Missing Malice and Eating Pie

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh boy, am I feeling sad about missing Malice Domestic this year! Our Hank is the toastmaster, and Susan and Hank and Rhys are up for Agatha awards, along with so many other friends. It's a giant cozy party all weekend and I hate not being there to schmooze with other authors and readers. Sigh. But it just didn't work out for a variety of reasons, and I know lots of you are sorry to miss it too. So I thought at least we all deserved pie!

This is a new-to-me Irish recipe that I found on Pinterest, adapted from Irish Traditional Cooking by The Baker Upstairs. My lemon-crazy dinner guests loved this little pie cake. I thought it might have needed a dab more sugar, but they disagreed, so I took extra whipped cream:).

Irish Lemon Pudding/Pie/Cake

  2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup flour
2 lemons
1 1/4 cups milk

For the whipped cream:

1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 to 2 Tbsp confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9 inch pie pan and set aside. Zest the two lemons, set that aside. Squeeze these lemons for their juice. (I didn’t measure, but they were 2 large lemons.) 

Separate the eggs and whip the whites in a clean bowl until stiff. (I did these first in my Kitchenaid mixer.) Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar well. Add the egg yolks one at a time, then add the flour and make sure all is mixed well.

 

Add the lemon zest and juice, followed by the milk, and mix again.

Now fold the stiff egg whites into the cake mixture. Mine looked a little lumpy at the end, but I didn’t want to mix too hard.

Scrape this into the prepared pan.

While the lemon pudding-cake bakes (40 minutes, until lightly browned and set), whip the cream with the sugar and almond flavoring.

Serve the cake warm or room temperature with whipped cream and any fruit garnish you choose.

 ps. John and I might have liked it even better cold the next day...


Good luck to our nominated Reds and friends--be sure and keep us posted about--everything! We have all our fingers and toes crossed back at home! xoxo

Swimming with the Guppies

LUCY BURDETTE: When the Malice Domestic Agatha nominations came out this year, a lot of folks noticed how many of the nominees had risen out of the Guppies organization--the Great Unpublished arm of Sisters in Crime. And we were reminded about the original steering committee for the Guppies--if you read the history on the Guppy website, you'll notice some very familiar names.

This is a story of serious persistence and how newcomers learned from each other. I thought you'd like to hear some memories from Krista Davis, who served as the first president of the steering committee. (And by the way, she's now the New York Times bestselling author of two mystery series!)

KRISTA DAVIS: I cannot tell you how very proud I am of the Guppies. We faced some challenges in the beginning, but we worked together to overcome them. I still remember people saying the Guppies were "the blind leading the blind." If none of us had ever been published, how could we possibly help each other?
Back in those days, we had an occasional live Guppy Chat. One day, I was in the chat room we used, testing it with another woman when someone named Kinsey logged in. OMG! Kinsey! The two of us did some frantic messaging. Could it be Sue Grafton? Would she call herself Kinsey? Why would she be there? 

It could be anyone. It could be some old man having a laugh. Suddenly, the other woman excused herself, saying she would be right back. Ack! I was alone in the chat room with someone who might, or might not, be Sue Grafton! Kinsey was very nice and asked me what I was reading. I decided I might as well take a chance and ask her advice. Maybe it wasn't Sue, but what did I have to lose? It wasn't as though I would ever have another chance to talk with Sue Grafton.

So I told her about the Guppies and asked what advice she might have for us. Her response was very simple. "Hone your craft." She said that she saw too many people trying to write mysteries without understanding them. That we needed to work at improving our manuscripts and learn about the craft of mystery writing.

The next day we received confirmation from Sue's assistant that Kinsey was indeed Sue Grafton, and she thought it was a hoot that we didn't think it could be her. (She had logged on because she needed to contact the other woman and was told to go there.)

Over the years, I think the Guppies have done exactly what Sue suggested. We swapped manuscripts and started critique groups (and let me tell you, I learned a ton from that!). We took classes and shared helpful information. We learned about agents and queries and the crazy publishing business. When we started, one of the most commonly asked questions was what font to use!

Two years ago, Sue Grafton was an honoree at Malice. She happened to see me in the hallway of the hotel and struck up a conversation. I told her about asking her advice in the chat room. She was aghast. "Oh no! What did I say?" I was happy to assure her that she gave us great advice.

I cannot believe that 14 years have passed. It's been quite a ride, full of ups and downs. But when I look at the list of nominees for the Agatha, I realize just how far we have come. Apparently, the blind can lead the blind pretty well! If you're not published yet, don't despair. The difference between a writer and an author really is perseverance. The Guppies are living proof of that.

It's an Honor to be Nominated by Steve Ulfelder

 LUCY BURDETTE: We writers have some really special moments and one of them is getting nominated for an award. (Right now, Hallie's book COME AND FIND ME is nominated for the Mary HIggins Clark award, and Rhy's NAUGHTY IN NICE is nominated for a Malice Domestic's Agatha award for best historical novel, and my story "The Itinerary" is nominated for an Agatha for best short story.) One of our good New England friends has a book nominated for an Edgar best first novel--as you've heard in other blog posts, we'd all kill for to land an Edgar. Instead of wallowing in envy, we're so thrilled for Steve. And as he's going to tell us, there's nothing better than the days and weeks before the winner is announced.

STEVE ULFELDER: While waiting for a panel at Bouchercon 2011 in St. Louis, I struck up a conversation with a guy who looked even more overwhelmed than I was by the
massive conference. (No mean feat, that - I'm easily overwhelmed. It's my
natural state.)

We had a lot in common. Like me, the guy was from Massachusetts. Like me, he'd recently seen his debut novel published. And like me, he was - I remember this great line - "waiting for the parade to come by my house." Unspoken follow-up: It would be unwise to hold your breath waiting for that particular parade.

The guy turned out to be Leonard Rosen. His debut was the brilliant All Cry Chaos. And half a year after that Bouchercon meeting, the two of us are up for the Best First Novel Edgar.

Small world.

Funny thing, publishing your debut. It's the biggest moment of your life. People tell you you're pretty great. You are queen or king for precisely 24 hours (release day) plus the duration of your launch party.

And then.

The wheel keeps rolling. The machine grinds on. The next batch of writers, debut and otherwise, get their turn. Their reviews are (at least) as good as yours, their blurbs (at least) as impressive.

So you take one last glance out front just in case there is a parade going past (there isn't), then do what writers do: plop yourself in the chair and work on another book. A better book.

As it turns out, Len Rosen and I have become friends. We bump into each other at panels, conferences, and festivals, and I'm always happy to see him. Len, who has the right perspective on life in general, is quick to point out the true value of an Edgar nomination: It serves as validation
from folks you very much admire that your book is good, that it does stand out.

And boy, do this year's Best First nominees - my competition, I guess, though I (naively?) don't view them that way - stand out. I read them all, starting with All Cry Chaos, and damn are they fine books. Edward Conlon's Red on Red, David Duffy's Last to Fold, and Lori Roy's Bent Road are utterly different from one another. And they're all ridiculously strong.

I'm honored that Purgatory Chasm is among them.

Here's the part where you roll your eyes while I insist I truly mean it: I  feel like I've won by being nominated. This week's Edgar Awards in New York will be a blast, icing on somebody's cake, but it's the nomination that made my year.

Knock it off with the eyes. I mean it! Truly!

After all, I got a nice bump in sales. I've received congrats from writers I admire. I'll benefit from the Edgar Finalist Author tag for the duration of my career.

Which, when you think about it, means I got a parade after all.


Steve Ulfelder is an amateur race driver and co-owner of Flatout Motorsports Inc., a company that builds race cars. In addition to being nominated for MWA's Best First Novel Edgar, his debut, Purgatory Chasm, has been named Best First Mystery of 2011 by RT Book Reviews. His second novel, The Whole Lie, comes out May 8.

Our own Hank Phillippi Ryan will be moderating a panel of the Edgar best first nominees this Wednesday--including Steve!