Fudge Cupcake Murder

    'Lucky,' Hannah repeated, suspecting that luck hadn't had anything to do with it; some kind of dirty dealing had to have gone on. If Winthrop really was as handsome and fleet of foot as her mother had described, Delores would have pulled out all the stops to have him as her partner. Hannah wanted to ask how she finagled that feat, but Delores wouldn't tell her anyway, so she sighed and settled for saying, 'Okay, Mother. You go have fun dancing the waltz with Winthrop tonight.'

    'Oh, it's the tango tonight, dear. That's why I need time to get dressed. I bought a darling outfit with slits on both sides of the skirt. I'm going to be the envy of every woman there.'

    'Mmm,' Hannah murmured, settling for the most impartial comment she could make. But after she said goodbye and hung up the phone, she realized that she had the answer to Andrea's question. Their mother was involved with a man, at least in dancing class. As Hannah pushed open the door to the coffee shop and headed in to rejoin Lisa, she couldn't quite shake the vision of her mother dancing a sultry tango with a rose held between her teeth.

    CORN COOKIES

    Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position

    2 cups white sugar

    1 cup butter (2 sticks, 1/2 pound)

    1 egg

    1 15-ounce (by weight) can mashed pumpkin (I used Libby's)

    1 cup chopped walnuts

    1 cup golden raisins

    1 teaspoon cinnamon

    1/2 teaspoon cardamom

    1 teaspoon salt

    2 teaspoons vanilla

    2 teaspoons baking soda

    2 teaspoons baking powder

    4 cups flour (no need to sift)

    package of candy corn

    Melt the butter. Add the sugar and mix. Let the mixture cool to room temperature and then stir in the egg. Add all of the rest of the ingredients except the flour, mixing after each addition. Add the flour, one cup at a time, and mix it thoroughly. Let the cookie dough sit for 5 minutes to 'rest.'

    Drop by spoonful on a greased cookie sheet, 12 cookies per standard-size sheet. (If the dough is too sticky, refrigerate it for a few minutes to firm it up.) Flatten the cookies with a greased spatula. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes.

    When the cookies come out of the oven, leave them on the cookie sheets and immediately press pieces of candy corn on top as a design. Do this right away, so that the candy will stick after the cookies have cooled.***

    Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 2 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

    Yield: 6 to 7 dozen, depending on cookie size.

    ***If you fail to put on the candy corn when the cookies are still hot from the oven, all is not lost. You can put it on later using a little dab of powdered sugar frosting (powdered sugar with a tiny bit of milk) as 'glue.'

    Tracey’s friends really loved these cookies and they all offered to help me decorate them next year.

Chapter Twenty-Three

    'She didn't!' Andrea was still sputtering when Hannah came back to the room after hanging Tracey's costume in the closet.

    'She did. As I recall her description was, the most marvelous, sophisticated man. She even compared him to an older version of Kenneth Branagh. I could be wrong, but she sounded pretty smitten to me.'

    'Smitten? You mean, like… in love?'

    'I'm not sure about love, but she was a lot more than just politely interested.'

    Andrea gave an exasperated sigh. 'Just what I need! Honestly, Hannah, I've never felt so helpless in my life. Here I am swelling up like a toad and I'm confined to this you-know-what couch while Mother's running around town with a gigolo!'

    'What's a gigolo, Mommy?' Tracey asked, coming into the living room in time to hear Andrea's last comment.

    'Tracey! I didn't know you were there. Um…' Andrea turned to Hannah with a desperate look in her eyes. 'Aunt Hannah will tell you what it is.'

    'It's an Italian word for a man who is skilled at socializing with other people, especially women.'

    'Oh,' Tracey said and she looked wise beyond her years. 'You must be talking about Winthrop.'

    'You know Winthrop?' Both Andrea and Hannah asked the question, almost in tandem.

    'No, but he called the last time I was at Grandma's. He said something funny because Grandma's face turned all red and she giggled.'

    'Mother giggled,' Hannah repeated, giving Andrea a look before she turned back to Tracey. 'Do you happen to know Winthrop's last name?'

    'Harrington. I can spell it.'

    'That would be good, honey,' Andrea said, glancing at Hannah who was already digging in her shoulder bag purse for her notebook.

    Hannah wrote down the name, and then she asked the obvious question. 'How did you know how to spell it?'

    'It was on the flowers.'

    'What flowers?' Andrea and Hannah asked simultaneously.

    'The ones Grandma got. Are you mad? I know I'm not supposed to snoop.'

    Hannah glanced at Andrea, who was fighting valiantly to keep a straight face. 'Your mother's not mad this time, but you really aren't supposed to read things like that. When a man sends a woman flowers, the card is meant to be private.'

    'I know,' Tracey said with a sigh, 'but I had to know if Winthrop was after Grandma's money.'

    Andrea looked shocked. 'What made you think that Winthrop might be after her money?'

    'I saw it on television, Mommy.'

    'So you think Winthrop might be a criminal?' Hannah asked.

    'I don't know. All I did was read his card. It'd be naughty to tell you what it said.'