Pamela Paterson is accompanying her best friend, local reporter Bettina Fraser, to a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the Arborville rec center. The food is excellent, and the entertainment even more so—with glamorous 70-something singer Isobel Lister back in town and ready to wow the crowd. Several members of the audience seem less than eager to welcome her home, but everyone else—Pamela and Bettina included—is impressed with the skills and showmanship of the prominent Lister family’s prodigal daughter.

So it’s a terrible shock to everyone assembled when, shortly after the performance, Isobel is found dead in her makeshift green room. This was no natural death either. The disordered state of the room indicates that Isobel clearly struggled with her assailant before sustaining the fatal blow.

Bettina and Pamela are immediately on the case. Whether it’s a local Wiccan protesting the celebration or a staunchly Irish historian disdainful of the crass commercialization of the holiday, there’s no shortage of highly interesting suspects for them to investigate. But when reports of ghosts and banshees begin to surface, our sleuths can’t help but wonder if something sinister—if not outright supernatural—is targeting the Lister clan. Will they be able to bring a killer to justice before anyone else is cursed to die?

The Knit & Nibble mysteries are always so engaging, and I often envy Pamela her cozy life. That said, she experiences quite a bit of romantic upheaval in this ninth book in the series, with at least one twist I did not see coming! It was also nice to see Bettina get one over on her career rival, as she and Pamela bring the case to its sad but satisfying conclusion.

There were so many delicious food descriptions in this book, but only one recipe included (with a cute little knitting pattern, as well). I lightly edited the following for space:

Wilfred’s Irish Coffee Trifle

Ingredients

½ cup plus 2 tbsp sugar, divided

3 tbsp cornstarch

¼ tsp salt

2 cups milk

2 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup heavy cream

4 tbsp Irish whiskey

½ cup strong espresso coffee

1 loaf-type pound cake, sliced

A few ounces bittersweet chocolate, grated

Instructions

Mix ½ cup sugar with the cornstarch and salt in the top half of double boiler […] Add milk and blend well.

Bring water to a boil in the bottom half of the double boiler, put the top half in place, and cook the mixture over boiling water, stirring frequently, until it starts to thicken, 10 to 15 minutes.

Add a few spoonfuls of the milk mixture to the egg yolks and stir, then add the egg yolks to the milk mixture and blend well. Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon[.] Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer the pudding to a bowl, let it cool, and then refrigerate it.

Add 2 tbsp sugar to the heavy cream and beat until it forms soft peaks.

Stir the whiskey into the coffee.

Arrange half the pound cake slices to cover the bottom of your trifle bowl or compote; more than one layer is fine. Drizzle half the coffee-whiskey mixture over the pound cake. Spread half the pudding over the pound cake and top the pudding with half the whipped cream. Repeat the process, starting with the rest of the pound cake slices. Sprinkle the chocolate shavings over the top.

Chill until ready to serve. To serve, use a large spoon to scoop portions into bowls.

My husband took one bite of this and said, “This is like an Irish tiramisu!” I absolutely agree. With ingredients more easily sourced from Ireland than the continent, this is a delightful twist on the Italian classic. It was also quite fun to make. My twin sons very much enjoyed helping me stir the pudding and whip the cream. Unsurprisingly, they enjoyed helping me eat the dessert even more!

I did add extra chocolate shavings to the first layer of whipped cream before adding more pound cake, as I do like a little bit more chocolate in my desserts. Plus, the bittersweet chocolate bar was quite large. This does make for quite a lot of trifle, so have friends on hand to help you eat it up.

Next week, we head across the pond to indulge my chocolate craving some more while investigating a cooking competition gone deadly. Do join me!

See also: Cooking the Books: A Half-Baked Murder by Emily George