Monday, May 30, 2011

VANISH IN PLAIN SIGHT


I'm pleased to announce that VANISH IN PLAIN SIGHT, Book 2 in the Amish Suspense series, will be out in bookstores June 1st. I hope you'll look for it.

Here's a bit about the story:

Since she was a little girl, Marisa Angelo has been haunted by the image of her mother walking away, suitcase in hand, to return to her Amish roots. Marisa and her Englischer father never saw or heard from her again. Now Marisa has received a shocking call from police. Her mother's bloodstained suitcase was found hidden inside the wall of a Pennsylvania Dutch farmhouse.

Desperate for answers, Marisa heads to Lancaster County. But no one—not the police or Marisa's tight-lipped Amish relatives—can explain what happened to her mother. Only one man is as determined as Marisa to unravel the mystery—Link Morgan, the handsome ex-military loner who found the suitcase in the house he inherited from his uncle. Now both Link's and Marisa's family member are implicated in the decades-old disappearance.

The secret lies somewhere in the quaint Amish settlement. But someone will do anything to ensure the truth remains hidden forever.

HQN Books, June, 2011

Please let me know what you think of it!

Blessings,
Marta

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Summer Salads from Marta Perry

Greetings from Marta Perry!

Despite the fact that it’s rained every day for the past ten days, my thoughts are turning to summertime food. Even if picnics are moved inside because of rain, it’s still all about the food!

Most of my recipes for summertime salads come from by Pennsylvania Dutch background, and we use mayonnaise—boy, do we ever use mayonnaise. Maybe I shouldn’t even think about the amount of calories in some of our popular dishes. At a typical church picnic around here, you’re likely to find an array of salads to suit every possible taste.

My two favorites to take to events are potato salad and tuna and shells salad, both of which I make with my mother’s recipe. My husband is usually so happy to see me making the potato salad that he offers to chop all the onions and celery for me!

I thought you might enjoy my recipe for Tuna and Shells salad, so I’ve included it below. I make potato salad in exactly the same way, except substitute six to eight large cooked potatoes to the pasta and delete the tuna.

Do you have favorite foods that say ‘summer’ to you?


TUNA AND SHELLS SALAD

¾ box of pasta: elbows, shells, or rotelli, cooked and drained
2 cans tuna, drained
5-6 eggs, hard-cooked and chopped
¾ cup chopped celery
¾ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped bread and butter pickles

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T pickle liquid
1 t sugar

Combine salad ingredients. Combine dressing ingredients and adjust to taste. Combine dressing and ingredients, mix. Add more mayo as needed. Salt and pepper.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Memories in the China Cabinet

No good deed goes unpunished, so the cynics say. Last week I decided that the glass doors of my china cabinet looked a bit streaked, so I decided to clean them. Unfortunately, that led to my actually looking into the china cabinet! Dust, dust, and more dust! Where did it all come from in a cabinet that's always kept closed?

Well, you know what happened. One job always leads to another, and before I had even made a decision to do it, I started taking things out. Three days and many, many dishwasher loads later, I finally finished!

But this isn't about a job that I clearly should have done sooner. It's about the precious memories that were lurking, nearly forgotten, inside that cabinet.

My mother's clear hobnail glass pitcher, for example. I washed that by hand, remembering hot summer Sundays, my parents' friends gathered on the lawn, the murmur of the adult conversation forming a reassuring background to the children at play. The glass pitcher was always filled with homemade iced tea, slices of lemon floating in it. For some reason, that was fascinating to a child. We kids didn't get iced tea, of course. There was lemonade for us, also homemade, served in paper cups. We scurried off, carrying our cups under the huge weeping willow in the backyard. The branches swept to the ground, and inside it was cool and shady. That willow tree cave was by turns a fort, a castle, or even a pirate ship, and willow switches made fine swords. I'd nearly forgotten those days, until a glass pitcher reminded me.

My mother-in-law has a place in the cabinet, too. She collected the amber depression glass, piece by piece, at a time when the economic future looked worse than it does today. She cherished those pieces, and I like to think each one gave her an extra bit of pleasure when she passed them on to her children.

The silver baby spoons aren't in my cabinet any longer, much as I loved them, especially the older ones that had been given to me by my mother and aunts. But when my grandchildren began to arrive, I knew it was my turn to pass on a memory. Fortunately there were enough...one for each grandchild as he or she arrived.

Are there memories stashed away in your china cabinet, too? I hope so. Our grandchildren are moving into a future that changes so quickly it seems impossible to keep up with. Family treasures, even small ones, can form a link, connecting them and us to our pasts.

If this inspires you to take a look, let me know what you find!

Blessings,
Marta

Monday, May 2, 2011

Free Novella!


I'm so excited to announce the release of an ebook novella in my Amish Suspense series. Even better, the novella is available free for a limited period of time!

LOST IN PLAIN SIGHT is set in the same community as MURDER IN PLAIN SIGHT and features an appearance by Geneva Morgan, a favorite character from the series. Here's a little about the story:

Leah Miller's peaceful life as a member of the Spring Township Amish church shatters when she's accused of theft from an Englisch home in which she works. Even if she is not charged, if the crime is never solved, she will live under the taint of the theft and may never be able to participate fully in her Amish community. Josiah King, friend of Leah's brother, is drawn into helping Leah—and discovers the ‘little sister' he'd always tolerated has grown into a strong, appealing woman.

But what future can they have together if suspicion makes Leah an outcast? As they attempt to learn the facts behind the accusation, danger grows around them. It's only through their trust in each other and the support of a faithful Englisch friend that Leah and Josiah can find their way through a tangled, dangerous maze to the truth.


An ebook exclusive novella from Marta Perry's The Brotherhood of the Raven series. FIND IT ONLINE STARTING MAY 2 AT WWW.EHARLEQUIN.COM

And here's a direct link to the story:

http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/013960F5-CC03-41CE-B322-477D56290A34/10/141/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=24293429

If you have trouble with the link for any reason, go to www.eharlequin.com, click on ebooks, and enter Lost in Plain Sight into the search box.

Let me know what you think!

Blessings,
Marta