You'll find some of my  older blog posts below, but since 2020 I've posted at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, where twelve mystery authors share their favorite recipes, chat about food topics, and pass on news about their books. We also run book giveaways regularly. 

Check out my recipes there and my posts about food history. I've put up so many recipes that you'll have to click on Next Posts when you come to the end of the page.

​On April 14, 1912, passengers ate their final meals on the Titanic. Fewer than half of them survived to eat another day. We know what they ate that day because a few passengers tucked souvenir menus away. For example, an American banker’s wife had the first-class lunch menu in her purse when she escaped the sinking ship. 

The largest group of passengers were in third class, and less than a quarter of them survived, primarily women and children. On most ships of that era, third-class passengers had to bring food with them for the voyage, but on the Titanic, they were served meals at long tables in a room resembling a school cafeteria. They ate dinner in the middle of the day, as was common among the working classes. A single menu card contained the details for each meal of the day.

First and second class passengers ate more sumptuous meals as the menus below show. 

In S'more Murders, the fifth of my Five-Ingredient Mysteries, a Titanic-obsessed yacht owner hires my sleuth Val and her grandfather to re-create the final meal served on that doomed ship.

On the anniversary of its sinking, the yachtsman welcomes his guests aboard and assigns them roles in a murder mystery game, "Death on the Titanic." Val soon reaches the chilling conclusion that the host is fishing for the culprit in a more recent crime.

No one gets to finish Val's Titanic-inspired dinner, and it's the final meal for one person on the yacht. Val and her grandfather have to reel in a real killer before s’more murders go down. 

Read more about S'more Murders and find out where to buy the book. 

​During the Victorian era, when store-bought valentines replaced handmade ones, the buyer had two choices: hearts-and-flowers cards expressing love and admiration or valentines with caricatures and insulting verses ridiculing the recipient. 

The typical format of the vinegar valentine was a caricature of the recipient and a short verse at the bottom. Men sent vinegar valentines to damsels who’d dared turn them down or to women they were throwing over. Likewise, women sent cease-and-desist valentines to men who were pursuing them.
 
The vinegar valentines weren't only for men and women in failed courtships. People could buy valentines to chastise the behavior of relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances. 

Eighty years ago this month, Daphne du Maurier delivered the manuscript of Rebecca to her publisher. The publisher ordered a first print run of 20,000 copies. Within a month the book had sold twice that number. The American Booksellers Association voted it 1938's favorite novel, and it has never been out of print since it was first published.

British bookseller WHSmith, celebrating its 225th anniversary this year, asked readers to select their favorite book of the the last 225 years. Books by Dickens, Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Orwell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Harper Lee made the shortlist. Rebecca came in as the readers' favorite. 

What's your all-time favorite book? Comment with your answer for a chance to win a free book. To comment, click on the word "Comments" in the column to the left of this post. Note: The contest ended May 1, and the book is on its way to the winner. ​​