The Body in the Fjord

sugar ? teaspoon baking powder ? teaspoon salt

Beat the eggs and add the sour cream, whisking well together, then add the butter, vanilla, and milk, whisking again. Add the dry ingredients and stir. The batter may seem thinner than your usual waffle batter. Cook in a preheated waffle iron; one that makes heart shapes is all the better. The finished waffle should be nicely browned. Makes approximately two dozen three-inch heart-shaped waffles.

Vafler are served room temperature with jam and butter, or sometimes with powdered sugar—never maple syrup.

PEPPERKAKER

GINGER SNAPS

²/3 cup butter (1 stick plus 2 /² 3 tablespoons) ¹/3 cup brown sugar ¹/3 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon molasses 1? teaspoons ground clove 2? teaspoons cinnamon 2? teaspoons ginger 1 teaspoon baking soda ? cup boiling water 2? cups flour

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Heat the butter, sugars, and molasses in a heavy saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the spices. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let cool for five minutes. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the bowl. Stir in the flour, mixing well to make a smooth dough. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Working in batches, roll the dough to a thickness of approximately /¹12 of an inch. These cookies are best when thin and crisp. A heart and a fluted round cutter, each two inches wide, were used for the recipe. Bake the cookies on lightly buttered sheets for eight to ten minutes. Transfer immediately to cool on brown paper or racks. Makes approximately six dozen cookies. Store the cookies in an airtight tin. The dough may also be frozen for use later.

Pepperkaker are made all year long, but they are essential at Christmas. Norwegian families with small children have a pepperkaker baking day just before the holiday. The dough is cut into many shapes: hearts, stars, men, women, and pigs or other farm animals. White icing is piped onto the cooled cookies to decorate them. My cousin Hege relates that the dough is so good that at these parties, usually only half makes it into the oven!

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my cousin Hege Farstad for the enormous amount of help she provided—finding answers to obscure questions and checking endless details. When I was growing up, I thought she could do anything, perhaps even fly—and I still do.

Thanks as well to others of my family in Norway: Aud Christensen, Camilla Farstad, and especially Olav Christensen for the jokes.

I’m also grateful to Lasse Bakke and Gerald Eiken for information regarding the west coast of Norway. Both are wonderful storytellers.

I have taken some liberty with the architectural layouts of the Stalheim, Fleischer’s, and Kvikne’s hotels to further the plot, but other details are accurate—especially the food!

Thanks to Zachary Schisgal, my editor, on the first of our journeys together, and to Faith Hamlin, my agent, who’s been on board since the beginning, as have my dear husband and son—Alan and Nicholas—both of whom eat fiskepudding.

About the Author

KATHERINE HALL PAGE is the author of twelve Faith Fairchild mysteries. Her first book in the series, The Body in the Belfry, received the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel. Her newest novel in the series, The Body in the Bonfire, is now available in hardcover. She lives with her husband and son in Massachusetts.

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Praise for

KATHERINE HALL PAGE’S

Agatha Award-winning

FAITH FAIRCHILD MYSTERIES

“Katherine Hall Page has found a great recipe for delicious mysteries: take charming characters, mix with ingenious plots, season with humor. Bon Appetit!”

Nancy Pickard

“Satisfying and surprisingly delicious.”

Los Angeles Times

“[Page’s] young sleuth is a charmer.”

New York Times Book Review

“Page has kept her Faith Fairchild series fresh by making each novel distinctively different.”

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“Forget about your diet. It’s time you sampled this author’s marvelous treats.”

Jackson Clarion-Ledger

“Faith is a gem.”

Toronto Globe and Mail

Other Faith Fairchild Mysteries by

Katherine Hall Page

from Avon Books

THE BODY IN THE MOONLIGHT

THE BODY IN THE BIG APPLE

THE BODY IN THE BOOKCASE

THE BODY IN THE BOG

THE BODY IN THE BASEMENT

THE BODY IN THE CAST

THE BODY IN THE VESTIBULE

THE BODY IN THE BOUILLON

THE BODY IN THE KELP

THE BODY IN THE BELFRY

And in Hardcover

THE BODY IN THE BONFIRE