The Murder at Red Oaks (Mosey Frye Mysteries)
by Kay Pritchett

Hi Kay, welcome to Escape With Dollycas.

Hi Lori. Today I would like to share a couple of recipes.

Here’s a wholesome recipe from one of the Mosey Frye Mystery characters, Lucille Bilyeu, who cooks delicious New Orleans Creole-style dishes with her husband’s waistline in mind. She says she has bought A. B. the last alligator-skin belt she ever plans to buy, and, regardless, will not replace it with a larger size. Though Lucille’s cooking is health-conscious, it will leave your mouth watering. She likes to start this meal with an icy mojito stuffed with home-grown mint and some crunchy cheese straws spiced up with a dash or two of hot sauce.

Lucille and A. B. make their debut in this excerpt from The Summer House at Larkspur. The recipe for Shrimp Gumbo Lite follows.

Excerpt

 The kitchen door sprang open, and a heady aroma of Creole food wafted in from the kitchen. Lucille Bilyeu, red-faced and heavy-set, emerged in a cloud of steam. She winked at her nephew by marriage and said, “You men ready for a little dish of crawfish étouffée? I’ve got bread puddin’ for dessert.” She disappeared as quickly as she’d come.

“I guess we’re eating in the dining room,” Bilyeu said, rising to go.
DeGroat remained in his seat.

“You coming?”

“What does she know about any of this?” DeGroat said.

Bilyeu raised his index finger to his puckered lips. “Not a word.”

Shrimp Gumbo Lite
Ingredients:
 

• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 andouille sausage, whole, sliced, or chopped
• 1 cup yellow onion, chopped
• 2/3 cup bell pepper, chopped
• 2/3 cup celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2-3 cups fresh okra
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Tabasco to taste
• 1 15-ounce can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• stock (vegetable or chicken) to augment sauce
• 1 dozen medium shrimp, headed and deveined
• Cooked rice, filé, and a little fresh, chopped parsley for serving

Instructions:

1. Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
2. Add the sausage, onion, green pepper, and celery and sauté, stirring regularly until the sausage is cooked and the vegetables are soft.
3. Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, cumin, Creole seasoning, and paprika. Stir occasionally, cooking for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes with the juice. Add okra. Stir and bring to a simmer. Add bay leaf and stock to achieve desired thinness.
5. Cook on simmer, partially covered, for 10-15 minutes.
6. During the last 3 minutes of cooking, add the shrimp, being careful not to overcook. When the shrimp are pink, they are done, but test one to be sure.
7. Serve in a bowl with a scoop of rice. Sprinkle with filé and a little fresh, chopped parsley.

Saffron Smiley’s Succotash

Saffron Smiley is the character in Mosey Frye Mysteries most likely to tempt the others with her tasty dishes. She appears first in Murder at Waite House as John Earle Shepherd’s personal assistant and Mosey’s co-worker at Shepherd Realty. Most of her homemade concoctions fit into the soul food category—though Hembreeites, regardless of ethnicity, grew up eating biscuits, butter roll, fried pies and all. She often takes a traditional recipe in a slightly different direction, switching out butter or shortening for lighter, more healthful olive oil. She likes to serve succotash as a separate dish alongside fresh cornbread. She follows it up with grilled salmon garnished with lemon, and pairs the entire meal with a light Pinot Grigio that complements both the succotash and the fish. You may want to try her recipe right away—and you can, using frozen vegetables if good fresh ones aren’t readily available. But if you want to make your guests swoon, serve them this dish made with vegetables from your summer garden.

 Excerpt

Saffron visits Uncle T. Patrick, known as Big-Eye, at the Magnolia Nursing home and takes him a sack of fried pies

“Fried pies. Oo-we, I can smell ‘em.”

“What kind of fried pies?” She smiled broadly.

“Persimmon.”

“Persimmon? Where you think I’d get any persimmons?”

“Peach.”

“That’s right. You want one?” She opened a tin foil package and pulled out a crispy pie, placed it on a cloth napkin, and offered it to Big-Eye.

“Lordy, you’re good to your old uncle. Yes, you are.” He took a bite of the pie. “Uh, uh, uh. You cook better than your momma.”

“Don’t let her hear you say that.” She leaned over and gave her uncle a peck on the cheek.
Saffron’s Succotash

Ingredients:

• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 minced jalapeño, without seeds
• 1 cup cooked corn, off the cob
• 1 cup cooked lima beans
• 1 cup or more sliced okra
• 1-2 tablespoons butter
• water as needed
• salt and pepper
• parsley as a garnish

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy pan over medium heat.
2. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender.
3. Add garlic and cook one minute.
4. Add jalapeño, corn, lima beans, and okra. Add butter. Stir and add water as needed.
5. Salt can be added all along or at the end.
6. Add pepper to taste.
7. Cover and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes. Taste. Cook longer if necessary to attain the desired tenderness.
8. Serve in a bowl or individual bowls, topped with chopped Italian parsley.

Thank you, Kay, for visiting today and sharing these yummy recipes!

Please keep reading for information about Kay and her new book!

About The Murder at Red Oaks

The Murder at Red Oaks (Mosey Frye Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Setting – The fictional town of Hembree, Arkansas
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wild Rose Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 22, 2025
Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1509262849
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509262847
Digital Print length ‏ : ‎ 329 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509262854
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FH2XYQQ5

What a chilling sight when real estate agent Mosey Frye enters her client’s grand Victorian only to find her strangled and laid out in a coffin. Clued in on the bizarre murder, the new forensic profiler in town raises the intriguing theory of “posing,” suggesting the culprit, plagued by remorse, decided to honor the victim with a grand send-off.

Meanwhile, police chief Gus Olivera, sticking to the evidence, makes a breakthrough by identifying the coffin as one that is missing from the mausoleum. It originally belonged to the victim’s young ward, tragically drowned in the lake by the house years earlier. With real and amateur sleuths baffled, townspeople fear yet another attack from the deranged killer among them.

About Kay Pritchett

Kay Pritchett, a native of Greenville, Mississippi, lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she taught Spanish literature at the state’s flagship university. At retirement, she threw herself into fiction writing and has wrapped up seven books in the Mosey Frye Mystery series. As a mystery writer, she delights in blending the charming wit of amateur sleuth Mosey Frye with the suave sophistication of police chief Gus Olivera. She’s all about sprinkling her mystery novels with lively banter, highlighting the dynamic interactions between Mosey and her trusty sidekick Nadia, as well as the intriguing dialogues between Olivera and sharp-witted coroner Eads McGinnis. Her goal? To transport readers into the thrilling world of an Agatha Christie whodunit, but with a delightful twist—think verandas and paddle boats! Murder in High Cotton (2022), inspired by childhood memories of the Delta, anthologizes her first three short mystery novels. Since then, she has launched four full-length novels: The Summer House at Larkspur, The Incident at Sunny Banks, The House with a Secret Cellar, and The Murder at Red Oaks.

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