The Murder Mystery Ascendent

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: This past Saturday, I enjoyed the opera Fedora (via the Met's international broadcast) which, as at happened, had a murder mystery at the heart. It was the first time in 25 years the Met had produced this verisimo opera, and, not knowing what was coming, I was delighted with the question of who killed Count Vladimir and, more importantly, why.

 I also recently had a watch party for GLASS ONION, the sequel to Knives Out (2020.) If you haven't seen either, hie thee hence to Netflix and dive in, because both are delightful, with amazing performances and settings to (pardon the pun) die for. (Why don't I have an infinity pool?)

And here's my third navigational point: Three of the top ten podcasts in America are true crime (Crime Junkie, My Favorite Murder and Morbid.)  What do these all have in common? I believe it's this: we're entering a period where traditional murder mysteries are a high-level cultural event.

Now, if you have Brit Box or Acorn, you're probably rolling your eyes at my statement. "Of course mysteries are popular, I see them all the time!" But in the USA, they're not. Not so much, at least. We love our thrillers. Action adventure is huge! And noir still has a hold on the American imagination (as well as the critics' hearts. Can you imagine Gone Girl doing as well if the noir sensibility wasn't alive and well in the US?) 

But traditional whodunnits - like Knives Out, Glass Onion, Only Murders in the Building and, yes, Fedora, haven't been at the forefront of visual culture in a long, long time. Yet, it seems that those comfortable, solid mysteries are having a moment, in the modern idiom. 

There's a third Knives Out movie coming, as well as a third season for Only Murders in the Building (with Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd! Eeeee!) There are more and more true crime podcasts queuing up for listeners' attention. Why? What does it mean? This form of entertainment has long been preeminent in Great Britain, but not so much on these shores, and I think there's a reason why they are suddenly making themselves known in popular, mass culture.

Murder mysteries have been the comfort food for people in difficult times - the Great Depression, world wars, the dissolution of the British Empire. It feels as if we may be living through another such turbulent age, with nationalism spreading around the world, with climate change looming large, and with questions about the long-term viability of democracy in all its settings. (I'm not even touching on the fact of a ground war in Europe!)

As the world continues to do its best impression of a Tilt-a-Whirl ride, it may be a natural response to seek refuge in the puzzle and orderliness of the classic murder mystery. What distracts us as much as matching wits with a detective (commissioned or not,) scrutinizing clues and characters, and bringing order out of chaos? 

 What do you think, dear readers? Is there a groundswell for the traditional mystery? And why are whodunnits having a revival in 2023?

How Two Non-Cooks Write Culinary Mysteries by Debra Goldstein and Barbara Ross

JENN McKINLAY: Today, two culinary mystery authors, Barbara Ross and Debra Goldstein, confess their lack of kitchen know-how on this edition of Jungle Red Writer's author confessions. Pull up a chair, kids, this is going to be good! Seriously, welcome Debra and Barb! We're delighted to have you with us. 

Side note: I am a baker but I don't enjoy regular day to day cooking, so I feel ya!

Barb: Debra Goldstein and I have discovered we have many things in common since we decided to do a joint blog for our books released on December 18. Debra’s book is One Taste Too Many, the debut in her Sarah Blair Mystery series for Kensington. (So exciting!) My new book is Steamed Open, the seventh in my Maine Clambake Mysteries. One thing Debra and I have in common is though both of us write culinary mysteries, neither of us is much of a cook.

Let’s go back to the beginning, Debra. How did your life evolve to make you a “cook of convenience,” as you so cleverly call it in your series?

Debra: Growing up, my mother made dinner between five and six p.m. My sister shadowed her in the kitchen while I opted to unload the dishwasher at five-fifteen, set the table at five-thirty, say “hello” to my dad at five-forty-five and come to the table after the six o’clock conclusion of Perry Mason. My sister learned to cook from scratch while I learned courtroom procedure and short-cuts that held me in good stead in my later career choice.

Barb: I’m laughing at the idea of you learning legal procedure from Perry Mason. I would have liked visiting your courtroom. So given all that, how did you come to write a culinary mystery series?

Debra:I love reading cozy mysteries (yours are some of the best!). When I decided I wanted to write, I thought about how cozy mysteries usually center around food or crafts – two areas in which I’m challenged. Somewhat frustrated, I realized there had to be readers who, like me, preferred bringing take-out in, making dishes using pre-prepared ingredients, or buying quilts, scarfs, and other already finished crafted items. When I researched and found recipes like Jell-O in a Can, I knew there was no shortage of material for a fun culinary cook of convenience mystery series. 

Considering your technical background and admitted reliance on your husband for recipe preparation, how did you come to write a culinary mystery series?

Barb: When my agent first brought up the idea of a series centered around a clambake, he characterized it as a culinary mystery.  I ignored him and wrote a proposal and sample chapters that didn’t include recipes. After all, if you’ve ever been to a clambake, it’s the same meal every time, and much of the meal isn’t practical to cook at home. Eventually, my agent caught on and made me put in recipes. By then I was too in love with the setting and characters to turn back.

Okay. So now we know you, like your main character Sarah, are a cook of convenience, how do you make readers’ mouths water when they read your book?

Debra: My first goal was to write a fun book that combined a good plot with recipes true cooks and cooks of convenience could both appreciate. Using my experience raising night and day twins, I opted to have my protagonist be a cook of convenience while her twin sister is a gourmet chef. This gave me the ability to introduce recipes, even for the same dish, all readers could salivate over. A good example is the contrast between Sarah’s Spinach Pie made with Stouffer’s Spinach Souffle and her twin’s farm to table version.

Seven books in a series is quite a feat – what workarounds did you use to keep readers’ mouths watering considering the limits of a clambake’s menu?

Barb: You’ve already alluded to my major workaround. My husband is a great cook. I decided early on that since most of them couldn’t come from the clambake, I would provide recipes from the other meals my characters ate in the course of the story. I tell my husband Bill the type and circumstances of the meal. He figures out the recipe, and then we taste test so I can describe it accurately.

What’s the most embarrassing/funny/crazy thing that’s happened as a result of the mismatch between your series focus and your own culinary shortcomings?

Debra: Last year, after writing about food, I got the brilliant idea to make matzah ball soup from scratch for our family Seder. While buying my ingredients, I grabbed a bag of Passover approved noodles. The day of the Seder, I spent all day bringing my soup to perfection. I tasted it and knew I’d nailed it. As the Seder service began, for an extra touch, I threw in the noodles. When we finally reached dinner, I removed the pot’s cover and watched the liquid whoosh away. Our first course was chicken flavored noodles sans soup. 

How about you? Most embarrassing moment?

Barb: Possibly the librarian who decided my husband and I absolutely had to cater her annual board meeting. I explained several times in several ways that Bill and I are not my characters Julia and Chris and she would surely regret her insistence.Or there was the panel I was on this year at Bouchercon. The moderator was a last minute sub, and she did a great job. Unfortunately, she’d prepared a whole slew of questions about cooking, and not one author on the panel was a cook. She was great, though, and it made for a very funny panel.

How about you, Reds and Readers, are you a culinary wizard or do you fake it 'til you bake it?

About the authors

 Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series, which debuted with One Taste Too Manyon December 18, 2018. She also wrote Should HavePlayed Pokerand 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly.Debra is president of Sisters in Crime’s Guppy Chapter, serves on SinC’s national board, and is president of the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Find out more about Debra at www.DebraHGoldstein.com.

Barbara Ross is the author of seven Maine Clambake Mysteries. The latest, Steamed Open, was released December 18, 2018. Barbara’s novellas featuring Julia Snowden are included along with stories by Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis in Eggnog Murder and Yule Log Murder. Barbara and her husband live in Portland, Maine. Visit her website at http://www.maineclambakemysteries.com

The Genesis of a Series by Edith Maxwell

JENN McKINLAY: Ever wonder how an author develops a series? Well, our dear friend, Edith Maxwell is here to give us an insider's look at the process. Take it away, Edith. Oh, and HAPPY RELEASE DAY!!!

Edith Maxwell (aka Maddie Day): I’m delighted to return to the front side of Jungle Reds. I have a new series debuting on December 18 and I wanted to share how it came about.

Kensington Publishing ended my Local Foods Mysteries after book five, Mulch Ado About Murder. I wasn’t surprised – the sales had not been spectacular. But when my agent delivered the news, he also said my editor would be happy to consider a new cozy series written by my alter ego Maddie Day. Squee! Why Maddie Day? My Country Store Mysteries written under that name do sell toward the spectacular end of the spectrum and he wanted to leverage that success.

But then…hmm, where to set it? Who would the protagonist be and what would she do for work? What secrets would she have? Who would her cast of regulars be? For someone like me with an overactive imagination, the prospect of inventing a new world was almost overwhelming. 

I brainstormed a bit with my agent, then rolled up my authorly sleeves. The Country Store series are set in southern Indiana, so I poked around for another good Midwestern setting. I homed in on western Illinois on the Iowa border, with the Mississippi River running through town. The area has interesting history and geography. I created a whole-grains baker, her family and friends, and a plot for the first book. I found some comparable titles and sent the proposal off to my agent. And then…he nixed the setting and the baker! Rats.

Next I floated a different idea with him before I did all that work. Many decades ago, when the ink wasn’t even dry on my BA in linguistics, I went to work full time at a Mobil gas station on Highway 1 in Newport Beach, California. I worked my way up from pump jock (wearing my Mobil shirt with Edie embroidered on the pocket) to doing tuneups. I know analog cars, and I love the simplicity and beauty of their engine compartments. Those kinds of cars really last in California.

So I dreamed up a female auto mechanic in a fictional town near Santa Barbara who only works on cars made before 1970. That is, on engines that don’t have computers or electronics in them. The mechanic’s name is Jamie Jullien and her father, who trained her, left her JJ Automotive, her repair shop. She lives in an adobe house in an old orange grove. She has a sidekick best friend who is a single mom. Car owners from all over the region, including from the high-income enclave of Montecito just to the northwest, (where Sue Grafton lived) bring her their cars to maintain. 

Wouldn’t you want to read the Vintage Car Mysteries? Agent approved, I wrote the proposal, and we sent it to my editor. Who said…”It’s not a cozy.” Wha? Yes it is! Just because Jamie works on cars and not quilts? I wanted a unique occupation for my cozy protag. I wanted to set a series back in my home state. It was amateur sleuth, village-based, the cozy works. Heavy sigh. [NOTE: Don’t nobody even think of stealing that premise – I’m determined to write it one day.]

But…he’s the senior editor at Kensington and I didn’t want to turn down the offer of a new series. This time I had my agent just ask him: “What are you looking for?” When “Something on Cape Cod” came back, I smiled and nodded to myself. For several years I’ve been renting a Quaker retreat cottage in West Falmouth during off season for solo writing retreats. I walk on the Shining Sea Trail. I poke around Falmouth’s shops and restaurants and watch the ospreys over Chapoquoit Beach. Yeah, I could do a series set on the iconic Cape.

And voila! Murder on Cape Cod is the first in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. 

Summer is busy season for Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida’s bicycle shop, nestled in the quaint, seaside hamlet of Westham, Massachusetts. She’s expecting an influx of tourists at Mac’s Bikes; instead she discovers the body of Jake Lacey, and her brother soon becomes a suspect. Mac’s only experience with murder investigations is limited to the cozy mysteries she reads with her local book group, the Cozy Capers. To clear her brother’s name, Mac has to summon help from her book group co-investigators. For a small town, Westham is teeming with possible killers, and this is one mystery where Mac is hoping for anything but a surprise ending.

I loved inventing Mac and her bicycle rental and repair shop. I added her father, the UU minister, her mom, a quirky astrologer, her tiny nosy grandma, and her half-brother, single dad to a four year old girl. The Cozy Capers members are the rest of the cast. They include shopkeepers, a head librarian, the town clerk, and more. Mac’s boyfriend is a hunky baker, and the touristy town plays a big part, with its soup kitchen and food pantry to help out needy year-round residents.

The book releases December 18 in a paperback exclusive from Barnes & Noble. It will rerelease a year later in all formats on all platforms. This is an experimental deal between B&N and Kensington and none of us is quite sure how it will fly. In the meantime, I’d love to give away a signed copy to one commenter here today.

Readers:Where’s your favorite waterside getaway? Do you ever rent bikes and ride along the shore? What about book groups? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Dish!

Agatha- and Macavity-nominated Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Maxwell lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t wasting time on Facebook. Please find her at the Wicked Authors, on Killer Charactersand her web site, and on social media:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/MaddieDayAuthor/

twitter:@MaddieDayAuthor

Instagram:MaddieDayAuthor

Jane Willan on Murderous Pastors

LUCY BURDETTE: At my publisher's (Crooked Lane Books) cocktail party in Toronto, I met debut author Jane Willan. She had laryngitis, so could hardly croak loudly enough to be heard over the music in the bar. But I could tell she was delightful--a pastor with a second career writing murder mysteries set in Wales--what's not to like? Today I'm delighted to introduce her to you...JANE WILLAN: The worship service had just ended, and I grabbed a much-needed cup of coffee in the church fellowship hall. Having just preached a rousing sermon, concluded the yearly pledge drive, and told turkey jokes to the Sunday School children, I was experiencing my usual post-worship-service-fatigue. As I stood contemplating the platters of homemade cookies spread out for the congregation’s social hour, a church member approached me. “Well, Pastor,” he said. “I’ve read both of your books now.”

I waited the prescribed ten seconds for a possible compliment, and when it didn’t arrive, I smiled and said, “Oh good. Did you enjoy them?”

“I did,” he said. “You made me feel as if I was right in Wales the whole time I was reading.”

I inwardly beamed. I had labored over my descriptions of the Welsh countryside where I have set my mystery series, and I am always glad to hear that I’ve done at least a decent job of depicting it.

“How long did you live in Wales?” he asked, selecting a cookie from the table.

“Oh, I’ve never lived in Wales,” I told him taking a cautious sip of coffee. Church coffee is characteristically lukewarm, weak, and in a paper cup. But after leading worship for an hour, it hits the spot.

“Never?”

“No. I wrote the whole book without ever having been there.” I have always thought my accomplishment was a great testimony to Google.

“Oh,” he said with a slight frown. “How disappointing.”

“It is? Why?” I suddenly really needed a cookie to go with my coffee. This discussion of my books seemed to be turning into a conversation that called for major carbs. With frosting.

“That means you made it all up,” he said and walked off.

Well, true! I did make it all up. I thought that was why we called it fiction. Perhaps my church member thought my books were going to be like my sermons—factual (at least for the most part). What I didn’t tell him is that I really enjoy the making-it-all-up part of the writing process. Every day when I sit at my keyboard, I enter my private world of Father Selwyn and Sister Agatha. I step through the doors of Gwenafwy Abbey built during the Norman Invasion and nestled in the rolling green hills of North Wales. I experience a place where a round of tea and cakes can solve everything—even murder. I loved building a world entirely of my choosing—in other words, making it all up. Maybe in the eyes of the congregation, pastors aren’t supposed to “make it all up.” But then I am a pastor who writes about murder. I have to make up at least some of it.

Sometimes people ask me, how can a pastor write about murder? The answer is an easy one-- there is no better place to set a mystery than in a church. Nor is there anyone more qualified to solve it, than a member of the clergy. Just ask Father Brown or Clare Ferguson or Brother Cadfael. Clergy are natural sleuths because we are always sifting through questions of right and wrong, order and chaos, good and evil. In the same way that a detective confronts the dark side of humanity, so does a pastor---although my clerical detectives seem to chase down good and evil much more effectively than I ever have in real life.

However, it isn't just good and evil that pastors confront. The melodrama within a church community can also be an excellent source of victims and suspects. I have a lot of experience with ecclesial drama (which can sometimes overtake an otherwise respectable congregation) and believe me—it is the perfect setting for murder.

Although there is not a lot of mystery and mayhem in my own parish, First Congregational Church of Paxton (at least not most days), my parishioners are extraordinarily supportive of my writing. The ladies of the church hosted a fabulous launch party for the release of each book. The book launch parties were complete with gouda cheese (the murder weapon in The Shadow of Death), Welsh cakes, and Welsh Brew tea which they served in quaint, antique-looking teapots and teacups. The centerpiece on each table was a diorama of a scene from the book. In the second book, The Hour of Death, Sister Agatha wears a red jumper and a blue wooly hat. The ladies in our church knitting circle made a replica sweater and hat! Not only is their involvement a lot of fun—it is a beautiful statement of their support for my writing.

A pastor who writes about murder? It makes perfect sense to me.

About The Hour of Death: As Yuletide settles upon Gwenafwy Abbey, the rural Welsh convent’s peace is shattered when Tiffany Reese, president of the Village Art Society, is found dead on the floor of the parish hall. Sister Agatha, whose interests lie more with reading and writing mystery stories than with making the abbey’s world-renowned organic gouda, is not shy about inserting herself into the case. With the not-entirely-eager assistance of Father Selwyn, she begins her investigation.

You can follow Jane on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for her newsletter here.

A Weekend in the Country?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I was going to say—remember when you read your first country house mystery? But instead—let me lead the standing ovation for Katherine Hall Page. Such a talented, brilliant and hilarious person--and the most loyal and loving and generous friend. In your library? Well, of course. You want Katherine. In the kitchen? Most definitely. Katherine's an amazing cook. 

And in the trenches? Trust me. You want Katherine.

And now, astonishingly, she’s on the twenty-fourth Faith Fairchild mystery. You’ve read her “The Body in the….”  books, right?  Traditional and contemporary at the same time, witty and smart and sophisticated and clever.

The dining room at Stonehurst

Now. Remember what I said about country houses?  You want Katherine's. I mean--the one she writes about in her brand new book!

Take One Manor House, Add Murder and Stir

   By Katherine Hall Page

I’ve always wanted to write a country house mystery. One in which all the action occurs over a weekend—a “Saturday to Monday” as the British called it—with the suspects limited to the guests, staff, and host. Bumps in the night could mean discreet visits to another bedroom, or something more sinister. A push down a flight of stairs or a perilous visit to the loo tripping over the piece of string stretched across the hall that released a deadly cudgel on a nearby suit of armor. A tray of drinks passed by the butler, one lethal. And the grounds offered plenty of pitfalls resulting in an empty place at table. Endless possibilities.

Agatha Christie certainly knew this and introduced Hercule Poirot in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, the first of many set in similar venues. Martin Edwards has edited a superb collection of country house mystery short stories—Murder at the Manor (Poisoned Pen Press), including a very witty takeoff on the genre, “The Murder at the Towers” by E.V. Knox.

Given the popularity of the setting during the Golden Age, it is a wonder that anyone accepted an invitation to one of these stately homes.

The Body in the Casket is the 24^th in the Faith Fairchild series and I decided it was more than time to try my hand at the iconic setting. It is Rowan House, near Faith’s home in Aleford, Massachusetts. She has never heard of it nor the enclave in which it is located—Havencrest.

The Rowan House is directly modeled on Stonehurst in Waltham, MA. It was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson with landscape design by Frederick Law Olmsted and I think it’s the only one of their collaborations that is open to the public. Stonehurst was completed in 1886 and sits on 109 acres. We live only a few miles away, but I had never heard of it (like Faith) until we went there for a friend’s wedding. 

It immediately suggested itself as the perfect place for a murder!

Rowan House’s current owner is Max Dane, legendary Broadway producer/director. He is throwing himself a weekend long 70^th birthday party and hires Faith to cater it, but tells her that although he knows her reputation as a chef, it’s her “sleuthing abilities” that have attracted him.

Max’s last show, Heaven or hell The Musical was a colossal flop twenty years ago and he has not done one since. An ominous early birthday gift delivered to his door has convinced him that someone associated with the production is out to kill him. All ten of the guests he’s invited—and one uninvited—have good reasons to wish him dead.

photo courtesy Jean Fogelberg

And so we’re off with a good old-fashioned ice storm, power outage and plenty of food. Not hampers from Fortnum and Mason, but dishes referencing the musical such as Lobster Fra Diavolo and fallen Angel cocktails.

What are some of your favorite country house mysteries? And heavenly or devily delicious dishes?

HANK: Ooh, cannot wait to hear what you all say. Ten Little Indians? In a Dark, Dark Wood? What say you, Reds and readers?

Katherine Hall Page is the author of twenty-three previous Faith Fairchild mysteries. The recipient of Malice Domestic’s Lifetime Achievement Award, she has received Agathas for best first mystery (The Body in the Belfry), best novel (The Body in the Snowdrift), and best short story, (“The Would-Be Widower”). She has also been nominated for the Edgar, the Mary Higgins Clark, the Macavity, and the Maine Literary Award. She lives in Massachusetts and Maine with her husband.

 

The Body in the Casket 

The inimitable Faith Fairchild returns in a chilling New England whodunit, inspired by the best Agatha Christie mysteries and with hints of the timeless board game Clue.
For most of her adult life, resourceful caterer Faith Fairchild has called the sleepy Massachusetts village of Aleford home. While the native New Yorker has come to know the region well, she isn't familiar with Havencrest, a privileged enclave, until the owner of Rowan House, a secluded sprawling Arts and Crafts mansion, calls her about catering a weekend house party.

Producer/director of a string of hit musicals, Max Dane—a Broadway legend—is throwing a lavish party to celebrate his seventieth birthday. At the house as they discuss the event, Faith's client makes a startling confession. "I didn't hire you for your cooking skills, fine as they may be, but for your sleuthing ability. You see, one of the guests wants to kill me."
Faith's only clue is an ominous birthday gift the man received the week before—an empty casket sent anonymously containing a twenty-year-oldPlaybill from Max's last, and only failed, production—Heaven or Hell. Consequently, Max has drawn his guest list for the party from the cast and crew.

 As the guests begin to arrive one by one, and an ice storm brews overhead, Faith must keep one eye on the menu and the other on her host to prevent his birthday bash from becoming his final curtain call.

-->