Who is Suzie Matthews,
Anyway?
Hello,
Maddie James here. There is a woman in my head who refuses to leave me alone.
Her book has been written. And written. I gave her a man in Bed, Breakfast & You. I gave
back her relationship with her long lost sister in Home for the Holidays. I even gave
her an entire eight-novella series in The Matchmaking Chef collection. But
she has more stories to tell, obviously, because her bugging hasn’t let up.
Her name is
Suzie Matthews, and I’ve decided to get to the bottom of why this woman refuses
to let go. Short and sweet, this is an interrogation, more than an interview (I
think!?). Let that be known for the record.
MJ: Hi
Suzie. It’s great to talk with you again. (like
we don’t talk all the time, you are always in my head…) I was wondering why
you love to occupy that space in my brain so much. I mean, it’s like you’ve
camped out there….
SM: Well,
Maddie, here is the deal. I like you. I like that you invented me, and I like
that you want to be like me when you grow up. You see, I am really so much like
you, and maybe we are twins, or something. Bonded, you know? That’s why I stick
around.
MJ: But you
are strawberry blonde. I’m brunette. We can’t be twins.
SM: Oh, sure
we can! It goes much deeper than hair color, you know.
MJ: How so?
SM: Well,
you and I, were think alike. We’re two peas in a pod. We cohabitate in the same
brain, in many respects. You’re already said it—I am the you, that you want to be when you grow up. When will you grow up,
Maddie?
MJ: *ahem*
That’s a rather personal question, isn’t it? Who is interrogating who here?
SM.
*laughing* No need for interrogation. I am an open book. Can you say that about
yourself, MJ?
MJ:
*silence*
SM: Well?
MJ: I am
sooo an open book.
SM: Really.
I am not so sure.
MJ: We are
not here to talk about me, Mrs. Matthews. So let’s get back to the subject at
hand. Here is what I want to know. For how long are you going to live in my
brain? I have given you prominent billing in 10 stories now. Is there more to
come?
SM: *laughs
again* Maddie, my dear. You have the answer to that tucked away in your brain,
don’t you? You know better than I do. You, of course, created me.
MJ: That I
did. But I want your input. How many more stories, Suzie?
SM: Oh, all
right. So let’s just get to it. Here is the deal, Maddie. I love the cooking
gig, and I’ll never tire of living at Legend’s Landing B&B, but I am ready
to ditch the show on the Food Channel. Brad is getting tired of me running off
to New York for taping, now and again, and since we landed that deal with the
home shopping channel, that’s taken up a lot of my time, too. And…I’m really,
really tired of the matchmaker gig. It is sooo time consuming. What I really
want to do now is stay home, be a mom to Petey (and maybe have another baby?)
and do my thing.
MJ: So your
thing would be running the B&B?
SM: And
writing my cookbooks.
MJ: Anything
else?
SM: *thinks*
Yes. Well, I mean no. Oh, shoot. I didn’t want to tell you this. Not yet
anyway. But, did you happen to read the obituary in the Legend Times the other
day? Miles Branson is dead.
MJ: What?
Your sister Chelly’s father-in-law? Matt’s father, Judge Branson? When did he
die?
SM: Yes,
yes. That’s him. Matt and Chelly are distraught. Even though the Judge isn’t
really the official judge any longer, he sat in that seat for so long that
everyone still calls him judge. It was very unfortunate and extremely
mysterious. You see, he was killed with a deadly scoop.
MJ:
*puzzled* A deadly scoop? You mean, like scoop shovel? Or a kitchen utensil?
SM: No, no.
A deadly scoop of ice cream. Some fancy sort of chocolate, I gather, although I
haven’t really had a chance to talk with Jillian yet to get the details.
MJ: Jillian
Bass? I’m confused. What does she have to do with Miles Branson’s death?
SM: Hopefully,
nothing at all. But old Miles died in her chocolate shop. Ice cream is on the
menu now at Bittersweets. Didn’t you know that?
MJ:
*scratching head* No, I didn’t know that. I don’t get how he died from chocolate
ice cream, Suzie…
SM: Why, it
was the poison, of course! And Jillian is in jail. You know she’s married to my
husband’s brother. So this is a double family connection, and well…
MJ: So you
have to do something about it. You, are going to fix this, Suzie?
SM: I’m
going to do my darnedest. This has all the makings of a cozy mystery, doesn’t
it?
MJ: In many
ways, yes, it does…
SM: And you
are going to write it. I suggest you get started right away, because Jillian is
rather delicate and the Legend jail cell is not too comfortable, so…
MJ: Got it.
A cozy mystery. Who woulda thunk?
Who would
have thunk, indeed? Stay tuned and watch my blog and website for more news about when Suzie
Matthews, Sleuth Chef, unravels this local Legend mystery….
The Matchmaking Chef Collection
by
MADDIE JAMES
The eight novellas of The Matchmaking Chef Series
Being a matchmaker isn’t really on her list of things to do—after all,
she has a bed & breakfast to run, cookbooks to write, and a television show
on the Food Channel to keep up with. But baking is her thing, and perhaps
matchmaking can be her thing, too. After all, there is a song going through her
head that goes something like this…
Matchbaker, Matchbaker, bake me a match? No
wait. Make me a match. Nevermind!
You get the picture, right?
Welcome to Legend, Tennessee. And welcome to the matchbaking, er,
matchmaking world of Chef Suzie Matthews.
Includes the 8 novellas: Perfectly
Matched, Dates Du Jour, Hot Crossed Buns, Side Dish, Mate To Order, Romancing
The Scone, Better Than Chocolate, and Hard
Candy Kisses, @ 133,000
Novellas also available separately.
Available at the following retailers:
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | KOBO | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS | ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS
Blurbs from each novella:
Perfectly Matched, Book One
Suzie Matthews is hard at work on
her new cookbook, Perfectly Matched,
when she asks the local “wallflower” to help her with a project. Mary Lou
Picketts dreams of falling in love with country music star, Nash Rhodes, but is
ready to settle for Thurman Phillips down the street. But she doesn’t want to.
Not really. When Nash comes to Legend for a music benefit and stays at the
lodge, Suzie wonders if she can perfectly
match this miss-matched couple.
Hot Crossed Buns, Book Two
Wild Katie Long, she’ll never settle
down. But Chris Marks has had his eye on her for a long time. When Chris hires
Suzie to set him up with a romantic dinner for two, Suzie does all she can to
set the mood. Thing is, Katie isn’t about to be wooed and she’s hotter than hot
crossed buns when she figures out what Chris is up to. Then Suzie turns the tables
by supplying Chris with a couple of items that just might tame Katie after
all—handcuffs and a leather riding crop.
Speed dating? Speed eating is more
like it. When Suzie sets up lunch date after lunch date for Lyssa Larkin, Legend’s
homegrown homecoming queen of 1992, she knows she’s bit off more than she can
chew. Lyssa rejects dates in two bites and sends them on their way. Suzie
wonders if she really wants to date or just eat two lunches, and worries that
soon Lyssa’s hips won’t fit on her dainty chairs. That is, until Suzie takes a
risk with a man that Lyssa knows, but doesn’t, and who is falling for her hard
and fast.
Side Dish, Book Four
Becca North doesn’t want a boyfriend
but her best friend Nora certainly does. Becca is soooo off men. But when Nora,
owner of Nora’s Novel Niche, meets Suzie the Matchmaking Chef, during a
booksigning at her store, she pays the matchmaker to arrange a romantic picnic
date lunch for her—a blind date, no less. Nora drags Becca along all the way
from Pigeon Forge for moral support and to check out her date. Thing is, Nora’s
date would rather check out Becca, instead.
Mate to Order, Book Five
When Suzie’s success as a matchmaker
hits the national scene about the same time as her debut cooking show on the
Food Channel, her new producer comes to her with a list of requirements—not for
Suzie’s job, but for a husband. Patricia Plum has a specific list and if Suzie
really wants to make it big in New York City, she’ll make every attempt to
deliver, Patricia’s “Mate to Order.”
Romancing the Scone, Book Six
High tea or sweet tea? As long as
there are scones, it doesn’t matter. In fact, Sydney Schul, owner of Sydney’s Sugar Coffee Stop and Bakery,
makes the best damned scones east of the Mississippi, and there was an article
written about her in Southern’s Best
magazine to prove it. All is well and life in Legend is good, until a
mysterious male stranger comes to town, stalking her scones and coercing
Legendarians to nab her recipe.
Better than Chocolate, Book Seven
When Scott Matthews escapes to
Legend to visit his brother, Brad and his wife Suzie, he has only one
request—he doesn’t want to talk, smell, or taste chocolate. Nor does he want to
discuss getting fired as chocolate taster from world-renowned Bianchi
Chocolates. What Jillian Bass needs is to make it in Legend. This Manhattan
transplant knows nothing about small town living other than she wants to make
it big here real bad. Forget New York, she’s trying to set up her small
chocolate shop and impress the locals. And all is fine until she smacks
straight into Scott.
Hard Candy Kisses, Book Eight
New Year’s Eve is just around the
corner and Legend Elementary teacher Patti Jo Baker has tried every trick in
the book to land a date for the annual New Year’s Eve Bash at The Lodge. This
includes setting up a kissing booth at the Legend Elementary Winter Carnival—a
booth which Principal Jim Hamilton promptly shuts down. Because if Patty Jo
Baker is passing out kisses, any kind of kisses, he wants to be both first, and
last, in line—and he definitely doesn’t want to sample them in front of the
student body.
Giveaway
Maddie is giving away 1 ebook copy of
The Matchmaking Chef Series Collection
Krista, thank you so much for hosting me today! What a wonderful blog and writing the post for this one, helped me to solidify my plot for the cozy mystery. Suzie reigns!
ReplyDeleteThanks Maddie, I'm thrilled to have you visit :) Yay! Can't wait for the cozy mystery!
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