An Evening of Mystery Movies and Cocktails with Kanaan & Tilney (and Friends!)
Hello, and thank you for having us today! We're here to talk about our latest Kanaan & Tilney mystery, The Case of the Man Eater. It's about our private eyes, Lowell Kanaan and John Tilney, and their latest adventures solving cases in Boston's praeternatural underground. Praeternaturals are people who look just like normal humans, but have special, paranormal abilities. Lowell, for example, is a wolf shifter, and John is an Elementalist who controls fire.
On an evening off--which doesn't happen often--the boys like to unwind with each other (obviously), a movie, and a beverage. Sometimes their friends, too. So today we've brought you their picks for an evening in, preferably a dark and stormy one, watching mysteries and drinking it up. Mocktail variants too, of course! They've also got opinions from their friends: Mina, Lowell's best friend, Macy, John's housemate, Reggie, the coroner who works with them on the regular and... well, Bob is more of a creepy stalker than a friend. How'd he get in here anyhow...?
Mina’s pick: Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and a Sparkling Julep
Mina loves this television series for its lead who is as fashionable as she is badass. This cocktail is both fashionable and badass, as well!
INGREDIENTS
· 6 mint leaves, plus sprig for serving
· 3/4 ounce simple syrup
· 3 ounces Champagne or dry sparkling wine (Mina has been known to go for proescco)
· 1/2 ounce cognac (Mina likes Remy Martin VSOP)
· 1 dash bitters (like Angostura)
· Lemon twist (for garnish)
PREPARATION
Muddle mint leaves and simple syrup in a julep cup or rocks glass. Add Champagne, cognac, and bitters. Fill glass part way with crushed ice and stir gently to combine. Mound more crushed ice on top and garnish with a mint sprig and a lemon twist.
MOCKTAIL VARIANT
Omit the Cognac and replace the sparkling wine by making up a batch of this yummy but non-alcoholic Champagne. Hell, you might not need to make the whole drink, since this is delicious enough. Throw together:
· 2 bottles ginger ale or ginger beer (ginger beer tends to be lighter and have more bite)
· 1 part pineapple juice
· 1 part white grape juice
John’s pick: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca and a Manhaatan
Murder, mayhem, and gaslighting galore. John loves the retro stylings of Hitchcock in this nail-biting mystery (even if Hitchcock was a dick). He likes a retro cocktail to accompany it--hell, he likes a Manhattan any time.
INGREDIENTS
· 2 ounces of rye whiskey (John likes Bulleit)
· 1 ounce of sweet vermouth
· A splash of aromatic bitters
· 1 luxardo cherry (or more. More is good.)
PREPARATION
Stir in a mixing glass with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the cherry.
MOCKTAIL VARIANT
Cherry cola. No, really! Make your own cherry simple syrup (sugar, water, and cherries), or buy it (coffee shop style syrup works). Throw a dash into your cola of choice, and there you have it--plus a pretty luxardo for garnish. This variant might be better in a whiskey tumbler, though, since the martini glass might facilitate getting bubbles up your nose.
Lowell’s pick: Maltese Falcon and Whiskey
This is amongst Lowell’s top five movies. The noir genre is his favorite and, had Nate the Great not inspired him to be a detective, Sam Spade would have done the trick.
INGREDIENTS
· Whiskey (Lowell likes bourbon. All bourbon.)
PREPARATION
Pour whiskey into glass. Drink.
Macy’s pick: The Others and a Sidecar
The Others is a great mystery, with an interesting twist on an old school feminist favorite of Macy’s, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. She likes a classic cocktail for an evening of suspense with this one.
INGREDIENTS
· 1 ½ ounces Cognac (Macy likes Hennessey)
· ¾ ounce Cointreau or other orange liqueur
· ¾ ounce lemon or lime juice
· Sugar for the glass rim
PREPARATION
Rim a chilled martini glass with sugar. Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into the glass. The sugar rim is optional. Garnish with a strip of lemon rind if you like.
MOCKTAIL VARIANT
Replace the Cognac with apple cider and the orange liqueur with orange juice. Go nuts!
Reggie’s pick: Shutter Island and Wine
Reggie can handle the darker side even when he’s not busy at the coroner’s office. Unlike the others, he’s a wine drinker, so this is easy. You can choose your favorite, or go with his bargain priced recommendations.
RECS
· Red: Alamos Malbec
· White: Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc.
PREPARATION
Sure, let the bottle breathe a little, but don’t be a douche and sniff the cork. Wine corks smell like cork. That won’t tell you anything. Pour it in a glass, don’t act pretentious, and enjoy.
MOCKTAIL VARIANT
Get sparkling juice for the non-drinkers, and they’ll thank you. Plus, it’s delicious. Can’t find any? Try ginger beer or some clear, fizzy beverage with a touch of cranberry or grape juice. Looks beautiful in a wine glass.
Bob’s pick: … Maltese Falcon and a 7 and 7
The Maltese Falcon is a classic. Lowell has good taste.
INGREDIENTS
· 2 ounces Seagram’s 7 (or any whiskey)
· 6 ounces 7-Up (or your citrusy fizzy thing of choice)
· Lemon wedge (for garnish)
PREPARATION
Pour whiskey into a glass with ice. Top with 7-Up and garnish with a lemon wedge.
MOCKTAIL VARIANT
Replace the whiskey with juice. Try cranberry or orange for starters, then get wild.
Kanaan & Tilney: The Case of the Man Eater
By Jenna Rose and Katey Hawthorne
Publisher: Loose Id
Pairing: Bisexual M/Demisexual Biromantic M
Blurb: Wolf-Beast and ex-cop Lowell Kanaan recently brought his boyfriend, Elementalist and mystery author John Tilney, into the PI business with him. They've been solving cases for Boston's varied praeternatural communities ever since. So when a young Terran feels that the brutal murder of his Beast boyfriend isn't being treated seriously enough by the police, he brings the case to Kanaan & Tilney for a second opinion.
Similarly defiled corpses pop up around Boston as they race to find the killer. All the victims are packless Beasts, like Lowell, and the vicious nature of the killings stir up old prejudices in the praeternatural community, Beast and otherwise. Throw a personal vendetta and some ugly family history for Lowell in the mix, and the trails are as muddy as ever.
This case will test Kanaan & Tilney's strength, both as a PI team and a couple. It'll take all they have to keep each other alive—and stop a serial killer.
Kanaan & Tilney: The Case of the Arms Dealers
4 Stars!
I have to admit, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I originally thought I would. It seemed to take awhile for me to truly get into the story but once I did I thought it was a lot of fun. It’s a funny, sexy, mystery set in a world inhabited by humans and paranormals alike. We’re not just talking Shifters aka Beasts, but also Elementalists of many different types along with being that unfortunately, I didn’t completely get to know. This actually brings me to my first issue with the story.
World building is so very important in these types of books and unfortunately, I found this story to be kind of lacking in that area. I really wanted to know more about the different types of Paranormals. I understood the shifters and for the most parts the Necromancers, pyros, mediums and empaths. But I wasn’t sure about some of the others. Were they part of the Fae? Were they too considered Elementals? Why is there such animosity among the different paranormals? Their hatred/racism, the relationship they had with humans, all things I wanted more knowledge about.
As for the rest, well, honestly, I thought it was good. John and Lowell were pretty likable and I felt their chemistry was believable. They made good partners both in and out of the bedroom and I liked that this wasn’t an angsty Romance. Their relationship was pretty much cemented right away and they worked well together throughout their story.
As for the mystery, I thought it was pretty entertaining and unique. We had a case of a woman being stalked and then a case of an Insurance Salesman who’s murdered and his wife is arrested. It was fun to watch it unfold, especially the Arms Dealer. I laughed out loud at that not to mention the Zombie Mafia. Overall, I liked it and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a combination of suspense and comedy.
World building is so very important in these types of books and unfortunately, I found this story to be kind of lacking in that area. I really wanted to know more about the different types of Paranormals. I understood the shifters and for the most parts the Necromancers, pyros, mediums and empaths. But I wasn’t sure about some of the others. Were they part of the Fae? Were they too considered Elementals? Why is there such animosity among the different paranormals? Their hatred/racism, the relationship they had with humans, all things I wanted more knowledge about.
As for the rest, well, honestly, I thought it was good. John and Lowell were pretty likable and I felt their chemistry was believable. They made good partners both in and out of the bedroom and I liked that this wasn’t an angsty Romance. Their relationship was pretty much cemented right away and they worked well together throughout their story.
As for the mystery, I thought it was pretty entertaining and unique. We had a case of a woman being stalked and then a case of an Insurance Salesman who’s murdered and his wife is arrested. It was fun to watch it unfold, especially the Arms Dealer. I laughed out loud at that not to mention the Zombie Mafia. Overall, I liked it and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a combination of suspense and comedy.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.***
Kanaan & Tilney: The Case of the Man Eater
4 Stars!
While I really enjoyed book 1 in this series I was just a bit disappointed in this one. It was still enjoyable and I got into the story well enough but there were just a few things missing that really could have made this one better, at least in my opinion.
First of all, I very much enjoy both John and Lowell and was happy to see that the two were still together and extremely strong. It’s always a plus to read that a couple is on solid ground and the story doesn’t center around complications being thrown into the mix to add unnecessary drama. Instead, what we have here in The Case of the Man Eater is a look at Lowell and John’s partnership in business and life. They are more equal when it comes to the investigation and solving the mystery of the murdered packless. I thought they worked quite well together in and out of bed. So as far as that is concerned I was very happy.
Where I found myself a little disappointed, however, was when it came to John’s relationship with his mother. It’s obvious their relationship is strained and for good reason but I wanted more from it all. More expression of feelings, more backstory or interaction, something. I felt as if it were an unfinished thread in the book and it bothered me a bit.
Same as far as Lowell’s family. We get to briefly see the pack his mother came from and a relative but really we don’t get very much. This story was really focused on Lowell and Beast’s and it was personal for him. Yet when all was said and done I didn’t feel like there was enough impact. Why was this truly so personal for him other than packless were the victims? His pack has a role in the story but they’re hardly given page time. I wanted much more from all of this and more emphasis on how packless are affected.
There was good world building at first but it’s also missing some deeper levels. By book 2, I want to feel like I understand how society works, how the species act. I didn’t get that here. I would love to see more of it in future books because this series has a ton of potential.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.***
About the Authors:
Jenna Rose is an avid reader and writer, particularly when it comes to science-fiction and fantasy. Currently, she works as a receptionist, but her real love is writing. In her free time, she likes to read comic books, play video games, and waste time on the internet. She currently lives in Massachusetts with her dog, Harley.
Katey Hawthorne is an avid reader and writer of superpowered romance, even though the only degree she holds is in the history of art. (Or, possibly, because the only degree she holds is in the history of art.) Originally from the Appalachian foothills of West Virginia, she currently lives in Ohio. In her spare time she enjoys comic books, B-movies, loud music, Epiphones, and Bushmills.
Giveaway
Congrats, and what a fun post. I like all the movies you've chosen, most of the drinks. - Purple Reader,
ReplyDeleteTheWrote [at] aol [dot] com
Congrats on the new release! Such a fun post. colby69@verizon.net
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Gotta check out a couple of those movies again!
ReplyDelete