O deadly night, p.25
O, Deadly Night,
p.25
Recipes
Amaretto Fruit Cake
Not your average fruitcake. Vicky makes this cake for people who say they don’t like Christmas cake. It’s white in color, for one thing, beautiful with the colored cherries, and well flavored with almonds, amaretto, and brandy.
This is not a difficult recipe at all, but it takes two days of prep and needs to be made about a month or more before enjoying.
Makes 11½ cups of batter; 5 pounds of cake
Fruit
6 ounces golden raisins
4 ounces diced candied citron peel
8 ounces candied red cherries
4 ounces candied green cherries
8 ounces candied yellow pineapple
¼ cup brandy
¼ cup amaretto
Cake
½ cup all-purpose flour
4-ounce package whole blanched almonds
½ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon almond flavoring
2½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup brandy
¼ cup amaretto
¼ cup milk
2 ounces ground almonds
Day 1: Place raisins, peel, and whole cherries in a large bowl. Cut pineapple into ½-inch pieces and add to mixture. Pour ¼ cup brandy and ¼ cup amaretto over. Mix thoroughly, cover, and leave overnight.
Day 2: Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Grease a 6½-inch and a 5-inch round fruitcake pan. Line pans with greased brown paper. Sprinkle ½ cup flour over the fruit and mix to coat fruit. Add whole nuts and mix.
Place ½ cup butter and ½ cup shortening in large bowl or electric mixer. Beat until creamy. Gradually beat in sugar, eggs, and flavoring. Add ¾ cup flour and mix well. Beat in brandy and amaretto. Add another ¾ cup flour and mix well. Add milk and remaining flour. Stir in almonds.
Pour over fruit-and-nut mixture and stir with wooden spoon until mixed.
Turn into pans and smooth tops.
Place pan of water on bottom oven rack. Bake cakes two to three hours until done. The smaller pan might be done earlier, so check.
When done, cakes should be white on top and toothpick inserted will come out clean.
Turn off oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven, peel off paper, and cool thoroughly.
Wrap in brandy-soaked cheesecloth. Wrap in plastic wrap, foil, or covered container.
Make about one month ahead of serving, and keep checking to make sure the cheesecloth stays moist—baste as needed with amaretto.
Tip: If you don’t have fruitcake pans, you can use any size regular cake pans that hold 11½ cups batter. Baking times will need to be altered accordingly (check after 1¼ hours).
Molasses Spice Cookies
These cookies couldn’t be easier to make. Any child can do it (with adequate supervision). It’s the perfect recipe for letting kids help their families prepare for the holidays. They love getting their little fingers all sticky.
For the adult cook, these are perfect when you’re short of time but want something delicious and home baked. No rolling or cutting is required. They keep in a covered container for up to a week and freeze well.
Makes 36 cookies.
Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1¾ teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
⅔ cup dried cranberries, chopped
⅔ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
Mix all ingredients in order given.
Drop by the teaspoonful on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes.
Sausage and Sweet Potato Soup
Vicky serves this for lunch at the bakery, and it makes the perfect dish for those cold winter nights, or if you’ve come in from a walk in the snowy woods or maybe skiing or skating. Delicious, hot, and filling.
Makes 8 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound sausage (I use hot Italian for a bit of extra heat)
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
1 pound white-skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
6 cups chicken broth
1 5-ounce bag fresh spinach
Salt and pepper
Instructions
Heat oil in frying pan over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook until brown, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Transfer sausage to paper towels to drain.
Add onions and garlic to pan and cook until translucent, stirring often, about 5 minutes.
In a large stockpot, add all potatoes and broth; bring to boil. Add garlic and onions, scaping browned bits off bottom of frying pan.
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
Using potato masher, mash some of potatoes in pot.
Add sausage. Stir in spinach and simmer just until wilted, about 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Acknowledgments
Many years ago I got the recipe for amaretto fruit cake from Pat Ashforth, a good friend of long standing. Pat loves Christmas almost as much as the people of Rudolph do, and her baking is testament to that.
Many thanks, as always, to Sandy Harding, substantive editor extraordinaire. Sandy always makes my work as good as it can be. I’m grateful to the gang at Crooked Lane Books, Matt Martz in particular, for picking up the series so I (and you) can continue to enjoy the antics of Merry, Mattie, and the gang. And to my agent, Kim Lionetti of Bookends.
Also by Vicki Delany
The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries
The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime
The Sign of Four Spirits
The Game Is a Footnote
A Three Book Problem
A Curious Incident
There’s a Murder Afoot
A Scandal in Scarlet
The Cat of the Baskervilles
Body on Baker Street
Elementary, She Read
The Lighthouse Library Mysteries (writing as Eva Gates)
Shot Through the Book
The Stranger in the Library
Death Knells and Wedding Bells
Death by Beach Read
Deadly Ever After
A Death Long Overdue
Read and Buried
Something Read, Something Dead
The Spook in the Stacks
Reading Up a Storm
Booked for Trouble
By Book or By Crook
The Ashley Grant Mysteries
Coral Reef Views
Blue Water Hues
White Sand Blues
The Klondike Mysteries
Gold Web
Gold Mountain
Gold Fever
Gold Digger
The Ray Robertson Mysteries
Blood and Belonging
Haitian Graves
Juba Good
The Year-Round Christmas Mysteries
A Slay Ride Together With You
Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas
Dying in a Winter Wonderland
Silent Night, Deadly Night
Hark the Herald Angels Slay
We Wish You a Murderous Christmas
Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen
The Constable Molly Smith Mysteries
Unreasonable Doubt
Under Cold Stone
A Cold White Sun
Among the Departed
Negative Image
Winter of Secrets
Valley of the Lost
In the Shadow of the Glacier
The Tea By The Sea Mysteries
Tea with Jam & Dread
Trouble Is Brewing
Steeped in Malice
Murder Spills the Tea
Murder in a Teacup
Tea & Treachery
The Catskill Summer Resort Mysteries
Deadly Director’s Cut
Deadly Summer Nights
Also Available By Vicki Delany
More Than Sorrow
Murder at Lost Dog Lake
Burden of Memory
Scare the Light Away
Whiteout
Author Biography
Vicki Delany is a bestselling author of more than thirty novels/novellas in several of mystery’s subgenres. Born in Manitoba and raised in Ontario, she is the former president of the Crime Writers of Canada, a member of Capital Crime Writers, and a member of Sisters in Crime.
Books should be disposed of and recycled according to local requirements. All paper materials used are FSC compliant.
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reaction to the recipes contained in this book.
Copyright © 2025 by Vicki Delany
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 979-8-89242-187-4
ISBN (ebook): 979-8-89242-188-1
Cover design by Elsa Kerls
Printed in the United States.
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First Edition: October 2025
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Vicki Delany, O, Deadly Night
