Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers and Writers – Day Late Firecrackers

 

Photo by Trevor 205 from Pixabay

 Welcome back to Diet Killers, my series that’s become a bit sporadic and doesn’t always (as I’d originally intended) spotlight a chocolate dessert. This month I have a 1970s recipe for a fruity, icy, slushy, refreshing drink called a Firecracker. It gets Its bang from a bit of rum.

My husband and I were introduced to Firecrackers at a 4th of July picnic in Abilene, Texas. Abilene is hot and dry, and if you have cats they bring lizards and horned toads in the house. Snakes, too, if they can wrestle them through the door. The wind blows so much red dust you can taste it in the air—in your living room. It’s the kind of place where you can really enjoy a drink like a Firecracker.

We lived in Abilene for four years and I’ve only made Firecrackers once since then. Without the wind and the snakes and the dust they seem frivolous. Try them yourself, though, because your mileage may vary.

Mileage varies when it comes to books, too, so take what I’m about to say with a pinch of salt. Margarita salt if you’re so inclined. All Shell Breaks Loose, my latest Haunted Shell Shop Mystery, came out this past week and I think it’s a real firecracker of a story. The series takes place on Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. Ocracoke is a real place with a real history as a pirate haven.

The series is about Maureen Nash, a shell scientist, who finds a new life running a shell shop in Ocracoke. She also finds herself solving murders with the help of the octogenarian Weaver siblings, Glady and Burt, and Emrys Lloyd, the ghost of a Welsh pirate. In the new book, all shell breaks loose when the island’s eccentric doctor claims he’s bought a haunted sword. It takes Maureen, Emrys, Glady, Burt, a bulldog named Ben, and the ghost from the haunted sword to set things right.

So here’s my recipe for a spot of post-holiday relaxation. Stir up a pitcher of Firecrackers and sit back with a copy of All Shell Breaks Loose. It’s available in print, e-book, and audio editions and also at your local library.

Firecrackers

Ingredients

1 small can frozen orange juice

1 small can frozen lemonade

32 once jar cranberry juice

4 shots rum (more or less, depending on how piratical you’re feeling)

7-Up (chilled)

Directions

Mix all the ingredients, except the 7-Up together and freeze in plastic container you can scoop from. The mixture will freeze into a slush.

For individual drinks or a pitcher, mix equal parts slush and chilled 7-Up.

 

 

Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, and the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest, connect with her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.