A Deadly Feast #booklaunch @LucyBurdette

Lucy with John

LUCY BURDETTE: Following up on yesterday's discussion about fictional--and real--weddings, twenty-seven years ago this month I married the man of my dreams. It wasn’t a fancy wedding, the reception was held in our backyard with lots of delicious homemade food. And lots of family and friends of course. Saying yes turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. Not that every minute has gone smoothly--but the high points far outweigh the low. 

A few of those wedding napkins

However, I still remember how anxious I was in the days leading up to the wedding. We’d both come from marriages that didn't go so well, and there was a stepfamily to negotiate. As a psychologist, I could imagine all the complications that might ensue. (And plenty of them did, but we made it through, stronger than we started.) John teased that I channeled my nervousness and doubts into sewing 100 calico napkins for the reception.

Marriage and weddings play a big role in A Deadly Feast (out today from Crooked Lane Books!) Now it’s Hayley Snow's turn to tie the knot with her heartthrob detective Nathan Bransford. But Hayley has acquired a serious case of the jitters. She’s never been married before, but he has, with bad results. And her parents were divorced, and so were Nathan's, and the closer the date gets, the less possible the notion of 'till death do us part' feels. And there are plenty of outside events conspiring to keep Nathan and Hayley apart too. 

Hayley handles her growing nerves by obsessing about the details of the ceremony on the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor, cooking, and helping her friend Analise figure out what happened to the woman who dropped dead on her food tour. She also canvasses some of her trusted friends and relatives to get help with the question of how marriages succeed. 

Steve Torrence, a friend of Hayley's (and also mine), who conducts lots of weddings says:  “I’ll tell you my theory about what makes a marriage work— people who know how to talk to each other through thick and thin and assume only the best motives from their partner have the best chance of surviving. As you know, we can’t predict what kind of life changes and challenges you’ll face together. We can only work on how graciously you’ll handle them.”

I'm not going to say more, because of course I'm hoping you'll read it. We are celebrating the new book with a giveaway! Hayley would love your advice: What makes for a good marriage? Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing...

Lucy will be launching the new book at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison CT on Thursday at 7pm. You can buy the book wherever books are sold such as...

Indiebound
Amazon
Booksamillion
Barnes and Noble
Powells


And of course, the Key West Island Bookstore and Books and Books in Key West will be glad to mail you a copy...