Thursday, October 13, 2022

Clues in the Crumbs are Taking Shape @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: As I write this, I’m waiting for my developmental editor to send back suggestions on the draft of Key West food critic mystery #13, which I handed over to the publisher in early September. (Actually, strike that sentence--those edits have just landed in my inbox!) I remember being pretty pleased about how it turned out, but I haven't looked at it since—so who knows. While I work on the suggested tweaks, I thought you might be interested in hearing a bit more about how the book goes from a Word file on my computer screen to what you see in a bookstore.

I know ahead of time that I’ll be asked for cover suggestions, a short synopsis, and title ideas so I keep a file going as I’m writing. You might remember there will be a big scene on a tiki hut involving Miss Gloria and the Scone Sisters, Violet and Bettina. I could have easily pictured that boat on the cover, but I sent a second idea just in case:

IDEA #1 (My favorite): A tiki hut bar with a pitcher of bilious green drinks and partly filled glasses on the counter, along with the gray tiger cat. The hut is decorated for St. Patrick’s Day—green tulle and shamrocks, etc. Cat might be looking at the dock on which a white ceramic baking pan is in pieces. Also a butcher knife on the ground. Logo on the pan—Bakeware by the Scone Sisters is written in script. Above the writing, two intertwined S’s steam out of the slits cut into the top of a pie.

IDEA #2: Scene of the kitchen where the bake-off is taking place, including beautiful cakes plus the broken crockery, knife and cat.

Here's what came back from my talented cover artists, Griesbach and Martucci:



Now I know the book will look something like that, with brighter colors, palm trees outside the window, and the cat batting a knife instead of a mouse. (Mice in Martha's kitchen--no way!) It will be called A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS, which I quite like because it has a Nancy Drew-ish feel. I was asked in May to send in a list of title possibilities to my team at Crooked Lane—I’m sure some of you made contributions. I’ve learned by now not to put anything on the list that I really don’t like! Here was the list, with my preferences starred:

The Secret of the Old Conch 

The Clue in the Old Conch

The Clue in the Caramel

*The Clue in the Crumbs

*Drizzled to Death

*Baked Off

*Murder Hosts a Bake Off 

The Clue in the Auld Conch 

The Great Key West Bake Offed 

Key West Baked Off  

Baked Off in Key West

Peril in Paradise

A recipe for murder

Battered by Bakeoff

Royally Iced

Blind Baked


And here’s the opening for the book, which I rewrote a million times—and there may be more versions to come...


Chapter One


Since when has a bad restaurant review been a motive for murder? 

That’s precisely what my boss at the style magazine Key Zest texted me when I expressed my rather dramatic reservations about the possible consequences of trashing local eateries. 

Go deeper, she replied. Ruffle some feathers, Hayley! Man up and do your job!

Man up? Really?? As for ruffling feathers, that was easy for her to suggest—she’s baby green bean skinny because she hardly eats, especially not anything greasy, sugary, carb-ish, or otherwise delicious. She doesn’t care about alienating local restauranteurs because she doesn’t dine out.

So now, on the deck of my Key West houseboat, I was deeply absorbed in the article I was attempting to hammer out about whether the Key West food scene was trying too hard to imitate New York. That definitely meant raising questions about prices and menus. Were Key West diners willing to absorb the cost of a 42-dollar shrimp cocktail? Or a required tasting menu to the tune of a hundred dollars a pop? Not the Key West locals, I suspected. Maybe the folks visiting the island would be accustomed to this kind of expense, and clamor for reservations. Maybe they’d be in the mood to splurge, even if those prices stuck in my own craw.

As I was figuring out how to pose these questions without infuriating anyone, either visitor or resident, a cacophony of sirens went off. One of the disadvantages of living on Key West’s Houseboat Row is the proximity to the noise of the fire and police departments. This afternoon, the sirens blew loud and long, and I heard another set echo in response, from further down island. That probably meant that both the fire stations were calling out their men and women. And that could mean a big fire.


So you see it's getting there! Is there anything you've wondered about this crazy publishing business?


(Meanwhile, the ebook editions of The Key Lime Crime and A Deadly Feast are on sale this month for $1.99!)

And ps, if you're looking for an appetizer that is stunning but not too taxing to make, I shared my recipe for gougeres on Mystery Lovers Kitchen...



52 comments:

  1. Wow . . . so many title suggestions? [But I love A Clue in the Crumbs!] I’m just a bit surprised that you need to come up with so many suggested titles. And the cover is gorgeous!

    Now that I’ve read the opening, I’m really anxious to find out what’s going on with all the sirens and how Hayley gets around the Key West food scene article. And thanks for the link to the recipe . . . definitely on my must-try list . . . .

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    1. Thanks Joan! The team asked for 10-15 titles and my Facebook pals came up with a lot, plus I had a few too...

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  2. Oh, the title is absolutely perfect! I agree, very Nancy Drew. Perfect. And the cover is going to be great. And you… Are fabulous. You have such a distinctive voice, hooray hooray hooray .

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  3. And I can imagine that it would be very difficult for a restaurant reviewer to give a really scathing review. I know, that’s the job, but it’s also very subjective. I think the publishing business has made me more sensitive. I was a movie reviewer for a year or so, and it’s much more fun to write a bad review! But… It’s only one person’s opinion. And it’s perplexing that it can come out like gospel.

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    1. I read a lot of restaurant reviews for background, and it does surprise me when they trash some place. You do want readers to get a real opinion before spending their money, but why be mean? Anyway, Hayley struggles with that in her job.

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  4. That beginning works for me. And I love the Nancy Drew vibes of the title as well.

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  5. It's such a process, isn't it? I love the beginning scene. First lines are crucial, and you hit on a good one.

    All your covers have been amazing. Did the broken crockery make it onto the draft they sent? I can't tell.

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    1. thanks Edith, this one took a while to emerge:). And I am so very lucky to have these artists. I don't think the crockery is on the final cover but it has a lot going on already.

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  6. I guess I had never really thought about the heavy lifting a cozy cover has to do. And I'm realizing I rarely scrutinize the artwork for clues, but rather appreciate it mostly for setting the time.

    Thanks for the peek at the process from submission, Lucky, and for the first page!

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    1. Thanks Karen! I don't know how much input other writers have, but since no one but me will have read this book when the art is beginning, I say as much as I can about what I think. Of course I am not their marketing guru!

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  7. I really like this opening and the cover is fabulous! Writing reviews is a responsibility and I can choose not to review a book or even finish reading it. I write restaurant reviews occasionally on line, and have only written one bad one. But if reviewing is your job, how do you work around that? And with a restaurant, it can make or break one especially a new one.

    Now I am wondering what all the sirens are for and how that plays into the story.

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    1. You have put your finger on the conundrum! In fictional restaurants, I can give them bad reviews via Hayley and not feel bad about it. And it's disappointing if you go somewhere because reviews were great, but you find that it really isn't!

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  8. LUCY: Thanks for lifting the veil to show us the creative process behind creating a cozy book cover and choosing a title. A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS is a good choice with the Nancy Drew-like title and bake-off connection. FYI, I remember reading other culinary cozies with the starred titles of DRIZZLED TO DEATH and BAKED OFF in the past.

    And I do like the preliminary cover as well as the latest opening first scene. Lots of possibilities with those sirens!

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    1. thanks Grace! These days it gets harder to figure out a title that is really different

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  9. I always love learning about behind-the-scenes book stuff, so thanks for this post today, Lucy. That cover is full of interesting things to find and wonder about. And the title is great! As is the opening. Bad reviews should be kept for those restaurants that are trying to pull the wool over the patrons' eyes; an off night does not warrant a horrible review, in my view.

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  10. I love the cover and the opening! Thanks for letting us look behind the scenes.
    The sirens got me thinking back to my work at 9-1-1 and deadlines. For structure fires, we would send a box assignment--for a house fire it was 3 engines (water pumpers), a truck (with the aerial ladders), and a chief and for a commercial fire, it was 4 engines and two trucks. The expectation was that the call was processed and dispatched in under a minute. If the caller was helpful and the call was clear, this was possible. That's very different from a publishing deadline. It's hard for me to imagine having deadlines for creating a written story and being able to turn in book after book consistently and on time. Raising my cup of tea to you!

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  11. I love the title, and the cover is wonderful! Now I can’t wait for the book so find out what’s going on with all the sirens. Thanks for pulling aside the curtain so we can see part of the behind-the-scenes work an author must go through.

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  12. Great beginning, Lucy. And I love "Clue in the Crumbs" for a title.

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  13. I can see the potential in that draft of the cover--and the opening scene gets us off and worrying from the get-go! Can't wait, Lucy, for the finished book!

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  14. Love the opening! The cover!! And gougers are an all time favorite. Little cheese soufflés! What's not to like?

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    1. Me again - Lucy, wondering if seeing the draft of a cover ever inspires you to make some tweaks to the manuscript??

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    2. Me too on gougeres! I'm trying to remember if I've made changes based on cover--I will usually make changes based on lots of things, so probably!

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  15. Thank you for the peek at the process. Fascinating. I don't think I could come up with 10 to 15 different titles for a story without some of them being stinkers.

    The cover is wonderful. I do like the fact that cozy mystery series have covers that are consistent book to book. Some mystery authors have no consistency with their covers, which is fine if they are writing stand alone books, but not so great for a series, imho.

    The snippet from the book sounds wonderful. Will a bad review lead to murder? And what are the sirens for? Already engaged and can't wait for the book.

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    1. Oh thanks so much for the kind remarks! Sometimes the trouble with series is that the covers or titles sound so much alike that a person can't remember if she's read the book! Believe me, I didn't come up with all those titles--lots of help from my Facebook friends:)

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  16. Oh, that cover is going to be spectacular! And I love the title very Nancy Drewish, indeed andyour snippet is perfection. Can't wait for it to be released!

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  17. Love the cover! And wonderful surprise to see Dianne Mott Davidson's name in the blurb. I remember her Catering mysteries donkey years ago! (Rhys and Debs will be familiar with this British phrase). And I agree with Jenn that the title is very Nancy Drewish.

    Question: Do you write ideas then your publisher picks which idea they like the best?

    Diana

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    1. DMD gave me that blurb for the first book in the series and the publisher is smartly still using it. I adored her books. I send those two cover ideas in and they decided what would sell best (I'm assuming!)

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  18. The cover is fabulous! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. As Diana commented, it was a lovely surprise to see Diane Mott Davidson's name on the cover blurb. Is she writing again? I'd love to revisit her characters.

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    1. No I don't think she is writing again. She retired. Which I suppose we'll all do at some point. I hope to go on like Angela Lansbury:)

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  19. The cover is lovely. Alas! My TBR list doesn't seem to ever stop growing.

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  20. Lucy, I'm fascinated by your cover mock-up; my covers have always been photograph composites (like Hank and Debs) and so I've never seen an original art cover in progress. It's very cool!

    I sympathize with you on the long list of titles. Titles are almost always a struggle - add in the cozy requirements that they sound mysterious, but not scary, and have a pun in them... oof. That's a lot to require from a three to six word phrase!

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  21. Oh well done. You have created quite a nice community for us. Tried for a lot of the letter c in the last sentence to honor the c based title.

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    1. well, Key West Food Critic is sorta a 'sea' based cozy series.. I will leave now..

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  22. Great opening! I don't think Hayley will want to trash local eateries so it'll be interesting to see how she skirts around it but pleases her editor. Gougeres invokes a pleasant memory of touring the culinary school my granddaughter wound up going to. The students in one lab had just baked gougeres and the chef/teacher insisted we sample them.

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    1. that's so cool that you have a granddaughter in culinary school!

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  23. Lucy, I'm so looking forward to the Scone sisters visiting in this book. The cover looks like it's going to be another great one. The opening has me feeling a bit sorry for Hayley, trying to write a harsher review than she's comfortable with. It isn't really Hayley's nature to criticize. It resonates with me because of my book reviewing. I don't do negative reviews. If I don't like a book, which rarely happens these days, I just don't review it. My goal in reviewing is to bring awareness to readers of books that I enjoyed. That's just my approach. I feel like Hayley approaches food reviewing much the same.

    A quick note on my commenting or what appears to be a lack of it this week. I actually did go back and comment on the posts this week in a post yesterday, but I forgot to change from Anonymous to my name. I'm enjoying each Red's post about what you're writing.

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    1. Kathy, I appreciate your philosophy about reviews. Your reviews mean a lot to authors because people seek out your reviews in order to choose what to read! I also won't write a review of a book I did not enjoy, although I might mention it here on JRW. It's surprising to me that so many people have fun panning things.

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    2. I don’t believe all negatives reviews are mean spirited. I don’t review books, too busy working but I can see a need to warn if a book is different from the author’s usual style orr a big departure in a series. I personally would have appreciated a warning about the recent Vera book by Ann Cleeves.

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  24. Love the title: A Clue in the Crumbs!!

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    1. Want to add that although I love the title - I think the cakes on the table could be a little more refined - so the cover gives some idea of the story. Right now I don't understand the cover. My favorite cover in the series is the Key Lime Pie one.

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    2. I get what you're saying--the cakes don't really reflect what they are baking in the book. However, this is a marketing thing and sometimes I have to throw up my hands and say I hope they know best. We couldn't let the dead mouse slide however LOL

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