Murder, Malice and Mischief

by Quinn, Lucy

  Preheat the oven to 350. Once the cookies have formed their crust, cook for 10-12 minutes, watching not to over-bake (and be careful of altitude--if you're at higher altitude, the air is thinner, so that affects your bake time…bake at 300 for more like 15-17 minutes). Take out the cookies and let them cool. Do not fill before they're cool.

  For filling, whip the butter in a standing mixer until it's creamy. Add the powdered sugar, slowly, until it's thick, then add the sour cream. Add the grated ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon, and mix until incorporated. Mix in the crystallized ginger. Pipe into the center of the cookies and sandwich them together, checking for size fit with each cookie.

  Eat and enjoy!

  Afterword

  If you loved Saint Agnes as much as I did, have no fear, it will return in future books. The Matchbakery and Vangie Vale will be back. For those of you who love Montana, I want to say, as a born-and-raised Montanan, it really is as amazing as we all write. There’s a reason it’s one of the highest-selling locations in fiction.

  Because I’ve had questions about the level of fact and fiction in this book, I wanted to address a few things.

  I have been to Seminary. I have been a pastor. I am not Vangie Vale, and she is not me. She is not based on anyone. She is not a stand-in for anyone. She is her own unique person, and I’m not just saying that because I think that’s what you want to hear. I’m saying it because I intentionally did not make her into me. I am not that interesting.

  The Saint Agnes Community Church, and all the people who attend there, are also not based on any church I’ve ever attended or worked in. Neither is Peter or the bishop, or any one character. I have intentionally not made them out of real people, because a lot of ministry is confidential, and I want to be very careful not to write things that are someone else’s story to tell.

  Saint Agnes, the town, is probably the best example of this “mosaic” of reality and fantasy. Those of you who are looking for the “real” Saint Agnes, as though it was a real place, will be sadly disappointed to learn that it’s nowhere. And everywhere. I took elements of six different Montana towns specifically when I made Saint Agnes. There are pieces of West Yellowstone and Gardiner (which are both entrances of Yellowstone National Park) and pieces of Saint Mary’s (which is one of the entrances for Glacier National Park), and there’s a little bit of Plentywood (the town where I grew up) and there’s a little bit of Belgrade and Livingston (towns on either side of where I currently live). Rolo is a similar conglomeration. So is Bedford. And so is Four Buttes. While I want to keep them “based on” real towns, because I have a lot of local experience, I specifically did not want any one town to be any one town.

  The exception, in this book, at least, is Madison Falls, which is unapologetically a stand-in for the city of Bozeman, where I currently live. And the coffee shop Vangie goes to is the coffee shop I go to, where the baristas call out hello when you walk in the door, and where they know my name. This is my one, unapologetic one-to-one reality. I really do get the Glacier Chai with a triple shot of espresso, and it really is sweet and smoky and divine.

  There are some pieces of Vangie’s backstory that I have intentionally not addressed in this book because they have relevance to future stories, and there are also some pieces of this mystery (one person’s disappearance in particular) that have not been tied up. I promise you, they’re coming in future books.

  Promise.

  I love Montana. I will always love Montana, and I want these books to be a reflection of how much I love Montana. I hope that the way I write Montana makes you want to be here as much as I do.

  There are many more murders per-capita in my fictional Montana than in the real version, where I have been a pastor and never once been part of a murder investigation.

  I have also chosen not to make Vangie any one particular denomination. While there are denominations that do not ordain women, for their own theological purposes, I have also chosen not to address that issue in this book. I don’t want this book to be a political or theological statement. I just want to write pastors as they really are. Flawed, interesting, humble, proud, overbearing, kindhearted, self-centered, giving, sinful, glorious…complex human beings.

  Because that’s who they are, in reality.

  In later books, Vangie will be continuing to solve crimes and match-bake, and I hope you will join me for all the future mysteries set in Saint Agnes and parts as yet unknown…

  -R.L. (Becca) Syme

  Acknowledgments

  I have to start, like I did in the dedication, by acknowledging how big a part my mother played in making this book series a reality. Not only did she introduce me to Nancy Drew as a very young kid—which has been the basis for my love of mystery novels from the age I was able to read them—but she is also the one who watches Sherlock and Midsomer Mysteries and Grantchester and Father Brown, and asks me, “have you seen the one where…?” Not only was she my high school English teacher, but she was the one who encouraged me to start writing books when I lost my job. She has always been my biggest fan.

  She is my superpower.

  My parents have both invested, literally and figuratively, in this series and in my career, and I could not be more blessed to have them as my parents. There are tears in my eyes as I write this. I do not deserve them, in any sense of any version of justice in this world. I love them so much for their unconditional and, at times, radically irrational love for me.

  Also, any set of acknowledgments of mine has to include the women who write with me, and who encourage me daily—the women who quite literally thought Vangie into existence with me, sitting in a hotel conference room in Boulder, Colorado in 2016. Jodi, Krystal, KC… this one is for you.

  And of course, I have to acknowledge my own Seminary cohort: Cohort J, from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. All of you—my classmates and my professors—played a part in seeing Vangie come to fruition. Vangie is not me. And I am not Vangie. Vangie is also not any of you. She has a little piece of several people I know, and a little (very little) part of me. But Vangie is all of us. All of us who went to Seminary, and who want to see God made real in this world, but who may or may not go about it the same way.

  My theology professors clearly never saw this book coming. But I hope they enjoy it, anyway. A special thanks to Dr. Ferris, whose extreme love for the Old Testament made me see it in a new way. And to Dr. Irving, who teaches and embodies servant leadership in a way I always aspire to emulate. And to Dr. Lawrence and Dr. Nah, whose systematic theology classes blew my mind in the absolute best of ways. And to Dr. McCloskey, whose consult on my statement of faith literally changed my life.

  The staff and pastors I have served and worked with over the years have all informed how I write clergy. Lynn Baker-Dooley, Dave McConnell, BJ Otey, Jared Little, Paul Utnage, Nicole Yenter, Chris Dooley, Gary Cook, Scott Makoutz, Jason Bowker, Daniel Hartzheim, Kay Lansverk, and so many others have given so much of their respective lives in service. I’m honored to know and have worked with all of you. And to all of the lay leaders and elders who have run boards and ministries that I’ve been a part of in the past, you all inspire me to truth and love and justice.

  All of my English teachers bear some responsibility for this book. The Beehlers, Sara Jayne Steen, Jill Davis, Linda Karell, Dr. Trout, Dr. Morgan, Dr. Sexson, Dr. Keehler. To my English undergrad partners, Mary and Rory and Peter, who made being an English major so much fun. To all the friends and teachers at the Moorhead MFA program, as well, although I left too early to have likely made an impression on them. They made quite an impression on me.

  For my sister, Maggie, and for and Kristy and Cathy, I quite literally would not be the person I am today without all of you. And for Krystal Shannan, who tirelessly read this book, with each chapter, and allowed me to cover my face when she asked questions so she wouldn’t see what was going to happen. I love the surprises too much.

  To Angela Polidoro, who took the raw material of this book and made i
t into something I’m proud to produce. Working with you has been an honor. I hope there are many more Vangie books to work with you on in the future.

  To Lane Heymont, my agent, whose tweet about this book has been printed out and taped to my vision board. You’ll never know how much that meant to me. To my RWA chapters, writers’ groups, Margie Lawson Academy and Immersion sisters, thank you for speaking into my process and supporting me when I needed it. And thanks to Margie for the NYTs that kept me working so hard on writing fresh. Thanks to Zara and Karen and Rosie and Ritter and Corrie, who all helped me with different parts of this process, and who have given amazing, insightful feedback. I appreciate all my writer- and reader-friends so much.

  And of course, I want to thank God. Not only for the gift of words and story, but for the ability to find hope and justice and truth in a world that seems so often devoid of all those things. Thank you for fiction, when the world is hard. And thank you for reality, when it’s not.

  I hope you all have enjoyed Vangie Vale as much as I have. Thank you for reading.

  Becca (R.L.) Syme

  Copyright ©2017 by R.L. Syme. All Rights Reserved. Published by Hummingbird Books.

  No part or parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, in any language, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.

  This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental.

  Edited by Angela Polidoro

  Cover by Llewellen Designs

  Recipes, tested by the R.L. Syme Test Kitchen Team