Guest Blog

by Bailey Cates

Some Enchanted Eclair is the fourth Katie Lightfoot adventure in Savannah, Georgia.  She’s still a relatively new witch, but in her first year since moving to the South from Akron, Ohio, she’s learned a lot.  Like her aunt Lucy, Katie is a hedgewitch, sometimes called a natural or green witch, whose talents lie in kitchen and garden magic. She and Lucy use their knowledge of herbs and spices to infuse the yummy pastries at the Honeybee Bakery with good intentions for love, prosperity, health, peach and more.

The other members of the spellbook club have been teaching Katie their own specialties, too: moon magic and tarot magic, flower and color magic, along with basic spell casting and divination.  Katie has also learned that she’s a catalyst, which adds a little kick to the others’ spells, and Detective Franklin Taite also revealed to her in Bewitched, Bothered and Biscotti that she’s something called a lightwitch.  However, Taite seems to have disappeared, so she’s still trying to find out just what a lightwitch is.  In part it seems to mean that she finds more than her share of dead bodies — specifically murder victims that have some kind of connection to the paranormal.

In Some Enchanted Eclair, Katie and Lucy are staying clear of the historical movie being filmed on Reynolds Square — at least until the production coordinator asks them to feed the cast and crew.  Sure enough, the first time Katie ventures onto the set there’s a fatal stabbing.  The more she looks into the circumstances surrounding the victim, the more it becomes evident that some kind of dark magic is involved.

At first she thinks the paranormal connection might involve the psychic who travels with the lead actress.  Ursula Banford can contact spirits who have passed to the other side, and in the course of Katie’s investigation she passes on messages from some surprising sources.  But can they be trusted? Since moving to Savannah, Katie has come to believe in things she never dreamed could be real, but she’s not naive enough to simply take someone at their word when they say they can talk to dead people.  Whether or not Ursula is the genuine article, there are plenty of other suspects for Katie and the spellbook club to ferret out.

Researching Some Enchanted Eclair was, quite frankly, a blast.  Along with the research I usually do for this series regarding Savannah, other settings, food, weather and gardening in the South, I took the chance to read up on the Revolutionary War and consulted with an independent filmmaker.  Plus, for the first time in my life, I went to not one, but two psychics.

I love my job.

Another aspect of writing the Magical Bakery Mysteries is… the baking, of course! In other books I’ve researched some classic Southern recipes (like Coca Cola Cake) and come up with my own version to offer in the back of the books. For Eclair, I learned how to make choux pastry, and boy am I glad I did because it’s not only delicious but incredibly versatile.  Eclairs can be both savory and sweet, and the pastry can be used for cream puffs and even fried into something like a donut.  However, it can be a bit tricky (unlike Katie, I failed the first time I tried it), so rather than try to tell readers how to make choux, I fell back on some of my everyday favorites –which just happen to be on the Honeybee menu.  One is a gluten-free peanut butter cookie recipe that I’ve made for years — fast, easy, and great for sudden cravings.  The other is a carrot and apple cake recipe I’ve honed to my personal idea of perfection.  I do so hope others love it as much as I do.

Next up is the fifth Magical Bakery Mystery.  It’s currently untitled, but I can tell you it involves pie, voodoo … and a sprinkling of romance!

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Bailey Cates believes magic is all around us if we only look for it. She studied philosophy, English and history and has held a variety of positions ranging from driver’s license examiner to soap maker. She traveled the world as a localization program manager for Microsoft, but now sticks close to home where she writes two mystery series, tends to a dozen garden beds, bakes up a storm and plays the occasional round of golf.
Having apprenticed with a master herbalist for a year, she’s prone to concocting teas and tinctures for family and friends from the stash of herbs stored in the corner cabinet in her office. She owns a working spinning wheel and is on a first name basis with several alpacas and two sheep with questionable dispositions.

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When Hollywood invades Savannah’s historic district to film a Revolutionary War movie, magical baker Katie Lightfoot, and her witches’ coven, the Spellbook Club, take a break from casting spells for casting calls. One of the witches snags a part as an extra, while Katie’s firefighter boyfriend, Declan, acts as on-set security. Katie and her aunt Lucy decide to stay out of the action, but after the movie’s “fixer” fires the caterer, the Honeybee Bakery comes to the rescue, working their magic to keep the hungry crew happy.

But when someone fixes the fixer—permanently—and a spooky psychic predicts Katie will find the killer, the charming baker and her fellow conjurers step in to sift through the suspects…before someone else winds up on the cutting room floor….

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Jennifer’s Review of Some Enchanted Eclair

Review (4.25 Stars): This is the fourth book in the Magical Bakery Mystery series and I absolutely loved this installment in the series.  Katie is settling in to her daily routine of working at the Honeybee bakery and spending her spare time strengthening her relationship with her firefighter boyfriend, Declan McCarthy.  A film crew is shooting a movie in downtown Savannah and Katie is suddenly wrangled into providing lunch for the hungry cast and crew.  While on the set, Katie finds herself involved in another murder mystery when the body of the production coordinator is discovered with a knife in his back.  The same knife that Katie gave him to help serve lunch to the cast and crew.  Katie now has to use her magical gifts again to help find another killer before they take another victim out of the picture.

This is a great series and I love all the characters in Some Enchanted Eclair.  Katie Lightfoot has been a favorite of mine for quite some time because she is slowly coming to terms with her magical powers and that she comes from a long line of witches.  She has a great talent of creating tasty treats that are sprinkled with a little bit of magic that provides her customers with positive energy that is meant to help them in their lives.  Having the film crew in Savannah provides Katie and Honeybee bakery an opportunity to branch out and restart up their catering service hopefully with better results then last time. I loved learning about the aspects of filming a movie and the crazy personalities that go along with it.

I’m so glad that Katie and Declan’s relationship finally seem to be on the right track after all they have been through together.  He is exactly what she needs in her life so she has a little stability with all the murders that she finds herself involved in.  Some Enchanted Eclair is a bewitching mystery with wonderful characters and well-written storylines that will keep you entranced for hours.  I can’t wait to read the fifth book in this series because I want to see how Katie and the members of her spellbook club handle the idea of voodoo in their community.

Guest Blog Post

by Jennifer McAndrews

Making notes is not my best skill.  Even when I jot down quick, daily messages to myself like “pick up milk, return library books, mail packages, PUT GAS IN CAR” I often leave the list behind as I head out on my errands — which, as you can imagine, becomes problematic when I run out of gas. It’s no surprise, then, that I keep horrible notes when writing a book.  I’m forever leaving that task until after the book is complete.  This means that while I would enjoy sharing the history of how I created Friday, I have no clear memory.

This is not to say I created Friday the day – I think we all know better – but Friday the kitten. She’s just right there on the cover of Ill-Gotten Panes.  A little white ball of fluff with a smudge of gray between her ears.  That’s Friday.  My main character, Georgia Kelly, finds her early on in the story – minutes after her beloved grandfather is picked up for questioning in relation to a murder.

I knew early on that Georgia would have at least one pet and she had to start somewhere.  And because she’s only recently returned to her childhood home and doesn’t have plans to remain there, maybe I thought a cat would be the best addition.  Should Georgia leave the community town of Wenwood (should she manage to clear her grandfather’s name), Friday would be able to go with her, cats being generally easier than dogs to convince a landlord to allow.

But what about the apparent risk of having a cat tiptoeing around when Georgia creates stained glass boxes/windows/lamps? All those sharp edges and colorful shards might tempt a playful feline.

To answer that concern, I had to look to my own life.  Of the five (yes, five) cats sharing my home, only one has any interest in my glasswork.  Though three years old, she has lost none of her kitten-like curiosity.  When I am working with glass – cutting, breaking, soldering in much the same way (but with nowhere near the skill) my main character Georgia would – Anya takes up residence at the end of the table, eyes wide, tail circling her seated form, and watches my every move.  During this time the senior cats are sleeping, Anya’s litter mat is no doubt plotting a coup, and the youngest is stalking doorways to the outside world, hoping a bug (aka protein snack) might crawl through.  Anya never reaches for the glass, never walks across a work surface or tries to steal any of the pattern pieces or lighter-weight tools.  She merely watches as though learning, and shares her comforting company with me.

So while I don’t have any notes to tell me exactly why I thought Georgia should have a cat, I suspect my own Anya is much of the reason.

About the Author:

Jennifer McAndrews has been writing since the seventh grade and totally refuses to divulge how many years have passed since then. After serving on the newspaper and dabbling in spectacularly bad poetry during high school, she took creative writing classes at Nassau Community College and studied the art of the essay under the tutelage of the incomparable June Jordan while at SUNY Stony Brook. In her professional life, Jennifer has worked in legal, medical, and scientific publishing, but is dedicated to fiction in her private life. She lives in the greater New York Metro area with three dogs, four cats, kids, husband, and dumbo rat called Owen.

How I’m Spending My Summer Vacation

by Laurie Cass

Not so very long ago, I sent my editor the manuscript for the third bookmobile cat book, Borrowed Crime, a full three hours before the deadline.  Hooray!

I celebrated in style by checking some books out of the library and settling in with a healthy quantity of dark chocolate.  After a few days I resurfaced, blinked at the bright shiny world, and said “Hey, I don’t have a book due any time soon.”

Matter of fact, I have months and months until the next one is scheduled for delivery.  For the rest of the summer, I can be a normal person! There will be no need for me to write in the morning before starting the day job.  For a few weeks I won’t have to write during my lunch hour, and I won’t have to spend the summer inside writing when my family and friends are outside playing in the sunshine!

After that blinding realization, I started thinking about all the things that I could do to fill my summer.  There will, of course, be a lot of reading, specifically reading outside.  Reading on the porch, reading in the hammock, reading on the patio, reading on the swing, reading at the beach, etc.

And gardening.  I want to do lots of gardening. Last summer I was so busy writing that I never caught up with either the weeds, the plant-moving, or the trimming and I’m loving a chance to roll up my sleeves, pull on the gardening gloves, and get down to the wonderfully dirty work of gardening.

Plus, not far away, there’s an outstanding new mountain biking trail system that I’ve been wanting to explore.  And there’s waterskiing to do – maybe this will be the summer that I learn to do one-handed turns.  And there are a number of new restaurants in the area whose menus look extremely interesting.  And, once I get the piano tuned, the Maple Leaf Rag is still waiting for me.

Then again, if I don’t have to work on a book for a few weeks, I’ll have time to do all that promotional stuff I’ve wanted to do but never had time.  Last winter, a reader suggested that I create an Eddie bookmark and put it up on my website so people can download and print it at home.  Wonderful idea! And now I have time!

And I’ve also wanted to come up with a paper version of my fictional bookmobile.  Thanks to the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services, I have a blank version of the cutest little bookmobile ever – all I have to do is work the graphics onto it.

And I can’t forget the author events I have lined up this summer, which can be great fun.  And I should get going on setting up a template for my e-newsletter.

Plus, there’s some research I’d like to do for future book ideas.  I have a couple of potential plots in mind, but to make sure they’ll actually, you know, make sense, I have to do some delving.

But, hang on.  Maybe it would make more sense to get a head start on the next bookmobile cat book, the books that my husband calls “the Eddie books.” Or…should I try to be more normal this summer?

Such a dilemma. I think there are three conclusions to this:

1. All that stuff is never going to get done. (And I didn’t even mention painting the house.)
2. I’m a writer and should, by now, be used to the idea that I’m never going to be a normal person.
3. I’m okay with both 1) and 2).

About the Author:

Laurie Cass grew up in Michigan and graduated from Eastern Michigan University in the 80’s with a (mostly unused) Bachelor of Science degree in geology. Currently, Laurie and her husband share their house with two cats, the inestimable Eddie, and the adorably cute Sinii. When Laurie isn’t writing, she’s working at her day job, reading, yanking weeds out of her garden, or doing some variety of skiing.

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Jennifer’s Review of Tailing a Tabby

Review (4 Stars):  Tailing a Tabby is an enjoyable fun mystery and I love that Minnie’s job is to drive the bookmobile all around the community.  Libraries mean a lot to me and I remember visiting our bookmobile as a child because the local library was too far for us to go to on a regular basis. Minnie is an adorable character that is sweet and spunky and I love her cat, Eddie.  Some of the scenes with Eddie are so cute and I can understand why he is such a hit with the bookmobile patrons.

Tailing a Tabby is the second book in the Bookmobile Cat mystery series and Ms. Cass has a delightful writing style that makes it easy for you to become involved in the story and you don’t have to read them in order to follow along. I’m looking forward to reading more of Minnie’s adventures with her adorable cat in the future and this reminds me that I need to thank a librarian for helping me discover the joys of reading at an early age.