“I love writing and ideas for stories and plots are always swirling around in my head. After I finished writing Battered, I wanted to keep imagining tales about Alene, my protagonist, her best friend Ruthie, the vegan pastry chef, Alene’s father Cal, an ornery, sharp guy in his early 70’s, and Frank, the homicide detective with whom Alene is falling in love.”
G. P. Gottlieb’s first culinary mystery, Battered, won fans for both its Chicago neighborhood setting and its punchy, relentless amateur sleuth, Alene Baron.
A delicious-sounding café sporting the name ‘Whipped and Sipped’ doesn’t sound like its owner would be into solving a murder, but its neighboring gym owner is highly disliked in town, and his murder somehow comes as no surprise in Smothered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery.
It’s always fun to find an author with her own twist on the genres I love. In this case, I’m talking specifically about Battered, the first Whipped and Sipped mystery from G. P. Gottlieb. It’s a culinary cozy, but the main character runs a shop that serves healthy treats.
Not many people can say that they are doing what they love….but Alene Baron can say exactly that. Alene is the main character in Battered : A Whipped and Sipped Mystery by G.P. Gottlieb. She grew up working in Whipped and Sipped, a cafe owned by a dear friend of the family Gary. And when Gary was ready to retire he sold it to Alene for a very good price. Now she runs it with her best friend from college Ruthie.
Alene Baron’s vegetarian bakery/cafe Whipped and Sipped is a hub of community activity–not always the kind Alene wants to see. Friends and neighbors wander in, a friend wants her to hire his son.