A Good Read and a Recipe

The first in an excellent Mystery Series*

Alex Masters has given up prostitution, lives on the "right" side of town, has a respectable job and is about to launch a singing career on the side. While making a deposit for her employer at Bay City Central, her past catches up with her in the time it takes a bank robber's bullet to pierce her arm. Alex finds herself caught in a tangle of robbery, murder and blackmail. Clearing herself of suspicion means returning to her former haunts while still maintaining her new-found respectability. Which "life" will win the balancing act when it's all over? 

*This first in the Alex Masters series will leave you eager for the sequel.

Bird Nest Tea Cakes

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients 

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

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• PREP
  20 mins
• COOK
  10 mins
• READY IN
  1 hr

Directions

1. Combine flour, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a bowl to form a dough; stir in pecans.
2. Shape dough into a large ball and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on a baking sheet.
5. Make an indentation with thumb in the middle of each ball, forming a 'nest'.
6. Fill each nest with about 1 teaspoon chocolate chips.
7. Bake nests in the preheated oven until edges are crisp (cookies will not brown), 10 to 12 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack, about 15 minutes.