The Annie Graceland Cupcakes Cozy Mystery Box Set #2: Books 5 - 7

by Pamela DuMond

  Now, Liam and I are seated at the kid’s table at Mort Feinberg’s annual Thanksgiving celebration, and the kids encouraged me to share my story with them. I have my first wide-eyed, captive audience as I tell them about Joshua Bankman’s Very Scary Day.

  I’m a novelist, Finley! Whether I choose to self-publish or seek out a lit agent and pursue a traditional route for this book—I’m a novelist. Wow! Color me happy.

  I’m not sure this would have been possible without your help, Finley. But I know in the months ahead, I probably won’t be penning as many entries into your pages as I have been during #NaNoWriMo month. I don’t want you to think that I don’t appreciate you and all of your support. I do. This has been an amazing time period for me.

  So, even if I put you on the shelf for a few months, please know that some day I’ll turn around and say, “Hey, I haven’t talked to Finley in a while!”

  I’ll pull out your gorgeous binder, flip open your pages, and we will catch up. Because, Finley, we will always be friends. I do believe that’s in our cards. And thank you; thank you from the bottom of my heart.

  Your forever friend,

  Grady Swenson

  Chapter 35

  Thanks for all the Giving

  ANNIE

  Dear Diary,

  The tabloids and TV gossip shows perpetuate the myth that people who live in L.A. are fancy and pretentious. I find it a bit odd that these sites inundate us with clips of drunken celebrities and forget to share that the majority of people who reside in So-Cal, famous or not, lead down-to-earth lives. We are simple, we are normal; we are family.

  Today, my L.A. extended, eclectic family gathers at Mort Feinberg’s for a Thanksgiving Day feast and celebration. Mort’s crowd includes his relatives, a smattering of friends, his employees, as well as their family members and loved ones.

  I sat on a folding chair at one of the long, skinny, portable dining tables stacked flush against each other like Legos in the back back kitchen at Mort Feinberg’s Famous Deli smack-dab in the center of Beverly Hills, California, 90210. The tabletops were filled with platters of turkey, dressing, green beans and almonds, a few different kinds of tossed salads, mashed potatoes—regular as well as sweet—and five varieties of rolls and bread, and gravy boats. I knew that there were counters in the other room filled with freshly prepared desserts.

  My mother, Nancy, was seated to my left and my boyfriend, Raphael, on my right.

  Because it’s a California Thanksgiving—the kids have their own tables on the side that even extend onto the outdoor dining patio. The heat lamps were turned on, as the day was slightly chilly. Grady and his boyfriend Liam sat with the kids.

  Grady regaled his new, wide-eyed audience with the story he wrote in his middle-grade mystery, Joshua Bankman’s Very Scary Day, (think Nancy Drew meets the Hardy Boys.) His protagonist is a twelve-year-old boy who’s known forever that he’s gay but discovers he can see and talk to ghosts. And, yes—I’m cool with that.

  Julia’s spending the holiday with Devin and meeting his family. He’s getting me a great deal on a used car, but that’s not the only reason I like him. He seems to genuinely care about Julia. Who knows? After all these years she’s been looking for Mr. Right, she might have actually found him. Boy, I hope so.

  I’m supposed to be thankful today, and I was—but my feelings are a bit all over the map. I gazed at my mother. Nancy smiled, giggled, and talked animatedly with Mort’s wife, Eva, who sat across from her. They’re comparing recipes and family gossip. (Thankfully, not mine, for a change) I’m grateful that I’m spending Thanksgiving with my beloved mother, who drives me crazy who I love very much. She’s seventy. How many more holidays would we share? Since I discovered this year that I could talk to ghosts, I’ve also realized that life is too short.

  Life is crazy, heartbreaking, lovely, and fragile. You’d better appreciate every single second because the days that make up the years that we call a lifetime are fleeting. You blink your eyes and ten years pass. You blink again and twenty more slip by.

  That said, I’m grateful that we solved Mack McManus’s murder and thrilled that he passed to the Afterlife. I wish Derrick had transitioned as well, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be in his cards yet. I glanced across the table at him, raised my wine glass, and said, “Happy Thanksgiving.”

  Mort noticed and raised his glass. The next thing I knew, all the diners lifted their glasses, toasted, and chimed in, “Happy Thanksgiving!”

  “I can’t lift the glass,” Derrick said. “Let’s just pretend I am. Happy Thanksgiving, Annie. How’s the dressing?”

  “It’s great,” I said.

  “It is great, isn’t it?” Raphael squeezed my hand under the table, and kissed me on the cheek.

  I leaned in and whispered that I had a very special Thanksgiving gift planned for him once Mom departed L.A. I hoped he still liked whipped cream and dark chocolate, and yes, I finally tracked down those cupcake print silken restraints.

  He kissed me for a few moments longer than proper, pulled away, and winked. He squeezed my knee, ran his fingers up and down my thigh, gave me goosebumps on my arms as well as my girly parts, and said, “I love you, Annie.”

  “What?!” I exclaimed.

  “You heard me,” he said.

  “Say it again.”

  “I love you, Annie Rose Graceland.”

  At first I was speechless, but then I found myself saying the same words back to him in hushed tones, “I love you, too. I love you, Raphael Campillio.”

  “Oh for God’s sakes,” Derrick said. “Enough with the PDA. No one wants to hear it. No one wants to see it. I just want some dressing, please. If you could finagle that, I’d be eternally grateful. And maybe some of the mashed potatoes with a little gravy. And, let me tell you one more thing. Just one final piece of advice, and then I swear, I’ll be quiet…”

  Thanks Diary.

  Thanks for everything. Truth be told?

  This really is a lovely life.

  Xo,

  Annie Rose Graceland

  Chapter 36

  Roller Coaster

  Nancy

  Dear Diary,

  I hate to admit it, but I was having a lovely time in Los Angeles visiting my daughter. Annie’s apartment was tiny, but clean as a whistle except for the cat hair that kept showing up on my clothes, like it had been magnetized to me. We drove a lovely loaner sedan from Marina Del Rey Cadillac.

  Mort Feinberg’s Thanksgiving party was so much fun and the bounty of freshly cooked food were amazing! The turkeys were moist and juicy. The buttermilk twisted rolls tasted like they’d been freshly made—not squeezed from a tube onto a baking tin. I don’t know what they put in the dressing, but I needed that recipe.

  Mort’s wife, Eva, was delightful. She had a self-deprecating sense of humor, and regaled me with funny stories about living among the celebrities, but not really being one. She’d fit in perfectly with my Wild Women’s group back at home. I thought I’d hate Mort, but he was a gentleman and a wonderful host.

  All in all I was greatly disappointed because I expected to hate these people, and instead I adored them. I just wished they all lived back in Oconomowoc, or at the least in Milwaukee, so my only daughter would move home, and I could see her, as well as them, more often.

  This was my first trip to L.A. since Annie found out her soon to be ex-husband was a colossal loser. You’d better believe I had my eye on the new boyfriend, Raphael Campillio, every second we were in the same room. So yes, I noticed when he kissed her for a few moments longer than proper, then pulled away, and winked. I heard him say, “I love you, Annie,” and I watched her just melt in front of him, in front of me, in front of the whole world as she told him that she loved him too.

  And I cringed internally, but kept a stiff upper lip, as mothers often do, because I knew in my heart, she wouldn’t be moving home anytime soon.

  But in spite of my sorrow, I approved. Annie was finding extended family in L.A
., and I think, I think, she had found a good, solid man.

  We’re going to Disneyland tomorrow. Annie wants to go on the roller coaster rides. I told her that her life’s been a titanic roller coaster this past year and that I thought we should stick with the Mad Tea Party and the It’s A Small World rides.

  But, Dear Diary, daughters rarely listen to their mothers. I should know—I seldomly listened to mine. But maybe that’s how life intended mother and daughter relationships to be. Because no matter how much you love someone, you can’t live their life, you can only live your own.

  Thanks for everything, Diary.

  God Bless.

  Sincerely,

  Nancy Jean Graceland

  The End

  In loving memory of my mother

  Susan Marie Timmel DuMond

  (June 23, 1927 − February 16, 2014)

  Dear Reader:

  I hope you enjoyed Cupcakes, Diaries, and Rotten Inquiries. Please consider leaving a review on the site where you bought the book as well as on Goodreads. Reviews help an author more than you can imagine. Diaries Goodreads .

  Sign up for news, special deals, and book updates on

  Pam’s Newsletter

  (On the right side close to the bottom of the linked page.)

  I’d love it if you’d check out my other books. Everything I write has humor and heart.

  Happy reading,

  Pamela DuMond

  Diaries Recipes

  Pumpkin Spice Cupcake

  by Laura DeVries (Professional baker)

  This recipe is super-easy and doesn't even need a mixer if you don't want to use one.

  Ingredients:

  4 large eggs

  2 cups granulated sugar

  1 cup canola oil

  15 oz. pumpkin

  2 cups cake flour

  2 tsp. baking powder

  1/2 tsp. baking soda

  1/2 tsp. salt

  1 3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

  Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Mix at medium speed until smooth.

  Combine flour and next 5 ingredients. Stir flour into wet mixture until well blended.

  Line cupcake pan with paper liners, and fill 3/4 full.

  Bake at 350° approximately 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

  Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

  Ingredients:

  1 package 8 oz. cream cheese, softened.

  4 tbsp. butter softened

  1tsp. pure vanilla extract

  1 pkg. (16 oz.) powdered sugar

  Directions:

  Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.

  Add vanilla.

  Add powdered sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy.

  Frost cupcakes after they have cooled.

  Banana Pudding Cupcakes

  by Tina-Marie Vaitl

  Ingredients:

  1 box French Vanilla Cake Mix (plus ingredients listed on box, and Buttermilk)

  8 oz. container spreadable Cream Cheese (softened)

  14 oz. can Sweetened Condensed Milk

  ¾ Cup Whole Milk

  3.4 oz. box Instant Banana Pudding

  1 Cup frozen Whipped Topping (thawed)

  1-2 Bananas, sliced in 24 pieces

  1 tsp Vanilla Extract

  1-2½ Cups crushed Vanilla Wafers

  Yield 24 Cupcakes

  Make the cupcakes according to the instructions on the cake mix, *except* use buttermilk in place of the water. The batter will be thick, but trust me... awesomeness is about to happen! Divide the batter equally between two 12 cup muffin tins with liners.

  While the cupcakes are baking, make the filling in a separate bowl.

  Mix together the softened cream cheese with the sweetened condensed milk until it’s very creamy looking.

  Add the whole milk, vanilla and banana pudding mix and whip until it’s thickened. Keep your mixer on medium speed until everything is blended.

  Fold in the thawed whipped topping by hand.

  When the cupcakes are done, put them on a wire rack and let them cool down. The magic is about to happen!

  Using a sharp knife, cut the middle out of each cupcake leaving about ½ inch around the edges, and be careful not to go all the way to the bottom. (Save the middles for another use, or just eat them because they are yummy!)

  Sprinkle some of the crushed vanilla wafers into each cupcake shell, and place a slice of banana in next. You want room to put the pudding filling, and then add some more to “frost” the cupcakes with.

  Finish them by sprinkling more of the crushed vanilla wafers on top. You could also top them with some more whipped cream before the wafer garnish if you want to.

  Chill for several hours before serving, if you can wait that long!

  Strawberry Tiramisu

  by Joan Olive Yallop (Cheryl Moore’s mama)

  Ingredients and Directions:

  Blend 2 pints of sliced strawberries, 3/4 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons cream de cacao. Reserve 3/4 cup.

  Pour remainder into pie plate.

  In medium bowl mix 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese (room temperature) and 1/4 cup powdered sugar.

  I

  n a large bowl, whip 1 1/2 cups heavy cream and fold in mascarpone mixture.

  Trim and soak 24 ladyfingers in the berry mixture in pie pan.

  Fit 12 ladyfingers side by side in two rows on bottom of 8 X 8 baking dish.

  Spread 1/2 reserved berry mixture and 2 cups mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers, and then layer the remaining lady fingers with remaining strawberry mixture and mascarpone.

  Cover and refrigerate, cut into squares and garnish with shaved dark chocolate.

  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

  by Cheryl Cavitt Carlson

  Ingredients:

  2 cups all-purpose flour

  2 cups sugar

  2 teaspoons baking powder

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I just use cinnamon)

  4 eggs

  1 can (1 lb., 2 cups) pumpkin

  1 cup vegetable oil

  1 cup Branflake cereal

  1 Six oz. package semi-sweet chocolate morsels (the more the better, it’s chocolate after all!)

  Directions:

  1. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt and spice. Set aside.

  2. In large mixing bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Add pumpkin, oil and bran cereal. Mix well. Add flour mixture, stirring only until combined. Stir in chocolate morsels and nuts. Spread evenly in ungreased tube or Bundt pan.

  3. Bake at 350° F about 1 hour and 10 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely before removing from pan. Drizzle with powdered sugar glaze, if desired.

  Shoo Fly Pie

  by Author J.M. Kelley

  Ingredients:

  Crumb mixture—which will be lumpy. Set aside about ½ cup to top pie

  1 tbsp. shortening

  2/3 cup brown sugar

  1 cup flour

  Filling:

  1 egg beaten

  ¾ cup water, boiling

  1 cup molasses, the thicker the better

  1 tsp. baking soda

  1 unbaked refrigerated piecrust

  Directions:

  Combine soda with boiling water.

  Add egg and syrup.

  Add crumb mixture.

  Pour into piecrust and top with the set-aside portion of crumb mixture.

  Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes, and then lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Continue to bake until firm, usually about 40 minutes.

  Pie should be gooey but somewhat firm, and bottom crust usually turns out rather moist, that suits the nature of this sweet treat!

  Sweet Potato Casserole

  by Terri Billingsley Dunn

  Ingredients and Directions:

  1 lb. cooked sweet pot
atoes, drained and mashed.

  1/4 cup melted margarine.

  1 cup sugar.

  1/2 tsp. salt.

  2 eggs.

  1/2 cup milk.

  1/2 tsp vanilla.

  Whisk together and spread in 9 x 13 casserole dish.

  Mix together the following and sprinkle on top of sweet potato mixture: 1 cup brown sugar. 1/3 cup self-rising flour. 1 cup pecan chips. 1/4 cup melted margarine. (Mix first three ingredients together before adding margarine.)

  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

  Apple Cake

  by Cheryl Moore

  (Voted by Cheryl’s husband as the best cake ever!!)

  Instructions:

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  Peel and thinly slice approximately five granny smith apples to equal four cups. Spread apples in buttered 13x9x2 inch pan or evenly distribute in 24 cupcake liners for cupcakes.

  Beat three eggs with a mixer until thick. In a separate bowl combine two cups of sugar with one cup of vegetable oil. Pour beaten eggs into this and mix with mixer on medium speed.

  Stir together two cups of flour, three teaspoons of cinnamon, one teaspoon baking soda, and one-half teaspoon of salt; add to egg mixture, add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (pure not imitation) and beat to mix. Stir in one cup chopped walnuts.