Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery
by G.P. Gottlieb

About Charred

Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Chicago, Illinois
DX Varos Publishing (February 21, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1955065675
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1955065672
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BLMFHSQX
Print length ‏ : ‎ 254 pages

Alene Baron is dealing with frustrated employees, closed schools, and a homeless man who harasses customers outside the door of her café. Then, two dead bodies turn up in the burned remains of buildings owned by the husband of Alene’s best friend and pastry chef, Ruthie. Both bodies are wearing jackets that once belonged to Ruthie and crumbled in the pockets are the café’s distinctive wrappers. At the same time, Alene’s uncle, a convicted felon, has resurfaced after disappearing for 22 years. It’s all too much for the owner of the Whipped and Sipped Café.

Character Guest Post

Thank you Note to Alene Baron from Kacey Vanza

Dear Alene,

Although I might not work at your café forever, we are going to be friends forever. You’ve always been like a big sister to me, probably from the minute I was born. And I owe you thanks for getting me through some of the hardest times in my life – my parents’ divorce, my addiction to meth, and my father’s murder.

When I was little, I remember running across the hall and hiding under your kitchen table, wishing I could move in and never go back across the hall where my parents were always fighting. I always knew that you’d welcome me, no matter how strung out or wasted I got when I started messing around with drugs. You came looking and found me in all kinds of terrible places, and never lectured me. You always just said, “Let’s go home and get you cleaned up.”

There’s so much I admire about you, Alene. You always give jobs to people who’d never worked before (like my step-brother), you organized book clubs and knitting groups to bring people together at the café, and you kept almost everyone employed during the pandemic. I think you taught me everything I know about how to communicate, how to be a good friend, and how to live in a diverse society made up of different kinds of people.

Many of us have spent hours and hours in the Whipped and Sipped Café – I know we’ve had our share of bad stuff happening, what with bricks coming through the window and people being murdered out the back door, but none of that was your fault, and you handled it mostly calmly. I hope I can confront upsetting issues the way you do, although I also hope they don’t happen at all.

Frank knows how to do that also. The two of you are like Mr and Mrs Perfect I’ve learned a lot from watching you two argue, because I didn’t know people could argue without screaming. I also really value knowing a Chicago cop like Frank, who’s willing to explain what’s going on with police officers and who’s walked me into the headquarters on Addison so that if I ever really need to go, it won’t be so intimidating. He helped all of us understand the humanity of being a police officer at a really difficult time in the history of policing. I don’t envy his job.

I guess I should also mention how much I love your dad and kids, and how much I’m grateful to have them in my life too. Anyway, that’s basically what I wanted to tell you – Kofi and I hope you’ll never sell the Whipped and Sipped Café and never move away from the sixth floor! Love and thank you for everything, Kacey

G.P. Gottlieb is the author of Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery (D.X. Varos Publishing 2023), the third in her culinary mystery series set in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. She has interviewed nearly 175 authors as host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network. For more information, visit gpgottlieb.com.

About G.P. Gottlieb

Known for her imaginative baking and fabulous dinners, G.P. Gottlieb was always an avid reader. She enjoyed several careers, but after recovering from cancer, turned to writing in earnest, melding two passions: nourishment for mind and body, and recipe-laced murder mysteries. She is also the host for New Books in Literature, a podcast of the New Books Network.