Galeophobia and Banana Cake

HANK:  Galeophobia? A bête noir cake? A Scattergories challenge?

More about our new Reds! So much to find out…

I confess--I am singing impaired. Honestly, if I sign a song, you might have no idea what it is. Ingrid and Jenn—give us the scoop. 

Can you sing? Play an instrument?

Ingrid

INGRID: I have a decent singing voice and performed in musicals in my younger years.  My sister Lisa and I used to perform our own version of “The Donny and Marie Show.”  She, very graciously, was Donny.  I never studied an instrument, but another sister, Erika, was a wonderful piano player (and singer), so I grew up listening to lots of classical piano music.

JENN: I'm a singer. The rest of my people are musicians. With Hub being a professional guitar player and our sons following his lead, the frat house is a very loud house! I’m actually the backup singer for Adele. She just doesn’t know that.

HANK: Yeah, I’m backup for EmmyLou. Who is equally oblivious. How about food? Are you a good cook?  What’s your specialty?  Or if not—what’s your downfall?

INGRID:I can cook certain things well, but I am not an enthusiastic cook.  I cook because I need to eat, and I try to eat healthy foods, which often requires that I cook them.  I do love to eat, and I like flipping through cookbooks.  If only I had a personal chef!   I prefer baking to cooking and make a delicious Swedish apple pie.  My baking downfall is the amazing banana cake from the Silver Palate cookbook; that recipe never turns out right, but I can’t figure out where I’ve gone wrong! 

JENN: I'm a baker. Since I write a cupcake bakery mystery series - cupcakes are a specialty. Regular food cooking is meh. Clearly, I'm sugar motivated.

HANK: I won’t even ask about your TBR piles..tottering TBRs are a hallmark of us all. But what book are you reading right now? (I’m reading Duplicity…J)

JENN: I'm rereading Postcards from the Edge with The Princess Diarist up next. Yep, I'm taking Carrie Fisher's passing pretty hard. She was a brilliant writer

INGRID: I’m reading the ARC of “Burning Bright” by Nick Petrie.  I really enjoyed Nick’s first book, “The Drifter,” and it’s been great diving into the next installment in the series.  Nick and I are doing a couple of events together on my upcoming book tour (in Scottsdale and Houston,) and I look forward to picking his brain about his engaging but enigmatic character, Peter Ash.

HANK:  What’s the one thing no one besides your family knows?

INGRID: I polled them, and they seem to think that only they know I’m a mean Scattergories competitor.  This is true. 

JENN: I suffer from galeophobia (fear of sharks). I blame Shark Week.

HANK: Well, now we know the difference—Ingrid’s a scuba diver! But still, as we know, wary of sharks.  Final question for today. Mine is: “You never know.”

What’s your motto?

INGRID: In college, my best friend, Davenie, and I had a motto that has served me well: “You look good, you feel good, you do good.”  This is why I don’t work in my pajamas.  Nor do I wear an evening gown, but I also try to look like I made an effort.  I think it signals to my brain—and the world—that I mean business!

Jenn

JENN: "Never give up and never, under any circumstances, face the facts." Ruth Gordon said it, but it's been my motto for decades.

HANK:   Oh, um, okay. Off to change clothes.  But I am great at ignoring the facts—in fiction, at least.  And we are so happy to have you all here…new Reds, and the new friends we are making. Hurray!

My turn to have a giveaway today—introduce yourself! Tell us where you are! And one commenter will win the first in both my series: Agatha winner PRIME TIME and Mary Higgins Clark Winner THE OTHER WOMAN!

So introduce yourself, not only to us, but to each other—Jungle Red stalwarts—you, too!  And tomorrow, I’ll announce the winner.

Tomorrow—a very special kind of food.  Will you like it?

Friday: YOUR questions to new Reds Jenn and Ingrid.

Saturday: a big giveaway.

And Sunday: our dear Kaye Barley. Aw.  Wait ‘til you meet her!

Okay—eager to hear from you!

Fake It Until You Make It: Jenn McKinlay on Assault and Beret

LUCY BURDETTE: First, just a reminder--our JRW Bel Canto book club day is January 18, so you still have time to read!

Now on to today's main event: You got a taste of our new Reds yesterday. But we are so lucky because both Jenn and Ingrid have new releases in January! ASSAULT AND BERET, the fifth installment in Jenn's totally charming London hat shop mystery series, is out TODAY.

And now I have a little confession: When I come back for my next life, I'd like to try being Jenn please. You'll see as you get to know her that not only is she a wonderful, funny writer, she is cool. And tall. (One example: She plays volleyball on a coed team with her hub. Me? I got a D in volleyball in high school, which had partly to do with a serve as weak as a kitten and partly to do with not even being able to reach the bottom of the net.) As I told the other Reds when we were waiting for her to say yes, she writes the best letters to readers of any authors I've seen. (So go sign up!) And I'm crazy about this hat shop series, so with no more ado--here's our Jenn...

JENN MCKINLAY: When I started writing, I was pretty sure getting published was the biggest challenge I would face, like climbing Mount Everest in a bikini and snowshoes challenging. I mean, seriously, that endeavor took years to accomplish and there were times that dying of hypothermia and exposure would have been preferable. So I figured nothing could be as soul crushing as trying to sell that first book, right? Yeah, no, the getting published part is just the first level in the quest. Who knew?

 

   What else could possibly be that hard? I'm so glad you asked. For me, it was having a super terrific idea for a book, which just happened to be set in a place I'd never been. In this case -- Paris! After all, who doesn't love Paris? Apparently, terrorists. My research trip was set to happen just after the bombings. Because I was planning to bring my sons, my husband and I had to have a real sit down chat about the temperament of the world and whether it was worth the risk to travel to a place that was suffering repeated terrorist attacks. After some rough language directed at people who blow things up and destroy innocent lives, I agreed that the trip would have to wait. Still, I was on deadline. 

     Now the only reason I wasn't found curled up in a fetal position, sobbing into the raspberry beret I'd bought in anticipation of my trip was the fact that I had been in this spot before. When I sold CLOCHE AND DAGGER, the first book in the London Hat Shop series, I hadn't been to London and I couldn't wedge in a trip before the book was due. Copious amounts of research were required and when I tossed the manuscript at two writers I greatly admired, who knew London better than I ever would, I held my breath until they weighed in with a thumbs up. Thank you, Rhys Bowen and Deborah Crombie! Little did I know then that I would be blogging with them as a Red now. Crazy, huh?

     So, how did I manage to write so concisely about a place I'd never been? Well, the long story is that I always knew I wanted to be a writer so it seemed to me that working with books was the proper way to earn a living while tapping away at stories in my off time. Thus, I studied library science and began a career working in a variety of libraries from private to public to academic. It honed my research skills and proved to be an excellent kick in the pants as every time the new fiction came in, I was duly motivated to become a member of the published author club. So much like the first London book, when I realized I was going to have to write about Paris without having the luxury of walking the Rue Montorgueil (or any rue for that matter), riding the Metro, or enjoying a charcuterie in an actual French bistro, well, I had to roll up my sleeves and figure out how to write about the very experiences I was being denied. In other words, I was going to have to fake it until I make it.

     Here's the nitty gritty for any would be researchers: First, I jumped onto Google Earth. Hours were spent walking the streets of Paris, virtually, scanning back and forth to see where Metro stops were located and what platforms looked like, the style of buildings in the neighborhoods I was writing about and on and on and on. Then I went onto Youtube and rode the Metro via videos shot by others (manspreading is a thing even in Europe, FYI) and then it was off to the Louvre with Rick Steves for an informative tour, which included a bit about how to skip the lines. While reading travel blogs galore, I found an even better way which I included in the book. A visit to the library I used to work for - Phoenix Public - and I was loaded down with books about Paris and I took an afternoon to study several in house only French magazines like Paris Match so that I could accurately write about the current fashions. When I wanted to describe meals in Paris, I went onto Trip Advisor and looked up the reviews of various restaurants. People are amazingly detailed in their descriptions of food - thank goodness! With all of that framework, I was then able to unleash my imagination and write ASSAULT AND BERET, which comes out today! 

     Now when I do get to Paris, just as I visited London after the first book in the series was out, I will have an itinerary which includes all of the best restaurants and tourist shortcuts, without the added struggle of solving a murder case like my amateur sleuths. This book, the fifth title in the London Hat Shop mysteries, finds London milliner Vivian Tremont and her American cousin and partner, Scarlett Parker, tipping their caps to their beloved shop on Portobello Road in Notting Hill and setting off for Paris, where Viv can’t wait to teach a hat-making class. But she has another reason to travel to the City of Light: to find the man she impulsively eloped with years ago and have their marriage annulled.

     William Graham is not only handsome and charming, but he also has a glamorous job as an insurance investigator who works with priceless pieces of art, most recently a small Renoir that has been discovered in a junk shop. But when both Will and the masterpiece suddenly disappear, it’s up to the ladies from London to follow the trail of clues. They’ll need to hold on to their chapeaux, however, because someone is a master in the art of deception... 

     So, how about you? What have you had to do in your to life to fake it until you make it?  

Welcome the New Reds!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  This is SUCH a big deal—it’ll take three days this week to celebrate it! And a fourth day next week.

Ta dah: we are so thrilled to welcome our new Reds! The fabulous friends and fabulously talented authors Jenn McKinlay and Ingrid Thoft.

I will pause now while you give them a standing ovation.

Since they’re now officially Reds, it’s only fitting that I bring out my Jungle Red Questions, right?  (They have not seen each other’s answers!)

Jenn at Poisoned Pen

HANK:  When was the first moment you thought: I could be a mystery writer?

INGRID: Honestly, I don’t remember an exact moment, but I can identify a turning point when I was first shopping for an agent and got positive feedback.  It’s transformational when someone other than a family member or close friend reads your work and asks to read more.  I always wanted writing to be my career, but things shift when someone else sees that in your future, too.

      

JENN:  Honestly, it was when I had nothing left to lose as I had failed at all other types of writing. I avoided writing mysteries for years because I didn't think I was clever enough. Life lesson: Failure is good!

HANK: I love that you both started with “Honestly.”

Okay, what’s the book from your childhood that most affected or inspired you?

Ingrid and Hank 

INGRID:  You really have to ask?  Nancy Drew had a big effect on me, as did the Encyclopedia Brown series.  I remember loving “The Phantom Tollbooth,” by Norton Juster, “Meet the Austins” by Madeleine L’Engle and “The Westing Game,” by Ellen Raskin.  All of the Judy Blume books were favorites, and I still have my copy of “Just the Beginning” by Betty Miles.

JENN: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier was a game changer for me when I was eleven. It opened up the world of suspense and I never looked back.

HANK: When and where are you happiest?

Jenn

INGRID: I’m happiest with the people I love when they are happy and healthy.  The deal is sweetened by a good book, a beach, and a healthy coral reef to snorkel over or scuba dive.  Good food and a good cocktail are also important ingredients in the happiness recipe.

JENN: At my family's summer cottage on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. Truly, the most beautiful and peaceful place on earth.

HANK: So, the new Reds are water/beach people!

Where do you live? And give us… one sentence about your family.

Ingrid signs

INGRID: I live in Seattle with my husband, Doug.  I’m from Massachusetts and make frequent trips back for research purposes and to see family.  I was responding to these questions in my family’s presence over Christmas, and my niece Zoë suggested the following sentence: Zoë is the greatest niece ever.  Hmmm…not the sentence I would choose.  My one sentence would be that my family is funny, and we get stuff done.

JENN: I live in sunny Arizona in a house overrun with kids, pets, and my husband's guitars. I'm the lone girl so I call it the frat house.

 HANK: West Coasters!  So does that make us…four east, four west?

You can tell I like to organize. But NOT outline! How about you?

INGRID:  I’ve been an outliner for the Fina books, and I’m currently outlining a stand alone.  I am trying to be a little more open-minded about not outlining too strictly this time around, but just typing that makes my skin start to itch with the possibility of hives.  I’m a planner, in life and in my books, but I’m intrigued when I hear other writers talk about a less regimented process.  We’ll see how it turns out!

JENN: Yes, I work from a ten-page outline and I rarely deviate from it. Writing, for me, is much easier with a map.

HANK:  When I first read that answer, Jenn, I thought it said “nap.” That writing was easier with a nap. Also true. So when’s your next book out—and what is it?

INGRID: My next book, DUPLICITY, will be out on January 10^th.  It’s the fourth book in my Fina Ludlow series.  Fina is a private investigator in Boston, who works for the Ludlow family firm of personal injury attorneys.  She breaks the rules and the law when it suits her, and she has a strong code of ethics.   In DUPLICITY, she is hired to investigate the activities of an evangelical church and the hold it seems to have over its members.

JENN:  ASSAULT AND BERET comes out on Jan 3rd. The fifth and final in the London Hat Shop mystery series. London milliner Vivian Tremont and her American cousin and partner, Scarlett Parker, tip their caps to their beloved shop on Portobello Road in Notting Hill and set off for Paris, where Viv can’t wait to teach a hat-making class. But she has another reason to travel to the City of Light: to find the man she impulsively eloped with years ago and have their marriage annulled.

HANK: What’s the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done?

INGRID: We’ve taken a helicopter to the top of a glacier in Alaska and climbed ice cliffs with ice axes and crampons, but I didn’t find that particularly dangerous.  Maybe scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef?  We didn’t do the shark dive during which they chum the waters, but we encountered sharks on other dives during the trip.  It’s their ocean, after all! 

JENN: My dad was a glider pilot, so I took some lessons and flew the ship. I even managed to steer it through a wingover! It didn't occur to me that crashing was very real possibility until my feet were back on the ground -- probably a good thing. 

HANK: Yeah, I had a boyfriend who was a glider pilot, and I was so proud of myself for going up with him. (The things we do….)  At one point in the flight he said “Damn!” 

I was terrified! “What?” I yelped.  “Oh nothing,” he said. “I  was just thinking I could have done that maneuver more perfectly. I said: “That’s not ‘Damn!’ That’s ‘Hmm.’ Or—tell me later.”

But wait—there’s more! Tomorrow, we’ll hear much more about Jenn’s new book. And on Wednesday—more revealing answers. We’ll discover which new Red is a singer. Which Red cannot for the life of her make banana cake, and which new Red has galeophobia.

Welcome to the Jungle, sisters! And we are so thrilled you are here!  (And happiest of New Years and much love to Reds emeritae Jan, Rosemary and Susan—once a Red, always a Red!)

Also! In the comments tell me what questions YOU’D like us to ask! And later in the week, we’ll have the answers from Jenn and Ingrid!