Krista Davis: Why it is that travel so often inspires books? This time, I wasn’t even the one traveling. Two of my friends went on a fabulous tour of Spain and Portugal. They had a wonderful trip. And one of them bought special Iberian ham to bring home as gifts. On arrival at customs in New York, she declared the ham and was promptly pulled aside for inspection.
Her heart broke as she watched her prized ham being thrown into the trash bin. She had a plane to catch and kept checking the time. She was asked to hand over her shoes for examination and watched as they rummaged through her luggage, tossing all her carefully packed items into messy heaps. The clock in her head ticked louder and louder while she watched, wondering if she would make her connecting flight.
The customs inspectors finally moved on to the next person, but all she could think was that her ham was in the garbage and she had to catch the flight home. She had no time to carefully fold and pack her clothes. She stuffed and zipped and repeated, jamming everything in willy-nilly. With an eye on the time, she grabbed her bags and ran through JFK to her connecting flight. She made it with only minutes to spare. That was when she realized that her shoes were still in customs. She no longer remembers whether she was barefooted or wearing socks. It presents an appalling situation either way.
And that is how the story begins in The Diva Serves Forbidden Fruit. Sophie Winston picks up her best friend at the airport and the friend walks out of the terminal with bare feet. What if your best friend went on a tour and when she came back, someone who was also on the tour was murdered? And then another? Could she be next?
My books usually release several months apart from one another, but this spring, it’s raining books for me. Big Little Spies comes out on April 6th, the trade paperback of The Diva Spices It Up releases April 27th, and The Diva Serves Forbidden Fruit will be here on May 25th.
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What oddball things have happened to you when you were traveling?
Oh, by the way, you can try that exact same cherished Iberian ham in the US. They sell it at World Market. 
New York Times Bestselling author Krista Davis writes the Paws and Claws Mysteries set on fictional Wagtail Mountain, a resort where people vacation with their pets. Her 7th Paws and Claws Mystery is BIG LITTLE SPIES, which releases on April 6th. Krista also writes the Domestic Diva Mysteries and the Pen & Ink Mysteries. Look for THE DIVA SERVES FORBIDDEN FRUIT on May 25th. Like her characters, Krista has a soft spot for cats, dogs, and sweets. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with two dogs, two cats, and a stash of hidden chocolate.
