Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #16)(84)

3. To make Four Alarm Brownie Cookies, leave out the cinnamon, raisins, and nuts. Add one small can chopped jalapenos, well drained and patted dry with paper towels. (If you can find a can already chopped, use those. If you can’t, you’ll have to chop your jalapeno peppers by hand.)

1 box brownie mix (the kind that makes an 8-inch

square pan)

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

? teaspoon cinnamon

? cup chopped nuts (your choice—I used walnuts)

cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

? cup chocolate chips

? cup raisins

Spray cookie sheets with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or line them with parchment paper and spray that.

Pour the dry brownie mix into a mixing bowl. Add the 3 Tablespoons of flour and the cinnamon. Mix thoroughly. (I used a fork to do this.)

Add the chopped nuts and mix them with the dry ingredients to coat them.

In a separate bowl, whisk the oil and the eggs together.

Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with the brownie mix. Stir until everything is combined, but DO NOT OVERSTIR.

Stir in the chocolate chips and the raisins.

Drop the cookies by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a standard-sized sheet.

Hannah’s 1st Note: If you wet your fingers, you can shape these cookies into rounded mounds.

Bake these cookies at 350 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes. (Mine took the full 10 minutes.) To test for doneness, lightly touch the top of a cookie. If it feels firm to the touch, they’re done.

Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: This recipe is so easy, I gave it to Andrea. It’s a first cousin to her “whippersnapper” cookie recipes. The only difference is that her recipes use cake mix, and this recipe uses brownie mix. My youngest niece, Bethie, adores these cookies. Her favorites are the Hot Stuff Brownie Cookies variation. She says they tickle her tongue and she calls them “Hot Chockitts”.

Chapter Twenty-Eight


It hadn’t done a particle of good and Hannah was depressed when Mike left. She’d told him she knew about Barbara’s attempted murder and Doctor Bev’s actual murder. Mike had been equally forthcoming, but they still hadn’t been able to narrow the suspect list. Actually, neither one of them even had a suspect list. The best they’d been able to come up with was that the attack on Barbara had been a random act of violence perpetrated by an unknown suspect. They had agreed that the attack against Barbara and Doctor Bev’s murder could be connected somehow, but they were unable to identify exactly what that connection was.

Hannah was still trying to fit the new information she’d learned from Mike into what she’d already discovered when her cell phone rang. She jumped up from her stool and hurried to the counter, where her cell phone was plugged into the charger. She unhooked it and answered, “Hello?”

“Hannah. This is Jenny from the hospital. Your mother gave me your cell phone number.”

“Hi, Jenny,” Hannah said, wondering why Jenny had called. “Barbara’s all right, isn’t she?”

“Barbara’s fine, now that Moishe chased away the monster and Freddy fixed her screen.”

“It’s good to know that Barbara was right about the monster. And it’s entirely understandable that she didn’t know what to call it since she’d never seen a weasel before. It makes me wonder about her other delusions, and whether there’s some sort of reasonable explanation for those, too.”

“I hope there is. Barbara and I have been working on her delusion about her father and we’ve had an interesting development. Do you remember when I told you about the name game and Barbara’s block about her father’s name?”

“I remember.”

“We just tried it again and we had the same block. She remembers that her dad’s name is Patrick, but she blocked when I asked her about her father’s name. That was when it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps the word father means another person to her, a person that isn’t her dad.”

“Like who?” Hannah asked.

“Like her priest. Barbara’s records show she’s Catholic. And many Catholic families refer to their priest as Father. That’s why I called you. Your mother said the Catholic priest’s name is Father Coultas. I tried that with Barbara and she knew who he was, but she still blocked when I asked her for her father’s name. I called you to see if you had any suggestions.”

Hannah thought about that for a moment. “Yes. We call the Lutheran minister Reverend Bob. Maybe Barbara’s parents called the Catholic priest by his first name.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“Yes, it’s Paul. Does she get any mental images when you ask her about her father?”

“I’ll find out. If it rhymes with Paul, we are on to something. I’ll call you as soon as I find out.”

After she hung up the phone, Hannah paged through her murder book again. There was something she was forgetting. She turned to the notes she’d made about their confrontation with Doctor Bev on the front porch of the Peterson house and one line jumped out at her. Said she’s already taken some things up to the penthouse. Mike’s detective team had already searched through Doctor Bev’s personal possessions at the Lake Eden Inn, but they hadn’t searched the things she’d taken up to the penthouse at the hotel. The baking was done for the day. She could leave now, if she chose. Hannah was about to call Andrea to see if her sister would let her into the penthouse to search when her cell phone rang again.