Annette Dashofy on Total Immersion Research

DEBORAH CROMBIE: It's such a treat to have Annette Dashofy, one of our favorite Jungle Red guests (and commenter!) here today to talk about two of my very favorite things, research and horse racing. You know this book went on my must-get list as soon as I read about it!  Here's Annette to tell us more about DEATH BY EQUINE! (And so many fun photos, too!)

ANNETTE DASHOFY: Early in my writing career, research intimidated me. I would look up stuff online. Read books. Occasionally, I’d search out a phone number for a public relations connection and ask timid questions with a painfully anxious voice. I was really lousy at the phone call thing. To be honest, I still am.

 However, while writing Death by Equine over ten years ago (yes, it’s been a long time coming), I discovered a different kind of research. Full immersion. Not merely asking questions but jumping in and experiencing the world I was writing about.

 

A friend, who was a trainer at a racetrack about 45 minutes from my home, got me onto the backside with a visitor’s pass a few times. When I proved that I wasn’t going to do stupid stuff around the horses and get someone injured, she arranged for me to obtain a groom’s license. It was like an all-access pass to a different universe. 

I did have some “street cred.” I’d been a horse-crazy kid, who loved horseracing. I’d owned and ridden horses of my own (although no Thoroughbreds) for 25 years, so I knew enough to avoid getting kicked or bitten. I could wield a brush, curry comb, and hoof pick with the best of them. But hotwalking a high-strung Thoroughbred is totally different than leading a lazy Quarter Horse around the fairgrounds. (Walking a Thoroughbred is always a question of who’s walking whom, while walking a lazy Quarter Horse is like taking my cat for a “drag” on the end of her leash.)

 My time as a groom taught me that while I knew a lot, I had no idea how much I didn’t know.

 My main character in Death by Equine is a veterinarian. I may have assisted my own vet with procedures on my horses and cats, but once again, the track is something entirely different. I spent time hovering over the track vet’s shoulder as he treated the horses. I was able to be hands-on, feeling injured horses’ legs for heat and swelling. I learned various treatments for assorted lamenesses and injuries.

I asked questions and took pages and pages of notes.

Something else I learned: I’m horrible at picking winners at the races. Owners and trainers started begging me to not bet on their horses. In a business that is notorious for its superstitions, being dubbed a jinx is not a good thing.

Side note: I had three favorites for the Kentucky Derby this year. None of them finished in the money.

So while the story, the characters, and the setting (and the homicide!) in Death by Equine is all fiction, it is based very much in fact.

Reds, did any of you watch the Kentucky Derby? Or ever been to one? Readers, do you enjoy being totally immersed into a new and different world when you pick up a book? Or do you prefer something more familiar?

Annette Dashofy is the USA Today best-selling author of the multi–Agatha Award nominated Zoe Chambers mystery series about a paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township. Her latest release, a standalone, is Death by Equine, about a veterinarian at a second-rate thoroughbred racetrack seeking the truth about her mentor’s mysterious death. She and her husband live on ten acres of what was her grandfather’s dairy farm in southwestern Pennsylvania with their very spoiled cat, Kensi.

 DEBS:Here's more about DEATH BY EQUINE, which you can order here.

Veterinarian Jessie Cameron agrees to fill in for her mentor, Doc Lewis, at Riverview Racetrack so he can take a long-overdue vacation. When he’s tragically killed by one of his equine patients the night before he’s supposed to leave, Jessie quickly suspects the death is anything but accidental. Her search for the truth is thwarted by everyone from well-meaning friends to the police, including her soon-to-be-ex-husband. Undaunted, she discovers layers of illegal activities and deceit being perpetrated by the man she thought of as a father figure, creating a growing list of suspects with reason to want Doc dead. Too late, she realizes that her dogged quest for the truth has put her in the crosshairs of a devious killer desperate to silence her. Permanently. 

DEBS: I've done some fun research but Annette's takes the cake. You can tell this book was a real labor of love. And I, for one, love being totally immersed in a new world when I'm reading. (I bombed out on the Derby, too, Annette!)

Readers, any winning Derby bets? 

 

 

 

The Perfect Mint Julep

DEBORAH CROMBIE: It's Derby Day! I know I've written about the Kentucky Derby before--watching the Derby is a big tradition for me. I want to sit in my own living room in front of the big TV, and I watch every single minute of the programming from the time it starts. Friends are welcome--just don't talk during the race.

Who watched the Belmont last year? Oh, my gosh. I thought I might never see another Triple Crown winner! I did have a house full of people for that, and was glad I'd recorded the race. In fact, I've never erased it. It was fabulous.

But now let's get down to the important stuff. If you're going to watch hours of race coverage, you obviously need fortifying. I had heard all my life about mint juleps but I'd never had one. So a couple of years ago I looked up recipes and gave it a try. Yuck!! Honestly, I ended up pouring it down the sink. But there must be something to this, so I'm determined to give it another try.

I've read a dozen recipes. Some say muddle the mint with a teaspoon of sugar and add a teaspoon of water. Some say rub the mint on the inside of the glass or cup and use two teaspoons of simple syrup. Some say make mint-infused simple syrup. Some say just stick a sprig of mint in!

A couple of things seem to hold true overall:
It's nice if you have the cool silver cups, like the ones in the photo. But I don't. Sigh.

Ice is very important. It must be crushed. And not too wet. Blender crushed ice has to be drained. (Kayti and I are contemplating buying some from Sonic.)

And last but not least--it's really important to have good bourbon. The drink is basically bourbon over crushed ice with a tiny bit of sweetened mint. When a made a julep before I used Jack Daniels, and I think that was part of the problem. But what bourbon? (Not a bourbon drinker here, obviously...)

Some recipes even say you can top the bourbon and ice with a drizzle of dark rum. Now that sounds pretty good, but I can't image getting down a drink with two to three ounces of bourbon, AND rum, and still being awake for the race. And not sleeping for the rest of the day...

REDS, have any of you ever made a julep? Do you have the perfect formula?

And for those who would rather eat the mint--here's a Mint Julep Cupcake recipe. Don't these look fab? (I would never go to this much trouble, I'm afraid, but would love if someone made them for me.)

And by the way, I hope we will all be wearing our hats!

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: I don't really do mint juleps (shocking, I know, given my well-documented love of cocktails!), but I do love those silver cups. I have a friend with an inherited monogrammed set, which is Very Fancy, Indeed. I mean, you can have club soda and mint and feel quite glam.

I tend not to watch hose-racing as it makes me sad. I have read  that horses are pushed well beyond their limits, made to race injured, and then overmedicated. I won't go into the gory details here, but The Atlantic did an eye-opening piece a while back. You can read it here.

HALLIE EPHRON: That's depressing about horse racing. My parents were big racing fans who had box seats at Hollywood Park. They'd work all morning and then go to the track. I even learned to read the racing form... sort of. And was allowed to bet. And lose.

I've only had mint juleps once - a friend had a Kentucky Derby party and made them for everyone. I don't remember if I liked them. But I love mojitos with fresh muddled mint and lime juice and sugar syrup and rum and club soda. Entirely different animal, right?

RHYS BOWEN: Count me among those who has never had a mint julep. But I do like mojitos so I think I might quite like it. And in Morocco I drank mint tea all the time. I do love watching horse racing. Our next door neighbor in Arizona owns race horses and we go to the races with him when he has a horse running. I have to confess it is a thrill to stand in the paddock before the race and chat with the trainer and jockey (who comes up to my shoulder). And even more of a thrill to stand in the winners circle. I 'd rather like to own a race horse, but as they cost $1500 s month to feed and train I think this will remain a dream.

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh come on Rhys, get a horse! we'd all bet on it:). I don't do bourbon after an unfortunate incident in college. And I will say nothing more on that subject. But we do love mojitos, and John makes a killer version with fresh mint and key limes...yum!

DEBS: Yes, Rhys, get a horse!! We'll come to the races with you! And I may end up making mojitos, which I love. My garden is running wild in mint right now--I've been pulling it up by the armfuls--so need to come up with some use for it:-)

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, bourbon. If I had one sip of bourbon I would have a headache for a week. However! Somehow, happily,  mojitos and Palymras (mint, vodka and lime shaken with ice) have no such aftereffects.  Jonathan and I have a Derby ritual bet. He is allowed to pick either the favorite OR the rest of the field. He always picks the favorite and I get everyone else. I love it.  We're about 50-50.  Did anyone ever read the book called Copper Khan?  It's about claiming races. SO sad.

DEBS:  I grew up going racing with my parents. We went to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs every year, and to Shreveport, but never managed to go to Louisville to the Derby. My dad let me bet, too--all of $2, which I never outgrew, thank goodness--but it taught me to study the form and follow the horses and the jockeys. And I grew up reading Dick Francis. I'm still reading Dick Francis! That's what I'm listening to on Audible at the moment.

READERS, any suggestions on the juleps?

Get this party started!

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Truth be told this party has been warming up since last Tuesday at the Mysterious Bookshop in New York where the launch party for MWA's latest anthology was held. Vengeance, edited by Lee Child, features stories by Michael Connelly, Karin Slaughter, Dennis Lehane, Zoe Sharp, Alafair Burke and a dozen others.

Next up was the Edgars Agents and editors party on Wednesday where Reds Lucy and Ro helped celebrate Hallie's second Mary Higgins Clark nomination. Thursday Edgar Judge Ro got to strut her stuff in a Mad Men style dress at the annual Edgars banquet (that's me with Meredith Cole, Erin Weston and Raven winner Molly Weston waiting for our limo!)- a list of all of the Edgar winners here http://theedgars.com/nominees.html
...and on Friday a trio of JRs headed south for Malice Domestic.

LUCY BURDETTE: We are delighted to report that our own Red, Rhys Bowen, won the Agatha teapot for best historical mystery, Naughty in Nice, Lucy (aka Roberta Isleib) did not come home with a teapot but was thrilled to be nominated for best short story!


HANK PHLLIPPI RYAN: Yay, Rhys! And Roberta, too--that's fantastic! (Oooh, and I'm nominated for three Emmys! For investigative reporting.) Party on!

ROSEMARY: Are you in party mode yet? Well, if you didn't make any of those events, this week on JR we're continuing the celebration by sharing our swag from those parties and hosting our own virtual Cinco de Mayo party on Saturday. Every day this week three lucky commenters will win books and bags from this season's mystery parties.

What's up this week?Tuesday - My trip to Highclere Castle, the real Downton Abbey
Wednesday - a visit from novelist Daniel Judson, who will share information on his latest cutting edge publishing venture with Amazon
Thursday - The Return of Kale (you know how the JRs love food!)
Friday - your official invitation to the Cinco de Mayo party
Saturday - Party On! Best outfit wins a bag of books
Sunday - Do we still love Don Draper?

So in honor of the release of Vengeance - tell us what you'd do - big, small, real or (hopefully) fiction - to get back at someone who did you wrong!

Three winners will receive copies of the book.

(Monday through Friday winners announced on Saturday, Saturday's winners announced on Sunday.)