Summer is coming! Will you be ready? Schools will be out soon, do you have vacation plans and if you have kids, how will you keep them occupied once the allure of sleeping in losses its luster? We’ll share some ideas sure to keep the fun going.

June is the wedding month and if you live in Pittsburgh, I’m sure you’ve seen your share of cookie tables. If not, we’ve got you covered. We’ve consulted some local experts. We’ll tell you how the tradition of the cookie table started, how many cookies you need per guest and how to give your table the wow factor.

The flowers are in bloom and we’re taking an in-depth look. Which flowers are native to which continent? What flowers are pet safe vs. the ones we shouldn’t plant or bring in the house if we have pets?

Linda Cahill will be back with some delicious salad recipes from the Pampered Chef and I’m on the hunt for a new barbecue grill, so we’ll we talking about what to grill this month.

Orlando Barton will be back with something brilliant and Tanya Bashor of Gypsy Artistry will be having some fun workshops for summer crafts.

I haven’t decided which book I’ll be reviewing, but I have some great ideas. Also we’ll have some ideas for healthy eating, fun exercise and living greener. And there will be a quiz.

See you next month!

 

Fran

Answers to the ABC Mystery Author Quiz:

Sarah Andrews                                               Bone Hunter - an Em Hansen Mystery

Lilian Jackson Braun                                     The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern – The Cat Who…Mysteries

Agatha Christie                                               Murder on the Orient Express - A Hercule Poirot Mystery

Annette Dashofy                                            Fair Game – A Zoe Chambers Mystery

Janet Evanovich                                             Twisted Twenty-Six – A Stephanie Plum Mystery

Gillian Flynn                                                     Sharp Objects

Tess Gerritsen                                                 I Know a Secret – A Rizzoli & Isles Mystery

Dashiell Hammett                                          The Maltese Falcon – A Sam Spade Mystery

Michael Innes                                                 Death at the President’s Lodging – An Inspector Appleby Mystery

P.D. James                                                        The Murder Room – An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery

Jonathan Kellerman                                      The Wedding Guest – The Alex Delaware Series

Laura Lippman                                               The Girl in the Green Raincoat - The Tess Monaghan Series

Ross Macdonald                                            The Drowning Pool – A Lew Archer Mystery

Fuminori Nakamura                                      The Thief

Joyce Carol Oates                                        A Fair Maiden

Sara Paretsky                                                  Fallout – a V. I. Warshawski novel

Ellery Queen                                                   The King is Dead – An Ellery Queen Mystery

Ian Rankin                                                        In a House of Lies – featuring Inspector Rebus & Malcolm Fox

Julia Spencer-Fleming                                Through the Evil Days – A Clare Ferguson & Russ Van Alstyne

Mystery

James Twining                                                The Double Eagle- featuring the art thief, Tom Kirk

Arthur W. Updike                                            The Breakaway House

Elaine Viets                                                      Ice Blonde - Angela Richman, Death Investigator Series

Patricia Wentworth                                        The Girl in the Cellar – A Miss Silver Mystery

Qui Xiaolong                                                   Death of a Red Heroine – A Chief Inspector Chen Cao Mystery

Seishi Yokomizo                                             The Murder in Honjin

Anthony E. Zuiker                                            Whodunnit? Murder on Mystery Island