Thursday, April 19, 2012

A TEENY BIT OF TROUBLE, by Michael Lee West



A TEENY BIT OF TROUBLE

By 
Michael Lee West

Available here on Amazon.



A delicious peach of a book, this latest installment of Teeny Templeton's hilarious adventures hit the bookstores April 10th.  My copy arrived the following Friday, so I spent an enjoyable weekend with the zany Charleston pastry chef who is forever cooking up something in the kitchen and attracting trouble.




Michael Lee's GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN, introduced us to Teeny Templeton, a tiny Georgia peach of a trouble magnet who makes up recipes to suit her mood or situation. At the conclusion of  GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN,  Teeny had been cleared of murder charges, was in love and reunited with her childhood crush, and had just discovered an unexplained 10 year old from said boyfriend's past.





Raised by her Aunt Bluette, Teeny grew up on a peach orchard in the fictional Bonaventure, Georgia.  Now that Aunt Bluette is deceased, the home and orchard belong to Teeny.  It's no surprise  that peaches are a huge part of Teeny's cooking repertoire.




And Teeny's faithful bulldog, Sir, is right beside her.





"All I had left was the memory of romance.  It reminded me of the perfect peach pie, where your fork breaks through the flaky, top crust into the sweet, amber-colored filling and the flavors of summer melt on your tongue. "







Aunt Bluette's Fresh Peach Pie
(A procedure, not a recipe)

Buy or make two pie crusts.  Put the bottom crust into a 9" pie pan.  Peel and slice a dozen ripe Elbertas.  Arrange the slices in the bottom of the pie shell.  In a bowl, mix 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 cup peach preserves, and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour.  Mix and pour over peaches.  Dot the mixture with pieces of cold butter.  Roll out the second crust.  Using a pastry wheel, cut the pastry into strips.  Lay strips on top of peaches and make a lattice design.  Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.  Serve with vanilla ice cram.  Garnish with sugared pecans.






"Teeny Templeton witnesses a murder, she discovers that her lawyer-boyfriend, Coop O'Malley, has been keeping secrets.  And then even more trouble comes knocking at her door ~ trouble in the form of a precocious ten-year-old girl who might just be Coop's daughter.  As more lies explode, Teeny finds herself trapped in Bonaventure, Georgia, a zany "little Savannah," where she must gather DNA from a child genius as she tries to outwit a stalker, decode an encrypted diary, and fend off the advances of an ex-beau.  is forced to return to her hometown, and begins to uncover a heap of secrets about Coop." Book jacket ~ A TEENY BIT OF TROUBLE



Will Coop and Teeny survive this latest trouble? 

If you don't already have your copy, 

rush right out and pick up 



A TEENY BIT OF TROUBLE 

to see where all this leads.  

You can bet Teeny is 

stirring up new recipes 

in the kitchen and stirring up 

TROUBLE 


in her life. 




Click the links below to view 


previous reviews of Michael Lee West's novels.


GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN


Cooking w/ Teeny



Don't forget to join Michael Lee for Foodie Friday!