'In 1810, a hot-air balloon, flown by a confectioner, crashed into the sea. Everyone survived. It's surprising what can be made of a capsized balloon.' Maude Sausalito is a pastry chef with a thousand true stories about hot air balloons in her head. Listen Taylor is a lonely 12-year-ol- d, too shy to make any friends. Cath Murphy is a 2nd grade teacher who wins unexpected prizes. The one thing that these three have in common is the Zings: Maude Sausalito is married to a Zing Listen's big brother just moved in with a Zing and Cath doesn't know it yet, but a Zing is about to join her class. The Zing family lives in a misguided world of cherry pies, spell books, flying beach umbrellas, and state-of-the-art covert surveillance equipment. There's a slippery Zing whose shoes fall from her feet when she runs, and a tidy Zing who keeps careful note of Irritating Things about her Husband. But most significant of all, there's the Zing Family Secret: so immense that it draws the family to the garden shed for meetings every Friday night. I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes is a grown-up fairytale, and a mystery set in the suburbs. It's about what happ