Modesty Blaise

My ode to Modesty Blaise is posted on The Rap Sheet. Modesty, in some small way, was an inspiration for the character of Fiona MacGillivray.

Lucky Smith's Extra Special Blueberry Cake

Every July Lucky Smith (Molly's mom) makes this cake several times with fresh blueberries. Then they're gone and the family has to wait another eleven months to have it again.

Lucky;s Blueberry Cake

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cornstarch
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.
Stir together 1/3 cup sugar, water, lemon juice, cornstarch in small saucepan over low heat. Stir in blueberries. Simmer, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl.
Whisk together egg, milk, butter, vanilla in a large bowl, then add flour mixture, whisking until just combined.
Spoon batter into baking pan, spreading evenly, then pour blueberry mixture evenly over batter.
Bake about 25 to 30 minutes.
Enjoy while reading a good book.

Forty Reasons to Go On Living

How nice. The next Constable Molly Smith book, Winter of Secrets, will be released November 1st by Poisoned Pen Press. The Rap Sheet listed forty books they're looking foward to in the second half of this year (20 US and 20 UK) under the title Forty Reasons to Go On Living. Winter of Secrets is one of them. I'm delighted. Here's the full list for those of you who, like me, like to drool over your future TBR pile. http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2009/07/40-reasons-to-go-on-living.html