Cool the cake for ten minutes and turn it upside down.
CRUMBLY NUT ROUNDS
You roll the dough for these cookies into balls and put them on the cookie sheet. Be careful not to tip the sheet when you pick it up, or the dough balls might roll away. You can make them stay put by flattening them with the bottom of a glass.
1 stick (half a pound) of unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup sugar
¾ cup coarsely ground pecans or hazelnuts
1 cup sifted cake flour (or 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons of sifted all-purpose flour)
½ teaspoon vanilla
[Optional pinch of salt and sifted confectioners’ sugar]
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter with the sugar. Stir in the nuts.
Add the sifted flour in two batches. Stir in the vanilla and the salt (no more than teaspoon).
Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap.
Shape tablespoons of dough into a 1-inch balls and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
Bake 15-17 minutes, until cookies are set and just beginning to brown lightly.
Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool further. If desired, sift confectioners’ sugar over the cookies.
Yields approximately 30 cookies.
Val’s Trivia Questions
1. University of Maryland athletic teams share a name with the diamond-backed turtles native in this region. What is the name?
2. Which of these organs are not considered vital to life—the appendix, the liver, the gallbladder, the spleen?
3. What married couple, both Oscar winners, starred in the 1973 TV movie Divorce His, Divorce Hers and, a year later, divorced in real life?
4. What is the official fish of the state of Maryland, also known as striped bass?
5. Some patients in emergency rooms have pyrexia. Is that a burn, an eating disorder, a fever, or a skin infection?
6. Cafe Montmartre opened in 1923 as the first nightclub in what U.S. city: New York, Las Vegas, Hollywood, or Baltimore?
7. Name one of the two major league teams that had a home in Griffith Stadium.
8. Two mothers and two daughters go out for coffee and a doughnut. They spend fifteen dollars altogether and each one spent the same amount. Did they each spend four dollars, five dollars, six dollars, or none of those?
9. The sweet taste of this antifreeze component makes it dangerous to animals and children who might drink it accidentally. Is it isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, or corn syrup?
10. What name was used by film directors from 1968 to 2000 when they didn’t want their own name to appear in the credits? Was it Stacy Smith, Alan Smithee, John Smithson, or Sandy Shore?
ANSWERS
1. Terrapin
2. Appendix, gallbladder, spleen
3. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
4. Rockfish
5. Fever
6. Hollywood
7. Washington Senators or Washington Redskins
8. Five dollars (spent by three women: a grandmother, mother, and daughter)
9. Ethylene glycol
10. Alan Smithee
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank those who shared their expertise with me and answered questions that arose as I planned and wrote this book. For information on murder methods, crime scenes, and forensics, I consulted D.P. Lyle, M.D. I also received helpful advice from pharmacist and toxicologist Luci Zahray, known to the mystery community as the Poison Lady. Cathy Ondis Solberg and Don Solberg answered my questions about investments and financial fraud. My gratitude goes to all of them. Any errors in the book on these subjects resulted from my misunderstanding.
From synopsis through each stage of writing this book, I relied heavily on my friend, writing partner, and sister in crime, Carolyn Mulford. Heartfelt thanks, Carolyn. I couldn’t have done it without you. I received excellent suggestions on the manuscript from writers E. B. Davis and Helen Schwartz. Friends and family also read the book and helped me improve it: Susan Fay, Elliot Wicks, Toni Corrigan, Rob Corrigan, and Paul Corrigan. Special thanks go to Mike Corrigan for his insights on the book and for his infinite patience while I wrote it.
Thanks also to my agent, John Talbot, and my editor, John Scognamiglio, and the whole team at Kensington Books. I also want to thank the people without whom this and other books wouldn’t exist—readers.
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2015 by Mary Ann Corrigan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-1-6177-3140-2
First Kensington Mass Market Edition: July 2015
eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-141-9
eISBN-10: 1-61773-141-2
First Kensington Electronic Edition: July 2015
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