Lucy's Floundering in Possibilities #amwriting

 LUCY BURDETTE: I have just finished reading an advance copy of Rhys’s April book, THE VENICE SKETCHBOOK—you have such a treat ahead of you! But I mention that not to gloat, but because she’s so good at telling a story over several time periods using several points of view. I’m musing over how to do exactly that with this lump of an idea that I have. I’m at the awkward point where many directions are possible—how to choose the ones that will best tell the story? Here's what I know...

I’m pretty sure two characters, Betty and her daughter Winifred, will narrate the story. And it will take place in Paris and New Haven. I know these characters exist because they appeared in the book that is presently in my agent’s hands. But there is so much to find out about them, not to mention how to structure the book. And what kinds of bigger secrets might be involved with the Frenchman to whom both are tethered?

It’s kind of overwhelming. Thoughts, suggestions, brainstorms all most welcome! Here are the tiniest and roughest little snippets…

Betty, April

Betty was certain she had French blood in her veins. What else would explain how she’d begged her parents to let her spend half of her junior year in Paris although they had already paid full tuition to her private women’s college? Even though French was not useful in her current life other than in names of recipes, she subscribed to several 'news in French' podcasts and had a weekly standing appointment with a senior citizen in a Parisian elderhome who was happy to let her practice. 

And how else could she explain the intense but disastrous affair with a young Frenchman that had ensued in Paris, followed by the unexpected pregnancy that she’d been totally unprepared to handle? He'd been handsome and slender and so romantic, and he could cook like a dream. That part at least she knew was still true, because she'd followed his career through three restaurants, two cookbooks, a Michelin star, and three wives.   

Winifred, April

The birthday cake that birth mother, Betty, (BMB, that’s what she’d dubbed her privately) had presented on their second meeting was perfect, a light-yellow sponge, not the least bit dry, frosted with thick mocha butter cream. Happy Birthday Darling Winifred! had been piped in French chocolate across the top of the cake. And pink fondant hearts floated around the edges and drifted down the sides. It was the most beautiful and perfect homemade rendition of her favorite cake ever. 

Baked and decorated by the mother who had given her away when she was less than 24 hours old.

At first, she’d been overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement at the idea of meeting her biological mother. But by the time their second coffee date arrived, taking place in the adorable new cafe where BMB cooked and jabbered with her girlfriends, complete with the perfect cake, her anger began to prickle and then surge. How does a woman take care of her baby through nine months of pregnancy, suffer through labor and delivery, and then hand the little bundle—the size and lumpy shape of a beginner’s loaf of sourdough bread—off to a stranger? It didn't compute. 

Lucy again: That's about all I know! How do you feel about more than one point of view in a novel? Any favorite books that handled this especially well? Ideas about the mysterious Frenchman?

Breaking news: Lucy's latest, THE KEY LIME CRIME, is featured today on First Chapter Fun, the brainchild of our own Hank, plus Hannah Mary McKinnon. Join the fun today on Facebook live and Instagram live, 12:30 pm!

Lucy on Writing Police

LUCY BURDETTE: It’s a strange time to be writing murder mysteries involving police officer characters. Before I post a snippet of what I’m working on (Key West food critic #11, as yet unnamed) I wanted to say a few words about that. 

Steve Torrence on left, Chief Sean Brandenburg on right

I feel very lucky and grateful that my police model for the Key West mysteries is based on information from my friend, former police officer Steve Torrence—who happens to be one of the most ethical, thoughtful people I know. Several years ago, I attended both the Citizens' Police Academy and the Key West ambassadors’ program and learned a lot about traffic stops, the county jail, issues with homelessness, SWAT team maneuvers, police dogs, and many other topics important to policing. I came away from those experiences admiring how the Key West police department handles a very tricky town (many visitors, not all well behaved.)

As a small, older, white woman I have never had reason to fear the police. In Key West, I was only afraid one time, when I was pulled over by a police car for running a stop sign on my bicycle. I was scared because I'd been caught breaking a law, not scared for my life. (You will see that incident used in the next Key West mystery, THE KEY LIME CRIME, coming August 11.) 

My experience is a different universe than that of George Floyd and many others, particularly people of color. Should this change the way I write mysteries? I don’t know the answer. But I intend to listen as hard as I can to figure out how to be a part of the positive change that needs to happen in our country. And maybe that includes taking a hard look at how I write my police characters…

Now on with the book in progress…Right before this scene, Hayley Snow is doing some foodie research on Duval Street, when the sound of gunshots rings out.

Chapter Two 

My face ended up smooshed near the white-stenciled words on the curb above the drain that warned potential litterers “anything discarded here will wash into the ocean.” 

The gutter smelled of stale beer, and cigarette butts, and pizza, but strongest of all, the stink of my own fear. I curled into the smallest human ball possible, knowing that I could still be an open target for a crazed shooter. Should I get up and run to help Miss Gloria? Nathan had drilled the same safety information into her head as he had mine, with great patience. I had to think she’d be hunkered down behind the art gallery furniture. Or maybe she’d been smart and quick enough to run inside. 

Hearing more muffled shouts but no gunshots, I crab-walked toward the better cover of a nearby trash can. I peered around the edge to see what was going on. I heard the sound of footsteps pounding and two different voices yelling, “Drop the gun! Hands above your head! Police!”   

Then I heard the clatter of gun on pavement and saw two hands stretched high above the heads of the crowd. Tourists and bystanders had begun to push toward the scene while two fierce police yelled at them to move back. More officers came running down the street, some with guns drawn and some with police dogs loping beside them. 

“Stand back,” a tall officer shouted to the crowd. “You need to clear the area.” 

Miss Gloria came up behind me and tapped my shoulder. “I think you’re okay to come out from behind the trashcan now. The only bad guy they seem to have trapped is Ray.”  

“Ray?” I stood up and brushed the grit off my knees, realizing I had scraped them raw in the flurry of activity. Ray was my dear friend Connie’s husband, father of the adorable baby Claire, and a very talented and peace-loving artist. I could not imagine him getting into an altercation with the cops, especially over a gun.  

She took my elbow and we moved to the sidewalk, close enough that we could hear the men talking. Shouting was more like it. 

“I panicked,” Ray was explaining. “I heard gunshots and got spooked. I would never shoot anyone, I swear. My gallery manager was there--she saw everything—"  

“You’ll need to come to the station,” said the biggest cop, the same man who had pulled me over for running through a stop sign on my scooter after Christmas. He was intimidating because of his size and his bald head, but he seemed like a nice enough man. If you liked tough police personas. Which being married to one, I supposed I did. Before migrating to Key West, I didn’t know one single policeman. I’d never imagined I’d end up with so many police officers in my life. 

What do you think Reds? Should recent current events change the way we write mysteries?

And please don't forget--DEATH ON THE MENU will be out in mass market paperback on July 28, and THE KEY LIME CRIME will be published in hardcover, ebook, and audio book on August 11!

Lucy is Juggling Happiness and Scotland @lucyburdette

LUCY BURDETTE: It’s amazing to me that as long as I’ve been writing, I’m still discovering new things about myself as a writer. This week it’s that I can’t write two things at once. 

I can work on one book and promote another, or write one blog while writing a book, but I can’t seem to work on two books at once. And of course that’s what I’m trying to do. I think this may be because it’s hard to get into a character's head, and so moving to another character in another story means starting all over. 

You might think (I did) that you should be able to pick up wherever you left off. But it doesn’t seem to be so. I want to get a lot done on two projects, a deep revision of Chasing Happiness (formerly The Happiness Connection), and the first draft of food critic mystery number 11. I’ve spent the past week switching from one to the other and feeling stuck with both. And yet I have a fear that if I move ahead with one I’ll forget the other.

So meanwhile, I’m posting a snippet of the Scottish Key West mystery (#11) because it made me laugh as I was writing it. Hayley and Miss Gloria are in Nathan’s sister’s living room, unwinding from an eventful and difficult day…

Once we’d finished the washing up and stored the leftovers in the freezer, Miss Gloria insisted on pouring us another finger of whiskey to sip in front of the telly. We watched the end of the BBC news, and there was not a word said about America or her policies or politics. Honestly, it was nice to have a breather from the problems that dogged us at home.

Deep into an episode of a TV series based on Ann Cleeves’ Shetland, I heard a car outside in the driveway and then somebody crashing into the garbage cans. Before I could panic about a possible intruder, Nathan and Warren clattered into the room, wearing kilts—the full dress version with what looked like animal pelts hanging from their waists and swords tucked into their skirts. This time, Nathan looked completely comfortable in his costume, as if he had grown up roaming the Scottish moors. For the first time, I could really understand why Claire went all wobbly seeing the redheaded Jamie in his kilt in Outlander.

I stood up to kiss him hello. “Who are you, you gorgeous hunk of male flesh, and what have you done with my husband?”

“It is I, Nathan the conqueror, and I’ve come to sweep away a wee Scottish lassie,” he said, sounding a little tipsy and absolutely giddy. He grabbed me by the waist and swung me into an embrace.

I couldn’t help giggling once he’d released me. “And how much whiskey have you two drunk because maybe Miss Gloria and I have some catching up to do.”

He flopped down on the couch beside our friend. “We’ve had the most amazing day. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be playing the same course where Tiger Woods won the British Open? Of course, my drives aren’t quite as long as his.”

Warren cackled and brandished his sword. “No comment, my friend. Nothing you’ve got is as long as his.” They both howled with laughter this time.

Then Nathan gazed around at Miss Gloria and me. “You all look a little glum. How was your day?”

“Kind of brutal,” said Miss Gloria. “There was a death at the wheel.”

Meanwhile, if anyone has any tips about juggling more than one project at a time, I'm all ears!

On another note, if you are a Netgalley reviewer, THE KEY LIME CRIME is available. I can't help looking at what folks are saying. This one gave me a real thrill:

Peter Mayle!! Only four months until THE KEY LIME CRIME, book 10 in the Key West food critic mystery series, will arrive in bookstores everywhere--I can't wait for you to read it! THE KEY LIME CRIME (July 2020) is available for pre-order now...

Lucy is Revising THE KEY LIME CRIME

cover draft, final to come

LUCY BURDETTE: As you heard last week, most of us don't mind revising with a good editor, and some of us love it. Crooked Lane does things a little differently from what I've experienced with previous publishers--they use freelance editors. When I got my edited manuscript back two weeks ago, I was thrilled to recognize the editor as my previous NAL editor for this series, Sandy Harding. 

Sandy has a talent for putting her finger right on problems (plot and character)--I have a tendency to be vague about details in early drafts because I'm busy nailing the story down. And she also points out where good moments in the book could be expanded for better effect. Here's an example. On the side you can see her comment, and underlined sentences are my fixes.

In the olden days, all this didn't happen online. I'd send the printed manuscript in the mail, and get it back pocked with yellow sticky notes that had suggestions scribbled on them. When I taught mystery writing to 5th graders, I loved showing them that stack of pages--they were horrified at the amount of work writing a book involves!

Okay, I have to get back to fixing my problems, but I'll leave you with a little snippet from THE KEY LIME CRIME. I chose it  since everyone loves Miss Gloria. Helen is Hayley's mother-in-law and the three of them are investigating a murder of course...

We zipped up to Houseboat Row where Miss Gloria was waiting in the driver’s seat of her big Buick with the engine running. She had the windows open and some kind of rock music pumping out from the radio. 

“Want me to drive?” I asked.

“No thanks,” she said cheerfully. “I don’t want to get rusty. And we don’t have far to go, so how much damage can I do?” She cackled as we got in, then craned around to grin at Helen in the back seat, gunned the engine, and lurched out onto Palm Avenue. I gripped my door handle and gritted my teeth, waiting for the sound of blaring horns and the crash of metal. Mercifully none of that came.

“We’ve got a lot on the schedule today, don’t we?” Miss Gloria asked. “I figure we’ll park in the garage on Caroline Street and then walk to the Pie Company, right?”

“Right,” I said. “And Helen and I have agreed, we aren’t investigating. On the other hand, if some tidbit related to Claudette falls in our laps, we’ll gather it up and pass it on to Nathan.”

“Remember to think about the person behind the crime,” Helen a.k.a. my mother-in-law said, leaning forward and grabbing the driver side headrest. “We’re not only collecting recipes, we’re understanding a murderer. And his victim.”

“Oh, Hayley is unbelievable at that,” said Miss Gloria, glancing in the rear view mirror. “She has more friends than anyone I know—and that’s because she knows what makes people tick. And even if she doesn’t care for somebody, she works at understanding why they’re crabby. And the next thing you know, they’re friends. I’m certain Nathan’s told you how she solved a couple of crimes. Not that he appreciates that one bit.” 

She chuckled, and I squeezed her arm to thank her for sticking up for me, but then let go fast so she would concentrate on swinging around the curve that led into Eaton Street without taking out cars in the oncoming traffic. She found an open space in the Caroline Street garage, avoided nicking anyone’s paint job, and we wended our way through a mob of visitors to the shop on Greene Street.

“Please,” I whispered to Miss Gloria, “let me ask the questions?” I didn’t dare say the same to Helen, but I hoped I’d made my point clear.

We signed in at the cash register and Sigrid led us to the back room of the shop with three other students—Lori, Judy, and Louise—friends visiting from New Jersey to celebrate the New Year and escape a week of bitter cold temperatures. Sigrid gestured for us to stop next to two large sinks. 

“No one starts the class without washing up and dressing in our chef’s costume,” she said, grinning. She described how we should scrub our hands and then don plastic gloves and aprons and finally a hairnet.

“All you ladies look so cute,” said Miss Gloria. “You are rocking those hairnets. We need pictures of this.”

“Give me your phones,” Sigrid said, “and I’ll take some pix.”

I hardly wanted this outfit broadcast on social media. The net flattened our hair against our heads, and the clear plastic on our hands and torso made us resemble packaged meat. Not a good look for any of us. On the other hand, Palamina would love it if I posted these photos on Instagram and Facebook. Pictures of pie after pie after pie could be broken up with some comic relief. And it might relax the instructor if we behaved like normal students rather than murder inquisitionists. I took off one of the gloves, dug in my back pocket, and handed over my phone.

Miss Gloria clapped her plastic-covered hands together. “I feel like we’re Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate shop, remember that episode in I love Lucy? I watch it once a week, along with the video about the cat who sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with his owner. With the world such a mess, it pays to find things that make you laugh. I’ll find it for you when we finish the class,” she told the ladies from New Jersey.

Mrs. Bransford looked a little googly-eyed. My roommate could have that effect on people until they got used to her chirpy nature.

And here's what I did to research the scene--with the real Lori, Judy, and Louise...Can't you picture Miss Gloria and Hayley right here too? Now, a question for writers and non-writers alike: How do you do at handling feedback on a project you've worked hard on?

PS the pre-order link with the new cover is not up yet, but I will alert you when it is. Meanwhile, A DEADLY FEAST will be out in Mass market paperback on June 9 and you can order that now: Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Indiebound...

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series, which can be bought wherever books are sold. Please follow her on Bookbub, Instagram, and Facebook!

What We're Writing #bookgiveaway @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I have so much going on that I hardly knew what to write today. A DEADLY FEAST (food critic mystery #9) comes out on May 7, the new trade paperback edition of DEATH ON THE MENU comes out today (it's gorgeous, I can't help saying,) and yesterday I sent a completed manuscript for the happiness book to my agent. Whew! (As for how book ten in the series is coming along, don't even ask.)

With eight books published in the Key West series, soon to be nine, Miss Gloria has become the character I probably hear most about. At first I envisioned her as an old lady living on houseboat row. I needed her as a throwaway character who would get bashed on the head and propel the plot along. Here, I’m a little embarrassed to admit, is Miss Gloria in the first book, AN APPETITE FOR MURDER. Hayley is a murder suspect in a case of poisoned key lime pie and is living up the dock from Miss Gloria. This is Hayley talking:

Two boats in along the wooden finger and more often than not one season ahead of the rest of the world, Miss Gloria had strung Christmas lights on her porch. They winked a cheerful welcome. She was watching the news in her living room, one eye on the dock. I waved and called hello through the screen.

“Your place looks fantastic,” I told her.

She smiled modestly and ducked down to stroke her feline, a slim black cat named Sparky. “How’s Evinrude settling in?”

“He’ll never be a sailor,” I said with a laugh, “but we’re surviving.” Then, since Miss Gloria hardly ever left her boat, it occurred to me to wonder if she’d be able to vouch for me with the police. I hopped over onto her porch, her boat rocking almost imperceptibly under the change in weight. “Did you happen to notice that I was here this morning working?”

“This morning?” she asked, looking puzzled. “I don’t know, were you? That nice young policeman came by, though. He’s got such a strong chin.”

“I know,” I said glumly. Her touch of dee-mentia, as she called it, wasn’t going to help me in this situation.

Only as the books evolved, it became clear to me and everyone else that Miss Gloria Does Not Have Dementia. Reviewer Phil Jason had this to say about her in DEATH ON THE MENU (from the FLORIDA WEEKLY):  "Miss Gloria is also a comic character, an older woman who doesn’t take her limitations seriously and becomes a kind of role model for senior citizens."

I love that so much! So here she is in the ninth book, A DEADLY FEAST:

Miss Gloria had been clucking and exclaiming during the whole phone conversation. It was hard to tell who was in trouble and in what way, but I’d hear soon enough.

She hung up and ran her fingers through her white hair until it stood up in little whipped-cream peaks. “You’re not going to believe this one,” she said.

“Do tell.” I grinned. She’d tell me anyway, even if I didn’t ask.

 “You know how I’m supposed to cover the nine thirty–to– eleven thirty shift tomorrow at the Friends of the Library book sale, right?” The Friends of the Library organization raises funds to support the Key West Library, and Miss Gloria was a stalwart volunteer.

“Right,” I said. “You and Mrs. Dubisson sit at the front table near the bake sale and sample all the cookies. You’ve got the winning record for selling canvas Friends’ totes and hard-cover mysteries to customers who thought they were done shopping.”

She looked delighted. She loves when people pay attention to what she’s told them—and honestly, who doesn’t? “That’s it. But now, Marsha—she’s the president of the Friends’ board of directors—called, and they’re desperate for help setting up at seven thirty am because the stomach flu appears to have felled half our volunteer force.” She shook her head. “Old folks. Sometimes they are just too fragile to rely on.”

I looked up from my phone to see if she was kidding. People who don’t know my roommate well tend to dismiss her as a frail elderly woman. Before Miss Gloria roared into my life with more energy than most of my peers, I would have thought that too. Now she was positively vibrating and grinning like a monkey.

LUCY AGAIN: In order to celebrate everything going on, I would love to give away a copy of the new paperback of DEATH ON THE MENU. You will be entered if you leave a comment (and your email, which will help me find you!) What book characters have become role models for you?

Read more about Lucy and the Key West mysteries on her website, or Facebook, or Instagram, or Bookbub...


The winner of a copy of CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR is Flora Church. Flora, please email Hallie (Hallie “at” HallieEphron dot com) with your mailing address.

Happy Valentine's Day and a #giveaway @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: It’s Valentine’s Day and T-bone and I would like to celebrate the day with you by giving away an advance review copy of A DEADLY FEAST. 

Now comes a spoiler alert! If you haven’t read DEATH ON THE MENU and don’t want to know what's happening with Hayley Snow's love life, you can skip over the rest of this post and go directly to leave a comment for the drawing. 

For the rest of you…

Yep, it’s official, Hayley is getting married. (Or we hope she is anyway, she has some rocky moments to get through first.) As with many of us, she kissed some frogs before she found her prince. And to be honest, it took some forthright reader comments before I realized that her last boyfriend was a dud of a match. D-U-D, as my sister-in-law used to say.

My John could tell you that I was even worse than poor Hayley at recognizing that the best guy was right in front of me! Here’s a picture of those early days after we met playing tennis.

Gosh we were babies! I have a special warm place in my heart for Valentine’s Day, because that’s when John proposed with a very cute poem. I won’t bore you with with all the verses, but it ended something like: “Honey bunny don’t leave me in the lurch, let’s go do it in the church!"

 Even with exactly the right man in my sights, I had a few freak-outs along the road to destiny with true love. Hayley is nervously nutty too. "Til death do us part" is kind of a scary notion, don't you think? I'll leave you with a little snippet of Hayley’s spinning bride mind from A DEADLY FEAST. She's finished a food tour run by her friend Analise, and is observing the other customers...  

Once I’d finished writing down my thoughts and filling in some notes from the other stops on the tour, I scrolled through all those scribbles, trying to settle on what my angle would be for this piece. When nothing brilliant came to mind, I relaxed for a couple minutes, observing my fellow diners.

The group consisted of one couple, plus another man and woman who hadn’t said much to each other or the rest of us, so I assumed they were unrelated. Or if they had come together, maybe things had gone super-sour between them, and now they weren’t speaking to each other. That was my nervous bride-mind talking. Based on their tans and casual clothing, I guessed them to be local residents.

The couple did not pass the test that my roommate and I used to amuse ourselves back in college: Do these two people “go together” and how did they meet? Both perhaps in their late 40s, the woman was dressed in slightly upscale tourist attire, linen capris and a flowing white shirt, while the man wore a black leather vest, chains on his belt, boots with multiple zippers, and well worn jeans with holes at the knees that any stylish teen might have drooled over. He had a dark beard and sunglasses. Physically, they were not a match. But I guessed from the wedding rings that they were married, and from the way they held hands and shared food, that they were devoted to each other. Maybe her more than him. And that brought my next thought—was it better to be the adored, or the adoring? These kinds of observations were especially interesting to me these days, with my marriage to Nathan approaching quickly. 

And now for the giveaway: Leave a comment, are you a fan of Valentine’s Day or not so much? And tell us why if you're willing...

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A DEADLY FEAST will be published in May by Crooked Lane Books, but you can certainly pre-order it now! Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, or wherever you like to buy your books…

And the winner of Rhys Bowen's new book is Sally from PA. Email her at RhysBowen at comcast dot net with your address!

And the winner of TRUST ME is: Well, Hank says: Too hard to pick a cat name! So THREE winners, because you are all fabulous: Kay, Rickie (for Trusty) and Andrea. Email Hank me at hryan at whdh dot com and I will send you TRUST ME!
(And you will be the first to know what I choose--a or when the kitty tells me what SHE chooses...)