Wednesday, November 16, 2022

CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE TRUFFLES: An Alternative to Pie for Thanksgiving

Don't want to make a Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving? Make these instead -- Chocolate Pecan Pie Truffles. This recipe is adapted from a 2012 issue of Southern Living for Kentucky Derby Truffles! As always, use the very best ingredients for the best flavor!

CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE TRUFFLES

Ingredients
12 ounces dark chocolate (65-75% cacao), chopped
1 -1/2 Tbsp unsalted cold butter, cubed
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
9 Tbsp heavy cream
1/4 cup good Kentucky Bourbon
1 (5.3 ounce) package pure butter shortbread cookies, crushed (I use Walker's)
2 cups finely chopped roasted, salted pecans

Directions
Combine first 3 ingredients in large glass bowl. Cook cream and bourbon in small saucepan over medium heat 3 to 4 minutes or until mixture is hot but not boiling. (Mixture will steam, and bubbles will form around edge of pan.) Pour cream mixture over chocolate. Let stand 1 minute.

Stir chocolate mixture until melted and smooth. (If mixture doesn't melt completely, microwave on HIGH 30 seconds.) Stir in crushed cookies. Cover and chill 3 hours or until firm.

Shape into 1-inch balls (about 2 tsp per ball). Roll in chopped pecans. Place on wax or parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Chill 1 hour. Store in airtight container in refrigerator up to 5 days.

PETRONA AWARD SHORTLIST 2022


Six exceptional crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2022 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. 

PETRONA AWARD SHORTLIST

Maria Adolfsson - FATAL ISLES tr. Agnes Broomé (Sweden, Zaffre)

Helene Flood - THE THERAPIST tr. Alison McCullough (Norway, MacLehose Press)

Ruth Lillegraven - EVERYTHING IS MINE tr. Diane Oatley (Norway, AmazonCrossing)

Anders Roslund - KNOCK KNOCK tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (Sweden, Harvill Secker)

Lilja Sigurðardóttir - COLD AS HELL tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)

Antti Tuomainen - THE RABBIT FACTOR tr. David Hackston (Finland, Orenda Books)

The winning title will be announced on Thursday 8 December 2022. The winning author and the translator of the winning title will both receive a cash prize.

The Petrona Award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia, and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

The judges’ comments on the shortlist:


There were 31 entries for the 2022 Petrona Award from five countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden). The novels were translated by 23 translators and submitted by 14 publishers/imprints. There were 16 female, 14 male and one male/male pair of authors.

 

This year’s Petrona Award shortlist sees Norway represented with two novels; Sweden with two and Finland and Iceland with one each. The judges selected the shortlist from a particularly strong pool of candidates with the shortlisted titles ranging from police procedural and domestic noir to the darkly comic. 

 

As ever, we are extremely grateful to the six translators whose expertise and skill have allowed readers to access these outstanding examples of Scandinavian crime fiction, and to the publishers who continue to champion and support translated fiction. The significantly increasing number of female writers being translated is also to be commended. 

 

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

AMAZON BOOK EDITORS BEST BOOKS OF 2022 (Including the Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Books List)


The Amazon Books Editors announced their selections for Best Books of 2022. This annual list is hand-picked by the Amazon Books Editors, who have read thousands of books to share their recommendations for the top 100 titles published this year.  Congratulations to all!

 

This year, the Editors chose the following 20 picks as the Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Books of the Year,

 

  1. City on Fire by Don Winslow ***
  2. The Maid by Nita Prose
  3. Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
  4. The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
  5. The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark
  6. The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
  7. The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf
  8. The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
  9. Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen
  10. Shutter by Ramona Emerson
  11. Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
  12. What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline
  13. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
  14. Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris
  15. All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers
  16. The Butcher and The Wren by Alaina Urquhart
  17. Carolina Moonset by Matt Goldman
  18. Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths
  19. Forsaken Country by Allen Eskens
  20. Winter Work by Dan Fesperman

*** Don Winslow's City of Fire was also chosen as one of the top 10 Best Books overall ***


Here are the 10 Best Books of 2022, as chosen by the Amazon Book Editors: Gabrielle Zevin’s novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was chosen as the Best Book of the Year. 

 

The Amazon Books Editors Top 10 picks of 2022:


  1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
  2. Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora
  3. Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
  4. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
  5. Horse by Geraldine Brooks
  6. Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid:
  7. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
  8. Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
  9. The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland
  10. City on Fire by Don Winslow