Loyalist Wednesdays

My Klondike Friday feature proved to be quite popular, so I thought I'd enjoy starting a new series called Loyalist Wednesdays.  My new book, More than Sorrow, will be released on September 4 by Poisoned Pen Press. It's a standalone, a modern Gothic novel of suspense. A contemporary thriller with a backstory of the Loyalist Settlers in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

To kick things off, today I've written about how little I knew about the Loyalists when I moved here four years ago, and what I have learned.  You'll have to pop over to PoisonedPenPress Authors Blog to read that, but please return every week in August, and I'll have something new and hopefully interesting to talk about.

More than Sorrow - Coming Sept 2012

At long last here's the cover for More than Sorrow, my new standalone from Poisoned Pen Press, due out September 4th.  They certainly seem to have wanted to emphasize the title and the author didn't they?  More than Sorrow is a modern Gothic novel of suspense.

It's set in Prince Edward County, Ontario, where I live. My first novel set in a real location.

Once, Hannah Manning was an internationally-renowned journalist and war correspondent. Today, she’s a woman suffering from a traumatic brain injury. Haunted by her memories, Hannah goes to her sister’s small-scale vegetable farm in Prince Edward County, Ontario to recover and spend time with her ten-year-old niece, Lily.

Hannah retreats into the attic full of boxes and mouldy letters that have accumulated for more than two centuries. As she reads about the original settlers of this land, she is increasingly drawn to the space beneath the old house.

More than carrots, potatoes, soups and jams are down in the dark, damp root cellar. Hannah experiences visions of a woman emerging from the icy cold mist. Is the woman real?

In this modern Gothic novel of heart-wrenching suspense, past and present merge into a terrifying threat to the only thing Hannah still holds dear— her ten year old niece Lily.

The book is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com  Amazon.ca or your favourite independent bookstore. 

Strawberry Rhubarb Bars

Vicki Delany's Strawberry and Rhubarb Bars

I found it a bit odd to grate the butter, but these turned out just great.  I brought them to a pot luck and they were a huge hit.  Try to make several hours ahead of time because they do have to cool in order to be sliced neatly. 

Crumble mixture

1 cup butter chilled from the fridge

2 ½ cups (390 g) all-purpose flour

¾ cup (95 g) graham cracker crumbs

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (62 g) large flake oats

½ cup (105 g) sugar

¾ cup (144 g) brown sugar, packed

1/8 teaspoon salt

 Zest of one lemon

 1 egg

1 egg white

Filling

3 cups rhubarb sliced into 1-cm pieces

3 cups strawberries halved and sliced

½ cup (105 g) sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons corn starch

Method

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9 x 13 tray (I prefer to cover the tray in parchment paper - easier to clean up - V). Use a cheese grater to grate the butter onto a plate and then place the grated butter in the freezer while you mix the rest of the ingredients. 

In a large bowl stir together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, ½ cup oats, brown sugar, white sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Add the egg and egg white and mix them into the dry ingredients with a fork.

Get the grated butter from the freezer and add it to the crumble mixture. Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles crumbs the size of peas. Remove two cups of the crumble mixture to use as the topping and stir the 2 tablespoons of oats into this mixture.

Press the remaining crumble mixture into the greased pan into an even layer.

Stir together the chopped rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, vanilla and corn starch. Spread on top of the layer of pressed crumble. Top with the reserved two cups of crumble mixture.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars. 

Did someone say Hats?

Hats.  You know I love them.  I was fascinated by this exhibit at the Museum of London in, guess where, London. 

Hey, how did this sneak in here?

Party Time!

Bloody Words was a fantastic weekend in Toronto.  Everyone had a fabulous time. Sadly it's now over for two more years.  But there are always book events to attend.  If you are going to be in Toronto in June, please come out to the Dominion on Queen for a joint book launch with C.F. Forrest and me.  Chris is the author of the hugely wonderful (yes, I can use adjectives when I need to) Charley McKelvey series, of which Devil's Dust is the (sob) last.  Me, well, I will be launching Gold Mountain. Here's the info.

Dominion on Queen in Toronto.  500 Queen Street East.  7:00 PM.  Thursday June 14th.  Music by Allister Thompson.  Food, music, drinks at the bar, a chance to schmooze with the mystery literati.  What more could you want?

All About the Art

Some of the paintings and sculptures I loved in London. 

A Trip to London

I'm back from a quick and fun trip to London.  I went for six days, stayed in just one hotel, and walked and walked.  I saw so much and had such a great time.  I got a lovely deal and was able to stay in a fabulous luxury 5 star hotel in Kennsington, right on Sloane Street.  I've attached a few pictures.  I was walking from Trafalgar Square trying to find the British Museum and looked at my map and realized to my considerable surprise I was in Seven Dials. A nice area with small shops trendy restaurants very close to the theatres. But not in Fiona MacGillivray's day.  Seven Dials, as we learn in next year's Gold Web, was the worst slum in Europe in Victorian days (and that's saying something!). It was there Fiona lived from the age of 13 to 15 and where she learned some important life skills. 

The picture below is a street in Seven Dials.

This trip was all about the art.  A Turner from the Tate Britain.  Perhaps my second favourite painter, after Rembrandt.  I saw Rembrandt at the National Gallery, but no photos allowed there.

Catching up on old news at the British Museum.

Two classic beauties 

Fiona had to beg in the streets of Seven Dials. This is my experience.