Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(10)

As far as Hannah was concerned, the jury was still out when it came to Norman’s new partner. She had to admit that Bev was extremely nice. Too nice to Hannah’s way of thinking. This could be an accurate personality assessment on Hannah’s part, but it could also be due to the green-eyed monster that whispered warnings in Hannah’s ear about how often Norman and Bev went out to lunch or dinner together, and how their working relationship might include a lot more than sharing patients, consulting as fellow dental professionals, and filling in for each other when one of them had to be gone. And that was another point that stuck in Hannah’s craw.

Norman seemed to be clueless as far as Hannah’s feelings about Bev were concerned. This was, in itself, a worry since he’d always been perfectly attuned to her emotional state. He’d told Hannah that the only reason he’d asked Beverly to join in at the clinic was to free him up to pursue his painting. That made some kind of sense. Hannah had admired the paintings Norman had done before he’d become a dentist, and she’d encouraged him to paint again. If that was the sole reason he’d asked Bev to join him at the clinic, Hannah could accept it. But as far as she knew, in the five weeks that Bev had been at the clinic, Norman hadn’t taken any time away from his practice or painted anything at all.

“Hannah?” Lisa pushed open the swinging door between the coffee shop and the kitchen. “Bertie just called, and she wants to know if her Butterscotch Bonanza Bars are ready yet.”

“Give me a couple of minutes to cut them and they will be,” Hannah answered, doing her best to shake off her depressed mood as she headed to the counter to cut Bertie’s cookie bars. Chocolate was in order. It was impossible to remain depressed when you were eating chocolate. But chocolate had calories, and she was already more than triple Bev’s dress size. She’d have three semi-sweet chips right out of the bag and that was it.

Four chips later, Hannah felt much better. Through a supreme effort of will, she’d managed to limit herself to only one more than she’d intended to eat, and the yummy chocolate did its medicinal magic almost immediately. She carried Bertie’s order out to Lisa, and then she came back to the kitchen and turned on the laptop Bill and Andrea had given her for Christmas. Norman had a Web site for the Rhodes Dental Clinic, and some famous general, she couldn’t remember who, had advised his troops to know their enemy. She’d check Norman’s Web site and see what she could find out about Beverly Thorndike, D.D.S.

Norman had created a new section in January, the week before Beverly Thorndike, D.D.S., had joined his practice. It was called Meet Doctor Bev.

Hannah read the section with great interest. It was filled with get-to-know-you questions, the type you’d ask on a blind date. Doctor Bev had been born in Minneapolis, gone to high school in Edina, attended college in Michigan, and received her dental degree in Seattle, where Norman had met her. Her favorite movie was Titanic, her music of choice was classical, and her preferred cuisine was Mexican. In her spare time she loved to go dancing, see movies, and read. She had an extensive stamp collection, she liked to play tennis, and her favorite color was beige.

Hannah gave a little laugh, right out loud. She wasn’t sure whether it was due to the lift she’d gotten from the chocolate or the fact she’d read Doctor Bev’s profile on Norman’s Web site. The reason didn’t matter. All she knew was that she felt almost lightheaded with relief. She had absolutely nothing to worry about when it came to Doctor Beverly Thorndike. There was no way Norman could possibly love a woman whose favorite color was beige!





BUTTERSCOTCH BONANZA BARS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

? cup salted butter (1 stick, 4 ounces, ? pound)





2 cups light brown sugar*** (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)





2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt





1 teaspoon vanilla extract





2 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)





1 and ? cups flour (scoop it up and level it off with a table knife)





1 cup chopped nuts (optional)





2 cups butterscotch chips (optional)





*** - If all you have in the house is dark brown sugar and the roads are icy, it’s below zero, and you really don’t feel like driving to the store, don’t despair. Measure out one cup of dark brown sugar and mix it with one cup regular white granulated sugar. Now you’ve got light brown sugar, just what’s called for in Leslie’s recipe. And remember that you can always make any type of brown sugar by mixing molasses into white granulated sugar until it’s the right color.

Hannah’s Note: Leslie says the nuts are optional, but she likes these cookie bars better with nuts. So do I, especially with walnuts. Bertie Straub wants hers with a cup of chopped pecans and 2 cups of butterscotch chips. Mother prefers these bars with 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips and no nuts, Carrie likes them with 2 cups of mini chocolate chips and a cup of chopped pecans, and Lisa prefers to make them with 1 cup of chopped walnuts, 1 cup of white chocolate chips, and 1 cup of butterscotch chips.

All this goes to show just how versatile Leslie’s recipe is. Try it first as it’s written with just the nuts. Then try any other versions that you think would be yummy.