April 8, 2024, is the last time we’ll get to see a total solar eclipse in the contiguous United States until 2044. How exciting is that? For those of us who live close enough or can travel to see it, it’s very exciting. My husband and I are hopping in the car tomorrow and driving almost due south on country roads to the line of totality as it crosses the Wabash River at the Illinois-Indiana border.
I like to cook, so
as we made eclipse plans, my mind turned to eclipse food. Is there such a
thing? I turned to the Internet and found scads of sites with fun recipes,
including cocktails and galaxy cakes. Take a look for yourself. Some of the recipes
look out of this world.
Because I write
mysteries, my mind also turned to crime. What dastardly deeds can be done
during a total solar eclipse? Large events are planned, in towns and cities
along the line of totality, with people from far and wide expected to attend. Lots
and lots of people. They’ll be outside, feeling convivial, drinking in the awesome
experience (some of them also drinking too many eclipse cocktails). It’ll be
dark or darkish for several minutes and people will be wearing special eclipse
glasses. That sounds like a great venue for a pickpocket. Or a chance to shoot
a poisoned dart at someone and then disappear into the gloaming.
Then my mind went a
step further and put food and felony together. What culinary crime might
someone commit during an eclipse? There’s a notion out there, believed by some,
that an eclipse will poison any food prepared during the event. It’s a myth, of
course, but when has that stopped anyone from believing everything they hear? “The
Poisoned Eclipse Picnic” might be a fun story to write. Your sleuth should have
the facts about eclipse-poisoned food, though, so she can prove a human being
dunnit and not an innocent astronomical event. Here’s the scoop straight from
NASA. “Related to the false idea of harmful solar rays is that during a total
solar eclipse, some kind of radiation is produced that will harm your food. If
that were the case, the same radiations would harm the food in your pantry, or
crops in the field.”
The perfectly safe
picnic we’re packing will include a fresh baguette, brie, hard boiled eggs,
oranges, dates, and slices of total eclipse cake (seen above). We’ll also pack our eclipse
glasses to protect our eyes. Here’s hoping we have clear skies. I’ll let you
know if we run into any villainy among the other viewers.
If you’d like to read a new anthology of eclipse-related mystery stories, you’re in luck. Dark of the Day; Eclipse Stories, edited by Kaye George, came out last week. Paula Gail Benson and Debra Goldstein, two of our Writers Who Kill bloggers, have stories in the book.
Readers and writers,
even if you won’t be able to see the eclipse you can answer this question—What kind
of food or crime would you plan for a total solar eclipse?
I hadn’t heard about the food and eclipse collection, but what fun. In Dark of the Day, I went with a four minute revenge theme. In an anthology commemorating the last eclipse, Day of the Dark, my story was a caper prompted by the idea of overpriced prepaid rentals. Have fun watching the eclipse. Maybe you should leave your snack home .
ReplyDeleteLeaving it home might be the wiser course!
DeleteIf they don't exist, they could: AI assisted Eclipse glasses that monitor the sun's solar radiation and adjust accordingly. Not unlike adaptive sunglasses. Except at the height of the eclipse, a hacker switches the AI knowledge base so that the glasses adjust backwards, and in a blinding flash (literally) the crime blinds thousands of eyeballs. Since I write financial crime stories, the motive would be profit from those who have to treat and care for the newly blind.
ReplyDeleteJim, you're feeding my lack of trust in those glasses. I'm the skeptic who isn't about to risk my fragile eyes to take a peek at the eclipse. I might use the old pinhole-in-cardboard technique to cast the image onto a surface and look at it that way.
DeleteDownright diabolical, Jim.
DeleteAnnette, the shadows through a colander are a fun alternative. -- storyteller mary
DeleteMolly, I think your picnic menu sounds perfect!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteEclipse events sound like fun! I'm going to stay home with my partial eclipse. I do have a friend who has been hassling with rentals in Texas, where she has family. The long-reserved campers some of them had rented, to be parked on a relative's property, have in some cases been cancelled as the owners discovered they could get way more for them than the agreed-upon price.
ReplyDeleteDumping long-held reservations to engage in price gouging new reservations sounds like handing some a motive for getting even - one way or another.
DeleteI’m close enough to Holton, Maine to catch 99.9% totality in my hometown. I’m sticking to home to avoid the traffic. Love the idea of an eclipse cake. There may be eclipse baking on my agenda. Thanks, Molly!
ReplyDeleteLucky you, Kate! I thought about driving up, but I've got an event Monday evening. Probably for the best, as I imagine the traffic will be congested. Enjoy!
DeleteAvoiding traffic sounds like a good idea, Kait. We'll have 98% totality here at home, but the temptation to go for 100%, not that far away, is too strong to resist.
DeleteGreat ideas, Molly. I hadn't thought of an eclipse cake. And I'm sure you could have all kinds of crimes during those few seconds of darkness. Have a great time and report back.
ReplyDeleteWill do, Susan.
DeleteGreat post, Molly. Eclipses are ripe for story writing. I remember being on the edge of my seat reading Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne, in which a murder takes place during an eclipse.
ReplyDeleteLet's nothing untoward happens anywhere scads of people gather for the eclipse.
DeleteWhat a pretty cake, Molly! I envy you getting to see it at the path of totality. I sure hope it's a clear day for you. You know with the inclusion of a baguette and brie, I love your eclipse picnic. I'd probably take a page from China's mid-autumn festival and have savory mooncakes and pair them with a bright, lemony dressed salad and for dessert, perhaps a black forest cake. Can't wait to hear about your eclipse adventure!
ReplyDeleteI knew you'd like the brie and baguette, Korina. I like your menu for a picnic, too.
DeleteMy ideal picnic for an eclipse would be brie cheese, Jacob Cream Crackers, prosciutto, grapes, melon, and cake. White wine to go with it. Now all I have to do is find some sunglasses to view it with.
ReplyDeleteJacob Cream Crackers are wonderful! And all the rest of your picnic choices, Grace. Maybe not the wine because we'll have to drive back home.
DeleteI'm just now seeing this--I love it!! Thanks for posting the anthology. It was SO fun to put together. I hope lots of people like it!
ReplyDelete