Meet Cynthia St-Pierre

The Fashionista and the Vegetarian

What does every self-respecting amateur detective need?

A sidekick.

In A PURSE TO DIE FOR, Gina Monroe is the central character. She’s the one with an eye for fashion and a nose for weather. Both senses help her gather clues when bodies start to pile up.

But it takes two to match wits à la Holmes and Watson, Poirot and Hastings. That’s where Becki Green comes in. She’s an artsy-fartsy, tree-hugging vegetarian. With her cross-eyed half-sister Anne, she runs a design shop called Beautiful Things. She’s married to the Chief of Police of Black Currant Bay and she’s been active in solving crimes there in her own right.

Gina has known Becki her entire life. They’re family in a convoluted sort of way. They definitely love each other. In A PURSE TO DIE FOR, a family funeral brings them together again in Langdon Hills. The subsequent deadly events point to their future together as an unexpected but effective crime-solving pair.

Instead of listening to me gossip about this fashionista and this vegetarian, get to know Gina and Becki in A PURSE TO DIE FOR. And why not peek at Becki’s veggie recipe blog at vegetariandetective.blogspot.com?

Becki has given me license to share one of her favourite dishes.

Thai Green Curry

1/2 cup onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 tsp lemon grass paste (Gourmet Garden Lemon Grass Herb Paste is nice)

1 chilli, seeded and chopped

2 tbsps sunflower oil

zest of 1 lime

small bunch of cilantro, chopped

14-oz can light coconut milk

2 rounded tbsps brown sugar

2 rounded tsps (for 2 cups) vegetable bouillon powder

2 cups green beans

2 carrots, sliced diagonally

1 red pepper, sliced

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1 cup snow peas

1 bunch basil

1 14-oz can baby corn

3/4 lb firm tofu, cubed

Sauté the onion, garlic, ginger, lemon grass paste and chilli in 1 tbsp of the sunflower oil until fragrant. Blend with the lime zest, cilantro, light coconut milk, brown sugar and vegetable bouillon powder to make the green curry sauce. Sauté the green beans and carrots in the remaining tbsp sunflower oil. When the green beans and carrots start to soften, add the red pepper, mushrooms and snow peas. When the vegetables are almost tender-crisp, add the green curry sauce and bring everything to a simmer. Stir in the basil leaves, baby corn and tofu, and simmer until the corn and tofu are heated through. Serves 4.

Cynthia St-Pierre

vegetariandetective.blogspot.com

fashionationwithmystery.com

twitter.com/stpierrecynthia

A PURSE TO DIE FOR Amazon link