A Broderick Crawford Day cake, goulash from a silent German inn, dark and white chocolate lemon scones reminiscent of a Christmas-in-June party, a noodle-ground beef-cheese casserole named after a skunk, cider-baked potatoes in an English home, Bubble and Squeak, Singing Hinnies, Afghans, roast leg of lamb… Tea in a Tin Cup relates mystery author Jo A. Hiestand's life-long journey of adventures and the food associated with them—events such as meeting the future members of her folk singing group via a spaghetti fight, tasting reindeer meat in a gold rush-era New Zealand town, and her childhood venture into baking. This collection of impressions, memories and recipes blend to remind us that life, humor and good food are not only entwined but also are the essence of life. 

A McLaren Case Mystery

One dark night, popular singer Kent Harrison goes missing after his performance at Tutbury Castle. When his body's found in a forest, the police investigation focuses on Kent's ex-wife, a local herbalist, a covetous colleague, and even the curator of another castle who tried to lure Kent into performing there. But his occasional singing partner, Dave Morley, seems to have the biggest motive. He's dying to make his name, money, and the big time, especially at the medieval Minstrels Court reenactment, where Kent's appearance guarantees standing room only. Did Dave murder Kent to eliminate the competition...or had their partnership struck a wrong chord? To entice him into investigating, ex-cop McLaren's girlfriend plays detective. But Dena ends up in great danger. Now McLaren must not only solve Kent's murder but also rescue her, a hard task when a web of jealousy, anger, and lies covers the trails.

One year ago, Marta Hughes won a purse-choking sum of money at a local casino. She never returned home. Her body was discovered in a ditch twelve miles from her home; her car was back in her driveway. Linnet Isherwood cannot let her friend's unsolved murder rest. She convinces ex-cop Michael McLaren to return to the work he loves. He sifts through a confusing web of lies, misconceptions and veiled motives. Are anonymous late-night phone calls, a vanished hitchhiker, and a stalker wielding empty beer bottles somehow related to the case? Or maybe the woman he broke off with is seeking revenge.

A talented musician's unsolved murder draws McLaren into another challenging investigation.Ex-police detective Michael McLaren had no intention of delving into another cold case of murder. And certainly had no intention of making his inquiries a new career. But when his fiancée dangles the intriguing aspects of the unsolved murder of local folk musician Kent Harrison before McLaren, he snaps at the bait.A popular music teacher at Grange Hall Performing Arts College, Kent Harrison had been, perhaps, more popular as a musician—a minstrel in the vein of 16th and 17th century troubadours. Though singing periodically with Dave Morley, a music shop clerk dying to make his name, money, and the big time, Kent usually appeared as a solo act. Especially during the Minstrels Court, an 8 day medieval event at Tutbury Castle. It was at that event that Kent, albeit unknowingly, last appeared and gave his swan song to his fans.McLaren first questions Kent's ex-wife. Was she...

On Guy Fawkes Night someone switches the straw effigy with a real corpse.The village square is bathed in torchlight. Spectators huddle against the cold this November night, Guy Fawkes Night, in Upper Kingsleigh, England. Shadows grip the edge of the square, but all minds concentrate on this 400 year-old festivity, all eyes focus on the straw effigy of Guy Fawkes, the symbol of the governmental coup-gone-wrong. The flaming torch extends to light the straw—and the villagers recoil in horror. Twisting at the end of the rope is no straw-filled dummy. It's the corpse of an American tourist.Newly-made Detective-Sergeant Brenna Taylor, Derbyshire C.I.D., is anxious to prove herself. She's skillful, determined, and imaginative in her crime solving, but faces the obstacle of male resistance in her field. Heading the investigating team is Detective-Chief Inspector Geoffrey Graham, former minister and a brilliant, intimidating man whom Brenna works hard to impress...

"Do you know what it's like to lose a child to murder?"An up-and-coming singer of 1940s-style torch songs, Janet Ennis tragically died five years ago in what the police labeled an accidental fire. But Janet's mother, Nora, believes it to be murder and arson. And she's hoping ex-cop Michael McLaren can prove it quickly, for she's losing her memory to dementia.As McLaren pokes through the case details, he becomes emotionally involved with the dead woman, succumbing to the spell of her singing and her beauty. Yet, Janet Ennis isn't the only person from the past who threatens his peace and sanity. A series of arsons on his own property hint that he's upset someone connected with this case, someone capable of harming him and his fiancée, Dena Ellison. And one dark night another danger confronts McLaren: the nemesis from his personal past, Charlie Harvester. The man he tangled with, the man who was responsible for McLaren leaving his police job.Can McLaren solve the cold...

Is the phantom black dog haunting a sleepy English village a harbinger of two mysterious disappearances?One dark March evening Vera Howarth vanishes from her village. Despite search teams, TV appeals and a police investigation, she is never found. Her disappearance transmutes into a local ghost story.That was 23 years ago. Now Reed Fitzgerald, the organizer of the village well dressing custom, goes missing. The incident is linked by speculation and fear to Vera's.Detective-Sergeant Brenna Taylor, her boss, Detective-Chief Inspector Geoffrey Graham, and other members of their Murder Team from the Derbyshire Constabulary are called in to investigate a handful of bones, discovered in the forest that hugs the village. During the search, Reed's body is found several feet from the skeletal remains. Vera? Were the two killed by the same person? If not, why are the remains lying so close together?As the police team investigates they discover a tangle of jealousy, betrayal...

Janet Ennis tragically died five years ago in what the police labeled an accidental fire. But Janet's mother, Nora, believes it to be murder and arson. And she's hoping ex-cop Michael McLaren can prove it quickly, for she's losing her memory to dementia. As McLaren pokes through the case details, he becomes emotionally involved with the dead woman. Yet, Janet isn't the only person who threatens his mental well-being. A series of arsons on his own property hint that he's upset someone connected with this case. Motives for Janet's murder rise like the smoky tendrils of a fire. And, motive aside, the murder scene seems a bit too pat: a drought-stricken landscape eager to lap up flames and a conveniently locked door barring Janet's escape. Will McLaren solve the case while Nora can still comprehend the resolution, or will Harvester's plans see McLaren's career go up in smoke?

Since infancy, Michael McLaren has been the target of his paternal grandfather's anger. So when the patriarch sends an invitation to heal the rift, McLaren travels to Scotland, eager to meet and finally end the feud. But the welcome never happens. If Grandfather hadn't invited him, who had? And why? In Edinburgh, a man standing beside McLaren in a bus queue is killed in a hit-and-run accident. After an attack leaves McLaren for dead on a wintry moor, he's convinced someone from his past is trying to murder him. As McLaren trails the hit-and-run driver from the medieval 'underground city' of Edinburgh to the Boar's Rock, the MacLaren Clan's ancestral meeting place, the assaults intensify, and he's plunged into a very personal hunt for a World War II treasure. The puzzle is fascinating; he just has to stay alive to solve it.