle not to be a baker.
Cox: You would be okay. You’re such a giver. You would save some for yourself and you’d give the rest away.
Hart: Thank you. It was so funny with my apartment building, and when I say funny, I mean, I know this, but they don’t realize this, so, they’re doing a Food Drive and I think I am eighty to eighty-five percent of the stuff for the Food Drive. And they’re like, “Everyone donated so much,” and I’m looking at that going (to myself) “I know other people donated to that, but I don’t think it’s as many people as you think it was.” (laughs) So, yeah, I probably would, if I was baking, I would probably be leaving things in front of my apartment, other people’s doors. So, they would also be gaining weight if I were a baker, they should probably be glad I’m not a baker.
Cox: (laughs) There you go!
Hart: (reading comments) Oh, you guys are so sweet. Yes, ‘the Angelas’ (big smile) I love how we can make our names plural, ‘the Angelas’.
Cox: (big smile) Yeah!
Hart: (reading comments) Oh, thank you so much for joining. You guys are so sweet. Jill, Kim, Marta. Marta with the Magical Mystery Class, you got the title in there, so cute. Oh, thank you! Yeah, I mean, it’s so funny because when people have Etsy stores, you know, it says ‘Store’ in the title, you think, “Oh, this is a business.” It’s really not. (shaking her head) It’s not. I’m not doing any profit or loss margins. I’m not doing any of that. Someone just put through an order today and I was already putting together, I have extra stickers that I just got, I was so excited, I’m like, “Oh, I can put three of those in here and do this, and, oh, I got this candy.” So, yeah, I pack those things until there’s no other room.
Cox: We were talking about the Library Lover’s mysteries before we went live.
Hart: Yes, we still have our, let’s see if I have the images. (displays a beautiful chart The Cozy Mystery Book Club Buddy Read with Months & Book Titles) Yes, so, I almost forgot which book we’re on for this month. So, for the Library Lover’s Buddy Read series going on this month, it was A Likely Story (February 15th) and then next month it is Better Late Than Never (March 15th). Then we have the remainder ones. (displays another beautiful chart) I love how I’ve been trying to plot this out. So, this is the complete list. So, for all of our #SherlockHamsters out there, our little cutie-patootie (displays the Buddy Read cozy companion Sherlock Hamster).
Cox: I love it! That is so adorable!
Hart: I love that little guy. I think he came out so cute. So, we have our #Sherlock Hamsters. If you are doing the Library Lover’s Buddy Read and you want to talk about the book, we have the hashtag for you to use. So, trying to keep up with that, I, myself, ended up reading back-to-back-to-back. So, I’m a little ahead. I gotta fall back in line with the Buddy Read, but I do remember, and it’s nice to check in on the hashtag and see who’s reading what.
Cox: Yeah, it’s a great series for sure. And I remember back when I first started with Cozy Mystery Club reading, you had said someday I would get an autographed cozy mystery and I actually won an autographed cozy mystery from Jenn McKinlay and she sent it to me.
Hart: (claps) That’s awesome! That’s so nice.
Cox: (looking for the book) It’s my prized possession.
Hart: Oh, my gosh, you just reminded me, I need to message her back because we were trying to figure if we could do something for the Book Club. And she does, I think hers is Berkley Publishing, so I need to figure out the connections there because I do a lot with Poisoned Pen Press and Kensington, who are amazing. I haven’t done as much with Berkley yet. They’re a little bit more of a mystery. They’re a mystery genre mystery. So, the fact that you won something is so cool to me; that is amazing.
Cox: I was amazed and it came with a candle that goes along with the scent of the book. It was one of the cupcake murder mystery books; again, with the baking.
Hart: So, next month is (displays beautiful image of The Cozy Mystery Book Club TBR, January (checked) February (checked) March (TBR) April (TBR)). I realized this now, so, next month is The Cracked Spine and then the following month after that is On Borrowed Crime. So, we had two baking ones back-to-back. Now, we have two bookish cozies back-to-back. So, there’s clearly a theme where we go do two at a time, I guess. (big smile & laughs)
Cox: That works for me!
Hart: Apparently, that’s how this is playing out. I am keeping track. I got to start keeping track of the themes that are winning. I always forget, too, (displays big beautiful image of The Cozy Mystery Book Club & Logo, MoriarTEA with tag line “Come Sleuthing With Us!”) I upload these images to share and then I just forget to post them. (displays two-dimensional purple & blue colored words: BUDDY READ) So, again, I make these little things and they’re here and I just forget to share. So, we got the sleuthing (displays large brown word: #SLEUTHING).
Cox: (big smile & nods) Nice!
Hart: I’m going to have to do some other stuff, at some point, to remember that I can include these for y’all.
Cox: (big smile) I think we should put that on our car as a sticker so if we see each other, we know. (laughs)
Hart: (big smile)I was looking, again, I love, it’s so funny, too, my dad was like, “What do you enjoy doing?” because my dissertation was making me unhappy. He was like, “What would make you happy?” I’m like, “I love playing with the Procreate App and designing things for the Book Club.” So, I’ve been doing things that say Cozy and Sleuther on them, so I have plenty of images to share for y’all. I’ve been putting them aside for future, again, I tell you guys every year I start planning 12 Days of Cozies almost immediately after it happens, because there’s so many moving parts to it. I’ve been putting stuff aside for future clip art for y’all to download. So, there’s always things going on behind the scenes.
Cox: You’re amazing. I don’t know how you do it all.
Hart: (reading comments) Oh, you guys are still reading. This is so cute. You guys are reading the Library Lover’s. Oh, yes, Congratulations (Angela Cox on receiving a signed book from Jenn McKinlay) again. Let me just repeat that. That is so exciting, especially when you love an author and you get something from them. You just, ah, “I feel so special.”
Cox: I was amazed. I’m like, “What? Just randomly chose me because I subscribe to your Newsletter?” I mean, “Wow.”
Hart: We all need to go subscribe to her Newsletter, now, for the chance of winning something in the future. We all need to do this; add this to the to-do list.
(reading comments) Oh, my gosh, you guys are so sweet. I’m so glad you guys are able to join us, and I’m so appreciative to YarnivoreGirl. I like how I can pronounce this now because I’ve learned; so, for ‘the Angela episode’ ‘the double Angela’ ‘the Angela squared’ thank you for joining. I’m so happy that you, and so appreciative that you took time out of your day to chat with me and the other Book Club members, and everyone who joined tonight, you guys are so sweet. I’m so appreciative that you guys read the book and you chatted about it. I mean, this really is the best. You guys put the biggest smile on my face as I get emotional. I really do look forward to these discussions and just have the best time with y’all.
Thank you for joining and talking about this book. (holds up tonight’s book) I’m so glad everyone seemed to enjoy it because, again, I don’t know what’s going to happen with these books because you guys choose them, and I’m very glad that you guys chose a book that you all enjoyed. You guys have very good taste in addition to everything else that you do. You’re amazing. So, thank you. Is there anything you wanted to mention or touch on before we say goodnight?
Cox: No, I’m good. I can’t wait to read book number two tonight and then start on next month’s book after that. (big smile)
Hart: (big smile)I was going to say you already have two more books on the To-Be-Read list. The next book is Better Off Dead and then we got The Cracked Spine for next month. So, two more cozy mysteries to read. What’s better than that?
Cox: Exactly!
Hart: We already have more mysteries to go read. That’s awesome!
Cox: (nodding) A high note.
Hart: Totally ending on the best note possible. More cozy mysteries to be read. That’s so great. Thank you, guys, for joining, and happy reading and happy sleuthing! And please stay safe and healthy and take care of yourselves, and happy reading. Have a nice night everybody!
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