Books to Inspire Your Travels
Inspiring Stories – Fascinating People – Regional Tastes – and a Bit of Mystery!
Divided into sections: Non-Fiction; Fiction; Biographies; Cookbooks; Cozy Mysteries
Voices on the River
An array of voices — past and present, imagined and real — joins author Dennis Brown on the Delta Queen: people like General Ulysses S. Grant, who traversed these same watery routes during the Civil War; Abraham Lincoln, whose young character was shaped on both rivers, and film star Gregory Peck, who portrayed Lincoln in a television mini-series about the Civil War. Spend 22 days showcasing on a paddleboat.
Sporting Oregon: A Pictorial History of Early Oregon
Sharing his love for vintage sports memorabilia, author Brian Campf traces the origins of team sports in Oregon as they traveled by horses, wagons, trains, and busses to form the sports rivalries that contuse to this day. Filled with more than 300 images from his collection.
Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America
From 1910 to 1940, over half a million people sailed through the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco Bay, hoping to start a new life in America. But they did not all disembark in San Francisco; instead, most were ferried across the bay to the Angel Island Immigration Station. For many, this was the real gateway to the United States. For others, it was a prison and their final destination, before being sent home. The site remains a fascinating destination for visitors.
The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables
The book explores L. M. Montgomery’s deep connection to the landscapes of Prince Edward Island that inspired her to write the beloved Anne of Green Gables series. From the Lake of Shining Waters and the Haunted Wood to Lover’s Lane, you’ll be immersed in the real places immortalized in the novels.
Building the Columbia River Highway – They Said it Couldn’t Be Done
The gorge cuts through the Cascade Mountains to the sea, leaving little space for man to form a highway. It took one man’s vision to conquer this reluctant piece of real estate and produce the nation’s first scenic highway – meandering past waterfalls, soaring cliffs, and dramatic views. Meet Sam Hill – a one-man force of nature.
Legends & Lore of Cape Cod
Ancient Wampanoag legends like Granny Squannit and Princess Scargo are as familiar as tales of pirates and explorers. Author Robin Smith-Johnson shares historic tales of shipwrecks, murders, hauntings, and more from the Cape.
Astoria: Astor and Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire – A Tale of Ambition and Survival on the Early American Frontier
A thrilling, true-adventure tale of the 1810 Astor Expedition, an epic, now forgotten, three-year journey to forge an American empire on the Pacific Coast. See the Columbia River and the Pacific Northwest in a new light.
Gilded: How Newport Became America’s Richest Resort
Newport is the legendary and beautiful home of American aristocracy and the sheltered super-rich. Many of the country’s most famous blueblood families have lived and summered in Newport since the 19th century. The Astors, the Vanderbilts, JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Doris Duke are just a few of the many names who have called the city home.
Sailing to Freedom: Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad
Much has been written about the overland route for enslaved peoples escaping the antebellum south. The less common route was up the eastern seaboard. Find the hidden stories and places you’ve probably never heard about before.
Théâtre de la Mode: Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture
World War II had unexpected consequences. Read the story how the fashion and haute couture industry created a world in miniature and traveled the world to keep their love of fashion alive – and how their creation ended up on display at the Maryhill Museum on the Columbia River Gorge.
American Wilderness: The Hudson River School of Art
More than 40 full-color reproductions of some of their greatest paintings illustrate this historical overview of the Hudson River School of landscape painting and the lives and works of artists who were inspired first by the pastoral Hudson River Valley.
The Hidden History of New Orleans
The history of New Orleans is one of contrasts-heroes and villains, catastrophe and celebration, sinners and saints. Ryan Starrett and Josh Foreman offer a dose of history that spans the generations that would be hard to believe if it hadn’t happened in New Orleans.
The Jamestown Brides: The Story of England’s “Maids for Virginia”
The story of Jamestown, England’s first real foothold in the New World, was fraught with danger and an extremely high mortality rate. In 1621, fifty-six “young and uncorrupt” women were encouraged to head there.
The Steamboat Era: A History of Fulton’s Folly on American Rivers, 1807-1860
The steamboat evokes images of leisurely travel, genteel gambling, and lively commerce, but behind the romanticized view is an engineering marvel that led the way for the steam locomotive. From the steamboat’s development to the dawn of the Civil War, the new mode of transportation opened up America’s frontiers and created new trade routes. If you love paddlewheel boats, you’ll enjoy reading this book!
Sons of Providence
Sons of Providence paints a vivid portrait of Colonial life and the early struggles of the anti-slavery movement as we follow these founding brothers from Providence, Rhode Island in their rise to the heights of American commerce and power and from revolution to nationhood.
Down and Up the Columbia River
This unique book tells the story of Lewis and Clark’s journey along the Columbia River with a pull-out map to help you visualize and even follow along if you are on a drive or ship following the river. It’s unique format and helpful information make it a perfect little guide to have with you.
The Hudson River School: American Landscape Artists
During a fifty-year period, an artistic movement developed in America that was inspired by the wild areas in the vicinity of New York’s Hudson River. While most of these artists did not think of themselves as belonging to a movement, they did share a sense of wonder at the grandeur of the New World’s remarkable scenic wilderness.
Living Landmarks of Chicago
From the man shipped home in a rum barrel to the most dangerous woman in America, Chicago history comes to life in these tantalizing tales. More than a book about architecture, these are stories of the people who made Chicago and many of its most popular tourist attractions. Each chapter is a vignette that introduces the landmark and brings it to life.
History of the Chocktaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez Indians
The author was the son of missionaries and observed the Indians’ heartbreaking removal from Mississippi between 1831 and 1833. Later, he embarked on writing his History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians from the Indians’ point of view. Published in 1899, his history is extremely valuable for his firsthand observations on the removal and later history of the Choctaws and Chickasaws as well as for its material on the Natchez Indians of the lower Mississippi River.
The Essential Lewis and Clark
A compact version of the actual journals of Lewis and Clark, telling the tales of exploration, adventures, and difficulties of their journey in their own words. Read their own stories while traveling up the Columbia River and staying the winter in Astoria.
Storied & Scandalous St. Louis: A History of Breweries, Baseball, Prejudice, and Protest
At the turn of the 20th century, St. Louis, Missouri, was the 4th largest city in the country and known for its manufacturing, beer, railroad hub, music, baseball, the World’s Fair, and its romance with the Mississippi. This collection of stories from the headlines includes tales of cholera epidemic, ragtime racism, spiritualism, and fights for women’s suffrage.
Wildfire Loose: The Week Maine Burned
In October 1947, Maine experienced the worst fire disaster in its history. Climaxing months of drought, fires raged across more than 200,000 acres. Nine communities were practically leveled and four others severely damaged. Fifteen people lost their lives. Wildfire Loose describes how the fires started and spread so quickly through rural villages, down Millionaire’s Row in Bar Harbor, and across southern Maine beach resorts.
All Hell Can’t Stop Them: The Battles for Chattanooga―Missionary Ridge and Ringgold
In the sequel to Battle Above the Clouds—the book details the dramatic final actions of the battles for Chattanooga: Missionary Ridge and the final Confederate rearguard action at Ringgold, where Patrick Cleburne held Grant’s Federals at bay and saved the Army of Tennessee from further disaster.
Undaunted Courage
By Stephen Ambrose. Undaunted Courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West. The best selling historian and author discusses the courage and tenacity of Lewis and Clark, Thomas Jefferson, and the expanding United States.
Alexander Hamilton & the Battle of Yorktown
The story of Alexander Hamilton’s key contributions in winning the most decisive victory the of the American Revolutionary war at Yorktown.You thought you knew the full story of the founding father of the American financial system from the Broadway musical Hamilton, but October 1781 brings into sharp relief the vital role he played in the most important battle of the American Revolution.
Historic Photos of Steamboats on the Mississippi
Steamboats have carved out a very special place in American history, especially along the Mississippi River, where they brought passengers, cargo, mail, entertainment, and news—both good and bad—to the settlements of a new nation. They enabled some of our nation’s major cities to grow and flourish. The historic photographs tell the story of steamboats that plied the Mississippi and the glorious era they symbolized.
Signing Their Lives Away
In the summer of 1776, fifty-six men risked their lives and livelihood to defy King George III and sign the Declaration of Independence–yet how many of them do we actually remember? An eclectic group of statesmen, soldiers, slaveholders, and scoundrels signed this historic document–and many strange fates awaited them. An entertaining and enlightening narrative for history buffs of all ages.
A Nice Little Place on the North Side
The New York Times-bestselling history of America’s most beloved baseball stadium, Wrigley Field, and the Cubs’ century-long search for World Series glory. The book is more than just the history of a ballpark. It is the story of Chicago, of baseball, and of America itself.
Nashville Chrome
1959: the Brown siblings are the biggest thing in country music. They will give rise to the polished sound of the multibillion-dollar country music industry we know today. But when the bonds of family begin to fray, the flame of their celebrity proves as brilliant as it is fleeting. Acclaimed author Rick Bass draws poignant portraits of their lives, lived both in and out of the limelight. Nashville Chrome is the richly imagined story of this forgotten family and an unflinching portrait of an era in American music.
Careless People
Careless People is a unique literary investigation: a gripping double narrative that combines an unsolved crime and a quest for the roots of America’s best loved novel, The Great Gatsby. Reconstructing the events of that pivotal autumn F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his novel, revealing in the process new ways of thinking about his masterpiece.
Theophilus North: A Novel
The last of Thornton Wilder’s works published during his lifetime, Theophilus North is part autobiographical and part imagined adventures. Setting out to see the world, Theophilus North gets as far as Newport, Rhode Island, before his car breaks down. To support himself, he takes jobs in the elegant mansions, just as Wilder himself did in the same decade. Soon the young man finds himself playing the roles of tutor, tennis coach, spy, confidant, lover, friend and enemy as he becomes entangled in adventure and intrigue in Newport’s fabulous addresses.
The Beach House, a Novel
Twenty years ago, Caretta Rutledge left her Southern roots far behind for a successful career as a businesswoman in Chicago. But an unusual request from her mother—coming just as her own life is spinning out of control—has Cara heading back to the scenic Lowcountry of her childhood summers. Known for her moving characters and emotional honesty, Mary Alice Monroe brings readers a beautifully rendered story that explores the fragile yet enduring bond between mothers and daughters.
Being Dorothy
1980 has rattled Dorothy Cooper’s world.Disillusioned, she drops off the grid after more than a decade of dedication to The Service, a highly secretive organization. “What happens when you combine a love of Wizard of Oz, Nora Ephron, James Bond movies, and the desire for true faith? You embark on an unforgettable 1980 journey to magical, Mackinac Island.”
Run Rose, Run
Every song tells a story. She’s a star on the rise, singing about the hard life behind her. She’s also on the run. Find a future, lose a past. Nashville is where she’s come to claim her destiny. It’s also where the darkness she’s fled might find her. And destroy her.
The River We Remember
A masterful telling of life of midcentury America in the midwest as a town struggles with tragic histories, a murder investigation, and life in a small town along the Mississippi River.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
This American folk tale was penned over 200 years ago. You are familiar with Washington Irving’s Works – the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, but have you actually read the stories? Set along the Hudson River, Irving wrote this collection of stories from his home overlooking the river.
Grant Wood: A Life
Wood was one of America’s most famous regionalist painters; to love his work was the equivalent of loving America itself. In his time, he was an “almost mythical figure,” recognized most supremely for his hard-boiled farm scene, American Gothic, a painting that has come to reflect the essence of America’s traditional values—a simple, decent, homespun tribute to our lost agrarian age.
To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876
An epic history spanning the battlegrounds of the Civil War and the violent turmoil of Reconstruction to the forgotten electoral crisis that nearly fractured a reunited nation, the story dramatically reveals Ulysses S. Grant’s essential yet underappreciated role in preserving the United States.
The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered
A rich portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolution, who, at age nineteen, volunteered to fight under George Washington; a biography that looks past the storybook hero who cast aside family and fortune to advance the aims of liberty and justice.
The Dedicated Dancer: Annie Taylor, the Woman Who Conquered Niagara Falls in a Barrel
An historical novel about Annie Taylor, the brave woman who was the first person to conquer Niagara Falls. Protected only by a specially designed barrel, Annie survived when numerous other people had not done so.
Alva Vanderbilt: Unlikley Champion of Women’s Rights
A New York socialite and feminist, Alva Vanderbilt Belmont was known to be domineering, temperamental, and opinionated. Her resolve to get her own way regardless of the consequences stood her in good stead when she joined the American woman suffrage movement in 1909. Thereafter, she used her wealth, her administrative expertise, and her social celebrity to help convince Congress to pass the 19th Amendment. She often held suffrage meetings at her Chinese Tea House on the grounds of her luxurious Newport mansion.
George Washijngton and Benedict Arnold
A captivating story of the most compelling figures of the Revolutionary War. When Gen. George Washington appointed Benedict Arnold military commander, he was not only making one of the worst personnel decisions of his career, but was also creating the conditions for the traitor to commit his crime. Stark contrasts and similarities between two men show how their choices informed their destiny. Palmer has a talent for building momentum and suspense, profiling military comrades who would later be foes.
Treacherous Beauty: The Woman Behind Benedict Arnold’s Plot
Histories of the Revolutionary War have long honored heroines such as Betsy Ross, Abigail Adams, and Molly Pitcher. Now comes the first biography of one of the war’s most remarkable women, a beautiful society girl named Peggy Shippen. While war was raging between England and the colonists, Peggy befriended a suave British officer and then married a crippled general twice her age. She brought the two men together in a treasonous plot that nearly turned George Washington into a prisoner and changed the course of the war. Peggy Shippen was Mrs. Benedict Arnold.
Call Me Lucky, the Autobiography of Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby, a Spokane WA native: “Call Me Lucky remains one of the most enchanting of all show business memoirs. It not only chronicles, with reasonable accuracy, the life of a central figure in the popular culture of this century, but reproduces the merry, occasionally guileful tone Bing Crosby perfected on radio and in movies. This is Crosby the way he wanted to be known to his adoring public and in all likelihood to himself.”
My Heaven in Hells Canyon
Growing up in Hells Canyon was one woman’s life in heaven. Meet Violet Shirley and read about her life and experiences in the deepest part of Hells Canyon. The rugged terrain, fickle weather, and animal predators make for interesting reading on a life lived above the rapids of the Snake River.
Birdmen
Birdmen sets the engrossing story of the Wrights’ war with Glen Curtiss against the thrilling backdrop of the early years of manned flight, and is rich with period detail and larger-than-life personalities. For more than a decade, they battled each other in court, at air shows, and in the newspapers. The outcome of this contest of wills would shape the course of aviation history—and take a fearsome toll on the men involved.
Mark Twain: A Life
The life and times of author Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens. From the Mississippi River, to San Francisco, to global celebrity, Samuel Clemens did it all and observed it all. He became the American voice. Ron Powers’s magnificent biography offers the definitive life of the founding father of our culture.
Capt. George Vancouver
Two of the Northwest largest cities and an island are named after the British explorer, who explored much of the North Pacific, confirming the rumored Northwest Passage did not exist. His extraordinary 5 year expedition was the first to map Puget Sound and named nearly four hundred geographic features from Alaska’s Cook Inlet to coastal Oregon. In the Pacific Northwest he re-named most of the mountains in the region including Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood. Learn where those names come from.
The Magnificent Life of Marjorie Post
Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. . . . So begins another average evening for Marjorie Merriweather Post. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. This is the story of an heiress, socialite, collector, and creator of one of the most amazing home museums you’ll find in Washington, D.C.
Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells
Ida B. the Queen tells the awe-inspiring story of a pioneering woman who was often overlooked and underestimated—a woman who refused to exit a train car meant for white passengers; a woman brought to light the horrors of lynching in America; a woman who cofounded the NAACP.
The Truth About Sacajawea
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The Andy Warhol Diaries
The spotlight shines on one of the most influential and controversial figures in American culture. Filled with shocking observations about the lives, loves, and careers of the rich, famous, and fabulous, Warhol’s journal is endlessly fun and fascinating. After reading you may want to visit the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh for more!
Salvidor Dali
Painter, designer, and filmmaker Salvador Dalí was one of the most colorful and controversial figures in 20th-century art. A pioneer of Surrealism, he was both praised and reviled for the subconscious imagery he projected into his paintings. This early autobiography takes him through his late thirties, and is as startling and unpredictable as his art. It is superbly illustrated with over 80 photographs of Dalí and his works, and scores of Dalí drawings and sketches. You can visit his library in St. Petersburg, Florida.
John James Audubon: Making of an American
ohn James Audubon came to America as a dapper eighteen-year-old eager to make his fortune. He had a talent for drawing and an interest in birds, and he would spend the next thirty-five years traveling to the remotest regions of his new country–often alone and on foot–to render his avian subjects on paper. The works of art he created gave the world its idea of America. They gave America its idea of itself. Visit Audubon Museum on a Mississippi River cruise.
Cash: the Johnny Cash Autobiography
He was the “Man in Black,” a country music legend, and the quintessential American troubadour. He was an icon of rugged individualism who had been to hell and back, telling the tale as never before. In his unforgettable autobiography, Johnny Cash tells the truth about the highs and lows, the struggles and hard-won triumphs, and the people who shaped him. In his own words, Cash set the record straight — and dispelled a few myths — as he looked unsparingly at his remarkable life. A highlight of any trip to Nashville.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Portland
When Peleg Wadsworth built his family home on Congress Street in 1786, he could see the Fore River from his front door. The city grew up around the structure as the Wadsworth-Longfellow family flourished and made history within its walls. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote his first childhood poem there. Young Henry watched his father help craft the Maine Constitution and experienced revolutionary ideals of his home city. Step inside the historic Longfellow House and explore the city that shaped a beloved American poet.
Sacajawea
Captured by her enemies, married to a foreigner, and a mother at age sixteen, Sacajawea lived a life of turmoil and change. Then in 1804, this incredible woman met Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and led them on a quest to find the Pacific Ocean.
I Invented the Modern Age: Henry Ford
Every now and then, the world is transformed by a new innovation. Henry Ford had a profound effect on the world as we know it. This book is a highly pleasurable read, filled with scenes and incidents from his life, competition with fellow manufacturers, and fellow inventors.
Waterman: Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku
The first comprehensive biography of Duke Kahanamoku (1890–1968): swimmer, surfer, Olympic gold medalist, Hawaiian icon. Long before Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz made their splashes in the pool, Kahanamoku emerged from the backwaters of Waikiki to become America’s first superstar Olympic swimmer.
Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong
Covering the life and career of the Chinese American movie star, whose battle against cinematic exploitation and endemic racism are set against the currents of 20th century history in America. This biography shows how she struggled in old Hollywood as the most famous Chinese American actress.
Queen of Romania in America
Romanian Queen Marie’s 10,000 mile North American train voyage was an epic journey. Invited to America in 1926 to inaugurate a uniquely conceived and unfinished ‘Maryhill Museum’ located high on the treeless banks of the Columbia River, her diary of the voyage tells a story of a time of incredible changes in America.
Last Train to Paradise
Henry Flagler’s story – the building of a railroad, the Gilded Age, Railroad barons, Hurricanes, and St. Augustine, Florida.
A Woman Alone: Mona Bell, Sam Hill and the Mansion on Bonneville Rock
Alone, she battled the federal government after the Army commandeered her hilltop mansion and surrounding riverfront acreage in the Columbia River Gorge to build Bonneville Dam. Her mansion 40 miles east of Portland, Oregon, was built in 1928 as a gift from her lover, the flamboyant entrepreneur Sam Hill, whose lasting works include the Maryhill Museum and the Columbia River Highway.
Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King
The undisputed king of the blues, B.B. King puts his life into words in a story that spans tragedy, triumph, and everything in between—and he tells it just how he plays it, straight from the heart.
Chef Regina Charboneau’s Mississippi Current Cookbook
Born and raised in Natchez, Mississippi, Chef Regina has had a noteworthy life, including becoming a key figure in the American food scene in California that happened in the 1980s. This recipe collection includes the diverse food and culinary traditions from the ten states that border the Mississippi River that runs through Natchez. With 200 contemporary recipes for 30 meals and celebrations, and more than 150 stunning photographs.
The Art of Cookery: Early American Recipes
These favorite “receipts” are known to have been used in Virginia households in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Williamsburg Art of Cookery allows modern cooks to offer the same time-tested fare that pleased our ancestors. Discover the differences between early American and modern cooking tastes.
New England Orchard Cookbook
A classic regional cookbook filled with recipes from the orchards and cider mills throughout New England. Many of the featured farms grow more than just the beloved apple––pears, peaches, berries, and more––and over 200 recipes included in this book reflect that bounty. From sweet desserts to savory dinners, the recipes are designed for the home cook. Throughout are features about life and work at the orchards alongside gorgeous photography.
Desserts from the Famous Loveless Cafe
Delicious Southern sweets and treats from a Nashville favorite: Renowned for its Southern charm and superb comfort food, the Loveless Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee, serves some of the best desserts below the Mason-Dixon line. Aficionados of country cooking travel from near and far to sample the restaurant’s extraordinary sweets.
Lake Michigan Cottage Cookbook
This collection of 118 recipes captures the food experiences of the Lake Michigan region, an ultimate vacation destination with hundreds of miles of shoreline and rich food traditions reflecting the bounty of the area’s farms and the lake’s daily catch. Recipes include Apple Cake, Homemade Sheboygan-Style Bratwurst, Chicago’s HBFC Original Fried Chicken Sandwich, Beach House Cheesy Potatoes, and The Cook’s House Crispy Skinned Lake Trout. Delightful photographs of cottage life and classic destinations bring the lakeshore’s flavors and charm to you year-round.
Pike Place Market Cookbook
The Pike Place Market sits in the center the Seattle food scene. With its famous seafood and locally grown produce, it is seven acres of wonderful ingredients and inspiration for the home cook. The author has assembled a collection of recipes that celebrate the essence of Pike Place Market. Included here are Le Pichet’s Salade Verte, Etta’s Mini Dungeness Crab Cakes by Tom Douglas, and the Pink Door’s Linguine alla Vongole as well as other market-inspired recipes. With gorgeous images of prepared recipes and scenes of the Pike Place Market, this is the ultimate Seattle cookbook
A Real Southern Cook: Dora Charles in Her Savannah Kitchen
In her first cookbook, a revered former cook at Savannah’s most renowned restaurant divulges her locally famous Savannah recipes—many of them never written down before—and those of her family and friends. These are the intensely satisfying dishes at the heart of Dora’s beloved Savannah: Shrimp and Rice; Simple Smoky Okra; Buttermilk Cornbread; and a truly incomparable Fried Chicken. Each dish has a “secret ingredient” for a burst of flavor. All the cornerstones of the Southern table are here, from Out-of-This-World Smothered Catfish to desserts like a jaw-dropping Very Red Velvet Cake.
The Best of New Orleans Cookbook
Just like a big pot of gumbo, New Orleans is a melting pot of cultures and culinary inspirations. The Best of New Orleans Cookbook captures the spirit of the city with evocative recipes and tales of beloved culinary traditions. Learn to make some of the city’s signature dishes, like Hot Roast Beef Po’Boys, Black-eyed Pea Jambalaya, Beignets, and King Cake. Then wash your meal down with a classic NOLA cocktail, like a Sazerac or a Pimm’s Cup. Learn “a little something extra.” including top 5 travel picks and a little local history along the way.
Providence & Rhode Island Chef’s Table
With 100 recipes for the home cook from the state’s most celebrated eateries and showcasing full-color photos featuring mouth-watering dishes, famous chefs, and lots of local flavor, Providence & Rhode Island Chef’s Table is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate. The delicious dishes featured here are personal histories––stories of people, place. Each recipe, chef profile, and photo tells its part of the story of Rhode Island.
New Nashville Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from Music City
Food, cooking and restaurants reflect the down-home spirit of Nashville, the people who live there, and their many cultures and cuisines. Culinary traditions here are firm, but there is a dynamic food/dining evolution taking place––from homey mom and pop cafes to chic new eateries. The New Nashville Chef’s Table features recipes for the home cook from the city’s most celebrated eateries alongside beautiful photography.
Theo Chocolate: Recipes & Sweet Secrets
A Seattle favorite. Their recipes are a decadent celebration of all things chocolate from the first organic and Fair Trade chocolate factory in the U.S., featuring 75 recipes for sweet and savory chocolate treats. From bean to bar, Theo Chocolate uses organic ingredients and is committed to Fair Trade practices. This book not only shares Theo’s story and their passion for doing the right thing, but also celebrates the decadent pleasure of enjoying excellent chocolate thanks to 75 recipes to make at home along with full-color photographs throughout..
Little Local Portland Cookbook
The Little Local Portland Cookbook brings the essential flavors of Portland, Oregon, to your table. From special coffee drinks and brunch dishes like Huckleberry Hotcakes and Salmon Hash, to delicious Oregon Bay shrimp cocktail, skirt steak with pinot sauce, and Dungeness crab cippino, you’ll find recipes for iconic Portland dishes for every meal. Written by a regional food expert and beautifully illustrated, this little cookbook is the perfect souvenir. Color illustrations throughout
Pieometry: Modern Tart Art and Pie Design fort he Eye and the Palate
The pie-making genius behind Seattle’s popular Instagram account @lokokitchen reveals the secrets of her mind-blowing creations in this gorgeous full-color cookbook featuring 50 incredible sweet and savory pie and tart designs
True North Cabin Cookbook: Recipes from a Minnesota North Woods Table
Celebrate a northern life with seasonal foods and cherished stories, as recipes and recollections transport readers to a lakeside cabin in the north woods. From her family cabin on picturesque True North Island near Ely, Minnesota, Hansen shares favorite recipes for the summer months. In May, she presents cozy dishes like Beef Bourguignon and Drunken Cowboy Beans followed by a sweet and tart Rhubarb Skillet Cake, while June might call for Molasses Pork Chops accompanied by Roasted Carrots with Scallion-Ginger Sauce.
Midwest Pie: Recipes That Shaped a Region
A historical tour of midwestern pies that recalls when recipes were shared through faded note cards and junior league cookbooks. Stop by any church or community event in the heartland today and you’re likely to see as many types of pie on the dessert table as there are people who made them.
KeeKee’s Cape Cod Kitchen
Cape Cod is more than just cranberries and delicious seafood dishes. In an easy-to-follow, user-friendly cookbook, KeeKee shares signature and ethnic recipes that guide both novice and experienced chefs to create elegant Cape Cod dishes and more in the comfort of their own kitchens. Her diverse collection includes all aspects of a delicious 5-course meal, from cocktails to dessert.
Dying in Style
St. Louis: A mystery shoppe’s report about an exclusive store is less than stellar, and it may cost the fashion diva fifty million dollars. But when one of them is found murdered, strangled with one of her own thousand-dollar snakeskin belts, the wrong person may be accused of the crime.
Rock Bottom: An Imogene Museum Mystery
Columbia River Gorge: The curator of eclectic Imogene Museum, is suddenly short-staffed. Her grad student intern, Greg, is missing—without leaving behind so much as an empty pizza box. Plus, a prowler has been rearranging the museum’s brand new chamber pot exhibit. Soon the small town of Platts Landing, Washington are in on the hunt—for the killers and a body that’s drifting down the Columbia River. Is the dead man her intern or somebody else?
Natural Thorn Killer ( A Rose City Mystery)
Portland: Britta Johnston might be a late bloomer, but after leaving her deadbeat husband and dead-end job, she’s finally pursuing her artistic passion at her aunt Elin’s floral boutique, Blooma, in Portland, Oregon. It’s on the banks of the Willamette, in a quaint district of cobblestone paths and cherry trees. The wine bar featuring Pacific Northwest vintages is a tasty bonus, offering another kind of bouquet to enjoy. But things aren’t as peaceful as they look…
A Book Signing to Die For
Florida: Beck O’Rourke and her grandmother own Beach Reads bookstore and coffee shop, a gathering place for locals and tourists, a block off the ocean in Manatee Beach, Florida. When a cozy mystery writer arrives for a book signing event is followed by a death, Beck finds a slew of suspects, but the murderer isn’t happy about her interference. Neither is the town’s handsome new police detective who has a history with Beck.
Chai Another Day
Seattle: As owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece is always on the go. Between conjuring up new spice blends and serving iced spice tea to customers looking to beat the summer heat, she finally takes a break for a massage. But the Zen moment is shattered when she overhears an argument in her friend Aimee’s vintage home decor shop that ends in murder.
Murder is an Art Form
On Board: When a famous artist boards a big cruise ship, death soon follows. Patricia Fisher is on board and suspects something else is going on and investigates – who ruined her perfectly nice vacation on board?
Murder Mystery Book Club
Florida Keys: The first story in the Florida Keys Bed & Breakfast Cozy Mystery series. If you like fast-paced mysteries with interesting characters, a talkative bird, and unexpected twists, you’re going to love the Florida Keys Bed & Breakfast Cozy Mystery series..
Murder at Hotel 1911
Tennessee: If you want to spend a night amid the luxury and charm of the early 20th century, book a room at Chattanooga’s Hotel 1911 and Ivy will greet you at the reception desk. When an imperious guest arrives at the hotel and soon dies, the police suspect that the chef did it. Ivy works to clear his name, discovering plenty of suspects along the way – most staying right in her hotel.
Murder on Cape Cod
Cape Cod: During the busy summer season, a bicycle shop owner and her book club must find a crafty killer in this charming new series from the Agatha-nominated author of the Country Store Mystery series.
Murder at the Beacon Bakeshop
Michigan shores: In the first of a new series, a new bakeshop owner gets mixed up in someone’s sweet taste of revenge. She’d spent many childhood summers on the shores and loves the lighthouse here. But not everyone shares her love, and a mysteriously checkered past comes to light.
Hidden Beneath
Maine Coastline: Tan award-winning series featuring sleuth Julia Snowden and her family’s coastal Maine clambake business. New clues rise to the surface five years after the disappearance of Julia’s mother’s friend, they must dive into the deep end to get to the bottom of an old mystery.
Plantation Shudders
Cajun Country: With the help of the town’s handsome new detective, Maggie must investigate to clear her name while holding the family business together at the same time. And the deeper she digs, the more she wonders: are all the guests really there for a vacation or do they have ulterior motives?
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