Gifting and What You Get in Return

Several Saturdays ago, the library here in Okeechobee sponsored a book party for me to celebrate my newest book, Dumpster Dying.  The setting for the book is rural Florida in a town much like Okeechobee.  I was excited to be able to talk about the book and do a book signing.  But I wanted to do something unusual for the people who attended so I made up raffle baskets.  Each one featured items that might be associated with a character in my book.  For example, I had one entitled "Cocktails with the Widow Davey."  Lucinda Davey is the widow of the man found by my protagonist in the country club's dumpster.  Lucinda is quite a woman, big in every way, voice, hair, make-up, and emotional presence.  Her basket contained fake nails, purple nail enamel, red lipstick, a martini glass and the makings for a pucker sour martini. A good friend of mine won it (it probably wasn't her first choice!).  I asked her the next day if she'd tried out the polish or lipstick and she said she was giving those to her granddaughter.  I assume she'll keep the fixin's for the martini.

The other baskets included "Fishing for Dead Bodies with Donald" (the guy basket), "Belly Up to the Bar with Emily" (my protagonist, a bartender), Vicki's After Interrogation Rescue (with a Key lime pie recipe and ingredients to make it), and "Get out of Jail with Clara" (complete with champagne, glass, bubble bath, and razor).

It was a great book party.  I had so much fun putting the free raffle baskets together and people seemed to enjoy winning them too.  The laughter in the room was the best return on the minimal investment of time and money I made on those baskets.  I intend to do the same when I return north and do programs on the book there.

The best outcome, however, was the ten year old girl who came to the party with her social secruity card and birth certificate to prove she had the same name as my protgagonist.  Sure, she bought a book for herself and her firend, but the best thing she did for me was to give me a big hug. Wow!  I don't know which one of us was the most excited. 

Fond Food Memories of Sleuthfest

Above: The view across our canal in Florida

Glenn and I returned a week ago from our favorite conference, Sleuthfest, sponsored by Mystery Writers of America, Florida Chapter, and I am still trying to catch up with everything I need to do.  The panels at the conference were informative and entertaining as usual. Guest speakers Dennis Lehane and Meg Gardiner gave us personal stories of their writing journeys, and the talk up and down the halls often focused on ebooks.  Neil Plakcy moderated a panel on the subject, which confirmed my decision to digitize A Deadly Draught.  It is now available on Kindle and Nook for 2.99; http://www.amazon.com/ and http://www.bn.com/.

One evening a group of us decided to get off the hotel grounds and go down to the beach to find a seafood restaurant.  Glenn and I were fortunate to have Christine Kling as our navigator.  We joined Neil Plakcy, John Urban, and Mike Jastrzebski for dinner.  When I looked across the table I saw Christine had ordered a bowl of steamed mussles.  It looked tasty and reminded me that I have a great recipe for steamed mussles done with, you guessed it, BEER!

Here it is:

                                                    Mussels Cooked in Beer

4 pounds mussles

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 shallot, chopped

1 bottle (12 ounces) lager beer

Clean mussels under cold running water and scrape beard from the shell.  Discard open mussles that will not close when tapped with a knife.

In large pot over medium heat, heat olive oil until hot and add shallot, cooking one minute or until translucent.  Add lager and 3/4 cup water and increase heat to high.  Bring to boil.  Add mussles, cover and cook five minutes until mussles are open.  Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Serve with crusty bread.  You may also make a simple aioli with mayo, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, dijon mustard, and pepper to spread on the bread.

To find out more about our fascinating and talented dinner companions go to http://www.writeonthewater.com/ and read about Christine, John, and Mike.  Visit Neil's website at http://www.mahubooks.com/.

In another month we'll be back in the Butternut Valley where I will be finishing the second of the Hera Knightbridge books, this one entitled Poisoned Pairings. 





Recipe for a Happy Valentine's Day

This recipe has no beer of any kind in it.  It's more reminiscent of Florida and I offer it to celebrate my newest book Dumpster Dying.  The pie is the one the next-door neighbor in the book serves to Emily and her friend Clara.  And the recipe comes from my neighbor in Florida, Vicki Eriksen.  I've eaten her cooking many times, and it never fails to please.  So if you're looking for something to take you out of the cold and into the tropics, try this. And it's so easy.

Key Lime Pie

1 9" graham cracker crust or make your own

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

3 egg yolks

1/2 c. key lime juice (this can usually be found at most supermarkets in bottles, see note below)

Combine milk, egg yolks and juice.  Blend till smooth. Pour filling into crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes, then refrigerate.  Cool several hours.  Top with whipped cream and decorate with key lime slices if you have them.

Note:  This is my note.  Do not make this with regular lime juice (you know, the green limes; Key Limes are tiny and yellow) unless you want a regular lime pie, not Key Lime pie. 

It's out!

My second book Dumpster Dying is here.

Emily Rhodes came to rural Florida for the cowboys, the cattle, and to do a little country two-step, not to fall head first onto a dead body in a dumpster.


Ah, the golden years of retirement in the sunshine state. They’re more like pot metal to Emily, who discovers the body of the county’s wealthiest rancher in the Big Lake Country Club dumpster. With her close friend accused of the murder, Emily sets aside her grief at her life partner’s death to find the real killer. She underestimates the obstacles rural Florida can set up for a winter visitor and runs afoul of a local judge with his own version of justice, hires a lawyer who works out of a retirement home, and flees wild fires hand-in-hand with the man she believes to be the killer.

The Real Life Hera

Above: That's me, Alysha, Glenn, and a happy book buyer at Orlando Brewing.

On Wednesday Glenn and I traveled to Orlando, but not to see Disney.  We went for a book signing at Orlando Brewing.  This was not just a regular old signing, but one where I had the opportunity to connect again with one of the first brewers I interviewed for A Deadly Draught.  Since that first visit, Ed Canty and I have become friends.  Not only has he been kind and beyond patient in his willingness to answer all my brewing questions, but he's read several of the chapters in my new book about Hera Knightsbridge and given me great technical input.

That first day at Orlando Brewing when Ed was showing Glenn and me around the place (our own private brewery tour), I met Ed's apprentice and told Alysha, "You look just like my Hera."  And she did.  Alysha is tall, slender, and has plenty of woman muscle as I imagined Hera did.  I didn't have the opportunity to get to know her at that time, but on Wednesday night she came to the signing with Ed.  It gave us the chance to reconnect and to talk for the evening and to begin our friendship.   For more information about Orlando Brewing, go to http://www.orlandobrewing.com/.  Orlando Brewing is Florida's the only certified organic brewery and brews in accordance with the German Purity Law of 1516.

Back in Rural Florida: Hooray for Cowboys, Waterfowl, Alligators, and Horses

No, this is not a picture of a palm tree on a beach with a bikini-clad babe under it.  This is what you can expect in the Florida in which I live.  And you wonder why I have set many of my short stories and my next book Dumpster Dying here!  This is what I saw in the canal next to our house as Glenn and I were having afternoon tea today.  Even better, we spotted the herd of horses that graze in the pasture across this canal.  They were too far away for me to get a good photo, but I'm pleased they are still there.  Unfortunately things do change, and our foray last evening to our favorite cowboy bar was a disappointment because we saw no one there we knew.  We'll try again another weekend.  I refuse to give up dancing to country western music.  If any of you know of a good cowboy bar around Okeechobee, let me know.  I've got a pair of boots that I'm itching to slip on and boogie to some sh-- kicking tunes.

In time for Thanksgiving

Good news for me and for you.  My story entitled "Murder with All the Trimmings" was accepted for publication by Untreedreads.com and is available as part of their Thanksgiving anthology, The Killer Wore Cranberry.  You can buy it in a variety of eformats at http://untreedreads.com/, http://omnilit.com/ , or at Amazon.com.   If you don't want the entire anthology, you can also purchase just my story.  The anthology or the story would make a nice holiday gift.

We're now in Florida for the winter and I'm working on my upcoming book Dumspter Dying for Oak Tree Press.  I hope it will come out this month, but surely by next so you can buy it for your holiday gift giving.  I was welcomed back to my home here by a variety of birds including wood storks and our resident alligator and four turtles on the canal in front of our house.

I'm jumping into the warm waters here right away with a book signing at the Miami Book Fair on November 21 at 1:00.  Stop by if you're at the Fair.