My Culinary Evolution Because of Writing by Debra H. Goldstein

My Culinary Evolution Because of Writing by Debra H. Goldstein

When my first two books were orphaned by their respective publishers, I knew I wanted to try my hand at writing a cozy. As I analyzed the genre, I realized I would have no problem writing a small town, amateur sleuth, and a favorite pet, but I had a dilemma. Most cozies highlight cooking or crafts – two things I hate. I thought my cozy career was over before it began until I realized there had to be readers who were like me. Consequently, Sarah Blair, a woman who finds being in the kitchen more frightening than murder, was born. 

The problem came when Kensington told me I needed to include recipes. As a non-cook, this almost became a no-starter. After much thought, I decided to use recipes made with simple or pre-made ingredients. In real life, if I’m asked for a vegetable dish for a potluck (I usually try for the rolls), I  bring Spinach Pie made from Stouffers Spinach Souffle. That dish became part of One Taste Too Many as Sarah’s Spinach Pie. Looking for another recipe that might be comical, I found the perfect recipe advertised in 1950’s and 1960’s women’s magazines – Jell-O in a Can.

Once I was under contract for additional books in the series, I had to come up with more recipes that Sarah and I could both make. Not being particularly comfortable in the kitchen, I focused on drinks and hors d’oeuvres for Two Bites Too Many. The result of my efforts was inclusion of the Classic Wine Spritzer, the Howellian Catnip, and Sarah’s Sweet Potato Puffs the Convenient Way. By the third book, Three Treats Too Many, I felt more confident in my culinary skills and had perfected my ability to steal recipes from friends. This book included recipes Sarah might make contrasted with a more complex dish her twin, Chef Emily, would prepare, as well as the vegan recipes the book’s victim was known for.  

In Four Cuts Too Many, I went with comfort food, Emily’s Egg Salad, Sal and Laurie’s Tiramisu, and Stained-Glass Jell-O. Despite becoming more familiar with my kitchen, I realized, as I was looking for recipes for Five Belles Too Many, that neither Sarah nor I will ever function in a kitchen without an element of fear over what disaster might next befall us or possibly poison those we love. 

My publisher doesn’t view my culinary skills in the same way that I do. Kensington decided Sarah and my forays into the kitchen are so funny that they created a cookbook of the recipes from the first four books. It’s called Simple Recipes from the Sometimes Sleuth. You can download a free copy from my website, https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com . Who would have thought Sarah and my joint culinary skills would evolve to the point of having our own cookbook?

Oops - by Debra H. Goldstein

Oops – by Debra H. Goldstein

 I still can’t get the hang of cooking.

 

Recently, I started ordering a few meals a week from Home Chef. They pretty much are no-brainers. The quality is good, the portions more than ample, the directions simple. Everything I need comes in the box in a timely manner. Technically, each is a foolproof means of serving a perfect dinner. That is, until I got my hands on them.

 

All my life, it was instilled in me to broil not fry. The difference between frying and sautéing was something I was never taught. When many of the Home Chef meals required the use of a frying pan and a small amount of olive oil, I was a little leery. But then I decided, how hard could it be to put the tsp of olive oil in a medium frying pan, heat it, and drop the protein in for 5-7 minutes on each side?

 

I gathered my supplies:  a non-stick frying pan, olive oil, and a tbsp measuring spoon and went to work. Carefully, I measured out two spoons of oil, dropped the oil into the now heating frying pan, and prepared myself, once it was warm enough, to carefully place the protein into the pan. As I turned the pan from side to side to coat it with the oil, I didn’t think it looked like I was getting a good cover, so I added a little more olive oil. When the heated oil sputtered a little, I turned the flame down and added the protein.

 

Within moments, oil was flying all over the stovetop, counter, floor, and overhead fan. I couldn’t understand why, so I doublechecked the directions. That’s when I caught the difference between the tsp of oil the recipe called for and the tbsp plus the bonus hit of oil I used. Oops.

 

It was a mess, but I managed to salvage our dinner. The same wouldn’t have been true if I were submitting a story or book for consideration. By failing to follow the submission guidelines, I would have received a rejection faster than I cleaned up my kitchen. Just like on my recipe card, agents, editors, and those putting out story calls, expect one to follow the stated submission guidelines.

 

I should have read the cooking directions more carefully and made sure the measuring spoon was a tsp rather than a tbsp. The same holds true for a writer who recently asked an editor, who had put out a call for “cozy mysteries featuring an amateur sleuth,” whether a story with a policeman would work. The response was a reference back to the words “amateur sleuth.”

 

Had that story been submitted, it would have been rejected as quickly as the oil spread a slick layer across my kitchen. Cleaning up wasn’t pleasant, but at least we came out of the situation with dinner. Failing to follow submission guidelines will leave an author with nothing to show for the time or effort put into creating the book or story.

Julia Buckley Interview by E. B. Davis

I happened upon Julia Buckley’s Pudding Up With Murder after reading a particularly violent mystery, giving me incentive to read a cozy, a necessary antidote. Julia’s main character, Lilah Drake, is a caterer and TV chef who moonlights by making dishes “undercover” to those who want to present Lilah’s dish as their own, which is why the series is deemed “Undercover Dish” mysteries. Pudding Up With Murder is the third in this Berkley series.

One of Julia’s writing talents is making secondary characters alive and differentiated from others. In this novel, we are introduced to the family of the victim, who had married three times and had multiple children amongst his three wives. At first, I had trepidation that I’d never keep the characters straight, but the problem never arose. I knew each character without pause, an event that rarely occurs, making it a seamless read.

Julia writes another series for Berkley, The Writer’s Apprentice series. I found a commonality between series—dogs! Lilah Drake has a lab named Mick who is also memorable for his congenial nature with humans and other dogs. He also possesses an endearing mannerism—he nods—a concurrence that never fails to bolster his owner’s faith in herself. Don’t we all wish we had a canine to cheer us on?

Please welcome Julia Buckley to WWK.                                                                            E. B. Davis

First—the dogs. Why do both of your Berkley series feature canine friends? Do you have a dog? Is Mick a yellow, black, or chocolate lab?

I do have dogs, and really always have had them in my life. My childhood dog, Buffy, was a beautiful and gentle creature, a mix of Beagle, Norwegian Elkhound, and German Shepherd.  A truly lovely animal with a plumey tail and wonderful coloring. She was my companion from about the age of three until I was in high school, and I still dream about her sometimes.

I didn’t get another dog until my oldest son was about six and campaigning hard for a canine. We finally settled on little Simon, a sweet Beagle/Russell mix. Everyone in the neighborhood knew him, and he lived a very long time—until my son was twenty years old.  Then we said no more dogs, but guess what happened? I wrote the Undercover Dish mysteries and fell in love with my own creation—Mick the Dog!  So when Simon died, and my sons started murmuring about how empty the house felt without a canine companion, I started lobbying for a Lab. We ended up getting a rescue dog, a Lab mix, and naming him Digby. He can’t nod like Mick the dog, but he is incredibly sweet and loyal.

What is Pine Haven, IL like? Is it very far from Chicago?

Pine Haven, like all of my settings, is fictional but based on various suburbs of Chicago. It’s far enough away to feel a bit rural, but close enough that Lilah can travel to the city. I imagine it being about forty-five minutes from Chicago.

Pine Haven is a mixture of all sorts of towns—the western suburbs that I drive through each day, but also the far south suburbs where I grew up. Every town is distinct, but all towns have enough in common that we can see our own hometowns in the ones we read about in fiction.

Lilah’s friend Ellie, who also happens to be the mother of her boyfriend, Jay, suffers from arthritis and can no longer cook like she used to do. Are most of Lilah’s clients in the same sort of predicament? Why do people want to take credit for Lilah’s dishes?

That’s a great question, because although I’ve hired caterers before, I can’t imagine telling people that I made the food. Most of Lilah’s clients are motivated by pride. Her friend Pet wanted to have a claim to fame at church events; another of her clients wants to have a recipe that his children will always remember him for, but he can’t cook; still another is a Boy Scout leader who wants the kids to think of this food, made with love, as being made by him. It’s nice, really, because it means that people want to show love through food, but they don’t have the talent to make that food memorable. That’s where Lilah comes in.

Lilah’s relationship with boyfriend Jay can be rocky. They’ve had jealousy issues. Don’t they talk enough or do they make too many assumptions about each other?

I think you’re right, and that this book shows Lilah and Jay need more communication. They innately love and trust each other, and there is obviously a strong physical attraction, but they have spent a lot of time brooding about one another instead of just hashing things out. They need to spend more time together, learning about each other and themselves. This book gives them a good start in that direction (although as you said, jealousy does rear its ugly head).

How has Ellie dealt with Lilah during those rocky times?

Ellie is wise, in that, aside from trying to get them together in the first place, she focuses on her individual relationships: she loves her son, and she loves her friend Lilah. Whether the two of them work out as a couple or not, Ellie knows that she will keep both of them in her life.

Marcus Cantwell dies of an allergic reaction to nuts during his birthday celebration. He also suffered from Achenbach’s Syndrome. I have Achenbachs in my family and never heard of the problem. What is Achenbach’s Syndrome?

I discovered this ailment through my mother. I think it comes from German lineage, because my mom was born in Germany and I have only ever found good articles about it written by German doctors (and of course its name is German). Basically it means that once in a while a blood vessel will burst in either a finger or a toe, and that digit becomes purple and bruised-looking. It does not affect the other fingers or even the fingernail.  It’s painful and makes the finger feel like an overstuffed sausage. I know, because it first happened to me at the age of forty, and it’s happened every couple of years ever since—always different fingers, and sometimes a toe. I remembered that my mother had it, and that’s when my research began. Now my brother has started to show symptoms, as well.

Luckily, it seems to not be related to strokes or any serious illness—just a weird little inherited malady that I decided would be an interesting detail to help describe Marcus.

Why does Lilah decide to hire Wade Glenning, the photographer the Cantwells hired for Marcus’s birthday celebration?

Lilah has never had professional photos taken of herself, and would normally not even consider getting them, but she wants to impress Jay and perhaps also make him even more attracted to her. She thinks these professional images might make him look at her in a new way.

Peach, a little granddaughter of victim Marcus Cantwell, reads Miss Moxie books, a children’s mystery series. Is this series real? Miss Moxie says in one of the books, “When something looks too black and white, you can be sure it isn’t right.” Do you agree?

Miss Moxie is fictional, but she’s based on books that my sons read when they were small. I love children’s literature, from the wonderful illustrations to the imaginative storylines and plucky main characters. I wanted Lilah to have a wise voice in her head, and wisdom often comes from children like Peach—or from the literature that inspires them. If Miss Moxie books were real, I would buy them.  J

Throughout the book, Lilah has lyrics running through her mind—anything from Green Day to the Beatles. She knows a lot of music from different eras. Is her subconscious mind bringing the lyrics to mind or is this something she does while cooking to lessen the tedium of some tasks?

The music is totally from Lilah’s subconscious, and if you’ve read the other two books you know that this is an essential part of Lilah—the music in her head. Lilah has always been a big fan of “retro” music, especially stuff from the 80s, which she likes to listen to with her landlord Terry. But she likes current stuff, as well. On any given day, it’s just about what her subconscious sends up, sort of like a Magic Eight Ball of music.

Why do people make assumptions about others? Is it a case of thinking to type or assuming they know more than they actually do?

I think all assumptions are made with the confidence perhaps all people have that they are smarter than most other people.  J  This over-confidence can lead people astray, because they’ll go a long way to prove that they’re right, or that their instincts are correct.

You’ve written other books/genres than the two cozy mystery series for Berkley. Tell readers about your previous writing.

Thanks for the opportunity! Most of my other books are only available on Kindle. I have a very early cozy series, The Madeline Mann Mysteries, which were orphaned by a publisher but received nice reviews from Kirkus and Library Journal.

I have a first in what I called the Teddy Thurber mysteries, about a high school teacher who solves the death of a former student. This isn’t entirely cozy, but readers have given it high praise.

I have a few stand-alone suspense novels and one YA novel called Ginevra Bond, about a psychic girl who must help the FBI.

What book will be your next release, Julia?

Pudding Up with Murder comes out in September, and after that I have one final Writer’s Apprentice novel under contract (possibly with more on the horizon), and I don’t know if that will come out before next summer. It’s called A Dark and Twisted Path.

On vacation, would your choice be beaches or mountains?

I’ve been to both, and love both, but I’d probably choose beaches. I grew up in the Midwest so I’m essentially a Plains girl, drawn to big skies and tall prairie grasses. There are lots of beautiful lake regions that combine forest, plains and water, and these places feel like a great combination to me. That’s how I ended up creating Blue Lake, the setting of the Lena London books.

Thank you so much for the interview and for reading the new book! I hope readers will enjoy it, as well.

They can visit me at my website (www.juliabuckley.com), my Facebook page called Julia Buckley Mystery Novels, Twitter (@juliabucks), Instagram (jellenbuckley), or Pinterest under Julia Buckley.