Fairy gardens, an art show, a business partner with a secret, and a murder? Mix these unlikely elements together, and you have the latest installment in the Fairy Garden Mysteries, A Flicker of a Doubt. Venture along with Courtney Kelly as she investigates this latest crime, and enhance your reading experience with our recipe for delicious Gluten-Free Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies.
- 1 cup gluten-free flour*
- 1 tablespoon loose Earl Grey tea leaves (2 tea bags, cut open)
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- In a food processor, pulse together flour, tea, and salt. Add confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and butter. Pulse 10 to 20 times until a dough forms. Remove dough from container and place on a sheet of plastic wrap. Roll dough into a log, 6 to 7 inches long and 2 inches in diameter. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Slice dough log into ⅓-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until cookie edges are lightly browned, 11 to 12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Making fairy gardens, and teaching crafters how to do the same, keeps Carmel-by-the-Sea shop owner Courtney Kelly busy—but sometimes she has to make time for a wee bit of detective work, too.
With a theater foundation tea and an art show planned at Violet Vickers’s estate, Courtney is hired to create charming fairy gardens for the event. It’s not so charming, however, when her best friend Meaghan’s ex-boyfriend turns out to be Violet’s latest artistic protégé. Even worse, not long after Meaghan locks horns with him, his body is found in her yard, bludgeoned with an objet de murder.
There’s a gallery of suspects, from an unstable former flame to an arts-and-crafts teacher with a sketchy past. But when the cops focus on Meaghan’s business partner, who’s like a protective older brother to her, and discover he also has a secret financial motive, Courtney decides to draw her own conclusions. Fearing they’re missing the forest for the trees and with some help from Fiona the sleuthing fairy, she hopes to make them see the light.
Agatha Award–winning author Daryl Wood Gerber writes the French Bistro Mysteries as well as the nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mysteries. As Avery Aames, she pens the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. Daryl also writes stand-alone suspense, which include the titles Day of Secrets and Girl on the Run. Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl appeared in Murder, She Wrote. She loves to cook, and she has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line! Visit her at www.DarylWoodGerber.com.
