Knitmare on Beech Street (A Knit & Nibble Mystery)
by Peggy Ehrhart

About Knitmare on Beech Street

Knitmare on Beech Street (A Knit & Nibble Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
10th in Series
Setting – Charming fictional town of Arborville, in northern New Jersey
Kensington Cozies (November 28, 2023)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1496738861
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1496738868
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BZBM8P55

Knit and Nibble member Pamela Paterson, and her best friend, Bettina, stumble on a body in a once grand Victorian house when they join a group welcoming new residents to Arborville—and must figure out if old secrets killed the new neighbor . . .

When Pamela, Bettina, and their friends show up at the Voorhees House to greet its new owner, they’re met with a most unwelcome sight: a dead body on the kitchen floor. Tassie Hunt just inherited the old Victorian, which had been occupied by a reclusive widow for many years and had a reputation for being haunted. But Tassie would have been unlikely to be spooked since her career involved debunking such paranormal phenomena.

Her demise sets off a new flurry of gossip and ghostly speculation in the New Jersey town, of course—and it’s tempting to think spirits were indeed involved considering there’s zero evidence so far of foul play. A nosy neighbor reports strange lights and sounds, and a man obsessed with the Victorian era starts photographing the place from the street. But it won’t take long before Pamela and Bettina are moving in on a killer . . .

Excerpt

Pamela led the way down the steps, down the narrow concrete path, and along the sidewalk, until they reached another concrete path. From this path, steps led up to another porch, smaller and with a plainer railing, onto which the back door opened.

Saying “I’ll try again,” Marlene hefted the gift basket and headed up the steps. As she pressed the doorbell, the rest of the group joined her on the porch one by one.

Marlene turned away after a few minutes and much enthusiastic pressing of the doorbell. “No answer,” she murmured. “And I was sure ANGWY was clear about the date and time.”

She shrugged, edged past the others, and started down the steps. Bettina, however, stepped closer to the door and tipped her head to peer at the doorframe. “I’m not sure it’s closed all the way,” she said and gave the

door a tentative push.

The door swung open easily. After a shrug and a glance at the other women, Bettina raised a stylishly shod foot and stepped over the threshold.

“Tassie?” Her voice rang out with a cheerful lilt. “Hello? It’s the ANGWY committee.”

She disappeared inside, but a moment later she was back in the doorway. Her cheer had vanished, leaving her face a wan canvas that made her careful makeup appear garish.

Ignoring her heart’s sudden lurch, Pamela took a few quick steps and joined her friend in the doorway. Bettina backed up against the door, anchoring it in a fully open position, and Pamela slipped past her into the kitchen.

A woman lay sprawled on the ancient linoleum, a slender blonde woman wearing a light cotton robe printed with small flowers in shades of blue and lilac . . .

Recipe

Black Forest Icebox Cake

 

In Knitmare on Beech Street, the members of the Knit and Nibble knitting club are treated to Black Forest Cake when Nell Bascomb hosts the group. Left to her own devices, sugar-averse Nell would serve the Broccoli Bars she is always promising, but her husband Harold produces the cake, claiming that he “just happened” to be in the vicinity of his favorite German bakery that afternoon.

 

Black Forest Cake is an impressive four-layer creation composed of chocolate sponge cake, preserved cherries, and whipped cream. It’s often flavored with Kirshwasser, a distilled liquor made from the sour cherries associated with the Black Forest region in southwestern Germany, and it’s garnished with chocolate shavings. It’s said to have been invented in 1915 by Josef Keller, a pastry chef at a café in Bad Godesberg.

 

Knitmare on Beech Street takes place in June, and one of the other characters serves an icebox cake (in her case, lemon) when the group meets at her house. I thought it would be fun to invent a Black Forest version of this popular warm-weather dessert. I used chocolate pound cake in place of sponge cake, but the layering concept is the same. Instead of plain whipped cream though, the filling between the layers is a sweetened mixture of whipped cream and cream cheese—and of course the finished creation is chilled in the freezer and served cold.

 

As one of the characters observes, the icebox was a precursor to the modern refrigerator and really only chilled its contents. Modern icebox cakes, however, generally go into the freezer for a bit after assembly.

 

I hope you enjoy it! 

 

Ingredients:

 

 

1 chocolate pound cake

6 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup cherry jam

2 tbsp cherry brandy or kirsch (optional)

A few squares of unsweetened or semi-sweet chocolate. 

 

Note: I used a store-bought pound cake—Entenmann’s makes a good version. Or you can bake your own. 

Directions:

 

You will need a 6” x 10” (or thereabouts) baking dish—though you won’t be baking your creation. 

 

You will be creating three layers with slices of the pound cake. Each layer will use 6 slices, so cut your pound cake into 18 even slices.

 

 

In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Add the heavy cream and mix until soft peaks form.

 

 

If you are using the cherry brandy or kirsch, blend it into the cherry jam.

 

Arrange 6 slices of pound cake on the bottom of the baking dish.

 

 

Top the pound cake slices with about a third of the cream cheese mixture, spreading it evenly. 

 

 

Smooth half the jam (or jam and liquor mixture) over the cream cheese layer. 

 

 

Layer 6 more slices of pound cake, another third of the cream cheese mixture, and the rest of the jam. Finish with the last 6 slices of pound cake and the last third of the cream cheese mixture. 

 

 

Cover the icebox cake with plastic wrap or foil and freeze it for at least 3 hours. Transfer it to the refrigerator an hour before you plan to serve it, or let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes—though it’s also good straight out of the freezer. 

 

When it’s time to serve your Black Forest icebox cake, grate the chocolate and use it to garnish the top of the cake. Leave it in the baking dish to cut servings, and lift them out with a spatula. The recipe makes 8 large servings, but it’s quite intense, so you might want to cut more, smaller, ones!  

 

 

Leftovers should be refrigerated, or frozen if you want to keep them longer than  a few days.

About Peggy Ehrhart

Peggy Ehrhart is a former English professor with a doctorate in Medieval Literature. Her Maxx Maxwell mysteries, Sweet Man Is Gone(2008) and Got No Friend Anyhow (2011), were published by Five Star/Gale/Cengage and feature a blues-singer sleuth.

Peggy is currently writing the Knit & Nibble mysteries for Kensington Books. Her amateur sleuth, Pamela Paterson, is the founder and mainstay of the Arborville, New Jersey, knitting club, nicknamed Knit and Nibble. Knitmare on Beech Street is book #10 in the series. Peggy herself is an avid crafter, dating from her childhood as a member of the 4-H Club in rural Southern California.

Peggy is a longtime member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She regularly attends mystery-writing conferences and participates in conference panels. She also gives talks on mystery fiction at libraries and other venues in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

Author Links

Website: www.PeggyEhrhart.com

Yarn Mania Blog on my website: https://peggyehrhart.com/category/yarn-mania/

Goodreads Blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/534678.Peggy_Ehrhart/blog

Purchase Links – Amazon – Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org Kobo

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