How’s that for a preview of what I’m reading this month? Ruth Ware has been touted as the Agatha Christie of our times, and with titles like The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Lying Game behind her, you will most definitely agree.

This is my next pick for our Super Supper Book Club. Gather your readers, give them the title, and dole out the recipes for what will be a roller coaster discussion and meal.

POT BOILER PLOT: When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss – a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten by the luxurious “smart” home fitted with all modern conveniences, and, even more, by the picture-perfect family that lives there. What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare.

I already cooked up some questions for your Super Supper Book Club gathering…

• If you read an ad for a job that offers an extraordinary salary, would you be wary or curious?
• When you first meet Jack, are you smitten, or do you think he is too good to be true?
• At what point is a smart house too smart for our own good?

My ghostly inspiration for this Super Supper Book Club menu is Heatherbrae House itself. Almost a character in the book, the house holds the key to comfort and the uncomfortable. A haunted house turned into a smart house; it sits in a remote area in the Scottish Highlands where the food traditions are steeped in history. This spirited menu grabs a taste from the past and updates conventional Scottish dishes just in time for our book discussion. Choose as many or as few recipes as your group likes. As you’re dining and discussing, don’t forget to look over your shoulder for any shadows lurking in the corner of the room. You never know who (or what’s) listening…..

This Month’s Super Supper Book Club Menu for
Turn of the Key
Features:

Bangers ‘n Mash Hand Pies with Mustard Dipping Sauce
Canvas & Cuisine page 186
Sausage-Stuffed Party Bread
At Home Entertaining page 372
Dill Roasted Salmon with Horseradish Caper Sauce
At Home Entertaining page 379
Fish and Chips with Roasted Tomato Ketchup
At Home Entertaining page 210
Wild Rice, Lentils and Sautéed Mushrooms
At Home Entertaining 381
Raspberry Shortbread Tart
Sunday Best Dishes page 315

Raspberry Shortbread Tart
60 minute cuisine
MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Filling
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
Juice of 1 medium orange, about 3 tablespoons (reserve zest for tart)
2 pints fresh raspberries, about 4 cups
¼ cup apricot jam

Combine the sugar and orange juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Stir in the raspberries. Reduce the heat to low. Cook until the raspberries have broken down into the sauce, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the jam. Simmer until the jam melts into the sauce, about 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Tart
6 ounces sliced almonds, about 1 ½ cup
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour, plus 2 ¾ cups
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon table salt
1½ cup unsalted butter (3 sticks), chilled, cut into small pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 medium orange, about 2 teaspoons
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large egg yolks
Confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 325°. Spread the almonds onto a baking sheet. Bake until they just begin to turn golden, about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Place ¼ cup of the flour into the bowl of a food processor. Add the toasted almonds. Pulse to form fine crumbs. Pour into a large bowl. Whisk in the remaining flour, cornmeal, and salt.

Place the butter into the bowl of the processor. Add the sugar, orange zest and vanilla. Pulse until creamy. Add the egg yolks and pulse. Add the dry ingredients and pulse until the dough just comes together. Pour the dough out onto your work surface. Divide the dough in half. Coat the bottom of a 12-inch fluted tart pan with vegetable oil spray. Press one half of the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Wrap the second half of the dough in plastic. Refrigerate both for 30 minutes.

Prick the bottom of the tart with the tines of a fork. Place onto a baking sheet and bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven. Spread the filling over the top. Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the filling. Bake until the top of the tart is golden, about 30 to 40 minutes more. Cool completely. Sprinkle the top with confectioners’ sugar. Remove the rim from the tart pan and transfer to a platter.