Debs Does 48 Hours in Key West

LUCY BURDETTE: We had the great pleasure of hosting Red Deborah Crombie at the tail end of her book tour for GARDEN OF LAMENTATIONS a couple of weeks ago. I thought you would enjoy following along in her 48 hours in Key West! Some things were on her bucket list, and some John and I added as our favorites...

First stop, almost always, the Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square. Here's Deb with Lorenzo, Hayley's tarot card reading friend, and Lucy's friend in real life...

And here are Deb's cards...she must pay attention to her spiritual side in April...

(DEBS: I must admit, this made me a bit nervous, which I didn't expect!)

There was a cruise ship blocking the view, so Deb had to choose between seeing the sunset and watching the cat man--cat man won out of course!

We stayed in that first night to give Deb a breather from restaurant food...this is Lucy's cornmeal-crusted veggie tart...

(DEBS: Heaven!!!)

The next morning we hiked across the island to a must-see, Ernest Hemingway's house

She couldn't decide whether she liked his office best...

or the bathroom in the main house!

We met several of the Hemingway polydactyls...

(DEBS: I adored the Hemingway House!! And the cats! It was one of the highlights of my trip.)

 

The Key West library was kind enough to help set up this last event on Deb's tour. Don't you love what Michael the librarian did with the backdrop? Lucy got to do the interview...and this was after logging in 15,000 steps on the iPhone counter!

And then we met up for dinner with another mystery writer friend, Barbara Ross--lots of shop talk and a little bit of gossip. 

(DEBS: Such fun to meet Barb Ross. And can I just mention the cucumber cocktail???)

Every visitor to Key West wants to get this shot--the very tip end of Route 1

Deb's last day started off with breakfast in bed--a maple-glazed donut studded with candied bacon and a cafe con leche from the Cuban Coffee Queen

(DEBS: I thought I had died and gone to heaven. They really are as good as Hayley says!)

And then a stop at Books&Books, founded by Judy Blume and her husband George. We scored signed Babar books for our granddaughters and a photo with Judy herself!

(DEBS: Unfortunately, Wren loved the book so much it's now missing half a page... Hopefully, Mr. Brunhoff will sign a few more.)

 

Last minute gift from Debs, as she explained her plotting secrets to Lucy:)

(DEBS: That may not look like much, but I promise it was brilliant:-) And can I just say that Lucy is THE best  hostess and tour guide!!! And that I am in love with Key West!)

Who else has fallen for the Key West magic?

Hemingway's Cats

Hemingway with his sons and cats in Cuba

Hemingway's writing studio

"One cat just leads to another. . . . The place is so damned big it doesn’t really seem as though there were many cats until you see them all moving like a mass migration at feeding time. . . ." Ernest Hemingway

LUCY BURDETTE: So last week Deb talked about her new love affair with Hemingway's words. Me being me, I am crazy about his Key West home and--his cats! 

 We also talked last week about the scary kinds of research we've done for the sake of our books. But sometimes I take on "research" without having any idea how, or even if, I might use it. I go hoping the story will make itself known.


If you've visited Key West, you may have toured the home where Ernest Hemingway lived from 1931-1939. It's a gorgeous, private piece of land with a swimming pool and a wonderful old home, including the little attached studio that housed Hemingway's office. No wonder he wrote so well here!

Hemingway's bed

This was Hemingway's bed. Usually one of the cats can be seen napping on it...but not the day I visited:

Rudy Valentino

One of the most-beloved features of the property is the colony of 50+ polydactyl cats who live on the premises, allegedly descendants of Hemingway's felines. (Although family sources have said that he did not own cats while he lived in Key West, though he owned many in Cuba.)

Late last year, I made a new Facebook friend who happens to work as one of the cat caretakers at the Hemingway House in Key West. Naturally, I was dying to meet Donna Vanderveen and get an inside look at the cats who live on the grounds.

Kitty condos

She introduced me to a number of the residents and explained their routines--in spite of the lawsuit filed against the Hemingway House and Museum by the USDA, believe me, these cats are treated like royalty.  



This little replica of the main house is a place to keep kittens at night or various other fellows who might need a "time out."


 
The cats are named after
historical figures...

Captain Tony--notice the extra toes

Duke Ellington

Tennessee Williams

Okay, so I still don't know how all or any of this will get worked into the fourth Hayley Snow mystery, though her good friend and former roommate Connie is getting married. And there is a lovely place for a ceremony on the grounds of the Hemingway House. And perhaps a character named Donna may have noticed a crime in progress earlier in the week. She has to get to work at an ungodly hour to take care of those cats....and so she might see things she isn't meant to see...

I very much doubt that Hemingway went around soliciting plot ideas, but for me, suggestions are always welcome:). And meanwhile, I feel another visit coming on...maybe the cats will whisper the story.