Blurb:
​The county fair is buzzing with excitement, but something sinister lurks in the shadows. When the crown for the fair queen goes missing, the Senior Sleuths spring into action. This quirky group of retirees knows their small town like the back of their hands. They’ll need every ounce of wit and wisdom to solve this mystery before the pageant starts. With twists and turns at every corner, can they unravel the clues in time? Join them for a delightful ride filled with laughter, friendship, and just a hint of mischief.

PREORDER WHILE IT IS .99 cents.

Ingredients
2 cups (240 g.) allpurpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch kosher salt
1 1/2 cups (340 g.) whole milk
1/4 cup (40 g.) packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions
YIELDS: 10 SERVING(S)
PREP TIME: 15 MINS
TOTAL TIME: 35 MINS
CAL/SERV: 240

Step 1 In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Slowly whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients until no flour is visible. Let batter sit 10 minutes before transferring it into a piping bag or ziplock bag.

Step 2
 1/2 c Vegetable oil, for frying
Powdered sugar, for garnish
 Pour 1" vegetable oil into a large cast iron pan.
Turn heat to medium and heat until a candy thermometer set in oil reads 375°.
Cut a ½" hole in your piping bag or ziplock bag and squeeze approximately ¼ cup batter into oil in a circular pattern.
Fry until golden on both sides, flipping halfway, 3 to 4 minutes in total.
Place on a paper towel lined plate to drain.

Step 3
​Dust with powdered sugar before serving. 

Barbara's Spritz Cookie Recipe

You need a cookie press/cookie gun to make these cookies. Most cookie presses come with a set of traditional cookie patterns that can be used year round. (See link below)

Ingredients

1 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teasp vanilla flavoring*
1/4 tsp almond flavoring
Food coloring, if desired (6 drops of green coloring)
Salt, a dash (less than 1/8th of a teaspoon is enough)
1/2 tsp baking powder
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
sprinkles in various colors

Instructions

(I just stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. You can use a mixer if you prefer.)

Put the shortening and sugar into a large bowl, and mix well. (If you have a kitchen scale, it's easier to weigh the shortening onto a saucer. Less mess and easier to deal with than a measuring cup.)

Add the egg, flavorings and food coloring, if you're using it, and mix well.

Add the salt and baking powder, and mix thoroughly. Add the flour and work evenly into the mixture. The dough will get stiff. I generally finish mixing with my hands. Cover the dough with plastic wrap when not actively digging into it. Do Not Refrigerate!

Refer to the cookie press directions for inserting the decorative disk and loading the dough.

Extrude the cookies into an ungreased or non-stick cookie sheet (baking sheet?). They don't expand much, so leave about an inch and a half between them. Change pattern disks as desired. Top with sprinkles. (The kids love doing this part.)

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. (I always start the first batch at 7 or 8 minutes to see how they do. You can always add more minutes, but you can't take them away.) When done, remove from the oven. Slide a spatula/turner under the cookies and slide them onto a cookie rack to cool. Be a bit careful -- they're somewhat fragile when hot.

Cookies will be light, crisp and tender when cool. To store them, line a large container with plastic wrap. (Hang it over the sides enough that when the cookies are in, it will fold back over and cover the cookies.) Put the lid on. You can store them for at least a month in the freezer, or they're keep two or three weeks on the counter, as long as you continue to fold the plastic wrap over them and put the lid back on the container.

*When doubling the recipe, double both the vanilla and the almond flavorings.

Best Snowball Cookies
(Michelle's Favorite)
​These snowball cookies are soft, buttery treats that melt in your mouth. This is my grandmother's recipe, which she made for years. With a rich, nutty flavor from finely chopped pecans and a sweet white coating from confectioners' sugar, these delicious cookies are perfect for the holidays!

Prep Time:
30 mins

Cook Time:
15 mins

Total Time:
 45 mins

Servings:
 60

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup very finely chopped pecans
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup confectioners' sugar, or more as needed

Directions

1. Gather all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Beat butter, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth.
3. Gradually mix in flour, pecans, and salt until completely incorporated.
4. Roll dough into walnut-sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until bottoms are light golden brown but tops are still pale, 12 to 15 minutes. (Try not to let cookies get too brown: it's better to undercook them than to overcook them.)
6. Remove cookies from the oven and let sit on the baking sheets briefly before removing to wire racks.
7. Place 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl; roll hot cookies in sugar to coat, then return to the wire racks to cool.
8. Once cooled, roll cookies in the confectioners' sugar once more.

(My daughter Sarah came over to make these cookies for Christmas.)
An easy recipe for gluten-free molasses cookies. The dough comes together effortlessly in one bowl and bakes up in just 10 minutes.
Prep Time
10minutes mins
Cook Time
10minutes mins
Total Time
20minutes mins

Servings: 
12 cookies
 
Ingredients
½ cup butter room temperature
⅓ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup molasses
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
2¼ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour with xanthan gum (King Arthur Gluten Free Flour)**
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for about 30 seconds.
Add in the egg and molasses and beat until well combined.
Add the pure vanilla extract, gluten-free all-purpose flour with xanthan gum, salt, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves. Beat until a smooth dough forms.
Use 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop to measure out the dough. Roll into a ball and toss in the granulated sugar. The dough may be a bit sticky.
Place on the baking sheet, leaving enough space between each for spreading.
Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until the center looks set, and they will continue to harden as they cool.
Let them cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to finish cooling.

**Available at Costco.

Ferrets, Forgery and Flapjacks
By
MK Scott

*Ferrets, Forgery, and Flapjacks* invites you into a heartwarming tale brimming with laughter, mystery, and the sweetness of small-town life. Will the power of imagination and loyalty be enough to save Emerson? Grab a plate of flapjacks and dive into this delightful escapade—where every page is a bite-sized treat of intrigue! 

Blurb:
​When murder becomes part of the show, the stakes rise higher than ever. At the annual crim con, participants eagerly await a staged murder, with a cash prize for the sleuth who cracks the case. But when a real murder occurs before the event kicks off, the excitement turns deadly.

Amateur sleuth and innkeeper Donna Tollhouse Taber can't resist the challenge. With no prize money on the line, her instincts kick in. Can she unravel the mystery before the killer strikes again? Join Donna on a thrilling hunt for truth in a world where nothing is as it seems.

Blurb
​
In "Sniffing Out The Truth," join the spirited Private Investigator Nala and her canine companion, Max, on a twisted journey through deception and danger. When an unexpected corpse surfaces at her friend's vegetarian eatery, Nala must navigate a maze of lies and betrayal to prove her friend's innocence. As suspicions rise and tensions flare, Nala's loyalty is tested as she unravels a web of secrets that implicates even those closest to her. With a clever dog by her side and a determined spirit, Nala races against time to expose the real killer, even if it means challenging her own beliefs and putting her  romantic relationship with an officer at risk. A riveting tale of mystery and friendship, "Sniffing Out The Truth" is a thrilling ride through a world where the truth is the most elusive catch of all.

The Senior Sleuths are back in action working on a case of a missing assistant baker and her dog, too in Late for the Bus Tour. Along the way, they board a bus for Memphis for a Graceland tour, and as you expect, shenanigans ensue. So, the real question is why a Memphis bus tour, or even Graceland?

I chose Graceland, Elvis’ home, because he’s such an icon that people of all ages would recognize his name. Even my daughter is a fan! Lots of Elvis trivia out there for Eunice to spout, too. Research is not only easy, but fun. I’m gradually working my way through the Elvis movies.

Bus tours are an easy way to travel with someone else making the arrangements and doing the driving. Greener Pastures Center would want a self-contained unit like a bus to keep their residents together—wishful thinking on their part. Being the first bus trip, they don’t want to travel too far. The normal distance between Greener Pastures and Graceland is only six hours if everything goes smoothly—I have feeling that their trip time will be much longer.
​
Graceland isn’t the easiest place to visit because of its popularity, which means most of the time you can’t show up and buy tickets that day. However, bus tours will buy the tickets weeks, even months ahead, that way their riders are guaranteed to see Graceland on the day they wanted. There are several museums within Graceland, along with one of his planes, car, and two restaurants. This makes it a great place for a tour. Some trips even go to Graceland, and then drive straight back without any overnight stays. Not so for our gang—who cause a little havoc in their pursuit of justice.
Make sure to preorder your copy of Late for the Bus Tour for only .99 cents on Amazon.

Something’s not quite right in Emerson. Old secrets bubble to surface, exposing uncomfortable truths. Reference Librarian Tenny Taylor is determined to uncover the facts of an age-old scandal. Only she might not like what she finds or at what cost.

Will Tenny find out the truth about her mother? Will someone replace Grandpa Willis as Santa?  What unlikely person turns out to be a mean girl of decades past? How does Ethel the dog unravel a long time mystery? This and much, much more.

​I looked forward to sipping tea and exploring Mark’s ancestral roots in Ireland, but oh, what a twist of fate!

My life as owner of The Painted Lady Inn hardly prepared me for this. With my detective husband by my side, we embark on a journey filled with mayhem, murder, and mischief.

As I savor every bite of Irish stew and soak in the breathtaking scenery, little do I know that our vacation will turn into a whirlwind of sleuthing.

Who could have imagined the secrets hidden behind Mark’s family tree? And what dark secrets lurk in this picturesque village, threatening to shatter the tranquility?

The jig is up, and it’s up to us to untangle the web of intrigue.

Notice most of the fairgoers are men. Note the fashions. There's no sideshows anymore.

I have to admit the tram hasn't changed in over fifity years, except the tractiors now run on soy biodiesel fuel.

We still have a fair queen every year, but I don't think they have a swimsuit contest. Each county sends their own 4-H Fair Contest Queen to compete. Often the competitors participate in a fashion show of clothes they designed and sewed 
themselves.

In 1964, the Beatles arrived to play at the Indiana State Fair. Many bands play at the state fair every year.

Each year my daughter and I attend the fair. It's great fun seeing the animals, exhibits, feeding the animals at the petting zoo, cheering on the racing pigs this year,  fair food, photo opps, and meandering through the flea market.

The Midway is a big draw with its various rides and games of chance. On my first visit to the fair with my now husband, he won a dragon and unicorn for me, which made me the envy of many children. :) I still have both stuffed animals. I can see my characters Tenny and Blue from The Tenacious Librarian Series wandering the fair grounds. Blue would definitely hang out with the dairy cows. Hope you enjoyed your visit to the Indiana State Fair.

Photos from Indianapolis Star, self-taken, or from the Glass Barn.

​Tagline: When legends come to life, a librarian's detective skills are put to the test.
I never thought my quiet little town would become the center of attention, but here we are. A low-budget movie production company has descended upon us, determined to resurrect a local legendary monster. As the town librarian and amateur sleuth extraordinaire, I couldn't resist digging deeper into their suspicious activities.
 
My best bud Blue, always up for an adventure, joins me in unraveling the secrets behind the movie crew. There's something fishy about them, and I suspect they're up to more than just making a film. But that's not the only challenge I face.
 
Rita, my nemesis, has escaped from prison, and she blames me for her incarceration. It seems she hasn't forgotten our last encounter when she tried to end my life. With her lurking in the shadows, I have to stay one step ahead and protect myself and my loved ones.
 
Oh, and did I mention Precious, the mischievous raccoon? He's always by my side, getting into trouble and helping me crack the case in her own unique way. Together, we'll uncover the truth behind the movie production and the legend it aims to resurrect.
 
In a town where everyone is busy perfecting their acting skills, we're about to discover that some performances are too real for comfort. Join me on this thrilling adventure as we navigate through movie dreams, dormant fears, and a town buzzing with excitement. When legends come to life, a librarian's detective skills are put to the test. Will I solve the mystery before it's too late?
 

Get Your Copy Today at Amazon.