My first Cookbook is now on sale!

Criminals, their victims and the detectives who investigate their misdeeds all need to eat. Cooking can be a therapeutic activity for both overworked police officers looking for relaxation in the midst of a difficult case and for grieving relatives needing something to take their minds off their ever-present feelings of loss and confusion.

It is not, therefore, surprising that food features prominently in a series of crime novels. This book contains recipes for many of the dishes described in the fourteen Bernie Fazakerley Mysteries and other related books. It includes comfort food from bereaved mother, Chrissie Hughes, delicious baking by pillar-of-the-church Deirdre who is always worried that Father Damien does not feed himself properly, exotic eastern dishes taught to young Lucy by her Muslim friends, and a wide range of food prepared by house-husband and ex-police officer, Peter using produce from their large garden.

You can buy paperback or hardback editions from Amazon or an e-book from the Kobo store. You can also ask your local bookshop to order a copy of either of the print editions, but unfortunately it will cost a bit more that way. Just give them these ISBNs, so that they can identify them.

Paperback: 978-1-911083-83-2 

Hardback: 978-1-911083-88-7 

A New Publishing Venture!

Up until now, all my books have been crime novels. Some of them included food as a significant factor. For example, Bernie demonstrates her northern roots by making hotpot and Peter experiments with Portuguese cuisine on a family holiday on Portugal. Sometimes I included pictures of some of the dishes and a few books have recipes in an appendix. Now I’ve taken the plunge and produced a cookbook, in which I’ve gathered together as many recipes as I could find for foods that are mentioned in the books.

Then came the question of a title. I consulted some of my readers and other friends on Facebook, and they helped me to come up with “Criminally Good Cooking”. I also consulted Facebook friends and acquaintances, including members of a mothers’ Union Facebook group, whom I thought would be knowledgeable about recipe books, about what format I should use. They overwhelmingly agreed that a printed book would be more useful for using in the kitchen. I decided that the recipes would be easier to follow if the print was quite large, so I fixed on 14-point, and I chose 6” by 9” instead of my usual 5” by 9” page size to make room for pictures and to ensure that (almost) all the recipes would fit on a double-page spread, with the ingredients on one page and the method opposite. Here’s an example from the Sinister Side Dishes and Snacks section. It’s one of the few dishes where I broke my rule and used four pages, so that I could add extra photos to illustrate the method of folding the pastry to make the samosas.