Fishers author Lois Vining has written many cozy mystery novels, often set in Scotland or Ireland and often interspersed with traditional Celtic recipes.
“I wrote about eight or nine of them with recipes and then one day in the spring, I said, ‘You know, I don’t want to go looking through all my books to find that one recipe,’” she said. “So, I compiled all of them into one cookbook.”
That was the inspiration for “Hearth & Highland,” Vining’s recently self-published book of recipes from Ireland and Scotland.
Vining said most of her cozy mysteries — also self-published — are set in Scotland or Ireland, with one set in England and another in Tennessee. Cozy mysteries are murder mysteries that don’t have any of the gore that might lead to nightmares, she said. Some of her favorite books from that genre include recipes, so when she started writing her own mysteries, she followed that example.
Her new cookbook is a one-stop shop for those recipes, but also includes photos and some background information.
“I did some research and I found the history behind (each) recipe, where in Ireland or Scotland was it predominant — that type thing,” she said. “And so, I put that in there, as the his...