Christine Wenger | From the Office of Trixie Matkowski

From the office of Trixie Matkowski
Owner
Silver Bullet Diner and Sandy Harbor Housekeeping Cottages
“On the beautiful shore of Lake Ontario in Sandy Harbor, New York, where comfort is our business!”

Greetings from Sandy Harbor, New York!

Another winter in Sandy Harbor, another blizzard, and another roof caves in! This time it was our beautiful Greek Revival-style library’s roof. We lost thousands of books to the elements, and the marble floors turned into marble ice skating rinks.

I found myself in charge of the fundraiser to restore the library and replenish the books. Also helping me were the founding members of Gamma Gamma Gamma Sorority-the ones who were still in town anyway. They call themselves the Tri- Gams for short. We decided to hold a macaroni and cheese contest and the judge was (wait for it!) none other than TV chef Priscilla Finch-Smythe herself. Okay… she grew up in Sandy Harbor with the name of Mabel Cronk, and she didn’t have a British accent like she has now, but that’s another story.

I won’t go into detail, but just after she announced the winner of the macaroni and cheese contest, she was found dead-by me!-half-buried in a snowbank. She was strangled with her own scarf-a scarf which every contestant and spectator saw me holding.

Everyone thought I had sour grapes because I didn’t win. Oh, please! Everyone knew that my mac and cheese entry with salsa and kielbasa was fabulous, but there aren’t enough sour grapes in the world that would cause me to strangle anyone, for heaven’s sake!

Deputy Sheriff Ty Brisco, our local Houston, Texas, transplant, insisted that Antoinette Chloe Brownelli monitor me under house arrest. But ACB and I have to sneak out every now and then because I have to find out who really killed Mabel Cronk…I mean Priscilla Finch-Smythe.

And the suspects are piling up like driftwood on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Sandy Harbor’s local historian Christine Wenger has painstakingly documented the details of the contest and Priscilla’s visit in MACARONI AND FREEZE. She also wants you to know that the Sandy Harbor-ians are as quirky as ever, particularly ACB who will not give up her flip-flops for winter boots no matter how deep the snow!

Well, Blondie is barking. I think she has to go out.

Life is good at the lake. Come visit!

~ Trixie Matkowski

About Christine Wenger

Christine has worked in the criminal justice field for more years than she cares to remember. She has a dual master's degree in Probation and Parole Studies and Sociology from Fordham University.

Unfortunately, the knowledge gained from way too many years in night school, didn’t prepare her for what she loves to do the most – writing romances and cozy mysteries.

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About MACARONI AND FREEZE

In the latest from the national bestselling author of DINERS, DRIVE-INS, and DEATH, Trixie Matkowski finds herself in hot water after a killer gets cheesed off at a celebrity chef....

When the library roof collapses from the harsh winter weather, diner owner and comfort food chef Trixie Matkowski decides to organize a mac-and-cheese cook-off to raise funds for repairs. Priscilla Finch-Smythe, famous TV chef and former Sandy Harbor resident, is not only available to judge the contest—she’s offering an appearance on her show as the grand prize.

Trixie hopes that winning first place in the cook-off will help boost publicity for her Silver Bullet Diner. But when another winner is announced, and Priscilla is later found frozen in a snowbank, Trixie starts getting attention from the police instead. Now she’ll have to noodle over this mystery before everything really goes to pot…