The Look of Love (21 page)
Authors: Mary Jane Clark
Terri Donovan’s Icing on the Cupcake Cream-Cheese Frosting
½ cup butter (1 stick), at room temperature
1½ cups cream cheese, also at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
Using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until smooth. Turn the mixer down to lowest speed and add the confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, until it’s completely combined and smooth.
This recipe makes enough frosting for a triple-layer cake.
T
here is a real Monastery of the Angels. It is a cloistered convent that sits beneath the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. To support themselves, the nuns do make the most delicious pumpkin bread, available to the public for purchase.
For more information, go to: www.themonasteryoftheangelslosangeles.com.
Sister Mary Noelle, Mother Mary Dominic, Sister Aloysius, and the things they say and do in this book are entirely the product of the author’s imagination.
A
ngels.
I’m a firm believer because I’ve experienced so many of them. Not the gauzy-gowned, golden-winged variety. I’m talking about the human ones that come, some utterly unexpected, and assist you through your life. Allow me to tell you about the angels that helped with
The Look of Love
.
A halo goes to Father Paul Holmes. Father Holmes has been on the job as I’ve written fourteen books now, supporting me and contributing his keen mind and rich imagination, along with a host of editorial skills. This is not the first time I’ve said it: Thank God for you, Paul.
Elizabeth Higgins Clark served as a fabulous guide in the City of Angels. Elizabeth, my actress daughter, is the inspiration for Piper Donovan. Elizabeth provides theatrical insights and makes sure Piper’s voice is authentic.
Many thanks to Anastasia Fernands for supporting Cape Rep Theatre by purchasing a winning ticket and thus becoming a character in this book. My appreciation also goes to Michael Ghant for lending his name and, more important, for creating wonderful and inspirational programs for people with special needs. You are both angels.
Beth Tindall did a heavenly job as she redesigned www.maryjaneclark.com.
Two special angels continue to whisper in my ear. Jennifer Rudolph Walsh allows me to have my head in the clouds as she keeps her feet on the ground and expertly steers the business end of my writing career. Joni Evans, what can I say? Again and again, as busy as you are, you come through for me.
I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the people at William Morrow/HarperCollins for their support and dedication. My insightful, creative editor Carrie Feron along with Lynn Grady, Jean Marie Kelly, Stephanie Kim, Michael Morrison, Shawn Nichols, Sharyn Rosenblum, Virginia Stanley, Liate Stehlick, and Tessa Woodward are a hardworking, professional team. Maureen Sugden is a dream of a copy editor. I realize there are so many others, unnamed here, who also contributed their publishing talents to bring this book to fruition.
Many, many thanks, my angels. This writer is blessed to have all of you.
L
ike Piper Donovan,
New York Times
bestselling author
MARY JANE CLARK
has a mother who made customized cakes for the neighborhood kids when Mary Jane was growing up. After a career at CBS News and writing twelve media thrillers, the author envisioned the Piper Donovan/Wedding Cake mystery series. The daughter of an FBI agent, Mary Jane is the mother of two grown children and splits her time between New Jersey and Florida. Currently, she is concocting her next novel.
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This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE LOOK OF LOVE
. Copyright © 2012 by Mary Jane Clark. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-199556-9
EPub Edition © JANUARY 2012 ISBN: 9780062099143
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OV/RRD
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