The Great Iowa Caucus Casserole Mystery:
A Cozy Potluck Paradise Cafe Mystery
by Rae Katherine Eighmey
About The Great Iowa Caucus Casserole Mystery
The Great Iowa Caucus Casserole Mystery:A Cozy Potluck Paradise Cafe Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Independently published (October 31, 2019)
Paperback: 160 pages
ISBN-10: 170047538X
ISBN-13: 978-1700475381
Digital ASIN: B07ZTSMP5S
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Independently published (October 31, 2019)
Paperback: 160 pages
ISBN-10: 170047538X
ISBN-13: 978-1700475381
Digital ASIN: B07ZTSMP5S
The Iowa Presidential Caucus is a casserole of finest ingredients — policy ideas, active candidates, determined local politicians dedicated political activists, and hard-working Iowans. Every four years citizens across the state meet to hash out their differences and make a selection. Seldom is one candidate an overwhelming caucus choice. Instead, several winning candidates combine into a single dish of patriotic participation, ready to share with the rest of the nation.
In Lake Livonia, with holiday season fast approaching and the Iowa Presidential Caucus soon to follow, Susan Stewart’s fledgling Potluck Paradise Cafe is humming with the creation of new and delicious dishes to please the appetites of her community.
But then, a mysterious note included in a Christmas card from her friend and mentor, Hazel Romer, who skipped town in the middle of a July night, raises important questions. What was the skeleton in Hazel’s closet that caused her to run away from the town she loved? And why had she left the restaurant to Susan?
When a blizzard traps strangers in town overnight, the stage is set for a series of life-changing events for Susan, her teenaged children, and her friends, as the Presidential Caucus brings Iowa and Lake Livonia into national prominence.
With 30 Family and Potluck Pleasing recipes for main dishes, vegetables and desserts.
Guest Post
Cooking the Books
A Guest Post by Rae Katherine Eighmey
Author of The Great Iowa Caucus Casserole Mystery
My writing career began with a single 19th-century recipe. It was for a cookie — a lovely teacake shaped like a doughnut. Now thousands of recipes later, I have eight books currently in print. All of them use centuries-old recipes, brought up-to-date for modern kitchens, to explore history and food, and to tell the stories of the people who first enjoyed them.
So here's how it started. We were living in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and I was volunteering at the antebellum Jamison-Van de Graaff house during its restoration. I have a background in public relations and so worked on the fund-raising and tourism experience needs. All of us involved with the project did a lot of research to understand this house, the people who lived in it, and their place in the community. We looked at the structure itself, explored the grounds for clues, and read the 1850s and 1860s papers of Senator Robert Jemison and his wife Priscilla in the University of Alabama’s Special Collections. There were letters, journals, and records of the home’s construction.
I was delighted to find a listing in the papers’ index for a Household Journal. I had high hopes that Mrs. Jemison had recorded important clues to life in the house. Alas, when I pulled out the slender journal and opened the cover I discovered there really wasn’t much written on its pages. There were some inventory lists of household goods written in pencil among many blank pages.
But about halfway through, I discovered two recipes. One was for Sally Lunn, a common cake named for the famous 19th-century singer. The other recipe was a mystery. Simply titled “Jumbles.” The ingredients were abbreviated and the method was nonexistent. Returning the journal to the archival box, I set off for the regular library stacks. There, over the course of a few days, I searched through cookbooks from the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s, matching published recipes with the hints of ingredients Mrs. Jemison had left us.
Then I took to the kitchen. Several batches of cookies later, I had one that I was satisfied with and, importantly to the story of the Jemisons, one that a friend with deep roots in the South, going back five generations, said: “tasted like my grandmother’s teacakes.”
With this cookie in hand, I began to build the story of Senator and Mrs. Jemison, and their daughter Cherokee. I pictured Mrs. Jemison baking the cookies in the basement kitchen where they had a very modern “range.” The Jumbles are a good keeper so I envisioned her packing up a box of them for the Senator to take on his journey to Richmond, Virginia where he served in the Congress of the Confederacy.
I have to say, you know how it is when you’re looking through cookbooks. You see a recipe that looks good and make it. Then there is another. And another. Soon I was making dinners with foods, wonderful foods, from the 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s. Our kitchen was filled with the aromas of days gone by — molasses, mace, ginger, currants. Our plates were filled with common ingredients mixed in delightful combinations. I was hooked.
But more than the recipes, I was drawn in to the stories of the recipes and the people who created and enjoyed them. We moved back to the Midwest and I got to work. And for more than twenty years I’ve used foods and recipes to tell the stories of farm wives, soda shop operators, World War I homemakers, and even of Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin.
Now I’ve turned this story-telling power of food to The Great Iowa Caucus Casserole Mystery, the first in my series of Potluck Paradise Cafe cozy books.
Food is my muse, my inspiration, my favorite metaphor, and often the vehicle that drives my work. In her small town of Lake Livonia, Iowa, Susan Stewart, the owner of the novel’s Potluck Paradise Cafe has learned that power, too. Under mysterious circumstances, Hazel Romer, the owner of a landmark local hamburger joint, disappears in the middle of the night. She leaves her business to Susan and the former second-in-command takes over and reinvents the business. Susan realizes that traditional foods from the community’s past are the vital link the restaurant needs to build a loyal customer base among locals and to attract tourists in a powerful way.
For The Great Iowa Caucus Casserole Mystery, Susan and I drew inspiration from classic 1950s Midwestern potluck dishes. We shared the story of hard times food conservation with recipes from World War I cookbooks. We even devised a special Great Caucus Casserole combining the best of fall and winter local ingredients into a delicious dish that celebrates the way Iowans come together during the beginning of the nation’s political season.
Looking ahead to new recipes and events, Susan has just discovered a book she is sure will come in handy as she continues to build the Potluck Paradise Cafe. Cooking for Profit was published in 1893. Looks like there are some fine recipes she can cook up for the enjoyment of those who live in and visit Lake Livonia during the months to come. I’ll be right there with her.
Here are some of my other books:
Stirring the Pot with Benjamin Franklin
Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen
Food Will Win the War
Soda Shop Salvation
Potluck Paradise (with Debbie Miller)
Hearts & Homes
A Prairie Kitchen
Minnesota Sketches
Keepsakes
Rae Katherine’s Victorian Recipe Secrets
Mrs. Jemison's Jumbles is the first "historic" recipe I worked with. These are light, tasty cookies that would have been considered a "teacake" back in the 1860s.
I/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup additional sugar for tops before baking
Cream butter and sugar, stir in eggs, then flour, baking soda, and mace. Knead into a smooth dough. Break off chunks, roll under your palms on a work surface to form long snakes, about the diameter of a pencil. Break off 3-inch lengths and form into rings. Dip tops of jumbles into sugar. Bake in 350 F. oven on lightly greased baking sheets until lightly browned, about 10 -15 minutes. Makes about 7 dozen.
You can also find the recipe for Mrs. Jemison’s Jumbles at my Potluck Paradise Facebook page.
About Rae Katherine Eighmey
Rae Katherine Eighmey is an award-winning author and cook with blue ribbons from both the Iowa and Minnesota State Fair cooking contests. She is the author of a dozen books about food and history including Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen and Stirring the Pot with Benjamin Franklin.
She has written two other novels. Current events inspired this cozy mystery. A north Iowa resident, she is familiar with the Iowa presidential caucus and wanted to tell the tale of the caucus through the friendly story of three strong women who meet challenges in their lives and cook great food.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
February 5 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
February 6 – Here's How It Happened – REVIEW
February 6 – Jane Reads – GUEST POST
February 7 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
February 7 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
February 8 – Christy's Cozy Corners – REVIEW
February 8 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
February 9 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW, GUEST POST
February 9 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
February 10 – eBook Addicts – REVIEW
February 10 – A Blue Million Books – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
February 11 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
February 11 – My Journey Back – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
You can comment as a guest, or with your Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, or Google account. To register for Disqus, or to post as a guest, click in the Name box under "Sign Up With Disqus."
