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Moving on…

I haven’t written my blog for some time and apologise to anyone who has missed a monthly update on my books and writing, or new recipe or two. The last twelve months have been the most difficult time of my life, with my beloved sister, Cathy, having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, to her death on 6th May. 

Too soon and so badly missed, she was not just my sister and best friend but also my writing inspiration. As a late starter, from the very first word I ever wrote, she was with me. Encouraging me to glue my behind to a chair and get my fingers tapping out ideas on a keyboard. We plotted each novel together, shared the first draft, the highs and lows of publishing and drank champagne on news of a book’s success. She was my critique and my greatest fan, the one who urged me to write on and take my work seriously. As I sit here, I wonder how on earth I shall pick up the pieces and write again.

But I will. Because that is what Cathy would want me to do.

So, as I begin a new chapter in my life without my darling sister, the page turns and a new book is born. I am up and running again and the words are flowing and I am sure that my beautiful girl is waving her magic writing wand and willing me on.

To all of you who have lost someone close in these difficult and trying times, I send you my sincere love and raise a glass to their memory. 

Cathy – my sister and best friend

Books & offers

FREE

All of my books are free to read on Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Prime and you can find them by using the link below:

Caroline James Author

You will also find three feel-good books for summer reading on a limited time offer for only 99p/99c on Amazon, and can find them here:

Coffee Tea the Gypsy & Me

Coffee Tea the Caribbean and Me

Coffee Tea the Chef and Me

And don’t forget that The Best Boomerville Hotel if a funny, feel-good read and the follow up, Boomerville at Ballymegille continues to get great reviews too. If you fancy more of a mystery to kick back and relax with, why not download Hattie Goes To Hollywood.

RECIPE

Summer fruits are absolutely sublime at the moment so why not cool off with a delicious ice-cream which is so easy to make and light on calories too.

Caroline’s Easy Summer Ice-cream

Ingredients: 2 bananas frozen, 400g frozen raspberries, 500g Greek 0% Yogurt, Sweetener to taste

Method: Whiz all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Freeze.

TIP: If you have bananas that are going black, don’t throw them away. Simply freeze and use in this recipe (or a banana bread recipe). Bananas that have been frozen taste sweeter which means you won’t need to add as much sweetener. You can use any frozen fruit such as strawberries, raspberries or blueberries. Best of all, this ice-cream is ready to eat as soon as you’ve made it! 

For the kids: use lollipop trays and freeze

I hope that the sun is shining wherever you are in the world and that life is treating you well. May you stay safe in the pandemic affected areas. Have a great summer.

With love and happy reading

Caroline xx

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Happy Valentine Weekend Everyone

Spring is on the way; evenings are getting lighter and there are warmer days to look forward to. In the UK we are still in a very strict Lockdown and for many this is tough, with a knock-on effect that complicates so many aspects of our lives. But the Covid19 vaccine is rolling out and there is light at the end of the tunnel. I wish all of you a safe and healthy journey through these difficult days and have included some treats below.

Thank you

Firstly, welcome to all the lovely new subscribers this month. It is great to have you onboard and I hope you enjoy these newsletters. 

Congratulations

A very big congratulations to new subscriber Tina Downs who has won a signed copy of Boomerville at Ballymegille and it is winging its way to you now. I hope that you enjoy reading all about Hattie and the gang at the new Boomerville in Ireland and sharing some of their shenanigans!

Grab a romantic read

My debut novel Coffee Tea the Gypsy & Me is FREE to download all weekend on Amazon.

This is the first in a series and shot to #3 in Women’s Fiction when first published. Set in lovely Cumbria it was E-book of the week in The Sun Newspaper and their review included: “A strong plot with likable characters make it a great feel-good 5 star read.”

To grab your free copy use the link below:

Coffee Tea the Gypsy & Me

Marmalade

I’ve been making marmalade this weekend while Seville oranges are in season and am trying a new recipe that will use truffles. The marmalade is to be eaten with savoury dishes so I am intrigued to see the results.  Seville oranges make the most wonderful marmalade and although it takes time to prepare them, the results are worth it.

Competition

This month the competition give-a-way is a signed copy of The Best Boomerville Hotel plus a box of delicious chocolates to dip into as you read. Simply head over to my Facebook Page to enter, saying why you would like to win the book or email me here: caroline@carolinejamesauthor.co.uk  This is open internationally, so please do enter. Good luck!

Win The Best Boomerville Hotel & Chocolates

Chocolate Cake

It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without chocolate – why not bake a gorgeous chocolate cake and indulge. Here’s my recipe for a rich and delicious cake. The recipe uses a lot of eggs but gives a lovely light sponge that keeps well.

Caroline’s Best Ever Chocolate Cake

FREE

Don’t forget that if you are in Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Prime, you can read my books for FREE. The link is below.

Wishing you a wonderful February

Happy reading

With love

Caroline xx

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Happy New Year 2021

As we say good bye to 2020 I wish you all a very happy New Year and hope and pray that 2021 will bring an end to the current pandemic and that whatever our ‘new normal’ is, will bring health and happiness to you all in the year ahead.

Giveaway

As a thank you to my wonderful readers there’s a chance to win…

Fancy an online treat from Amazon? I’m giving away a £25.00 Amazon voucher this month and you can stock up with books or whatever takes your fancy. To be in with a chance to win simply head over to my Facebook page and tell me why you’d like to win the voucher, OR you can email me here: caroline@carolinejamesauthor.co.uk

To enter click here: Win an Amazon Voucher

Good luck!

Reading

For my friends in America Boomerville at Ballymegille is currently only 99c (ends 4th January) so if you fancy a feel-good relaxing read in the days ahead download a copy here:

Boomerville at Ballymegille

Also on Promo:

If you would like to read the Coffee Tea series, the books are also on promo for the next few days:

Click here to download: Coffee Tea Series 

Recipe

One of my favourite cake recipes is A Taste of the Caribbean Cake

This delicious cake is full of lemon, coconut and ginger and melts in your mouth. Easy to make too.

If you fancy a taste of tropical sunshine download the recipe here:

A Taste of the Caribbean Cake

Wishing each and every one of you a very safe passage through these difficult days and all good wishes for a happy and healthy 2021.

With love

Caroline

xx

BOOKS BY CAROLINE JAMES

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Win a Teddy and a Tea Time Treat Recipe

Happy weekend everyone!

This is a short newsletter to let you know that my new book, Boomerville at Ballymegille is publishing on Tuesday 6th October and to celebrate, I have a lovely giveaway

WIN A ‘TEDDY’

Win a ‘Teddy’

Teddy is the puppy who we meet in the book. Teddy has had a poor start in life and needs a good home. Would you like your very own ‘Teddy’ ? I have a gorgeous gift wrapped Teddy, just waiting for one lucky reader. Simply head over to my Facebook page to enter and tell me why you’d like to win a Teddy. If you don’t use Facebook, send me an email on caroline@carolinejamesauthor.co.uk

Good Luck!

Get your copy of Boomerville at Ballymegille here: Boomerville at Ballymegille

Boomerville at Ballymegille – Publishing Tuesday!

Don’t forget that The Best Boomerville Hotel is only 99p (UK) at the moment and you can pre-order Boomerville at Ballymegille too so it lands on your e-reader on Tuesday paperback available too).

The Best Boomerville Hotel

Link: The Best Boomerville Hotel Link: Boomerville at Ballymegille

RECIPE – CAROLINE’S TEA TIME SCONES

Caroline’s Scones – A Tea Time Treat

If the weather is wet and gloomy this weekend, why not snuggle down with one of my favourite recipes. Scones are so delicious and so easy to make but feel like a real treat. Made in minutes, you can indulge yourself. I asked my Facebook friends which they preferred, fruit or cheese and the majority who replied said cheese!

What’s your favourite?

For the recipe, click here:  Caroline’s Scones

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and stay safe.

With love

Caroline

 Xx

BOOKS BY CAROLINE JAMES

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Competition Winner, Promo and Recipe

Huge congratulations to Tracey McCann who won this month’s competition. Bertie Bear and his travelling bag, plus a signed copy of The Best Boomerville Hotel are on their way to Tracey.

Look out for the next newsletter, where there is a chance to win ‘Teddy’ the gorgeous puppy from Boomerville at Ballymegille which is publishing on 6th October.

Don’t forget that The Best Boomerville Hotel is currently on promo in the UK and can be downloaded for only 99p

and you can pre-order Boomerville at Ballymegille here:

Boomerville at Ballymegille

Pre-publication reviews from bloggers are wonderful for Boomerville at Ballymegille and I am over the moon and so grateful to book reviewer Jena Henry for her 5* review, which you can read here:

This is a special story that combines love and hope, with problems and sadness, and encourages the marvelous characters to join together to make life better...”

On my recent travels to Scotland I tried lots of delicious food, especially seafood on the west coast, but this tart is simply the best I have ever tasted and I am thrilled to share the recipe with you. Ecclefechan Butter Tart is very easy to make and absolutely gorgeous – treat yourselves!

Ecclefechan Butter Tart

Download the recipe here: Ecclefechan Butter Tart

I hope that September is a good month for you all and please remember to stay safe, be kind and look after yourselves.

With love

Caroline

xx

BOOKS BY CAROLINE JAMES

(Free on KindleUnlimited)

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Morton’s Meals

On the publication of Summer Days at the Beach, Author Morton S Gray shares her lockdown recipes and tells us why food features in her novels.

For the last nine months, we have been a household of five after some complications with a house move, which I won’t go into here! Most of the meal preparation has fallen to me and I have found this a little stressful, especially during lockdown when five of us were homeworking and eating three meals a day too. How to keep meals fresh and interesting when the last thing you want to do is to cook again?

Inevitably, some of my staple meals find their way into my books. My husband’s favourite food is beans on cheese on toast, so I can rest assures that if all else fails that meal will be well received by him. (This meal featured in my novel The Truth Lies Buried).

I am always very conscious of the addition of food and drink in my novels. In my latest book, Sunny Days at the Beach, my heroine takes in an abandoned teenager and finds herself making not only packed lunches, but having to think more about meals than when she was a singleton.

Mandy, the heroine, prepares another of my staple meals – bacon, cheese and vegetables with pasta, affectionately known in this house as clean out the fridge pasta! Nick, the teenager  in the book is obsessed by pizza and tries to order it at any restaurant they visit. Nick gets tuna and mayo sandwiches for his school packed lunch and discovers a liking for berry smoothies from the beach-side café.

Sunny Days at the Beach has a gin distiller as a hero. My unsuspecting husband was ‘treated’ to a visit to a gin distillery for his birthday, thinly disguised as my research trip! At the distillery, we learned all about the botanicals, or flavourings, added to the gin to give it a unique taste. I will admit to being fascinated by the possibilities for flavouring  gin  and some of this filters through into the book.

Gin Botanicals

I’m always alarmed by how much tea and coffee my characters drink in a book, but then I drink a fair few cups a day myself!

Clean out the fridge pasta recipe

Ingredients

  • Meat – you can use cooked bacon, ham, cooked chicken or even mushrooms.
  • Vegetables – whatever you have to hand – I usually steam a combination of peas, sweetcorn and edme beans.
  • Cooked pasta.
  • Grated cheese.
  • Mayonnaise (mixed with mustard if you like it).
  • Salt and pepper to taste.

When your ingredients are cooked combine them all in a large saucepan with the cheese, salt and pepper and a generous helping of mayonnaise. Mix and serve. It really is that simple. Enjoy!

About the Author – Morton S Gray

Morton lives with her husband, two sons and Lily, the tiny white dog, in Worcestershire, U.K. She has been reading and writing fiction for as long as she can remember, penning her first attempt at a novel aged fourteen. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and The Society of Authors.

Her debut novel The Girl on the Beach was published after she won the Choc Lit Publishing Search for a Starcompetition in 2016. This story follows a woman with a troubled past as she tries to unravel the mystery surrounding her son’s new headteacher, Harry Dixon.

Morton’s second book for Choc Lit The Truth Lies Buried is another romantic suspense novel, The story of Jenny Simpson and Carver Rodgers as they uncover secrets from their past.

Christmas at Borteen Bay is Morton’s first Christmas novella. It is set in her fictional seaside town of Borteen and follows the story of Pippa Freeman, who runs the Rose Court Guest House with her mother, and local policeman Ethan Gibson, as they unravel a family secret as Christmas approaches.

Morton previously worked in the electricity industry in committee services, staff development and training. She has a Business Studies degree and is a fully qualified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Reiki Master. She also has diplomas in Tuina acupressure massage and energy field therapy. She enjoys crafts, history and loves tracing family trees. Having a hunger for learning new things is a bonus for the research behind her books.

You can catch up with Morton with the following links:-

Website and blog at www.mortonsgray.com

Twitter @MortonSGray

Facebook page – Morton S. Gray Author – https://www.facebook.com/mortonsgray/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/morton_s_gray/

About the Book – Sunny Days at the Beach

From party nights at the pub to sunny days at the beach …

Craft shop owner Mandy Vanes has always enjoyed a commitment-free singleton lifestyle — in fact, she’s well-known for her wild ways in her small seaside town on the coast.

But when local teenager, Nick Crossten, turns to her for help, Mandy has the opportunity to prove she can be a responsible adult. Although things get tricky when gin distillery owner Graham Frankley comes to town with some unexpected news.

Could this mean that Mandy the party girl is finally ready to grow up?

Buying Link for Sunny Days at the Beach – https://www.choc-lit.com/dd-product/sunny-days-at-the-beach/

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Happy Tuesday, stay safe, recipe and book

Happy Tuesday Everyone

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The sun is shining here and #Lockdown continues. This is just to say that I hope you and your family are keeping well, staying safe and finding your way through this very difficult journey.

There are some amazing stories coming out of this crisis and our homegrown most wonderful news is that of Captain Tom Moore who celebrates his 100th birthday on 30th April and has raised over £27million to date for NHS charities, walking 100 laps of his garden. I’m sure you’ll have a tear in your eye when you watch and listen to You’ll Never Walk Alone‘ with Captain Tom & Michael Ball. God bless you, Sir.

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‘You’ll Never Walk Alone”

PROMO BOOK

If you are reading during these days spent at home, I have a flash sale today. Hattie Goes to Hollywood is only 99p /$1.25 and you can download a copy here at Amazon:

HATTIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

RECIPE

I seem to be ‘comfort’ eating whilst stuck at home and if anyone fancies a very quick sweet treat that is so easy to make, grab these few ingredients and you’ll have a Swiss Roll on the table in no time.

2 eggs, 50g caster sugar, 50g self-raising flour*, 100g strawberry jam

Beat eggs & sugar until thick and pale. Fold in flour. Pour into tin 16x 28cm (greased & lined). Bake for 10 -12 mins. Turn out, spread jam, roll up. Eat & enjoy! *add 1 tsp baking powder if using plain flour

Wild garlic is still growing and makes the most wonderful pesto. If you want my recipe, drop me an email.

EXERCISE

The glorious spring weather has enabled me to get out during our one allowed exercise period each day and I’ve dragged my old bike out of the garage and enjoyed some lovely rides on deserted roads and lanes. I hope that you too can enjoy a walk or find something new to do whilst restricted.

Take care, stay safe and look after each other.

With Love

Caroline

xx

 

CAROLINE’S BOOKS (FREE TO READ ON KINDLE UNLIMTED AND AMAZON PRIME)

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Mothers Day, Marmalade, Books and a Recipe

Its Mother’s Day this weekend in the UK and like our friends across the world (who celebrate the day in May), today won’t be a day spent with family, friends or loved ones. The Coronavirus is affecting everyone and it is a very strange time for all of us, wherever we live.

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#StayStrongTogether is a great hashtag on social media and little acts of kindness that are taking place are bringing us together as communities. Remember the elderly and the isolated during the weeks ahead and help out wherever you can; even a phone call can make a huge difference. All my talks, guest speaker events, book signings etc are now cancelled for the months ahead and I will use the spare time to make some calls, keep in touch and up my writing and also hope that my books will sell online.

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BOOK

My new book Hattie Goes To Hollywood is on promotion this weekend, so if you are stuck inside grab yourself a feel-good read and escape for a few hours with super sleuth Hattie and the shenanigans of British village life in Hollywood – a little place nestling in the beautiful Lake District hills where murder and mystery abound. Hattie Goes To Hollywood is only 99p / $1.30 whilst on promo.

FUN

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It’s the little things in life at the moment that are giving a lot of joy. I entered three pots of marmalade into the Dalemain UK Marmalade Festival which was to be held last weekend but was cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. I’ve never entered before and more or less forgot about it. Imagine my pleasure when the post came yesterday and I learnt that I’d won a silver certificate and a merit! A big thank you to the judges.

RECIPE

BANANA BREAD

An easy and inexpensive recipe for you in this newsletter is my lovely Canadian daughter-in-law’s delicious banana bread. If you have bananas on the fruit dish that are dark and need eating, mash them together with a few store-cupboard ingredients and you will have a tasty treat for your tea today. A tip – don’t throw away dark or discoloured bananas, pop them in the freezer and use whenever you fancy making this recipe. You can cut down on the sugar content as freezing bananas seems to make them sweeter. Enjoy!

Ashley’s Banana Bread

4 mashed bananas / 2 eggs / 1 ¾ cups Self Raising Flour1 ½ cups white sugar / 1 ½ cups veg oil / ¼ cup milk

1 teaspoon baking powder / I teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients, mix well and pour batter into 2 loaf tins (greased & lined)

Bake at 170 C / 325 F until golden brown

Note: any cup size as long as uniform throughout

USA: If using plain flour double the baking powder

Take great care of yourselves in these difficult times, please keep safe and stay healthy

Sending love to you and yours

Caroline xx

BOOKS BY CAROLINE JAMES

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A big thank you plus Brighton, Brownies and a FREE book.

 

HATTIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

I want to say a very big thank you to everyone who has read my new book, Hattie Goes To Hollywood – the reviews are fabulous and make all the hard work worthwhile.

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Hattie seems to have hit a popular note as a private investigator and I am writing the next book in the stand-alone series, which will be titled Hattie & the Heirloom. Hattie Goes to Hollywood is available at the special publication day price of £1.99 / $2.99 for a short while only and you can download a copy here:

Hattie Goes To Hollywood

It is also available in paperback from all retail outlets and the audiobook is coming soon.

FREE BOOK

As an extra thank you to you all, for the next five days, you can download my book:

Coffee Tea The Chef & Me

Chef cover 2017 Kindle copy

Absolutely FREE!!

For several years I worked as an agent representing many celebrity chefs. These were wonderful times, being amongst talented and entertaining individuals, as I helped them carve out their media careers in the world of hospitality. The book is a fictitious novel that reflects that era of my life and I do hope you enjoy it. There’s an excerpt at the end of this newsletter.

Coffee Tea The Chef & Me

BROWNIES

On the subject of chefs and food, here is my favourite chocolate brownie recipe, this is rich and delicious and very easy to make:

CAROLINE’S BEST EVER CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

best ever brownies

INGREDIENTS:

350g dark chocolate / 250g butter / 100g plain flour / 1 teaspoon baking powder / 3 eggs / 250g dark muscovado sugar

Heat oven to gas 3 or 170c / Grease and line a tin 22cm square (or a small ‘tray bake’ tin)

METHOD

Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whisk eggs and sugar together until smooth, pale and fluffy. Fold chocolate and butter into mixture (use a metal spoon and ‘fold’ in a figure of 8 motion – this keeps as much air in the mix as possible, don’t ‘beat’ it.) Sieve flour and baking powder into mixture. Fold till blended then pour into the tin

Middle shelf of oven for 35 mins until surface is just set (will look slightly cracked on top). Remove and cool completely in the tin. Slice into squares. Store in a tin or container in the fridge.

BRIGHTON

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Spring is in the air at last, after the wettest of winters. My garden has been awash for months and Fred (our Westie dog) almost needs wellies and a life jacket each time he goes out.

We had a wild weekend in Brighton (literally) during a Force Ten Storm called Storm Dennis. The seafront was deluged with huge waves and lashing wind and rain. Despite this, a visit to the Brighton Pavilion (a palace) was a real joy and a pleasure to wander around such opulent surroundings. Don’t miss it, if you ever find yourself in Brighton with time to spare.

COMPETITION

There’s a competition on my Facebook page for a Boomerville Bertie, the travelling bear from The Best Boomerville Hotel. Why not enter and be in with a chance to win Bertie in his own travelling bag and a signed copy of The Best Boomerville Hotel.

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ENTER HERE TO WIN A BOOMERVILLE BERTIE BEAR

Until next time,

Stay safe and keep well,

With lots of love

Caroline

Caroline and HGTH

xx

 Coffee Tea The Chef & Me – Excerpt

The foyer of Hargreaves Promotions was deserted, and Hilary cursed as she swept past Lottie’s cluttered desk. The girl was nowhere to be seen and the switchboard lights flickered like traffic lights as they remained unanswered. A curious sound emanated from Bob’s office, the drone was low-pitched and sounded painful. Hilary peered through the frosted glass on the panel door then thrust the door open.

“Good grief, Bob, have you been tangoed?” Hilary stared at her assistant in his vivid orange outfit. He was all beads, bangles and Buddha since he’d come back from Tibet and Hilary’s patience was wearing thin. “Where in God’s name did you get that suit?” she asked. “You look like a space hopper.”

Bob ignored his boss. He kept his eyes closed and fondled the prayer beads. “Go away, Hilary,” he said quietly. “It’s my lunch break.”

“No, it isn’t,” Hilary said. “It’s three o’clock in the afternoon and this place is like the Marie Celeste. Where’s Lottie?”

Bob tucked himself under the worn leather top of his mahogany desk and folded his arms. “She’s gone to get a panini,” he replied, “we’ve never stopped all day and I shall faint if I don’t get some carbs.”

Hilary stared at a book on Bob’s desk, My Spiritual Journey by the Dalai Lama, as Bob leaned forward and stroked the cover protectively.

“Goolanga,” Hilary muttered, “aren’t you a little old for all this Hari Krishna nonsense?”

“Don’t knock something you know nothing about,” Bob said and gazed fondly at his hero’s image.

“I know that my office has ground to a complete standstill the moment I step out for a quick meeting.” Hilary tapped her elegant 1950s suede shoe. “Go and answer the phones please, then make us both an espresso. I want to hear all about the literary festival in the Cotswolds’.” She turned to leave but called over her shoulder, “When you’re quite sure that your chakras are where they should be and you’re ready to do some work.”

Bob screwed his eyes up and let out a hiss between clenched teeth as he watched Hilary retreat. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Hilary’s quick meeting had been the best part of four hours. Bob stroked his beads and breathed through his nose and filled his lungs with air, then exhaled slowly. He’d give Hilary five minutes then brace himself for her interrogation.

He closed his eyes again and thought about the weekend. It had been awash with literary luvvies who’d flocked to the annual festival. Hilary had insisted that he chaperone one of their clients, Prunella Gray, who was appearing at the festival to talk about her recently published, best-selling, autobiography. The festival was held in Chipping Hodbury; a quintessentially English town in the heart of affluent middle England, where pretty limestone buildings, adorned with flowering window boxes, lined the high street. Prunella had Hilary to thank for her success, but thanks was a swear word to Prunella Gray and she’d been ruthless in her climb to the top. With a rampant appetite for vodka and known as the Poison Dwarf in culinary circles, Prunella was, in Bob’s opinion, an absolute bitch. He’d seen chefs freeze like snared prey and jack-knife away to avoid her at restaurant openings and media events. Her sweet little face peered out from a heavy dark fringe and reminded Bob of Bette Davis in the film, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane.

But Baby Jane was alive and well and lived in a townhouse in Queen’s Park, London.

 

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New Book and a Valentine Recipe

NEW BOOK

HATTIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

IS OUT TODAY!

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Its publication day for Hattie Goes To Hollywood! Huge thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered their copy and is now has the novel winging its way to their e-reader or popping through the letterbox.

The launch of a new book is always very stressful for me. I know that I am supposed to feel elated that the work is done, the book is out in the public domain and publication day has arrived. But until the book has favourable reviews from valued readers who are kind enough to leave a review, I am always very nervous. I do hope that you enjoy the Hattie in her new role as a private investigator and watch this space because this is the first in the stand-alone book series and there is plenty more to come!

Hattie Goes To Hollywood is available online and in book shops and will be available as an audiobook very soon too.

GET YOUR COPY HERE:

HATTIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

“A big fat 5 stars!” Nikki Ashton, Best-selling author

A Cumbrian Village…
Three suicides…
A red-hot summer…

Join super-sleuth Hattie as tempers and temperatures rise in the Cumbrian village of Hollywood. With mischief and shenanigans aplenty, will Hattie discover the truth?

When recently bereaved Hattie Mulberry inherits her aunt’s dilapidated cottage in the village of Hollywood in Cumbria, she envisages a quiet life. But retired hotelier Hattie is bored and when her neighbour asks her to investigate a suspicious suicide, Hattie’s career takes a new direction and H&H Investigations is born. During the hottest summer for years, Hattie discovers there have been three recent suicides in Hollywood and she determines to find out why. Temperatures rise as she throws herself into village life and, with mischief and shenanigans aplenty, Hattie has her work cut out. But will she establish the truth?

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PUBLISHING

WRITER

I’m excited to whisper that I am working with a new company. The Publish Hub is run by authors to enable aspiring and established authors to get published. If writing a book is your dream, have a look at The Publish Hub.

RECIPE

Today is also Valentine’s Day and here’s a recipe for pineapple cake that is full of passion and very easy to make. Pineapple, I’m assured is an aphrodisiac. Enjoy!

Pineapple cake 2

CAROLINE’S PINEAPPLE CAKE

This cake oozes with love and passion and is sexy and sweet – perfect to nibble when snuggling down with a good book or someone…

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter  250g caster sugar 250g ground almonds

50g self-raising flour 5 eggs  200g fresh pineapple, chopped

50g soft brown sugar

Method:

Heat the pineapple and brown sugar and stew gently till the sugar dissolved, allow to cool. Cream the butter and sugar together until white and fluffy. Beat the eggs well then slowly add to the butter mix. Carefully fold in the almonds and flour. Grease a non-stick baking tray and add half of the sponge mix. Spoon cooked pineapple over. Add the remainder of the sponge mix. Bake in an oven at 325F /160 C /gas mark 3 – until firm to touch and light brown in colour. Cut into squares and keep in an airtight container.

Have a perfect Valentine’s Day, I hope that you enjoy a special treat with your loved ones.

Wishing you very happy reading,

with love

Caroline xx

BOOKS BY CAROLINE JAMES

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