Meeting Diana Nyad

LUCY BURDETTE: I am always snatching bits of reality to fit into my fiction. Sometimes they spin back into my life in ways I never imagined.

photo from Wikipedia

Did you happen to see a clip of the swimmer Diana Nyad splash ashore on Smathers Beach in Key West a few years ago? At 64 years old, she completed the swim from Cuba to Key West—110 miles—on her fifth try. The first four times she had to turn back because of bad weather, poisonous jellyfish, and sharks. When she crawled out of the water onto the beach, her face was so swollen from jellyfish stings her own mother wouldn’t have recognized her. Here’s what she said to the crowd that had gathered:

“I have three messages for you:

We should #NeverEverGiveUp

You’re #NeverTooOld to chase your dreams

It’s #NeverASolitarySport … it’s a team!”

When I wanted my main character Hayley Snow’s mother to have a bigger role in my series, I immediately thought of Diana. What if Janet Snow admired her daughter’s tenacity as she went about figuring out how to do what she loved, and yearned to do the same in her own life? Wouldn’t Diana Nyad be a perfect role model? And so when Janet explains her decision to open a catering business in Key West to her daughter Hayley, she invokes Diana.**

photo by Bill Carito

Fast forward to this past December, when my sister gave a talk at the Key West library about her trip to Standing Rock. After the presentation, a woman approached and invited her to be a guest of honor at the International Women’s Flag Football event, sponsored by Kelly McGillis, and headlined by Diana Nyad. My sister wasn’t able to make the date in January so she suggested I might be invited. 

And so I was booked to give a talk, and walk in the parade following the opening ceremony. (A parade!) I worked on a very short version of my “inspirational talk,” featuring some wisdom from psychologists about goal-setting, and examples from my career about persistence and getting knock flat but scrambling up to face the next hurdle. And then I got excited about meeting Diana. (Naturally, I planned to bring her a signed copy of the book in which she appeared.) And I worried about whether I had the nerve to be a parade celebrity.

The day before event day, I texted my host, Diane, and told her I didn't need to be in the parade.

"But we had a banner made for you!" 

photo by Bill Carito

Okay. I convinced my husband and three friends to go to the venue with me, a drag bar, this being Key West. (Thanks Bill and Barb and Steve and John!) Instead of the young to middle-aged women I was expecting in the audience, the open area around the bar was crammed with squirming girls. With only minutes to spare, I adjusted my talk the best I could to suit the attention spans of 10-year-old girls, who were most anxious to perform in the team dance contest which was to follow. I finished, the girls danced, and Diana was ushered in from the airport.

Lucy with Diana

Her fabulous and inspiring talk could be summed up with the same three points she made when she came out of the water. She reminded the girls in the audience that while there are stars out on the field, behind every star is a team. 

She mentioned that when she turned 60, she felt a jolt, realizing how much of her life had gone by. And she remembered something a friend told her as she was preparing to race in an Olympic swimming trial: As long as you don't leave one fingernail of effort out in the pool, you will be happy with the results.

What did I learn from this? Take a good look at what you’re doing in your life and ask yourself: Is this is the way I want to spend the rest of my years and my talents? 

If not, fix it!

And, if you’re asked to be in a parade, go for it!

Who is your role model and what have you learned from them?

**Hayley Snow in DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS:

Lucy explains the book to Diana

I am crazy about my mother, honest. But it had still been a shock when she announced she’d rented a place in Key West for the winter season. Wouldn’t it be so much fun to spend Christmas in paradise together? And New Year’s...and Martin Luther King day...and Valentine’s Day...you get the picture. Mom had followed Diana Nyad’s attempts to swim from Cuba to Key West with rapt attention. When Diana overcame sharks, jellyfish, rough water, and advancing age to complete her 110 mile swim on her fifth try, at age 64, Mom took it personally.

            “Diana says we should never give up,” she announced on the phone a couple of months ago. “Why not be bold, be fiercely bold and go out and chase your dreams?”

            Mom had been a little down since the summer because her fledgling catering company had not taken off the way she’d hoped. She was an amazing and inventive cook, but the business part of owning a business eluded her. For her first five catering events, cooking with only the highest quality ingredients, she’d lost money rather than making it. A lot of money. Even her new boyfriend, Sam, who was supportive beyond any reasonable expectation, had suggested she take a few steps back and reconsider her plan.

            “Why not? You should go for your dream too,” I remember saying. “That’s exactly what you told me when I lost my bearings: Keep putting yourself out in the universe and eventually the wind will fill your sails.” I stopped myself from trotting out more metaphysical homilies--I hadn’t wanted to hear too much advice when I was feeling down; Mom probably didn’t either. “What do you have in mind?”

            “I’m thinking of coming to Key West for the winter!”

            Whoa. If that was her dream, who was I to stop her? But my big solo adventure was about to turn into How I Met Your Mother.

Key Lime Parfaits #recipe @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: People look at me with suspicion if I show up somewhere with a key lime dessert (and that's with some good reason--I did off someone with a key lime pie in AN APPETITE FOR MURDER). But there's no reason you shouldn't have this delicious recipe, perfect for a summer party. They will never suspect a thing...

Beep! Beep! Beep! There's a calorie alert associated with this recipe. You should not go in with the idea (as I did) that a Key Lime Parfait would be a light dessert because  of the citrus...

With that warning out of the way, here's the story behind the recipe. The fifth Key West mystery (DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS) features a New York chef who's just opened a restaurant in Key West. She wants her new menu to reflect some of the tastes and history of the island, and this key lime parfait is one of the desserts she offers. So of course I had to try making one, and this is the result.

Key limes are smaller than regular limes--and here I have to tell the truth--kind of a pain to juice. John helped me and it took all the limes in a pound bag to end up with 1/2 cup of juice. (Next time, I might try the recipe with regular limes.)




INGREDIENTS

5 whole graham crackers, crushed, to make about one cup
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime juice

key lime zest
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla 

Preheat oven to 350. Crush the graham crackers. (Easy way--place the graham crackers in a ziplock bag, seal the bag, and roll them to crumbs with a rolling pin.) 

Mix the crumbs with the melted butter and brown sugar. Spread this on a foil-covered baking sheet and bake for ten minutes or until golden. Let this cool, then break into crumbs again.

Meanwhile, whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla. (I used my food processor, which was a snap.) Set half of this aside for the topping.


Mix the condensed milk with the lime juice. The citrus will cause the milk to thicken. Gently stir in one cup of whipped cream. 







 
Now comes the fun part, in which you layer the parts you've prepared. I chose wine snifters--next time I would try something taller and thinner, as these servings were BIG.

Layer in some of the baked crumbs, then some of the key lime mixture, and repeat. When you have distributed all the ingredients, top with dollops of whipped cream and sprinkle with more crumbs and some zested lime if you want a stronger flavor.

And then lean back and enjoy the compliments! 

And the winner of Patricia Skalka's books DEATH AT GILLS ROCK and DEATH STALKS DOOR COUNTY is Margaret Turkevich. Please send your mailing address to hallie "at" hallieephron dot com. Congratulations! And come back tomorrow for another wonderful giveaway from Mary Kennedy!

Reliving the Best of 2014: Who Let the Dogs Out? @LucyBurdette

Happy New Year's Eve day, Reds. As you've heard, we've decided to relive our favorite posts from 2014 this week. I have to say, the timing is perfect, because while you're reading, I will be marching in the dachshund parade with Tonka! I'll post new pictures on Facebook, but here's how it went last year--too much fun!

LUCY BURDETTE: There are lots of unusual events that take place on the island of Key West, but perhaps none so silly and fun as the dachshund parade. 



This has been occurring on New Year's Eve day for the past eight years, much to the chagrin of the Key West police, who have plenty on their hands already, getting prepared for New Year's Eve on Duval Street. 

John and I and Tonka attended in 2012, and ended up falling in with the dachshunds and the dachshund wannabes. After seeing the sights, I vowed that we would come in costume next time around. 



I was planning to sew a costume like this for Tonka. But then I checked on ebay as time grew short--and became the winning bidder on this costume. 





And then I found hats for me and John--a hamburger and a hot dog. Weren't they such good sports about dressing up as lunch meat? We marched from the Courthouse, up Southard Street to Duval, then right on Duval to Appleruth Lane. (Dachshunds have short legs so it was a short route:). 

 There were dogs dressed as lobsters....

 and dogs with their mothers in funny hats...

A

 And dogs in disguise

 And dogs in blue tutus just like their owners

And this is my good friend, Officer Steve Torrence, who is also a character in the Key West mysteries. (He's a good sport even though he isn't a fan of this parade:). 

And here is a family portrait

Leading off the parade were three mounted police and a small van with great speakers that played classics like "Who Let the dogs out?" and "Ain't Nothing like a hound dog." A truly amazing way to end 2013...or any year!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uaPs8sxqB0

And if you think this is material I can't use, you haven't read the fifth Key West mystery, DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS!

Happy New Year Reds! Hope you're out there doing something silly!  xoxo Lucy

Reds Celebrate DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS @LucyBurdette

Today all the Reds are humming Christmas carols and wearing Santa hats to celebrate the launch of Lucy Burdette's fifth Key West food critic mystery, DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS. Lucy herself is simply floating so we thought of some questions to ask about the new book...although she did edit out some of our best suggestions like: What do you really think of skate? (Hallie) and Have you ever eaten cod cheek? (Hank)

REDS: Seriously, tell us what are the best--and hardest--things about writing a cozy mystery series?


LUCY: I'll start with the hardest part: Suspension of disbelief. My readers must be persuaded to suspend disbelief in every way—characters, plot, setting, everything! For example, what business does a food critic have solving murders? Since Hayley Snow's profession does not explain her involvement with criminal investigation, the sleuthing must evolve because of her relationships with other characters and because of her own personality and history. Challenging!

What I enjoy most is learning more about the characters with each book I write. Do you know that I had no idea Miss Gloria would become such an important character when I started out? A series is always full of surprises...and so is the Key West setting.

REDS: Speaking of relationships, this story has a lot to do with Hayley and her mother. What do you find most interesting about this duo?


LUCY: I love writing about the push and pull of the mother-daughter relationship over time. Hayley is "finding herself" as a true adult, and her mom is revealing herself as a regular person with flaws and fears, not just a mother. I lost my mother when in my early twenties so I think I get extra satisfaction imagining the transition of Hayley and Janet Snow's relationship--how it changes and matures in ways that I didn't have the chance to experience.

REDS: What's so special about Key West during the Christmas season?

LUCY: So many things! It's funny how just a string of white lights around the trunk of a palm tree looks festive. But Key West does a lot more than that. They hold a lighting decoration contest, a lighted boat parade, the hometown holiday parade...this display took SECOND place last year: 


And don't let me forget to mention the Winter Wiener Wonderland which is a parade of costumed dachshunds. (I marched in that last year with John and Tonka—we all wore hot dog costumes.) It was so much fun to work all of those events into the book!

REDS: What was the best thing you ate while in training for this writing this book and the book launch?

LUCY:  Now you're getting to the heart of the matter:). The recipes in the back of the book are mine, except, of course, for the Jungle Red cocktail, which is Susan's brainchild. And I'm crazy for the Scarlet O'Hara raspberry cupcakes (which are also wonderful with mocha icing...)

Thank you Jungle Red Writers and READERS for all your support! The new book can be found wherever books are sold, including independent bookstores, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Burdette infuses the mystery with Key West spirit and holiday fun along with delicious food references and recipes. This strong series continues a unique blend of island mayhem and sparkling characters surrounding a layered mystery.  Booklist, December 1, 2014

What We’re Writing: Lucy Burdette #amwriting #mystery

LUCY BURDETTE: We’re all amazed when What We’re Writing Week swings back around faster than the Key West Cat Man’s menagerie can jump through a flaming hoop. After I describe what I’ve been up to, you might wonder that I’ve written anything in the last two months. 

 

As you know by now, DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS will be published on December 2. (Pre-order link right here!) The modern way to publicize a new book, especially a cozy mystery, seems to be the blog tour. So I’ve been writing blogs—lots of them—about Christmas in Key West, writing a foodie character, why I love cozy mysteries, and a day in the life of Hayley Snow, just to name a few.

 

Lucy Burdette and John Talbot

Three of us Reds also had a fantastic long weekend at the New England Crimebake, a conference founded to celebrate crime fiction, especially from New England. I had the honor of co-teaching a class with agent John Talbot on writing and selling the mystery series, doing manuscript critiques for aspiring writers, and attending many wonderful panels. 

Angelos Pompano, Lucy, Craig Johnson, Chris Falcone

We all enjoyed the folksy humor and good nature of our guest of honor, Craig Johnson. 


And then we wrung out our tension by learning line dances in our best Western garb! That’s me in the cow skirt, with Hank and her hub, the hanging judge. He's such a good sport...

 

Lucy with Lorenzo, aka Ron

But woven around all these activities, I’ve been working on the sixth food critic mystery, called FATAL RESERVATIONS. I tried to take a little of my own writing advice, LOL, and think deep and long about Hayley’s stake in a sixth mystery. Why would it be her business to get involved in solving yet one more crime? Why does she care? And who would listen to a food critic’s suggestions about clues and suspects anyway? The answer came from finding one of her Key West friends in trouble—Lorenzo, who reads tarot cards at the sunset celebration every night on Mallory Square. Here's a little snippet:

A noisy rustling burst out in the audience and the man with the palm frond hat staggered up toward the podium, shouting. “You people have been looking for any excuse to take over. Damn it, this is none of your business! The trouble with the Artistic Damn Preservation Society is right here in this room.” He spun around to point a shaky finger at a tall man several rows behind me: my friend, the tarot card reader. Lorenzo.
    “You need to sit down or you’ll be removed from the premises,” said Commissioner Greenleigh. But the palm hat man darted down the center aisle, heading for Lorenzo. He flung himself across two startled women and circled his hands around my friend’s neck. Lieutenant Torrence and a uniformed cop yanked him off Lorenzo, whipped his hands behind his back, and cuffed them. He fought and cursed as they ushered him out of the room and down the stairs.
    “Are you all right, sir?” the mayor asked Lorenzo.
    “I think so.” Pulling a white handkerchief from his pants pocket, he patted his face and neck, now mottled red, and smoothed his hair.
    “If you’re able to speak, sir, it’s your turn at the microphone,” said the mayor.
    Lorenzo nodded, adjusted his collar, and came forward. By dress alone, he stood out from most everyone in attendance: long-sleeved white shirt, high-waisted black pants, black tie. All very proper and distinguished. But his face shone in the spotlight and large damp circles spread from his underarms to the body of his shirt. He looked very hot. And rattled.

And that’s only the beginning of his troubles...

Before I get back to working on the story, I can’t help sharing this advance review of DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS, from Booklist:

Burdette infuses the mystery with Key West spirit and holiday fun along with delicious food references and recipes. This strong series continues a unique blend of island mayhem and sparkling characters surrounding a layered mystery. Fans of Julie Hyzy and Laura Childs may also enjoy.

Jungle Reds, picture me dancing...

What We're #Writing @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS comes out on December 2, so I'm obviously not working on that. Other projects have surfaced of course...

In the early days of my marriage to John (when most things were still mysterious,) one of the biggest mysteries about my husband was this: What in the world he could possibly be discussing with his buddies over a 4 to 5 hour golf round several times a week?

So I asked him. What do you talk about?

His answer?

Relationships.

Even a new wife couldn't argue with that!

And that's what I'm writing about now in the sixth Key West food critic mystery, which will be called FATAL RESERVATIONS, and will come out next July. Hooray! Did I forget to mention that I signed a contract for two more books in the series? 
Anyway, back in the third book, TOPPED CHEF, I thought I had figured out the relationships in Hayley Snow's life. But it turned out, I wasn't feeling the zing between her new detective boyfriend and her. So I looked around to see who else might come into the picture. And I've been heading in that direction ever since.

Until I got a fan email from Sue P. last week that made me question, well, everything…

I recently found this series and love it. I do have a complaint though. I was just getting interested to see how the romance would work out between Hayley and her detective. And you bring back his ex and she gets dumped! I was not a happy camper at this development. I still would like to see where this would go, more so than with her boss, which is where you seem to be leading. I think she needs a challenge and this is not her boss. Bring him back!! Just my opinion. Thanks.

So like I said, I'm puzzling over relationships…here's a snippet from FATAL RESERVATIONS:

Fifteen minutes later, I climbed the very steep steps to the Old City Hall building, an imposing red brick structure with ornate black railings and a bell tower. For a hundred years, the city commission had been meeting here on Greene Street, a half block from Sloppy Joe's bar and the chaos of Duval Street. I doubted that visitors had any idea how much city business was conducted while they swilled beer and shouted choruses of Buffet’s Margaritaville and Kenny Chesney’s Key West theme song No shirt, no shoes, no problems.

    The hall was cavernous, handsome, and clearly set out to differentiate the commissioners and city staff from any interested onlookers. A text from Wally buzzed in, reminding me to turn off the ringer on my cell phone. 

    Let me know outcome tomorrow? Mom's chemo was brutal today. I'm going to watch a marathon of Breaking Bad and then crash. See you a.m.at staff meeting.

    As my relationship with Wally took a turn for the better over the last couple of months, his mother’s health had taken a turn for the worse. In that sense, our new half-owner Palamina Wells had been a godsend. She was smart enough to step right in and run the day to day nitty-gritty details of Key Zest while Wally took care of his mom. She was also smart enough to recognize the attraction between me and Wally, and to remove me from reporting directly to him, so we could see where this love train might take us. 



All I can say is, stay tuned to see where this is going. And thanks Sue!

AND some more good news: I have a galley for DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS that I'd love to give away today. To be considered, leave your email and a comment about how you feel about love stories mixed in with your mysteries. (I only hope that one day I will be as good at this as Julia...)

What We're Writing Week: Christmas in July @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: What do you think of the Christmas in July trend? To be honest, I've always considered it a hokey idea. Shouldn't a normal person get on with enjoying summer and not try to trump up interest in a holiday that's still six months away?

But, for two reasons, Christmas really has arrived in July this year. Last week I had the gift  of rereading DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS, the fifth Key West food critic mystery coming December 2. And the gift of copy edits. Wanna hear good news or bad first? Bad, of course…

For those of you who don't know, copy edits are--I should put this politely, because it's a public blog and who knows who might be reading--necessary but maddening. These are not the editing notes from my editor, who is smart and laser-eyed and chock full of good ideas for making a story better. This stage consists of nit-picking. 
Don't get me wrong--I'm happy when they find things like misspellings, and missed capitalization, and incorrect geography--mistakes that I would much rather hear about before the book is published. For example, someone noticed that I'd written AZURIASTAN as the name of a country whose flag is flown on the grounds of the Truman Little White House in Key West. There is no such country! The flag in question is from AZERBAIJAN. Where did I even find that made up name? Whew, embarrassment averted. Better still, I managed to turn that error into a blooper made by Hayley's ex--pure fun.

And I learn things during the copyediting stage, too, like "brunet" is the correct spelling for a man with brown hair, "brunette" for a woman. And Bloody Mary has  both words capitalized.

But there are also hundreds of changes in things like dashes, and commas, and hyphens. Which sometimes seem utterly random. And the enemy of individual writing style.

And also queries such as: AU: Repetition OK? (Of course it's not okay, unless I intended it, as in some kind of artistic writing rhythm, which doesn't happen all that often.)

Even the recipes at the back of the book are not immune from the copy editor's eagle eye… AU: Shouldn't it read fold rather than stir since it's easy to over-beat whipped cream?

Sigh. 
My job is to remember that though it may feel like I'm being tormented, the copyeditor's job is to make the book better. 

And that brings me to the second gift--that of rereading DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS after resting from it for several months. 

This stage is so much more pleasant than the one Hallie described on Tuesday--that awkward beginning, when you have no words on the page and can't imagine where you'll find them.





So Bloody Marys all around--Merry Christmas dear Reds!



 Chapter One: DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS


My cell phone bleated from the deck outside, where I’d left it to avoid procrastinating via text messages, Facebook updates, or simply lounging in the glorious December sunshine with our resident cats, watching the world go by. The biggest interview of my career as a food critic was scheduled for this afternoon and I wanted—no, needed—to be ready.

Miss Gloria, my senior citizen houseboat mate, hollered from her rocking chair overlooking the water. “It’s your mother. Shall I answer?”

“Mind telling her I’ll call back in an hour?”

Miss Gloria would relish the opportunity to chat with her anyway, and maybe her intercession would slash my time on the phone with Mom in half when I returned the call. I am crazy about my mother, honest. But it had still been a shock when she announced she’d rented a place in Key West for the winter season. Wouldn’t it be so much fun to spend Christmas in paradise together? And New Year’s . . . and Martin Luther King Day . . . and Valentine’s Day? You get the picture. Mom had followed Diana Nyad’s attempts to swim from Cuba to Key West with rapt attention. When Diana overcame sharks, jellyfish, rough water, and advancing age to complete her 110-mile swim on her fifth try, at age sixty-four, Mom took it personally.

“Diana says we should never give up,” she announced on the phone a couple of months ago. “Why not ‘be bold, be fiercely bold and go out and chase your dreams’?”

My mother had been a little down since the summer because her fledgling catering company had not taken off the way she’d hoped. Although she’s an amazing and inventive cook, the business part of owning a business eluded her. For her first five catering events, cooking with only the highest-quality ingredients, she’d lost money rather than making it. A lot of money. Even her newish boyfriend, Sam, who was supportive beyond any reasonable expectation and categorically opposed to meddling, had suggested she take a few steps back and reconsider her plan.

“Why not? You should go for your dream, too,” I remember saying. “That’s exactly what you told me when I lost my bearings: Keep putting yourself out in the universe, and eventually the wind will fill your sails.” I stopped myself from trotting out more metaphysical tropes. I hadn’t wanted to hear too much advice when I was feeling down; Mom probably didn’t want mine, either. “What do you have in mind?”

“I’m thinking of coming to Key West for the winter!”

Whoa. If that was her dream, who was I to stop her? But my big solo adventure on this island was about to turn into How I Met Your Mother.

Death with all the Trimmings @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: 

 As you guys know, I write mystery series. When I start the first book, there is much that I don't know about the setting and the characters and the sidekicks--and of course, the plot! A lot evolves over time.

In the past, I've put many of my characters into psychotherapy--and their lives have definitely improved:). But my Key West food critic character, Hayley Snow, did not want to go. She doesn't mind consulting her psychologist friend or her mother for advice, but when she's really worried, she goes to Lorenzo, the tarot card reader.

I had seen a tarot card reader at the Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square--in fact I got my cards read from him. But I wrote AN APPETITE FOR MURDER without meeting the reader as a real person. Here was the first iteration of Lorenzo in Appetite:

After leaving the bar, I drove my scooter the length of Whitehead Street toward Mallory Square to see if Lorenzo was working. Every night at sunset, except in the very worst weather, street performers marked off sections of the pier and set up shop to entertain tourists and part them from a few of their dollars. Along with the zaniness of Duval Street, the spectacle of the sun setting over Mallory Square tended to stick in the minds of visitors more than anything about Key West. 

Lorenzo has been working the square for almost twenty years, wearing a star-studded turban, a deep blue cloak with a matching blue stone glued to his forehead, and a mustache waxed into loops. Sounded hokey, but even I felt more confident having my cards read by a guy who took the time to look and act professional.

But since then I've had lunch with Lorenzo (whose real name is Ron) a couple of times and gotten a better understanding of who he is and what he does. He has evolved in real life too--he no longer wears the turban and the make-up, because the tourists were treating him as a sideshow, not a serious person.

I was nearing the end of book 5, DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS, when I realized I needed help with Lorenzo's scene. He agreed to meet me for lunch and we had a wonderfully interesting talk about tarot and Key West and life. "I'm so glad I caught you," I said. "Without your input, I'd have no idea what to write."

"But you do know," he said. "You know."

And do you know what? When I returned to the scene I'd written, I found he was right. I put in a few telling details, but otherwise, this is how it goes:

Ten minutes later, Lorenzo took the seat beside me, carrying a cup of tea and a slice of pie.  His dark hair curled like mine in the humidity, and he wore Harry Potter-style round glasses, and red clogs. I felt instantly calmer in his presence.
    “I was hoping you weren’t on a diet,” I said, pointing at his plate.
    “The cards say never pass up key lime pie,” he told me as he swallowed the first creamy bite and rolled his eyes with pleasure.
    We chatted for a few minutes about the politics of the street performers at Mallory Square and their difficult negotiations with the city about a new lease. I wasn’t the only person struggling with a crazy workplace.
    “I got worried this week when we cruised through Sunset at Mallory Square with Mom’s guests and you weren’t there. There was another tarot card reader where you usually sit,” I said, lifting my eyebrows. “Is she your new competition?”
    “It all depends,” he said. “Do you want a performance? Or a reading?” He placed his deck of cards on the little table between us.
    “A reading. Definitely. No drama.” I began to shuffle the cards. “I’ve got enough of that in my own life.”
    He smiled warmly and dealt out three cards, and then shook his head.

“There’s change ahead. Upheaval. You may feel trapped by feelings and emotions that no longer serve your current purpose,” he said. “You may feel that you're out of control, but this will help you evaluate the ways you felt trapped. Don't let yourself remain in the position of refusing to see the truth.”    
    There were so many ways I was feeling stuck and out of control--my job, my love life, just to mention two. Lorenzo paused, still studying the cards. But it seemed as though they had given him all they had to say. And I needed to do some serious thinking, alone.

    “How are you otherwise than the Mallory Square business?” I asked Lorenzo.
    “I'm good,” he said. “I'm busy. I'm feeling calm and centered.”
    “I'm glad someone is,” I said.
    “Just remember, there are two worlds--a world of love and a world of fear. You choose where you want to live, okay?”

So on Monday, I sent in the draft of DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS (Key West mystery #5) to my editor in New York.  (YAY!) Who knows how many changes she will want, and who knows whether it's great or whether it stinks...but in the meanwhile, I think I'll take Lorenzo's advice--live in the world of love, not fear. (The book will be out in December, just in time for Christmas stockings.)

For readers (and writers), how important is it to see series characters change?