Friends and family celebrated in 'Keeping Good Company' cookbook, Part II

Last week was Part One of the fascinating story of Roxie Kelley, author of several cookbooks including “Keeping Good Company” I received for a birthday present from my sister Carol.

We left off at the point where Roxie and Shelly Reeves Smith, her illustrating partner, had published their first book, “Just a Matter of Thyme,” and sold nearly 30,000 copies!

They were unknown, unpublished and unprepared for the deluge of requests for “your next book.” Intuitively they requested and received favorite recipes from retailers who had been selling their stationery products through their company, “Amo...