A Cherry Scones Reboot!

As many of you might know, my first foray into the world of cozy mystery writing was with a series published by Midnight Ink, called A Very Cherry Mystery Series. I had never written a cozy mystery before, and, truth be told, when I wrote that first novel, Cherry Pies & Deadly Lies, I didn't realize that what I had written was considered to be a "cozy mystery". That started me on my path to discovering the delightful, lighthearted, and dare I say clever world of the amateur sleuth that defines the genre. And let me tell you, I was very excited to begin this journey.

Whitney Bloom, my plucky protagonist for this series, grew up on a cherry orchard in the lovely yet fictional village of Cherry Cove, Wisconsin, nestled on the beautiful Door County peninsula. When we meet Whitney, she's living in Chicago and desperately trying to make her mark on that city. However, Whitney, who's in advertising, lost her dream job when she created a questionable ad that got aired during the Super Bowl. Trying to get her old job back while making ends meet by baking delectable cherry baked goods using cherries grown on the family orchard, Whitney is determined to stick it out... until she gets a desperate call from her mother, who tells her that their beloved orchard manager has been murdered, and that all fingers are pointing to Whitney's dad as the murderer.

I had so much fun writing that first book, and was thrilled with the prospect of getting to write at least two more in the series. I jumped right in with Cherry Scones & Broken Bones, a novel that takes place entirely on the Door County peninsula, and where Whitney is not only the new manager of the Cherry Orchard Inn, but is also trying to figure out her relationship with her old friend and the village's only police officer, Jack Maclaren.

I had just turned the manuscript in for Cherry Scones, which I was incredibly pleased with. I loved this book, having poured my heart and soul into it, and jumped right in on plotting the next book in the series. And this is where my story takes a heart wrenching turn. I had just turned my mind to that third book when my agent called me. She told me that my publisher was cutting its mystery imprint, and that Cherry Scones & Broken Bones would be one of the last titles they would publish. I then had to turn my mind from that third book and start thinking about a new series, which, by the way, is when I started brainstorming the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series. Ironically, the Beacon Bakeshop would never have existed if it wasn't for Whitney Bloom, who sparked my love for writing cozy mysteries.

Cherry Scones & Broken Bones was only out for about six months before it was pulled from all retailers and pulped. The rights to both books had come back to me, and, honestly, I wasn't sure what to do with them. I wanted to make them available to readers, but knew that self-publishing was a lot of hard work. My forte is writing books, not publishing them. That's when my good friend, Robin Taylor, came up with a plan. I would re-edit the books, and she would create original art for the covers. Since we are both busy ladies, we worked at our own pace, but I'm so glad we did. This week, Robin surprised me with this gorgeous cover. Another surprise was that she had already worked her magic on the Kindle platform. Which means, in short, that after some inspecting and tweaking, Cherry Scones & Broken Bones was finally ready to go out into the world once again. And this time nobody will be pulling it and pulping it!

To celebrate this re-release, I'm reposting this video of the cherry scone recipe found at the back of the book. If you love a good scone, you're going to want to make some of these! You can download a copy of the recipe from my recipe page, or click here!

Cherry Scones & Broken Bones is only available on Kindle, and it's just 2.99!

You can order your copy here!

I'm just so thrilled to have this book available to readers once again, and I adore that cover! Robin outdid herself on this one. I could stare at those goats (the infamously naughty Thing One and Thing Two!) all day.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy this book. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Who knows, I just might be inspired to write book three!

Happy reading & happy baking!

Love,

Darci