Top Six by Julie Hyzy

LUCY BURDETTE: I invited Julie Hyzy to visit today because she has big news on her beloved White House chef mystery series. I'm sorry because I love these characters, but I also completely understand. Take it away Julie!

JULIE HYZY: You know how sometimes you can make the absolute right decision but still feel a tiny bit sad about it? 

That’s where I am today, just a few days before the release of my new White House Chef mystery, Foreign Eclairs. I’m ecstatic to have a new book to promote, of course. That’s a thrill that never gets old. In fact, my husband and I always find ways to celebrate launch day. But this time, things will be different. When Tuesday rolls around, our celebration will be bittersweet. 

Why? Because Foreign Eclairs is not only the ninth White House Chef mystery, it’s also the final one. At least, the last one with my name on the cover.

I’ve explained why the series is ending on my blog (All Good Things) so I won’t rehash all the details here. But if you’re interested in some of what goes on behind the scenes in a work-for-hire arrangement, I invite you to give it a read.
The decision to walk away from the series wasn’t easy and come January 2017, I’ll be bereft that I don’t have a new release to cheer about. 

But, because I’m the sort of person who prefers to focus on the positive, I’m here today to share my Top Six List of why ending the series is a good thing. I realize (thanks to David Letterman) that this should be a top ten list, but -- have I mentioned that this decision was bittersweet? -- I can only come up with six.

So, here goes. My Top Six List of why I’m happy to be ending the White House Chef Mystery series now:

#6 A small subplot in Foreign Eclairs involves President Hyden’s bid for reelection and how that affects his young son, Josh. Walking away from the series now gives me one less presidential election to worry about!

#5 I’ll have more time to read.

#4 I’ll no longer be stressed about recipes. On my blog, I briefly touch on the difficulties I had with the company that owns the series. If Berkley had been able to obtain copyright from them in order to keep Ollie going, I’d have been responsible for creating recipes myself. Although I’m a good cook, I don’t have the patience required to create new dishes. I thoroughly enjoy experimenting in the kitchen. But, remembering to stop and record the steps, ingredients, and measurements? Ooh…Way out of my comfort zone!

#3 My characters Ollie and Gav could, conceivably, give up their White House jobs, change their names, and move cross country. If that happens -- and if they let me in on their plans -- I could, conceivably, pick up their lives with a new series <grin>

#2 Ollie has – countless times over the course of nine books – saved the lives of her colleagues, the president and his family, and visiting dignitaries. Through it all, she’s fed the First Family, managed the White House kitchen, and developed a gratifying personal life. Ollie knows that her exploits stretch the bounds of believability a tiny bit (ahem). She and I agree that it’s best for her to bow out now, before she starts jumping sharks.

And the number one reason I’m excited to be walking away from the White House Chef series is…

#1 Time.
I have far more stories bouncing around in my head than I’ll ever have time to write. Years ago, when I first started submitting, I leaned toward darker themes, but then the White House Chef opportunity arose and I jumped on it. Now, with only one deadline per year (for Grace, the Manor House series), I’m looking forward to rediscovering my roots. How appropriate that all this is coming together just as a new year begins. Although I’ll miss Ollie, I can’t wait to start this new chapter in my career.

Thanks, so much, Lucy, for inviting me to join Jungle Reds today!

Julie Hyzy is a New York Times bestselling author who has won the Anthony, Barry, Lovey, and Derringer awards for her mystery fiction. In addition to her nine books in the White House Chef mystery series, she currently writes the Manor House Mysteries, the seventh of which (Grace Sees Red) comes out in June. She lives in the Chicago area. Visit her slightly outdated website.

Flash news: the winner of Juliet Blackwell's book, The Paris Key, is Roxie Faubian!

Creepiest Blog EVER

 
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Okay, Hallie, it's a COINCIDENCE. Sure, fine, think of it that way. But remember how Monday's post was kind of about the controversy over whether there was ESP? Whether there were ever times our minds connected with somene else's. Right?

Well, first, here's some inside scoop--these posts are often scheduled before the actual day they're up. Imagine that! We're sometimes organized. So. Point is, Julie Hyzy sent me her post a couple of weeks ago.

But because I'm not THAT organized, and because obviously if the amazing and fabulous and successful and beloved Julie Hyzy sends me a post, it's going to be great, I didn't even read it until yesterday.

And--ta dah: look what it's about. HAH.




THE CONNECTION WITH ROBERT?
                by Julie Hyzy

Thank you so much, Hank, for inviting me here to guest blog today!


This past December, my husband and I spent a couple days in Key West (Yep, the gorgeous setting for Lucy Burdette’s Key West Food Critic Mysteries!).

One of the highlights of the trip was the Ghosts and Gravestones Frightseeing Tour where, after dark, we visited the Fort East Martello Museum and Gardens. A caretaker carrying an old fashioned oil lamp appeared as we disembarked from our trolley. He opened tall, creaky iron gates and invited us into the museum’s dark courtyard. “I’m Grimsby,” he said and he led us in to meet…Robert the Doll.

Robert was given to young Robert Eugene Otto in 1906 by his family’s Bahamian servant—a woman schooled in voodoo and black magic. The little boy loved his doll so much (it’s about the size of a four-year-old) that he gave it his own name, Robert, and from then on insisted on being called Gene. Robert the doll has his own website, here. Take a look.

Okay, so, back to the museum.

It was dark, quiet. Our voices echoed and our steps clattered in the cavernous museum.

Robert waited for us inside a Plexiglas case, perched on a small chair. He has coffee bean eyes, and wears a jaunty little sailor suit. Grimsby explained that if we wanted a picture, there were rules: We needed to greet Robert by name, introduce ourselves, and then ask permission to snap a photo. He warned us that if we refused to comply, Robert would become unhappy. He would curse us. Bad things would begin to happen. “He’s done it before.”

Grimsby pointed to a wall of letters from former visitors who’d ignored the advice and were now begging the doll to lift the curse—“He’ll do it again.”

Grimsby’s eyes glittered. “Who’s up first?”

I was.

I stood in front of Robert and regarded him for a long moment. 


“Hello, Robert,” I said, “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Julie.” 









I giggled a bit at the absurdity of it all. And at that moment, I felt a zing of connection. A weird one. As though Robert… liked me. As though he was lonely and appreciated the visit. But because there was a line of eager photographers behind me, I continued quickly, “Will it be all right if I take your picture? I promise, just one.”

Nothing fell from the ceiling, so I assumed it was okay. I snapped my shot.

There was something compelling about this doll, yet I’d be lying if I said he didn’t creep me out a little bit. I felt as though he was trying to communicate. And yes, I know how silly that sounds.

As we bid the lonely doll a fond adieu, I thought about how much fun it would be to include him in a future book. Not at the White House of course, but if, say, Grace Wheaton (Manor House Mysteries) happened to oversee a supernatural or paranormal convention at Marshfield, Robert could be a fun part of that story. Perfect, I thought. I have my next plot line.

Before I left, I took one last look at Robert. He seemed sorrowful and melancholy in his Plexiglas home. I wondered: Will he be upset with me if I include him in a book? No, I thought, it will be an adventure. I’m convinced he’ll be thrilled.

As I got back outside and took a deep breath of night air, it occurred to me to wonder why I was thinking about him this way at all.

I’m a skeptic. Always have been, always will be. But, Robert… He and I connected. Can’t explain it. Don’t think I want to try.

Have you ever felt a connection like this? Or am I just nuts?

HANK:  I rest my case. (And you know, this was creepy when I first read it. Now it's creepier. And I hope Rovert thinks it's okay that he's on the blog. Did you guys see the Twilight Zone with the fortune-telling machine in the diner?)


Anyway--Let's hear your creepy stories, Reds! And I'll give Julie's brand new White House Chef mystery FONDUING FATHERS to two lucky commenters!

Maiden Voyage

LUCY BURDETTE: I told you it had been a lucky cycle for getting blog ideas from JRW readers. Here's the second one this week. Denise Terry, one of the students who attended the SEASCAPE: ESCAPE TO WRITE seminar this year, mentioned that a number of years ago, her sister had given her a complete set of Agatha Christie books so she could "lighten up" her reading. And then she got hooked. 

Denise also told me she has a friend who has never read a mystery. She wondered what we would recommend to a mystery virgin? I asked her to find out more about why her friend had never picked up a mystery, so we could target our suggestions.

Denise's friend said: "I don’t like scary stuff that gets into my dream life.  The scariest book I ever read was Philip Margolin “Gone but not Forgotten,” which had me breathless as I read it.  Really heart pounding and scared.  I finished it b/c I always do, but I didn’t like being so scared. I did not get near the girl with the dragon tattoo books, again prejudiced that I’d  be too scared."

So there is the challenge for today Reds. What first mystery would you offer to someone who doesn't want to be too scared? How about a reader whose TBR list has been loaded with literary classics but who might enjoy a lighter read?

RHYS BOWEN: It goes without saying that I'd recommend any book written by a Jungle Red author. If I wanted to convince someone that mysteries were not just "genre fiction"--i.e. light fluff, poorly written, as some people seem to think, I'd suggest Louise Penny, Laurie King, Margaret Maron. I think that Red Deb's books are as good as it gets for British police procedurals with great characters. If someone really wanted a good chuckle I'd recommend my own Spyness titles.

HALLIE EPHRON: Yes, goes without saying (but here I go, saying it again) all of our books are wonderfully entertaining. She could look at the lists of Agatha  and Mary Higgins Clark award nominees (Never Tell a Lie and Come and Find Me were nominated for the latter) as a good start.

Classics? Definitely Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White. P.D. James's An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers. The Hot Rock by Donald Westlake. Overture to Death (or anything else by Ngaio Marsh). Fer-de-lance by Rex Stout. And the list goes on...

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, what a good question! And yes, Rhys--we have the whole spectrum here, right? (And with that "other woman" in the headlines, it seems like a perfect segue to my..oh, well, you know.) But for "lighter" reads, "entry" reads, how about Peter Abrahams' Chet and Bernie books, where the story
is from a dog's point of view? (written as Spencer Quinn.) They're wonderful. Julie Hyzy's "White House Chef" series is truly and intelligently funny. Catriona MacPherson's Dandy Gilver is sort of Downton Abbey meets Agatha Christie--I LOVE her books! And how about Murder on the Orient Express?

LUCY: Yes, Hank I love Julie Hyzy's White House chef series. And of course it depends on what the reader is interested in too, right? If a foodie, there are tons of fun culinary mysteries out, starting with Diane Mott Davidson and then lots of new ones. And for characters and setting, you can't go wrong with Nancy Pickard, THE SCENT OF RAIN AND LIGHTENING.


Now your turn reds. What books would you recommend to a mystery virgin?

Last Licks on Bouchercon

 
LUCY BURDETTE: As you've already heard from Rhys and Kaye, a majority of Reds spent the weekend in Cleveland. I'm afraid we've staggered out of the Bouchercon conference a tad brain-dead, so I'm postponing our group post until tomorrow to give more Reds time to chime in. In the mean time, here are a few more highlights from the conference. (I always intend to be a better and more prolific photographer...but fun intervenes!)

 As Rhys mentioned, the opening ceremonies were at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--what a spectacular venue! (Here are Deb and me on the plaza in front.) I wish I'd had more than half an hour to check it out, but a series of frantic text messages from our fearless leaders called me back to the hotel to rehearse. I did take a fast spin around the exhibits--chock full of wonderful costumes and cars and videos designed to make the viewer sick with nostalgia...

Besides the Jungle Red Family Feud, which was wonderful fun, another highlight was seeing Hank bestowed with the "seal of office" as the new president of Sisters in Crime. I adore this organization for all it's done for women writers. And I so clearly remember taking the seal from SJ Rozan at the conference held in Anchorage, Alaska, and then tucking him into the suitcase for the flight home. I know Hank will find a good place for him to spend the year of her tenure--as she lends her amazing enthusiasm and talent to SinC.





 Next came Deb's delightful interview with guest of honor Elizabeth George. Deb said she'd never met her before, but it sounded like a chat between old friends--except for the 100 plus fans looking on. I was so proud of her!



And here I am waiting for the Anthony awards to be announced, sitting with Nancy Parra, Julie Hyzy, and Julie's handsome husband. We may look a little shell-shocked, but that was due to waiting over an hour while raffle ticket numbers were called out. (What can I say--this event takes a huge amount of courage to undertake, and not everything can go perfectly...)

 While neither Julia nor I won our categories, we truly were honored to be nominated--and congratulate Dana Cameron for her winning short story and Louise Penny for her novel. Oh, and it was a thrill to see my pal Julie Hyzy win for best paperback original--she was so excited!

I promise you we won't clog up the rest of the week with news of this conference, though I did snag a few wonderful writers to talk to us later on. In fact, I'm excited about the whole line-up. So please come back tomorrow to hear about how we'd design our family crests. And then Wednesday, I know you'll enjoy hearing about Downton Abbey food from a real chef and tea expert. And Thursday, writer and marketing magician Chris Knopf will visit, followed by Terri Ponce with her debut novel on Saturday.

A Lucky Twist by Julie Hyzy

LUCY BURDETTE: Believe it or not, An Appetite for Murder was not the only book released this week!:) In fact, one of my favorite cozy foodie writers also has a new release--AFFAIRS OF STEAK, #5 in the White House Chef mystery series. I picked the first book up this summer and was instantly addicted. If you haven't tried one of chef Ollie Paras's adventures, I recommend you trot directly to the nearest bookstore and buy one. Lucky for us, Julie agreed to visit the blog today and talk about the White House kitchen. Welcome Julie!

JULIE HYZY: One of the questions I’m always asked about writing the White House Chef mysteries is: Have you actually seen the White House kitchen? Up until last June, I regretfully answered, “Not yet.”

Mind you, I’ve done (and continue to do) exhaustive research by reading books, watching DVDs, examining floor plans, studying photos, and talking with staffers, so I had a good idea of what the main kitchen looked like even before I created Olivia (Ollie) Paras and her cohorts. But there’s a big difference between knowing everything about a location and experiencing it in person.

Last June I finally got my chance. My family and I were in D.C. for a few days as part of a two-week driving vacation (one van, two parents. three daughters—I could write a blog post on that alone!), and we’d snagged a tour of the White House through our Congresswoman. No purses, no bags, no cameras allowed. We agreed as a family that since we were visiting the president’s home we ought to dress up a bit, so that meant no jeans, gym shoes, or flip flops, either.

You need to understand that we’d visited Arlington National Cemetery the day before and spent hours there. Fortunately, I twisted my foot. Yep, you read that right. Fortunately.

I was wearing silver wedge sandals (they’re cute) because they were the only dressy shoes I’d brought along. Twisted foot + wedge sandals = not the smartest move ever, but I’m not complaining. Nope, not at all.

Visitors arrive at the White House through the East Wing (and metal detectors, natch). The tour leads through the Visitor’s Foyer and into the Central Hall of the ground level. A slew of temporary screen-like walls are set up on the west end of the Central Hall to discourage visitors from exploring. Not that anyone could. Two uniformed Secret Service guards are there behind ropes, making sure no one steps off the beaten path.

The tour continues up a tall flight of stairs. I’d taken this tour before and I knew I could probably make it up those steps, but I thought it might be worth asking if there happened to be some other means of getting to the first floor. I approached one of the handsome uniformed gentlemen. He grinned. “I could carry you,” he said, adding, “Just kidding.” He moved aside to invite me in to the cordoned off area. “Come on,” he said, “there’s an elevator.”

Officer Cornell (such a nice man!) walked fast, making it a bit tough for sore-ankle-on-wedge-sandal-me to keep up, but I did the best I could. He led me through a corridor, stopping at a white stone archway that was blackened in patches. He pointed. “See those scars? That’s from when the British burned down the White House during the war of 1812,” he said.

Did I touch the wall? You know I did!
And I tucked away a detail to add to the next book.

We took a left past the arch. The kitchen. Ollie’s kitchen. I felt as though I’d come home. Seriously, I’m not kidding. No one was working there at the time (what? I thought the team was there every moment!) and the place was a spotless sea of stainless steel. I’d described the kitchen as small, but I hadn’t appreciated how truly undersized the space was. I’d bet most restaurant kitchens are bigger. I can’t believe they create meals for hundreds of guests in that compact space. But they do. The real executive chef, Cristeta Comerford, produces thousands of amazing meals every year in an area not much larger than my family room. I was impressed.

Officer Cornell led me through the pantry to the staff elevator, also stainless steel. It was small, but serviceable and transported us up one flight into the main floor Butler’s Pantry. I made a mental note to include a scene here next time too. Let me tell you, I was in heaven at this point. We exited through the Family Dining room (where the rug was partially rolled up. No idea why), past the Usher’s office (yes!!!) and through the Entrance Hall where I rejoined my family right before they were about to tour the East Room.

I thanked Office Cornell, trying my best to look nonchalant. Was I giddy? Beyond belief. My husband gave me the, “I know you’re bursting to tell me,” look. My daughters were asking “What did you see, Mom?” and it was all I could do not to babble.

Back when I caught this lucky break—or should I call it a lucky twist?—Affairs of Steak, the fifth White House Chef mystery had already been written and turned in. In Affairs, Ollie is stuck working with Peter Everett Sargeant, the thoroughly unpleasant sensitive director (quite the contradiction in terms, if you ask Ollie) on a project assigned by the First Lady. I really like the way this story turned out. Affairs of Steak just came out two days ago—I’m really excited about it.

The sixth book, however, was still a twinkle in my eye last June. As of today, that one is written and turned in, too. Ollie’s lucky to be alive after this adventure. She sure came close this time! To be honest however, I’m feeling like the lucky one. Even though the kitchen was precisely as I’d imagined, injuring my ankle and meeting Officer Cornell were fortunate twists of fate. I’m so happy to have had the opportunity to experience Ollie’s kitchen firsthand. Being there has made it even more real for me and that allows me to make it more real for my readers.

I want to go back, of course. Maybe I’ll take up skateboarding right before my next visit. What do you think?

LUCY: Such a fun story Julie! My husband and I have been listening to the Jackie Kennedy tapes--lots of good insider dope on living in the White House, including the dreaded disease White House-itis! I'll start the questions: Any sense of whether the White House approves of the books? And how long do you expect the Ollie series to continue? (and ps, here's a link to where you can buy Julie's books.)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year readers, writers, and friends of Jungle Red! We look forward to sharing another year with you at the old home blog. Thank you for buying and reading our books--that's what keeps a smile on our faces and our computer keys clacking!

We have a great week lined up to kick off January--the secrets of the men of Jungle Red, the inside scoop on Lucy's new book, Scott Haas on the psychology of chefs, Julie Hyzy on a tour of the White House kitchen and more...come early and often!