Celebrating Book Groups and A DEADLY FEAST in Paperback @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: The paperback version of the ninth Key West food critic mystery, A DEADLY FEAST, is on sale today! I thought we might celebrate by chatting about book groups. There are lots of high points in a writer’s life (selling a book, finishing a book, seeing the book in the world for the first time, etc), but nothing better than talking about the book with a book group or club or library or bookstore. In fact, nothing better than talking about any book I've loved with friends who've also read it.

Up into her mid-nineties, my mother-in-law was in a Very Serious Book Group. When it was her turn to lead the discussion, she studied very hard in advance to find out about the author and prepare discussion questions. She would get nervous about whether she'd sound smart enough, and would canvass her daughters and daughters-in-law for input. It was so cute! (By the way, I couldn't find a photo of her with her books, but this was Dorothy voting at age 100!)

I'm not in a regular book group right now, though I did participate this year in a zoom group discussing Ibram X. Kendi's STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING, about the history of racism in America. Wow, that was some very serious reading and heavy discussion, and I was glad to have had that opportunity. I honestly had no idea how uneducated I was on this subject. 

Some years ago, I was in a book group with some local Connecticut friends. Until it got to be too much work, each hostess would make dinner--and of course those food memories are my strongest! I remember cooking for our discussion of WAITING FOR SNOW IN HAVANA, Carlos Eire's beautiful memoir about growing up in and then fleeing from Cuba. I know I made a Cuban pork roast and roasted bananas and black beans. If I was cooking today, I would serve a mojito cake for dessert.

And we had a wonderful book discussion here on the blog of Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, led by our friend Kristopher Zgorski. Kristopher supplied us with questions, and music! (Say, we should do another one of those...)

One of the most fun book group events I've heard about was from one of my fans who talked her group into discussing AN APPETITE FOR MURDER over dinner. She served Key West chicken, Caribbean rice, the recipe for leaning tower of eggplant from the back of my book, and key lime pie of course! I called in to chat with them and she sent me photos of the food and decorations. 

I will end this post by supplying questions for discussing A DEADLY FEAST since it's now out in paperback, but I'd really love to hear about your book club experiences. How do you choose the reading? Who leads the discussion? Is food or wine served? Should Jungle Red Writers have another book discussion?

In A DEADLY FEAST, Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow is set to be married to her heartthrob detective Nathan Bransford. But she has a lot of worries because Nathan’s been married before and both sets of parents were married and then divorced. So she talks a lot to her friends and family about their experiences with marriage. So I've included lots of questions about fictional weddings and marriage...and below that, a group of non-wedding questions!

What’s your theory about what makes for a good marriage? 

Does it seem to you that Nathan and Hayley are a good match? Why or why not?

When you’re reading about a fictional wedding, how much do you like to hear about wedding plans and details?

What are your favorite examples of fictional weddings, either books or movies? Explain why you chose them.

And for some non-wedding questions:

Have you ever gone on a food tour? If so where? If not yet, where would you love to eat your way around?

Martha Hubbard talks about chefs feeling possessive about the recipes they make and serve—they don’t want diners making substitutions. How do you feel about that?

How do you feel about Hayley’s relationship with her mother? And compare this to her relationship with Miss Gloria and Allison, her stepmother. 

Hayley’s boss Palamina says she never understood why Hayley was living with a senior citizen, until she met Miss Gloria. How do you feel about this character? Does she accurately reflect seniors?

And in case you missed it, DEATH ON THE MENU ebooks are on sale for $1.99 for a limited time only!

Book pairings: Jungle Red gift ideas

HALLIE EPHRON: One of the most fun events I did for my book launch was book talk paired with a wine, chocolate, and cheese tasting, hosted by Adventures by the Book in San Diego. They do such a great job pairing experiences with books--just for instance, coming up next fall they have a New England Foliage Adventures (Oct 12-20), a four-state journey featuring New England authors.

Their approach got me thinking about how pairing a book with a food, an experience, or another book makes a great gift.

So as we all look toward the Christmas shopping season, we Reds are here to help you with some creative gift giving, pairing our books with… 

I’d recommend pairing CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR with a copy of Marie Kondo’s THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP, and a bottle of Prosecco (just don't drink too much).

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I’d recommend pairing A BITTER FEAST with a bottle of Cotswold Dry Gin (or best substitute available,) a cheese board with artisan British cheeses, and a book on Cotswold Secret Gardens. A plane ticket would be nice, too, for those very special friends!

LUCY BURDETTE: If the person you’re gifting is going to make it to Key West this winter, a perfect gift would be A DEADLY FEAST, plus tickets to the Key West seafood and walking tour that’s featured in the book. Or you could meet the real chef Martha Hubbard at one of her tasting events: http://www.islecookkeywest.com/schedule-of-events.htm

If all else fails, a key lime pie goes with any of the books!

JENN McKINLAY: Well, for the romantics in your life, you could give a copy of THE CHRISTMAS KEEPER with an ugly Christmas sweater, it’s a thing in the book. Or for the mystery lover, a copy of WORD TO THE WISE with a nice charcuterie board or some roses, although they might send a mixed message, so be careful with that.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ooh, a copy of THE MURDER LIST feels like it might come with a bit of baggage. So I’d make it fun, and include a gorgeous indulgent notebook--ostensibly for keeping track of the books your recipient reads, or maybe journaling, but maybe for a list of something else….   And a beautiful pen, or a box of those wonderful Blackwing #2 pencils.

RHYS BOWEN: I’m not sure what I could pair with LOVE AND DEATH AMONG THE CHEETAHS, my most recent book. Certainly not a book on how to host a wife-swapping party! Or a bag of cocaine. Or even a pair of tickets to a safari. 

So I think I’ll stick with the safer THE VICTORY GARDEN, my stand-alone from earlier this year. It’s about a garden in Devonshire, herbs, healing, so I think I could pair it with a book on the uses of herbs, plus a jar of Devon clotted cream to have with scones and jam. And I’d throw in a copy of my THE TWELVE CLUES OF CHRISTMAS to make it festive, as that is all about celebrating Christmas in Devonshire.

HALLIE: So wishing everyone a happy Saturday-after-Thanksgiving and JUST THREE WEEKENDS BEFORFE CHRISTMAS!

What We're Reading

LUCY BURDETTE:  I haven’t been reading quite as much as usual because I had some retina surgery last week that’s cramped my style. (It has not however cramped my appetite, as you can see in this photo, which was on the way home from the surgery center.) 

I have read and loved Hallie’s CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, and Jenn’s WORD TO THE WISE, and Rhys’s LOVE AND DEATH AMONG THE CHEETAHS, and I have Hank’s and Debs’s new books on my nightstand. Yay! But I wanted to recommend one more nonfiction, non-Red book called MOTHERLAND by Elissa Altman. Altman started out as a food writer and blogger, and has since written three memoirs.

In MOTHERLAND, her latest, Altman tells the astonishing and poignant story of her troubled relationship with a narcissistic mother. It's beautifully written--alternately funny and tragic. I loved it. And loved meeting her at RJ Julia Booksellers , too, to hear her talk about this intense and complex mother-daughter dance.

Assuming you all have the new Reds releases on your TBR pile, what else are you reading or looking forward to this fall?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Since my actual TBR pile is literally all Jungle Reds books right now, I'll share what I'm looking forward to. I'm going to use the  descriptions, because they're both tantalizing and compact: First, in mystery, Kopp Sisters on the March by Amy Stewart, who had appeared here on JRW. I've enjoyed her series on the amazing (but based on true life) Kopp Sisters, and this is the fifth. Publisher's Weekly says, "In the spring of 1917, the Kopp sisters sign up for one of the military-style training camps for women who want to serve in WWI. When an accident befalls the matron, one of the sisters reluctantly agrees to oversee the camp."

For science fiction/fantasy, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. It's REALLY hard to describe this sword and sorcery debut set in an interstellar empire - PW calls it "madcap", but I read the first chapters at Tor.com and immediately pre-ordered it from one of my local indy bookstores. Crazy good writing.

My final choice, a thriller, isn't coming out until December, but it sounds so much my cup of tea I'm including it here: Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison. SheReads.com says, "The Goode School is an Ivy League boarding school – with only the most elite students – until a stranger shows up and things go from Goode to bad (see what I did there?). In a school where people can’t be bothered to turn their heads or question anything about the evil of some of these students, everything comes to a head when a popular student is found dead…. possibly due to a dark secret." JT, if you read this, send me an ARC!!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I am on book tour, so lots of flight time, but I need to use the to finish MY new book! Still, you cannot work all the time, right? So I am reading the crazy THE ESCAPE ROOM by Megan Goldin, which is a locked room thriller that absolutely should not work but it absolutely does! I have to keep tearing myself away from it.  I know I should read THE WHISPER MAN, such a fabulous cover, but it sounds so scary. And eager to get started on TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware.  I powered through THIRTEEN (The serial killer is not on trial, he's on the jury, so says the cover). Another book that should not have worked, but did. And THE CHAIN! Shaking head. How do they do this? 

RHYS BOWEN: I have just concluded my book tour, while juggling page proofs of my next book and keeping up my writing requirement for the WIP. So... Not much time for reading. I have just read a stellar Book of WW2 Amsterdam called House on Endless Waters. I'm dying to find time to start Louise Penny's new book. Actually I'm dying to find time to sit and read!

JENN McKINLAY: I belong to a plot group with two insanely talented writers and very dear friends. Because we plot together -- shenanigans and mayhem, as you do -- I get to see the inner workings of their writing and marvel at how they take the random suggestions we throw at each other and then deliver them in twisty turny, compelling mysteries. Both of my partners have books coming out that I am just giddy about. Paige Shelton's THIN ICE, a suspenseful mystery set in Alaska, and the latest offering in Kate Carlisle's ever brilliant series Fixer Upper Seris, SHOT THROUGH THE HEARTH. Trust me, these are two books you don't want to miss!

LUCY: Jenn, you’ve talked about your plot group before—I am lime green with envy!

HALLIE EPHRON: I'm just back from teaching at Book Passage's annual conference for mystery writers where I moderated a panel on creating a main character. There were four authors on the panel, each a fantastic mystery writer, and I went back and found the first time each had put their protagonist on the page. At the conference, they read it aloud and (tried to!) remember why they'd introduced their character in that particular way. One of the authors on the panel was Elizabeth George, and the book where she introduces Lynley and Havers is A Great Deliverance. Well, I could not stop reading. I read the entire book in two days. No wonder that series is such a success.

LUCY: That sounds like an amazing conference panel, Hallie. Such a smart way to run it!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I am all caught up on my fellow Reds fabulous books--such a reading feast! Next up for me is the ARC of Charles Todd's new Bess Crawford, A CRUEL DECEPTION, and I can't wait to dive in. And here are the top four below it on my nightstand: THE HEART'S INVISIBLE FURIES by John Boyne (recommended by our JRW friend Ann Mason), THE SPIES OF SHILLING LANE by Jennifer Ryan, MEET ME IN MONACO by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, and THE PARIS ARCHITECT by Charles Belfoure. Of course, no telling what I'll come across between now and then, or pull off my to-read shelves, or my Kindle. I enjoyed Kate Atkinson's BIG SKY so much that I want to go back and catch up on the Jackson Brodie novels I haven't read.

Okay Reds, your turn! What are you reading?

CHEF MARTHA’S SPONGER KEY LIME PIE

Analise with Martha

LUCY BURDETTE: When John and I went on the seafood tasting tour that served as inspiration for A DEADLY FEAST, the first stop was to visit Chef Martha Hubbard at Isle Cook Key West. Our guide Analise told us we'd be eating dessert first--Martha's sponger key lime pie. 

Oops I ate too fast

My mind was running amok during the entire two hours of yummy eating and Key West history...Where could I find a body? What's the best murder weapon? Will these dear women consent to becoming characters--suspects perhaps? They did agree, and even better, Martha shared her recipe for pie...

Chef Martha's Sponger Key Lime Pie

½ cup Ol’ Sour (See Below)

½ cup key lime juice

2 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk

3 egg yolks

1 tsp salt

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Divide into small canning jars. Serve with crumbled Cuban crackers on top.

Ol'Sour in process

Ol’ Sour

1 Qt Key Lime Juice

1 ½ Tbsp Table Salt

Mix Key Lime juice and salt

Let sit at room temperature for two weeks, disturbing daily for first week.

Martha with Feast

You'll recognize a lot of this background as you read the new Key West mystery. And if you visit Key West, be sure to look up these two wonderful foodies. Analise Smith runs Key West Food Tours and Martha Hubbard offers classes and dinners through Isle Cook. Thank you, fabulous women!

Red readers, have you ever taken a food tour?

A Deadly Feast #booklaunch @LucyBurdette

Lucy with John

LUCY BURDETTE: Following up on yesterday's discussion about fictional--and real--weddings, twenty-seven years ago this month I married the man of my dreams. It wasn’t a fancy wedding, the reception was held in our backyard with lots of delicious homemade food. And lots of family and friends of course. Saying yes turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. Not that every minute has gone smoothly--but the high points far outweigh the low. 

A few of those wedding napkins

However, I still remember how anxious I was in the days leading up to the wedding. We’d both come from marriages that didn't go so well, and there was a stepfamily to negotiate. As a psychologist, I could imagine all the complications that might ensue. (And plenty of them did, but we made it through, stronger than we started.) John teased that I channeled my nervousness and doubts into sewing 100 calico napkins for the reception.

Marriage and weddings play a big role in A Deadly Feast (out today from Crooked Lane Books!) Now it’s Hayley Snow's turn to tie the knot with her heartthrob detective Nathan Bransford. But Hayley has acquired a serious case of the jitters. She’s never been married before, but he has, with bad results. And her parents were divorced, and so were Nathan's, and the closer the date gets, the less possible the notion of 'till death do us part' feels. And there are plenty of outside events conspiring to keep Nathan and Hayley apart too. 

Hayley handles her growing nerves by obsessing about the details of the ceremony on the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor, cooking, and helping her friend Analise figure out what happened to the woman who dropped dead on her food tour. She also canvasses some of her trusted friends and relatives to get help with the question of how marriages succeed. 

Steve Torrence, a friend of Hayley's (and also mine), who conducts lots of weddings says:  “I’ll tell you my theory about what makes a marriage work— people who know how to talk to each other through thick and thin and assume only the best motives from their partner have the best chance of surviving. As you know, we can’t predict what kind of life changes and challenges you’ll face together. We can only work on how graciously you’ll handle them.”

I'm not going to say more, because of course I'm hoping you'll read it. We are celebrating the new book with a giveaway! Hayley would love your advice: What makes for a good marriage? Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing...

Lucy will be launching the new book at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison CT on Thursday at 7pm. You can buy the book wherever books are sold such as...

Indiebound
Amazon
Booksamillion
Barnes and Noble
Powells


And of course, the Key West Island Bookstore and Books and Books in Key West will be glad to mail you a copy...

What We're Writing #bookgiveaway @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I have so much going on that I hardly knew what to write today. A DEADLY FEAST (food critic mystery #9) comes out on May 7, the new trade paperback edition of DEATH ON THE MENU comes out today (it's gorgeous, I can't help saying,) and yesterday I sent a completed manuscript for the happiness book to my agent. Whew! (As for how book ten in the series is coming along, don't even ask.)

With eight books published in the Key West series, soon to be nine, Miss Gloria has become the character I probably hear most about. At first I envisioned her as an old lady living on houseboat row. I needed her as a throwaway character who would get bashed on the head and propel the plot along. Here, I’m a little embarrassed to admit, is Miss Gloria in the first book, AN APPETITE FOR MURDER. Hayley is a murder suspect in a case of poisoned key lime pie and is living up the dock from Miss Gloria. This is Hayley talking:

Two boats in along the wooden finger and more often than not one season ahead of the rest of the world, Miss Gloria had strung Christmas lights on her porch. They winked a cheerful welcome. She was watching the news in her living room, one eye on the dock. I waved and called hello through the screen.

“Your place looks fantastic,” I told her.

She smiled modestly and ducked down to stroke her feline, a slim black cat named Sparky. “How’s Evinrude settling in?”

“He’ll never be a sailor,” I said with a laugh, “but we’re surviving.” Then, since Miss Gloria hardly ever left her boat, it occurred to me to wonder if she’d be able to vouch for me with the police. I hopped over onto her porch, her boat rocking almost imperceptibly under the change in weight. “Did you happen to notice that I was here this morning working?”

“This morning?” she asked, looking puzzled. “I don’t know, were you? That nice young policeman came by, though. He’s got such a strong chin.”

“I know,” I said glumly. Her touch of dee-mentia, as she called it, wasn’t going to help me in this situation.

Only as the books evolved, it became clear to me and everyone else that Miss Gloria Does Not Have Dementia. Reviewer Phil Jason had this to say about her in DEATH ON THE MENU (from the FLORIDA WEEKLY):  "Miss Gloria is also a comic character, an older woman who doesn’t take her limitations seriously and becomes a kind of role model for senior citizens."

I love that so much! So here she is in the ninth book, A DEADLY FEAST:

Miss Gloria had been clucking and exclaiming during the whole phone conversation. It was hard to tell who was in trouble and in what way, but I’d hear soon enough.

She hung up and ran her fingers through her white hair until it stood up in little whipped-cream peaks. “You’re not going to believe this one,” she said.

“Do tell.” I grinned. She’d tell me anyway, even if I didn’t ask.

 “You know how I’m supposed to cover the nine thirty–to– eleven thirty shift tomorrow at the Friends of the Library book sale, right?” The Friends of the Library organization raises funds to support the Key West Library, and Miss Gloria was a stalwart volunteer.

“Right,” I said. “You and Mrs. Dubisson sit at the front table near the bake sale and sample all the cookies. You’ve got the winning record for selling canvas Friends’ totes and hard-cover mysteries to customers who thought they were done shopping.”

She looked delighted. She loves when people pay attention to what she’s told them—and honestly, who doesn’t? “That’s it. But now, Marsha—she’s the president of the Friends’ board of directors—called, and they’re desperate for help setting up at seven thirty am because the stomach flu appears to have felled half our volunteer force.” She shook her head. “Old folks. Sometimes they are just too fragile to rely on.”

I looked up from my phone to see if she was kidding. People who don’t know my roommate well tend to dismiss her as a frail elderly woman. Before Miss Gloria roared into my life with more energy than most of my peers, I would have thought that too. Now she was positively vibrating and grinning like a monkey.

LUCY AGAIN: In order to celebrate everything going on, I would love to give away a copy of the new paperback of DEATH ON THE MENU. You will be entered if you leave a comment (and your email, which will help me find you!) What book characters have become role models for you?

Read more about Lucy and the Key West mysteries on her website, or Facebook, or Instagram, or Bookbub...


The winner of a copy of CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR is Flora Church. Flora, please email Hallie (Hallie “at” HallieEphron dot com) with your mailing address.