Debs Gearing up for A BITTER FEAST

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh my gosh, we have a lot going on at Jungle Red these days. Lucy's newest Key West mystery was out in May, new books from Hallie and Rhys are coming next week, then Hank later in August, Jenn in September, me in October, and Julia in April! It's a fabulous REDS season!! And we are all in some stage or another of promoting these books and writing the next one (or "ones" in Jenn's case!)

Here's where we are on A BITTER FEAST, Kincaid/James #18, coming October 8th!

Here's the first review, and it's STARRED! I am over the moon!

*A Bitter Feast.

By Deborah Crombie
Oct. 2019. 384p. Morrow, $25.99 (9780062271662); e-book, $12.99 (9780062271686)

A weekend in the country turns into more work than play for Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. Melody Talbot, Gemma’s detective sergeant, invites the couple and their three children to the Cotswolds estate of her parents, Sir Ivan and Lady Adelaide Talbot, on the occasion of an upscale charity luncheon to be catered by local chef Viv Holland. Things go awry from the start when Duncan, traveling to the Talbots’ alone in the family car, is hit broadside, and the other driver dies as the slightly injured Duncan holds her hand. But attention centers on the passenger in that car, identified as former London celebrity chef Fergus O’Reilly, who’s found to have died before the crash. So, what was intended to be a relaxing sojourn turns into a murder investigation. As the detectives pitch in to help at the luncheon and confer with local authorities, another person close to Viv becomes a victim, and the history between the chefs is gradually revealed. The eighteenth entry in this best-selling series is notable for its portrayals of Duncan and Gemma’s children (especially the oldest, Kit), and for the addition of food as an item of interest, a factor that will extend the appeal from the series' procedural-loving fan base to the foodie mystery crowd. This character-driven series just continues to get better.

—Michele Leber


It is so incredibly nerve-wracking, as we can all attest, waiting for the reviews to come out.

The social media banner are up, yay!  Here's the one for Facebook.

This one was quite a trauma, I can tell you, as the first pass from the publisher was BROWN. All over. Background and cover. I had a good bit of help from my painter sister-in-law, and together we came up with the red overlay behind the gold cover. What do you think? Hopefully it's much more eye-catching.

Today I'm meeting with my publicist at Morrow to talk about the tour schedule, so more on that soon.

Next week, I tackle updating my web page. And maybe (whispering) even contemplating a newsletter. 

So what am I actually writing, you ask?

Seven hundred and sixty of these. These are called tip-in sheets, and they will go in specially bound books for Barnes and Noble. I've done these for independent bookstores before, but never nearly as many, and never for B&N, so I'm pretty tickled. (But boy do I have writer's cramp.)

And there is terrific news coming soon about Duncan and Gemma's next adventures, so stay tuned!

Readers, how important is it to you to have a signed copy of a favorite author's book? I'm not a big collector, but I have a few I will never part with, like my signed Dick Francis and James Herriott books.

Tell us about your most precious signed book, and I'll send one of the very last ARCs of A BITTER FEAST to one lucky commenter!

And just for one more bit of fun, here's Castle Coombe, the beautiful village in the book jacket photo. Anyone who has been there will recognize it instantly. It makes me want to go back to the Cotswolds!