Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger’s new release, Strange Markings, is available, and Janet has kindly sent a recipe for Pineapple Haupia to share with us.

Pineapple Haupia

Haupia is a traditional dessert at Hawaiian style Luau feast.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 c. coconut milk
1/1/2 c. water
1/2 c. +2 TB sugar
1/2c. +2 TB cornstarch
1 c. crushed pineapple, drained

In a sauce pan over medium heat, combine coconut milk, water, sugar and cornstarch, stir until thickened. lower heat, continue to cook 5-10 minutes. Transfer mixture to 8-inch pan. Stir in pineapple. Refrigerate until set about 2 hours.

To serve, cut into 2-inch squares. Serves 8-10

Strange Markings
by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger

Summary

The Pacific breezes blow many things in from the ocean, this time its power, greed, and murder. At the dawn of the television age in 1955, Skylar Drake is called to identify the remains of a fellow movie stuntman found buried in a shallow grave. While there he is shown mysterious wounds and strange tattoos on two additional bodies.

A wealthy Bel Air matron sends her enticing niece to enlist Drake’s help in locating a missing nephew. The search takes him back to pre-statehood Hawaii where he stopped off on his way to the hell of the Korean War. Unexplained deaths, politics and superstitious locals turn the tropical paradise into a nightmare where nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted.

Strange Markings is available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Excerpt:

The two men looked directly at me. “I’m Drake. Can I help you?”

Dolan stood right behind me.

“I’m Agent Miller, this is Agent Tanner.” They flashed their badges, “We want to talk to you Mr. Drake.” Miller looked past me and frowned at Dolan.

“I’ll just wait out…” Casey moved toward the door.

I put my hand on Casey’s shoulder. ”This is my partner Casey Dolan, anything you have to say to me you can say to him.”

They shrugged and stepped inside. “Let’s go in your office.” I showed them inside, as sweltering as it was.

Miller put his hat on top of the file cabinet. Tanner kept his on.

“We are investigating the disappearance of a Mr. Ted Stone. You’re a known associate of his. Is this true?”

“Sure, I know Teddy. We worked on a few films together.” I sat back in my chair while Casey stood by the door, “His sister Florence and I used to do stunts for Prestigious Studios a while back. Teddy started about a year later… you say he’s missing?”

“His sister reported him missing a year ago. Our records show you were one of the last people to see him before he disappeared.”

“You said a year ago?” I thought for a moment, “Yeah, that sounds about right. It was a war movie. There was a battle scene and we had to fall out some windows and off a moving truck like we’d been shot, y’know. This was before…” I stopped myself. They didn’t need to know about my law suit with the studio brass.

“Before what?” Agent Tanner asked.

“Before my last stunt gig with Flo.”

“And the victim?”

“Victim? I thought you said he was missing.”

“Just tell us about your last job.”

“Well, Teddy and I shared a dressing room. It was about midnight when we finished the night scenes. After we changed and dropped our costumes off at wardrobe, we left for breakfast. That was about two in the morning. I took the bus home, and I guess he drove. I never saw him again after that. Flo and I did a shoot at the studio the following month. She told me she was going to Washington to get married. That was that.”

The two agents took notes on everything I said.

Casey spoke up, “Do you mind if I ask what prompted this recent investigation?”

Miller put his pencil in his ear, “We found a man’s remains in the Arizona desert. Our medical people said he was buried for about a year, so we only have bones, clothes, few personal items and his wallet. There was nothing in it except for his SAG membership card.” He paused, “The Union said you worked with him. We found you in the phone book.”

Agent Tanner pulled a cellophane envelope out of his pocket containing the card. There was Teddy, staring back at me. “Yes, that’s Teddy and that is what he looks like.” I showed it to Casey. He took a look and handed it back to Tanner.

“We’re unable to locate his sister, do you know her married name?”

I thought hard, “I don’t believe she told me. No. She never mentioned it. Flo just said she was leaving the business to get married and move to Washington.”

“The remains are at the LA County Coroner’s office. Since we can’t locate next of kin, we’d like you to stop by and ID what you can.”

I looked at Dolan. “What do you think?” He nodded.

______________

We met them at the Coroner’s office and waited for the Medical Examiner to get back from lunch. Casey called the hospital, Bev had gone home. He called his house, no answer. “I’m not worried,” he said. His eyes said otherwise.

I hadn’t been down here in a long time. Yep, the same frigid air, smell of alcohol and bleach have never left my mind. The door swung open and Dr. Harold Logue came in wiping his mouth with a paper towel. I remember he always ate at the most inopportune times, “Hey Drake and Dolan, LAPD’s two best detectives. Nice to see both of you.” Logue was an old timer. We worked a lot of cases with him. He put his arms on our shoulders, “Sure miss working with you two geniuses. I could never figure out how you caught all the bad guys. These youngsters they got in here now are…” He stopped when he saw the young FBI agents standing by the wall. “Oops, sorry. No offense,” and shook their hands.

Agent Miller kept hold of Dr. Logue’s hand and said, “We’re here to see the remains of Ted Stone.”

“Yes sure, come this way,” Logue said.

He had the bones laid out on the table, a complete skeleton. How was I suppose to ID the remains of Teddy from this?

Contact information: www.janetlynnauthor.com
www.willzeilingerauthor.com

And here’s a cool picture of the authors. Looks like they are having fun.