Alene is cooking up some murderous delights in Smothered, her second culinary mystery.
Available now!
Join Alene as she stirs up trouble as well as some muffin batter in Battered, her original culinary mystery.
View Trailer Now Available
When the owner of the business next door is found dead in his office, Alene Baron’s first feeling is relief. She’s been suspicious of the food supplements her neighbor has been selling, not to mention the smoothies he’s been hawking, which are much inferior to the ones Alene sells in her cafe. Plus, Stanley Huff never cleaned up his garbage in the alley they shared. As a sexual harasser and shady businessman, Stanley had enemies. One of Alene’s favorite employees is a suspect. And now that employee is missing.
Alene Baron is 38 years old and over seven years divorced from her philandering husband. She lives in a Chicago lakefront high-rise with her 3 children and her 72-year-old father. She owns the nearby Whipped and Sipped Café, which serves decadent but healthful pastries and drinks. Alene’s pastry chef and best friend is Ruthie, the college roommate with whom she once developed code words to study for history exams.
Alene is also an avid reader of mysteries. When a neighbor is found dead she begins to compile a list of suspects. A week later, another neighbor is found battered, and one of Alene’s young employees is holding the gun.
A few days later, the murderer confronts Alene.
March 30: Anne Louise Bannon, It’s All About the Stories – Interview‘
March 26: Writer to Writer – Video Interview w/Randy Overbeck
March 14 (7:00pm) Murder and Molasses Cookies – Live baking demonstration while I tell the story of how I became a writer of culinary mysteries to the Parents of Schechter Day School Alumni.
March 5: C.P. Lesley – Interview
All EventsChicago-based author of the Whipped and Sipped Mystery series and a host for New Books in Literature, a podcast of the New Books Network.
I earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano and voice sometime in the past century (Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and New England Conservatory of Music). Over the years, I’ve performed, taught, composed and administrated while writing stories, songs, and several unwieldy manuscripts. I also fed my family and developed lots of healthful recipes. After recovering from breast cancer in 2015, I turned to writing in earnest, melding my two passions; nourishment for mind and body and recipe-laced murder mysteries.
I have started working on the third novel in the Whipped and Sipped Mystery series and look forward to continued help from my fabulous editor, S.L. Wisenberg. Because I love reading, I am host for New Books in Fiction, a podcast channel on the New Books in Literature, which is like having my own personal book group discussion with authors. Also, I’m a graduate of the French Pastry School’s Bread Boot Camp and Chocolate Boot Camp.
I’m available for demonstrations of healthful cooking – vegetarian and kosher – which include generous tastings (unless on Zoom). I’m also available to speak via Zoom or in person (when that is again allowed) to your book group. Please visit my events page for an updated schedule of appearances.
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