A sniff of subtext & a touch of murder from Leslie Karst #bookgiveaway

THIS WEEK'S WINNERS: Congratulations Flora Church, Liz Milliron M, Cynthia, go to the CONTACT page on Hallie's web site and email her your mailing address to get your book!

HALLIE EPHRON: Leslie Karst is an author after my own heart. There's homemade PASTA on her web site! She came to writing culinary mysteries by way of a career in law, of course, that forked into culinary arts. Reviewers call her Sally Solari mysteries sharp and smart and spicy. Murder From Scratch is the fourth in the series.

LESLIE KARST: Those of you familiar with my Sally Solari mysteries know that they all share a culinary theme, as Sally’s family runs two restaurants: Solari’s, her father’s old-school Italian seafood joint, and Gauguin, the trendy French-Polynesian place she inherits from her aunt in book one.

But what you might not realize is that the series has a secondary subtext as well (perhaps so very “sub” that you would miss it if I didn’t tell you), in that each book also concerns one of the five senses. The first, Dying for a Taste, concerns (duh) taste; the second, A Measure of Murder—in which Sally joins a chorus singing the sublime Mozart Requiem—involves the sense of hearing; and the third, Death al Fresco, which has Sally taking a a plein air painting class, deals with the sense of vision.

In the fourth book, Murder from Scratch, I decided to address the sense of touch. But, I wondered, how could I make “touch” an important part of the story or, better yet, a key to how Sally solves the murder?

It so happened that while I was musing on this question and coming up with the plot for this latest book in my series, I spent the afternoon with a blind friend, Herman. While hanging out with him at his house that day, I was struck by how easily he located whatever he needed in his home—be it that jar of orange marmalade in the fridge, a specific CD he wanted to play for me, or the right colored shirt to match his green slacks.

How much more reliant on their other senses a blind person must be to get along in the world, I realized. And how very organized their life needs to be, compared to someone who can simply rely on their vision to get by. And then it hit me, what a perfect setup this would be for my new mystery—a blind character who, by virtue of her heightened sense of touch, is able to discover clues the sighted sleuth, Sally, misses.

And so I created Evelyn, Sally’s estranged blind cousin, who comes to stay with Sally after Evie’s mother is found dead of an overdose. Or was it murder?

When the police appear convinced the death was an accident, the two cousins set out to learn the true story and discover the identity of the killer. But along the way, they discover also how very much they share in common—including a love of food, cooking, and hand-rolled pasta.

Nothing Beats Your Nonna’s Homemade Pasta

I was initially a little nervous about including a blind side-kick in my book. After all, how could a sighted person possibly create a realistic character who has gone her entire life without the ability to see? So I asked Herman if I could come stay with him for a full weekend, in order to hang out with him, pick his brain, and try to get a better understanding of his life. Not only did he happily agree, but he informed he that he now had a roommate—a thirty-year-old blind gal who was also excited to spend time with me and to help breathe life into Evelyn.

Then, after finishing the manuscript, I asked several beta readers who were blind to provide me with comments and advice as to the story and my rendering of a blind character, and I revised it accordingly. The early reviews of Murder from Scratch are approving of my portrayal of Evelyn, which makes me very glad. Because—like Sally—I’d come to think of her as a close friend by the time I finished the book.

HALLIE: So brave, writing a character whose experiences, day to day, would have to be so different from your own.  Have you ever had to go, even for a short period of time, without one of your senses?? I get why Leslie started with taste... for a culinary mystery series.

Today Leslie is giving away a copy of MURDER FROM SCRATCH to one lucky commenter.

About Murder from Scratch:

Sally’s life is already plenty complicated, what with running the popular and bustling Gauguin and dealing with irate cooks, scheduling headaches, and other staffing issues. So when her dad convinces her to take in a blind relative, Evelyn, whose mother has just died of a drug overdose, she’s none too happy. Sally’s cousin, however, turns out to be not only highly competent, but also lots of fun. And she’s a terrific cook, to boot—taught at an early age by her chef mom, Jackie.

When moved objects around her house cause Evelyn to suspect that Jackie’s death was not the accident or suicide the police believe it to have been, she and Sally decide to investigate on their own. And Sally soon learns that Evelyn’s blindness makes her more attuned to her other senses, allowing her to discover clues that Sally would easily have missed. The cousins’ sleuthing takes them into the world of pop-up and Southeast Asian restaurants, macho commercial kitchens, and the cut-throat competitiveness that can flame up between chefs—especially when stolen recipes are at stake.