Review - Chef Maurice and the Rather Fishy Tale

Review

Chef Maurice and the Rather Fishy Tale by J.A. Lang
A Chef Maurice Mystery Short Story


Chef Maurice and the Rather Fishy Tale serves as a prequel to whet our appetites for the upcoming Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle.

When a wooden fish with a plea for help message carved into it is found inside the day's fresh sea bass Chef Maurice and food critic Arthur Wordington-Smythe decide to investigate. Questioning citizens of a coastal village and enjoying the local cuisine, the duo wind up solving more than one mystery.

The story is short. Very short. An amuse bouche, if you will. I could easily have finished it in one sitting. But it worked to introduce us to these new characters, in particular Chef Maurice, whose mind is as keen as his appetite. He reminds me a bit of Monsieur Pamplemousse and Charly Poisson. While not a seafood fan (the only thing I like that swims in the sea is duck) I am a bit of a foodie and I couldn't help but become enamoured with the talk of food, " the bass, en papillote with dill and fennel". And I love that sous chef Patrick appears to be dabbling in molecular gastronomy.

The book is a fun short story that gives us some insight into its characters, their motivation and how they think, in preparation for their big debut. I look forward to reading their full course mystery.

Currently Reading...

I'm currently reading Artifact by Gigi Pandian. This book is the first in the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery series. I've been introduced to a small, but tough, protagonist (with a one of a kind Russian landlady) who just read about the death of a former lover and received a mysterious package with an ancient jewel...from said lover. All that in chapter one. Yup, I'm hooked.

So many doorsteps, so many bodies ... Guest Post

So many doorsteps, so many bodies ... 

By Leslie Budewitz 

ASSAULT AND PEPPER by Leslie Budewitz, coming March 3 (Berkley Prime Crime)  first in the Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries

Just a pinch of murder... After the year from you-know-what, Pepper Reece finds a new zest for life running a busy spice shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Her aromatic creations are a hit and everyone loves her refreshing spice tea. Pepper is convinced she can handle any kind of salty customer until a murder ends up in the mix.

In Talking About Detective Fiction, the late P.D. James wrote that setting is important "since people react to their environment and are influenced by it. ... [T]he place in which the body is found is particularly revealing, and I regard the description of the finding of the body as one of the most important chapters of a detective novel. To find a murdered copse is a horrible, sometimes life-changing experience for most normal people, and the writing should be vivid and realistic enough to enable the reader to share the shock and horror, the revulsion and the pity."

ASSAULT AND PEPPER, first in my new Spice Shop Mysteries, is on its way. No spoilers, so I won’t tell you where the body is found, but I don’t mind saying the discovery rocks my protagonist, Pepper Reece, owner of the Seattle Spice Shop in the Pike Place Market, right down to her bay leaves. Nothing in her first year selling spice or her fifteen years managing staff HR at a giant law firm prepared her for the shock of finding a man she knew dead in a place she knows well.

(Although being a cop’s wife for thirteen years did expose her to the seamier side of life. Especially when she discovered him and a meter maid—she still can’t say “parking enforcement officer”—in a back booth in a posh new restaurant practically plugging each other’s meters when he was supposed to be working a shift for a friend. And of course, it doesn’t help that he’s the bike cop on the Market beat.)

What’s even worse is when the homicide detectives Spencer and Tracy, and yes, they’ve heard the jokes, and no, they’re not amused focus in on one of her trusted employees. She considers herself a good judge of people in both HR and retail, her livelihood depends on it. How could she have been so wrong? The only other likely suspects seem—to her, at least—just as unlikely. In investigating, Pepper is forced to confront the limits of her own judgment and her ability to work with other people. In the process, she learns new skills and draws on internal resources she didn’t know she had.

As a reader and a writer, I pay a lot of attention to setting. I also think it’s critical to explore how finding a body, pursuing a killer, and encountering danger affect the sleuth. While I’ve never witnessed a murder or found a murder victim, I have seen people die of natural causes in unexpected places, and I’ve witnessed horrific car wrecks. A good share of my legal practice involved personal injury work, and I’ve been on the scene of fatal crashes shortly after they happened. Seen the bodily fluids and the crumpled cars and the gouges carved across the road. Dealt with the families and friends as they adjusted to their losses. As Baroness James of Hyde Park said, those experiences change us. In light-hearted mysteries, or cozies, the challenge is to use those events to push the sleuth, to dig deeper, to investigate without being maudlin or gory. It’s possible, by focusing on character growth and development, on relationships, on motive and justice. 

Because ultimately, we read to explore human experience. The full range of it the variety, the spice of life. Some bitter, some sweet, and all of it deliciously mysterious.

READERS, how important is the discovery of the body to you? How much emotional impact do you expect the protagonist to feel?

—

The first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction, Leslie Budewitz lives in NW Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their Burmese cat, a book cover model and avid birdwatcher. For more tales of life in the Great Northwest, visit her website www.LeslieBudewitz.com

Spotlight & Giveaway - Flamenco, Flan, and Fatalities

Today I'd like to shine a spotlight on Flamenco, Flan, and Fatalities by Mary McHugh. This book is the second in the Happy Hoofer Mystery series and will be released February 24, 2015.

Synopsis

Murder is nothing to tap at. . . 

The high-kicking Happy Hoofers–Tina, Janice, Pat, Mary Louise, and Gini–have been booked to flaunt their fabulous flamenco footwork on a luxury train ride through northern Spain. But when a blowhard talk show host is found deader than four-day-old flan–with Gini as suspect numero uno–the feisty friends waste no time stepping into their sleuthing shoes to protect one of their own.
The dynamite dancers will have to step up their game before a clever killer brings the curtain down on one of them . . . for good!

Includes recipes and photography tips.

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Review - Diners, Drive-Ins, and Death

Review

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Death by Christine Wenger
The 3rd Comfort Food Mystery

On a cold wintry day there's nothing better than a nice dish of comfort food...and the latest Comfort Food Mystery by Christine Wenger.

Trixie Matkowski is back bringing comfort food to the people of Sandy harbor, NY at the Silver Bullet Diner. Her friend, the irrepressible Antoinette Chloe Brown, is also back with plans to build an old fashioned drive-in movie theater. Unfortunately, on ground breaking day the body of ACB's missing boyfriend is found...dug up by the backhoe! Who wanted Nick dead? Could ACB's ex-husband been jealous enough to kill his own brother? Could it have been one of the men from the gang of biker chefs? A prior business associate? Or ACB herself? Trixie knows she has to help ACB with or without the help of Deputy Ty. Will she be able to find the killer while babysitting a house full of beauty contestants, keep ACB out of trouble, and still cook through the night serving up delicious diner food?

I remember as a kid getting into my pajamas early then grabbing my sleeping bag and pillow and getting into the station wagon. My parents and I were going to the drive-in. It was still light when we got there so I played in the playground till it was dark enough for the movie to start. I can vividly remember that, though I couldn't tell you the film for the life of me! Those days are gone now, and most of the drive-ins with them. I'm pleased that ACB also remembers the fun of the drive-in and the wish to create a new one.

The books in Christine Wenger's Comfort Food Mystery series are comforting and nostalgic in the best ways. They evoke those happy memories of the past while giving us an adventure in the present. The author also adds lots of fun: ACB's fashion sense and the Miss Salmon pageant, complete with an 88 year old choreographer and girls dressed as salmon...and fishermen! That being said, these books are by no means fluff. There are issues at play and underlying everything is the strength of friendship and the power of nostalgia. Of course, we also have a fine mystery as well.

I welcome Trixie Matkowski and the people of Sandy Harbor into my home with each novel. I only wish I could visit the Red Bullet Diner myself and have a heaping plate of comfort food!

Recipes included.

Currently Reading...

I'm currently reading The Final Reveille by Amanda Flower. This book is the first in the Living History Museum series and it's off to a great start. I love living history museums and am lucky enough to have the Genesee Country Village and Museum nearby. So I was thrilled to see this new series. You'll have to wait to read it though, it won't be released until May 8th, but you can pre-order it and you should definitely put it on your TBR pile!

Kelsey Cambridge is the director of Barton Farms, a living history museum in Ohio. For the past two years Kelsey, who lives on the farm with her father and young son, has brought new ideas, and increased crowds to the museum with the financial help of benefactress Cynthia Cherry. Things become worrisome when Maxwell Cherry, Cynthia's son, who has no interest in history and thinks donating to the museum is a waste of time, tells Kelsey that his mother is ill and he'll be taking over her foundation's charitable work...and will stop funding the museum. As if Kelsey doesn't have enough to worry about with the current Civil War reenactment on museum grounds! Things get worse when Maxwell's body is found in the village and Kelsey becomes prime suspect in his murder. Searching for answers to clear her name Kelsey also faces her ex-husbands threats over custody of their son, a suspicious Civil War medic, a detective who seems to have it out for her, and several people who had cause to murder the unpleasant Maxwell Cherry!

Deadly Interview and Giveaway

I'm happy to welcome Wendy Tyson to the blog today. Wendy writes the Allison Campbell Mystery series. Deadly Assets is the second in the series.

Kathy: I live in WNY and enjoy reading books set in my locale. The Finger Lakes are a short drive away from me, and a place I go often. What made you decide to have a sinister Finger Lakes estate and an eccentric Italian heiress from the area in Deadly Assets?

WT: Kathy, you are blessed to live in such a beautiful area! I love the Finger Lakes region of New York. My husband and I are from Pennsylvania, and we have been visiting Ithaca and the surrounding areas for years. A few years ago, he and I were staying at a local B&B. We woke up early and went for a walk. The air was crisp and moist and there was a fine mist over Cayuga Lake. In the distance, a beautiful old home loomed on a hill, above the water, and sat nestled in the trees. The house looked quite Gothic. It struck me then that the area would make an excellent setting for a murder mystery. In the early stages of writing Deadly Assets, I knew Francesca Benini had to live in a similar house by the lake. It just fit her.


Kathy: In Deadly Assets the current disappearances Allison Campbell is investigating have something to do with the suicide of a woman thirty years earlier. How does an event from the past help and/or impede a current investigation?

WT: I think an event from the past makes a current investigation more difficult. Memories fade or become colored by the passage of time, written records can disappear, witnesses move away or die. In Deadly Assets, it was unclear to Allison and her friends whether Gina’s death was even related, and the challenges of looking into a thirty-year-old suicide definitely impeded their investigation.


Kathy: You are a lawyer and former therapist. How have these occupations impacted your writing?

WT: I started in the psych field at twenty-three. My first job was as a counselor at a group home for teens, and I later went on to become a foster care caseworker. During graduate school (for counseling), I worked with teenage girls at a residential treatment facility. I met a lot of at-risk youth, kids who’d had the cards stacked against them since early in life, but I was amazed by their humanity and the sheer strength of the human spirit. Looking back, I think because I was so young, that job in particular left an indelible impression on me. After graduate school, I went on to law school on the Philadelphia Main Line and eventually became a transactional attorney.

Both careers have impacted my writing. On the psych side, my interest and experience in the field have given me a foundation for understanding human relationships, motivations and behaviors. Certainly helpful when writing crime fiction. And my background in law has provided me with a glimpse into the inner workings of the corporate world. Of course there’s overlap. Whether in a residential treatment facility or a big company, human motivations and behaviors are often the same—only the scale and the degree of acceptability differ.


Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?

WT: I love all kinds of crime fiction, including cozies, traditional mysteries and thrillers. Cozies were my first love, though, beginning with Nancy Drew and, later, Agatha Christie. I especially enjoy the puzzle elements of a cozy.


Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?

WT: The first novel I wrote was contemporary women’s fiction, and I’m working on a new women’s novel set in Martha’s Vineyard. But I primarily write mysteries and thrillers.


Kathy: Tell us about your series.

WT: The Allison Campbell series features Philadelphia Main Line image consultant Allison Campbell. A dissertation shy of a PhD in psychology, Allison helps people reinvent themselves…when she’s not using her ability to look beneath the façade to solve murders. Killer Image is the first book in the Campbell series. In Killer Image, when the ritualistic murder of a controversial divorce attorney is pinned on her young client, Allison hits the pavement in her three-inch Manolos to unravel the mystery of who killed Arnie Feldman and why.

I’ve also written The Seduction of Miriam Cross, the first in the Delilah Percy Powers series, under the name W. A. Tyson (E-Lit Books). In The Seduction of Miriam Cross, Miriam Cross, author, feminist and philanthropist, disappears from her Philadelphia home and a year later, a lonely recluse named Emily Cray is brutally murdered in her bed in a small Pennsylvania town. Miriam and Emily are one and the same. As private investigator Delilah Percy Powers and her staff of female detectives—a militant homemaker, an ex-headmistress/nun and a former stripper—delve into Miriam’s life, they become submerged in an underworld of unfathomable cruelty and greed with implications that go far beyond the gruesome death of one woman or the boundaries of one country.


Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?

WT: My favorite character? Probably Vaughn from the Campbell series. In many ways, he embodies the spirit I saw in those kids whom I worked with while a therapist. Vaughn was abused by his father as a child, made some really bad choices, and he and his twin later paid for those choices in spades. Despite a rough beginning, Vaughn’s worked hard to build a successful life for himself and his brother. He’s conflicted, but he’s also strong, loyal, courageous and smart.


Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?

WT: The juxtaposition of my two careers law and psychology really gave me the idea for the series. As I mentioned earlier, I went from counseling at-risk teens to law school on the Philadelphia Main Line, a beautiful and wealthy suburb of Philadelphia. It struck me then that things are often not what they seem. I was intrigued by this notion of image and that’s how Allison—an image consultant—was born. Although Allison spends her time helping people reinvent themselves, she is her own biggest reinvention. Once an outsider, she was able to fashion a new life for herself after a tragedy with a patient during graduate school. She’s able to see beneath the surface to bring out the best in people. It just so happens that her talents (and psychology background) also help her to solve crimes!


Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?

WT: Being a published author has long been a dream of mine. I was an avid reader as a kid, and I thought writing books would be the best job in the whole world. Obviously I’ve taken some career detours, but my writing life started with short stories. I remember the day I got the acceptance letter from the literary journal Karamu. Karamu wanted my short story titled “Linden Street.” I was ecstatic. The sale paid in contributor’s copies, which I still have prominently displayed on my bookshelf. Eventually I moved on to writing novels. When Henery Press sent the offer for Killer Image, I was on an airplane heading east after a client meeting in Houston and my agent couldn’t reach me. When the plane landed in Philly, I had half a dozen voicemail messages and at least as many emails. I think my agent (whom I adore) was as excited as I was.


Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?

WT: That’s a tough one! Ernest Hemingway, Isaac Asimov, Stephen King and Toni Morrison.


Kathy: What are you currently reading?

WT: I just finished An Inquiry into Love and Death by Simone St. James. Loved it! I’m looking forward to starting another book by this author.


Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?

WT: My husband and I are hardcore organic gardeners. We have about a third of an acre ten miles outside of Philadelphia, and we grow almost all our own vegetables on that small plot.


Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.

WT: Garlic, Gruyere, kale and cannellini beans.


Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?

WT: Absolutely! The third Allison Campbell book, Dying Brand, is due out on May 5, 2015 (sneak peek below). The fourth Campbell novel, Vicious Looks, will be out in 2016. I also have a cozy series coming out in 2016.

Dying Brand:

When image consultant Allison Campbell attends an award ceremony to honor a designer friend, she’s thrust into a murder investigation. Only this time, it’s personal.

A former boyfriend is dead, slain on the streets of Philadelphia. His widow claims he was meeting with Allison, yet Allison hadn’t spoken to him in years. Nothing about his death—or life—makes sense. When compromising photos from their past arrive at Allison’s office, they raise more questions than they answer.

Driven to find justice, Allison deconstructs the image her ex had created for himself, looking for clues about the man he’d become. As her hunt for the truth unveils secrets, Allison’s past and present collide—with deadly results.


Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?

WT: Meeting readers. I love to write, and I am incredibly grateful to be paid for doing something I love, but meeting and interacting with readers has been the real benefit of this journey. a Rafflecopter giveaway