The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "The Stills" By Jess Montgomery, Served with a Recipe for Beet Pickled Hard-Boiled Eggs

I am very excited to be today's stop on the TLC Book Tour for The Stills by Jess Montgomery, the third book in her Kinship series. Accompanying my review is a recipe of purplish Beet Pickled Hard-Boiled Eggs, inspired by the book.

Publisher's Notes: 

The third in Jess Montgomery’s exquisitely written Kinship series, The Stills is a triumph of storytelling by an extraordinary new talent in crime fiction…

Ohio, 1927: Moonshining is a way of life in rural Bronwyn County, and even the otherwise upstanding Sheriff Lily Ross has been known to turn a blind eye when it comes to stills in the area. But when thirteen-year-old Jebediah Ranklin almost dies after drinking tainted moonshine, Lily knows that someone has gone too far, and–with the help of organizer and moonshiner Marvena Whitcomb–is determined to find out who.

But then, Lily’s nemesis, the businessman George Vogel, reappears in town with his new wife, Fiona. Along with them is also her former brother-in-law Luther Ross, now an agent for the newly formed Bureau of Prohibition. To Lily, it seems too much of a coincidence that they should arrive now.

As fall turns to winter, a blizzard closes in. Lily starts to peel back the layers of deception shrouding the town of Kinship, but soon she discovers that many around her seem to be betraying those they hold dear–and that Fiona too may have an agenda of her own.

Hardcover: 352 Pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (March 9, 2021)

My Review:

I am a big fan of the Kinship series, having been on the blog tours for the first two books The Widows and The Hollows. I love the intersection of two favorite genres--historical fiction and mysteries and, Sheriff Lily Ross, is a strong, female main character to root for, as are the other strong women in the book. Widowed in the first novel, Lily took over her husband's job as Sheriff of their rural Ohio community, no easy feet, especially in 1927 but Lily was reelected on her own merits last year. Lily's Thanksgiving with her family and friends, Marvena and Hildy and their families, is interrupted with news that a local boy is in a coma after drinking some local moonshine that puportedly came from Marvena's still. Complicating matters is the fact that George Vogel, a shady businessman who Lily has dealt with in the past is in town with his wife and seems to be up to something involving illegal alcohol distribution. The book's POV bounces back and forth mostly between Lily and Fiona Vogel, now George's wife, a former local girl and the widow of a local deputy. Fiona is brought to town by George but has a definite agenda of her own. 

What I like most about this series is the well-researched history that Jess Montgomery weaves into  the story. I have learned a lot about Prohibition and other historical events from this series, and it usually has me looking for more information while I am reading it. The author works in historical figures (like the very real Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt) into the books which it doesn't distract from the mysteries and teaches me more about history and subjects I am not familiar with. In this book I found the medical treatments of the times for diabetes and asthma especially interesting. Marvena's young daughter, Frankie, has severe and worsening asthma and part of the treatment is inhaling the smoke from asthma "sticks." Having asthma myself, the thought of breathing in the smoke from these medicinal cigarettes makes me cringe and I feel lucky to have a nebulizer and more modern treatments. I also love unpacking the layers of Lily and Marvena and getting to know more about these women and their friendship with each book. The writing is vivid and descriptive and puts me right into the setting. This third book did not disappoint in any way, and I can't wait for the next one!    

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Author Notes: JESS MONTGOMERY is the Literary Life columnist for the Dayton Daily News and former Executive Director of the renowned Antioch Writers’ Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Based on early chapters of her novel The Widows, Jess was awarded an Ohio Arts Council individual artist’s grant for literary arts and the John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at Thurber House in Columbus. She lives in her native state of Ohi

You can connect with Jess on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
 

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Food Inspiration:

There was food to be found in The Stills--much of it related to the Thanksgiving holiday of the books time setting in 1927. Unfortunately, most of my food highlights in the later half of the book "disappeared" from the e-book advanced readers copy I was using so I am going to have to go from memory here. Food mentions included a bouquet of sage from the garden, sugar pumpkins and acorn squash, tomato vines and corn stalks, a quart jar of canned apples for pies, pumpkin pies, turkey, turkey broth, home-canned goods, dried grape bricks marked "Vino Sano Grapes" that could be reconstituted in water with sugar and made into grape juice if consumed within a week, or wine if left in a dark cupboard for three weeks (one of the work-arounds of the Volstead Act of Prohibition), moonshine, biscuits, corn pone, Ginger Ale, whipped cream, jars of blueberries and pickles, tea and toast, eggs, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, pickled corn, rolls, soft butter that the children made by shaking heavy cream in canning jars, sorghum pie, turkey bone broth which will be made into turkey soup with homemade egg noodles, coffee, various teas, pickled red cabbage and sauerbraten, schnitzel, turkey sandwiches, and biscuits with jam. I'm sure there's more but that's all I got! ;-) 

For my bookish dish, I decided to go with the beet-pickled eggs on Lily's Thanksgiving table: "...even pickled eggs turned purplish red from pickled beet juice. Usually those were saved for Easter, but Caleb Jr. had begged for them and finally Lily relented..." Since we are closer to Easter than Thanksgiving, it seemed like a good fit. I used a recipe from a favorite preserving book, Salt Sugar Smoke by Diana Henry to make my eggs.  

Beet Pickled Eggs
Slightly Adapted from Salt Sugar Smoke by Diana Henry

14 eggs 
4 cups white wine vinegar
1 beet, sliced
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 cinnamon stick
3 dried chiles (I omitted and added 1/2 Tbsp black pepper corn)

Boil eggs to your preference, then then drain, run cold water over them, and peel. Make a few punctures in each egg with a toothpick and set aside.

Mix together all of the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heating let simmer for about 15 minutes. Put the eggs into a sterilized jar and pour the hot vinegar over them. Seal with a vinegar-proof lid and once cool, keep in the refrigerator. The eggs will taste better after a couple of days. They'll keep--covered with the vinegar and refridgerated--for about a month.  

Notes/Results: I like pickled eggs they have a nice salty, sweet and acidic bite to them and a slight earthiness from the beets. I even like the rubbery texture the eggs get from the pickling--not chewy per se, but firmer than a regular boiled egg. My eggs were not perfect, most of the 5 I used ended up with flat bottoms which can be related to temperature going into the water, if the eggs are too cold and these were straight out of the fridge. It didn't effect the taste though and that's the important thing. I would make these eggs again. 

Note: A review copy of "The Stills" was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.  

You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and what other reviewers thought about the book here.

 

Vegan Zuppa Toscano-Style Potato, Kale & Sausage Soup for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

My niece had a beautiful baby girl last week and my sister mentioned that she made a crock pot full of Zuppa Toscano soup to take over to the new little family. That sounded really good because although I stopped buying and cooking meat at home a few years ago, sausage is the meat I miss the most. Also we have had rainy day after rainy day, this week with many areas of the islands flooding, and the wet weather seemed like the perfect time to make a vegan version of the Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscano Soup.

I had a coupon for a couple of dollars off Beyond Sausage and had yet to try their links. I bought the Sweet Italian one (see link in the recipe below) and at first assumed I would need to have sausage slices in my soup, but thawing and slicing the frozen links made it easy to break apart into crumbles that got slightly crispy when cooked. The other thing I did instead of making a roux to thicken the soup was use some dehydrated potato flakes (I used Bob's Red Mill brand but any one will do). Quicker and gives the soup some extra potato flavor. I used non-chicken soup base and coconut milk--although any veggie stock and non-dairy milk will work. 

Vegan Zuppa Toscano-Style Potato, Kale & Sausage Soup

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes about 6 Large Servings)

2 Tbsp olive oil

14-16 oz package of vegan sausage (I used this Beyond Sausage Sweet Italian one), links sliced

2 large onions, diced

4-5 large cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp celery seeds

1/2 tsp smoked paprika + more for topping

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste

6 cups non-chicken stock

1 can coconut milk or 1 1/2 cups other non-dairy milk

3/4 cup - 1 cup dried potato flakes

5-6 small Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into 1 1/2-inch cubes

2 heaping cups kale leaves , stems removed & chopped

sea salt to taste

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the sliced vegan sausage links and break them apart with a wooden spoon or spatula. Allow the sausage to brown, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes, or until it gets a little crispy. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the same stock pot and add the onions over medium heat. cook until onions are soft and translucent and starting to brown, about 7-9 minutes. Add the garlic, fennel seeds, celery seed, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper flakes and black pepper and cook for an additional minute.

Pour in the stock and coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice) and bring to a boil. Stir in the potato flakes and whisk until smooth and soup starts to thicken. Stir in the potatoes, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook about 15-20 minutes until potatoes are fork-tender. 

Add the kale and almost all of the cooked vegan sausage (you can leave out a little to top the soup with) and return soup to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes, until kale is softened and flavors are blended. Taste and add salt and additional pepper as desired.

Ladle into bowls and serve topped with remaining vegan sausage, black pepper and smoked paprika as desired. Enjoy!

Notes/Results: Rich, thick, creamy and delicious with great sausage-y flavor. I find this soup is pretty close to the original with much less saturated fat of course, and I think carnivores wouldn't suspect it is vegan. If you want it spicier, you can add additional crushed red pepper flakes or use a spicy vegan sausage, but I found this one just right for me. It hit the spot on a rainy weekend and will work great for lunches next week. I would happily make it again. 

Let's see who is here in the Souper Sundays kitchen this week: 

Crafty Gardener is here with Onion Soup saying, "Onion soup is one that I rarely make as onions and my digestive system aren’t the best of friends. I had purchased a veggie box/basket which included a 3 lb bag of onions as well as all sorts of other veggies. Others in my family love onion soup so that was what I made. ... This soup is traditionally made with beef stock, however I chose to use two kinds of broth, beef and vegetable so both the meat eaters and vegetarians in the family would be able to enjoy this soup."

Thank you to Crafty Gardener for joining me this week!

 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!

 

Heidi Swanson's "A Really Good Chana Masala Recipe" aka Chickpea Stew for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

I wanted to use up some of my many cans of chickpeas in the pantry and was craving Indian curry so Heidi Swanson's A Really Good Chana Masala recipe caught my eye. I made a few changes based mostly on what I had on hand. 

Heidi has a lengthy explanation on Chana Masala on her post which I suggest reading if you aren't familiar with this chickpea dish with its very flavorful sauce. The recipe does ask for Chana Masala powder which is difficult to replicate at home as it has mango powder and pomegranate seeds. My Indian store has the same brand Heidi uses which can also be found on Amazon, here. If you can't get the spice blend, you will still have a tasty curry, it just won't be the same. I also used all of the sauce--instead of part of it and added extra chickpeas. My changes are noted in red below. 

A Really Good Chana Masala Recipe

Slightly Adapted from Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks

(Serves 4-6)

1 Tbsp olive or sunflower oil

2 medium onions, finely diced (I used these frozen glazed onion cubes)

1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced (I used this)

4 cloves garlic, minced (I used this)

1 small Serrano Chile, stemmed, seeded, minced

2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or more to taste

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

3/4 tsp fine grain salt + more to taste

2 medium tomatoes, diced (I used 1 can diced fire-roasted tomatoes)

1 1/2 cups water (I used 2 cups non-chicken broth)

2 (14-oz) cans chickpeas, drained (I used 3 cans) 

1 generous Tbsp chana masala powder

fresh lemon or lime

lots of scallions & cilantro to serve

Make the Simmer Sauce:

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and saute for 5 minutes or so. Stir in the ginger, garlic, and serrano chile, and allow to cook for another minute or two, or until fragrant. Add the garam masala, turmeric powder, cayenne, coriander, cumin, and salt. Stir well, and then add the tomatoes and water. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until thick. Remove the sauce from heat, and reserve half for later use - it will keep refrigerated for 5 days or so, or freeze. (Note from Deb: I used all of my sauce and added an extra can of chickpeas and I wanted it soupier/stewier and to eat it for lunched this week.) 

Add the Chickpeas and Serve: 

Mash about half of the chickpeas with a big fork or potato masher. This is the magic trick. Combine the whole and smashed chickpeas with the simmer sauce, and the chana masala powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir well, and add a generous splashes of water to thin the chana masala out, to loosen it up a bit, until it is a porridge consistency. This is usually in the range of 1 - 1 1/4 cups. Stir in a generous squeeze of lemon or lime juice, and serve showered generously with lots of chopped scallions and cilantro. Enjoy!

Notes/Results: This is, as promised, a really good chana masala recipe. Don't let the long ingredient list fool you, if you have a well-stocked Indian spice drawer, this goes together really quickly, especially if you let Dorot Garden's frozen aromatics cubes do the work of chopping. My local Safeway started carrying their Sautéed Glazed Onions--game changer for the lazy cook. I love the spice--I made mine medium-fish and the acidity that made the flavors pop. It was perfect with basmati rice. I will happily make it again. 

Linking up with I Heart Cooking Clubs where this week's theme is A Can of This..., dishes from our 21 featured chefs that use canned food in the recipe. 

Now let's check out the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here!

Crafty Gardener brought Pork Chop Soup this week, saying "I’m a soup lover and will create recipes out of left overs in the fridge. This time it was a pork chop and some veggies. ... Chunky and delicious. A great serving of veggies with some protein tossed in." 

Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen shared this Black-Eyed Peas and Broccoli Soup and said, "It actually turned out to be a good bowl of soup. I especially liked the black eyed peas which I don't eat often, but when I do,I really enjoy them as they satisfyingly melt in the mouth that I can only describe like snow on your tongue with a light buttery sweetness. The broth is lightly spiced with  cayenne, paprika and cumin. The broccoli is optional if you want to give the soup some depth."

Thank you for joining me this week!

 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!

 

Donna Hay's Cauliflower and Corn Chowder for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

Today just isn't sure what it wants to do--it's rainy, then it's sunny, it's a bit breezy and a balmy 73 degrees so perfect for a sunny bowl of chowder. Donna Hay's Cauliflower and Corn Chowder is my soup pick this week. It's a vegetarian soup that can be vegan if you use a dairy-free parmesan or omit it. 

This chowder has no cream, the beans and cauliflower thicken it up when part of the soup is blended.

Cauliflower and Corn Chowder

Slightly Adapted from DonnaHay.com

(Makes 4 Servings)

800 grams (about 1 3/4 - 2 lbs) cauliflower, cut into small florets

1 clove garlic, crushed (I used 2 large cloves--one on the topping and one in the soup)

3/4 cup, finely grated parmesan

sea salt flakes and cracked black pepper

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 leek, thinly sliced

2 corncobs, kernels removed (I used 1 1/2 cups frozen corn)

1 can white beans, rinsed and drained

1 litre vegetable stock

2 cups water (I used 5 cups of non-chicken stock)

1/2 bunch chives, chopped

1/4 cup dill sprigs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place 2 cups of the cauliflower in a large bowl. Add the garlic, parmesan, salt, pepper, and half the of the oil and toss to combine. Spread the cauliflower mixture on a large oven tray and cook for 20 minutes or until golden.

While the cauliflower is cooking, heat the remaining oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the leek and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until softened. Add the corn, beans, stock, water, salt, pepper, and remaining cauliflower. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes. Pour half the mixture into a jug or blender jar and using a handheld blender or the regular blender, blend until smooth. Return to the soup pot and cook for another 10 minutes.

Divide the soup between bowls and top with the roasted cauliflower, chives, dill, and black pepper to serve. 

Notes/Results: First off, if you are making the roasted cauliflower with the parmesan and garlic, I suggest doing more that 2 cups worth. Basically because you are going to shove the bits of roasted cauliflower and parmesan crisps bites into your mouth before it gets near the soup bowls. (OK, maybe that's just me.) This is a simple soup, satisfying but not too heavy and good flavor (although I used extra garlic and all stock in mine). I would happily make it again.

Linking up this post to I Heart Cooking Clubs where it's Potluck week.

Now let's check out the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here!

Judy of Gluten Free A-Z Blog shared Broccoli Almond Soup and said, "This is a new soup that was not published in my cookbook. The combination of broccoli and almonds in this beautiful soup is quite delicious. The almonds add that Je ne sais quoi. to a simple broccoli soup. ... This broccoli soup was light, creamy, and delicious and not too heavy for my warmer weather. The small amount of almonds gave it a little texture, protein, and healthy fat- but not too much!"

The Crafty Gardener went a bit rogue with her entry, "Soup'er Tuna Casserole," made from a can of soup, but we'll honor it. She says, "I love an old fashioned tuna casserole for dinner. Although this is not a soup recipe I’m still including it with my ‘soup’er recipes as it uses a can of condensed soup."

Debra of Eliot's Eats brought Spicy Lentil Soup, saying, "This soup came out perfect. I loved the combination of flavors and the spicy richness. Check your fridge and pantry for the ingredients. If you don’t have them all, improvise. This soup is very forgiving. For instance, my celery was quite limp and my carrots a bit slimy and who knows how old the lentils were. Don’t have brown lentils? Use green. No worries. It all works."

Welcome Liz from Spades, Spatulas & Spoons who joins us for the first time at Souper Sundays and brings a Spicy White Bean Soup with Chicken. She says, "Melissa Clark of the NY Times calls this recipe “a poem in a bowl”. I must agree that it is certainly delicious and a little different. It gets it’s spiciness from fresh ginger, red-pepper flakes, and cumin. A squeeze of lemon at the end adds a welcome freshness."

Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen is here with Broccoli and Stilton Soup. She says, "The reason why I wanted to share it, just made me chuckle. The recipe comes from New Covent Garden Soup for Every Day and this Broccoli and Stilton was the recipe they actually suggested to make on the 28th February and what is the date today?!  See why I am chuckling to myself. It was really accidental and not planned. The soup was rich and quite creamy naturally from the addition of the potatoes, so I omitted the cream from the original recipe in the cookbook. I have decided that I actually like broccoli in soup." 

Thank you to everyone who joined me this week!

 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!

 

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "And Then She Vanished" by Nick Jones, Served with 3 Favorite Curry Recipes

I am excited to be today's stop on the TLC Book Tour for And Then She Vanished by Nick Jones, a new novel and the start of a new series. Accompanying my review are links to a trio of some favorite curry recipes, inspired by the book.

Publisher's Blurb:

He only looked away for a second.

Still haunted by the disappearance of his little sister Amy over twenty years ago, Joseph Bridgeman’s life has fallen apart. When a friend talks him into seeing hypnotherapist Alexia Finch to help with his insomnia, Joseph accidentally discovers he can time travel. His first trip only takes him back a few minutes, but his new-found ability gives him something he hasn’t felt for the longest time: hope.

Joseph sets out to travel back to the night Amy went missing and save her. But after several failed attempts, he discovers the farther back he travels, the less time he gets to stay there. And the clock is ticking.

With the help of Alexia, Joseph embarks on a desperate race against the past to save his sister. Can he master his new skill and solve the mystery of Amy’s disappearance before it’s too late?

Hardcover: 350 Pages 

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing (February 2, 2021)

My Review:

I wasn't sure what to expect from And Then She Vanished as I like time-travel stories but they need to feel "real" to me. I found myself immediately caught up in Joe's situation, he's just going through the motions, barely, of life. His mother has dementia, his father is gone, his business is failing and they are about to repossess his house, and all of it seemed to spiral downward when his younger sister disappeared two decades ago, never to be found. Since teenage Joe had taken Amy to a local fair and took his eyes off her for a few minutes while trying to win her a prize at a shooting booth, he blames himself for losing her and it has negatively impacted his entire family. Joe's friend gives him the name of a hypnotherapist who he goes to see to help with his insomnia and after a visit, he discovers that he can time travel and immediately decides to try to save Amy from whatever happened to her. 

 

I don't want to share too much detail as the book has some good twists that the reader should just let play out. The time travel aspects are done well, there are lots of details about the process and how it feels, and Joe confides in an old friend, a mathematician who helps him discover some of the "rules" of time travel (there are always rules you know). I felt for Joe, his guilt and pain and liked the supporting cast of characters that surrounded him--especially Vinny, his friend and vinyl dealer (Joe is big a music and Beatles fan). The book sped by and I hated to put it down because I wanted to find out what happened to Amy. I also liked that the book had an ending that mostly wrapped the story but left us with a teaser to future time travel adventures for Joe. I will definitely sign up for the next book.

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Author Notes: Nick Jones was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, and now lives in the Cotswolds, England. In a previous life, he ran his own media company and was a 2nd Dan black belt in Karate. These days he can be found in his writing room, working on his latest mind-bending ideas, surrounded by notes and scribbling on a large white board. He loves movies, kindness, gin, and vinyl.

You can connect with Nick on his website. 

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Food Inspiration:

There's a fair amount of food and drink mentioned in the book, some more inspiring than others, including chestnuts and sweet candy, a juicer and smoothies and juices made from apples, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, and raspberries, red wine, bacon sandwich, vanilla and warm bread, chamomile tea, popcorn, brandy, ice cream, marmalade on toast, a full English breakfast on a baguette, steak, coffee, chocolate cookies, whiskey, spaghetti carbonara, meat and gravy, peanuts and other nibbles, mince pies, prosecco, hot dogs, grapes, Kit Kats, jelly beans, marshmallows, beer, turkey, G&T, a pot of soup, and peppermint tea. 

I took my inspiration from the "Curry Club" that Joseph has with his friend Vinny, where they cook a different curry each month. Actually Vinny cooks and Joseph buys the ingredients which seems a good deal to me. They get pretty imaginative from vegan chocolate curry to fermented fish phall (phall is a spicy British curry). The curry they eat in the book is Madagascan Chicken and Vanilla Curry and they both like the sweet and spicy combo. 

I love curries and make a lot of curry soups as well as regular curries. I would have liked to have made a special one for the book but work has been crazy this past month and I ran out of time. Instead, I picked three past recipes for you to try--you can see the links below. Although not as creative as Vinny's curries, they are all delicious.

Creamy Hard-Boiled Eggs Masala: Eggs in curry is my favorite! I have this one and another version on the site.

Bengali Fish Curry: A mustard-y curry with lightly fried fish.

Mushroom and Spinach Korma: Creamy, mild, satisfying and full of mushrooms.

Note: A review copy of "And Then She Vanished" was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for my review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own. 
 
You can see the other stops for this TLC Book Tour and what other bloggers thought of the book here.