The LadyKillers

News and Getting Started on a Series (with an "irritating reads" mid-week interlude)

NEWS

Ellen Kirschman and Marla Cooper will be interviewed by LadyKiller alumna Penny Warner  at the Alta Mira Scholarship Mystery tea. Monday, 2/20, at 12:00 noon in the historic Alta Mira House, 561 Lafayette Avenue, San Leandro. $15 supports the scholarship fund. For reservations contact [email protected] or call her at 510.483.1018. 

Margaret Lucke is speaking about POV to the Fremont Area Writers, a branch of the California Writers Club. Her talk is called "Whose Head Am I in, Anyway? Mastering the Fine Art of Point of View." Saturday, February 25, 2-4 pm, at DeVry University, 6600 Dumbarton Circle, Fremont, CA. Free and open to the public. More details at http://cwc-fremontareawriters.org/.  

Michael A. Black is heading to Ventura, CA, this week for a board meeting to plan the upcoming annual Public Safety Writers conference, scheduled for July 14-17, 2017, in Las Vegas. NV. With Mike involved, we know the conference will be fabulous!

Priscilla Royal is back from Scottsdale, AZ, and working on the 14th book. The cats quickly reminded her that sleep is overrated and getting back to earning cat food money is obligatory. 

Ann Parker got the "go-ahead signal" from Poisoned Pen Press to dive into Book #6 of her Silver Rush series. She's got to hit the lap lane fast and swim quickly. She's thinking "discord" might work well somewhere in the title... but time will tell.

Creating a Series: Getting Started

This next week, should they so choose, the LadyKillers will talk about putting it in first gear for a series. It's a different kind of journey!

We invite you to drop by with your favorite cuppa and join the conversation!

A Special Treat on Wednesday...

Also, this Wednesday, Michael A. Black steps in for a special post. He follows in Camille's footsteps of a couple weeks back to take a swing at "Irritating Reads." Mike delivers a knock-out punch, so be sure to check it out!

 

DEATH OF A CHOCOLATE CHEATER (know your chocolate!) -- by Penny Pike AKA Penny Warner

 Please welcome today's honored guest blogger and LadyKiller alumna, Penny Pike AKA Penny Warner.

Penny is the author of the new mystery series featuring food trucks, set in San Francisco, including DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK and DEATH OF A CHOCOLATE CHEATER. The third book in the series, DEATH OF A BAD APPLE, will be out in 2016. (Obsidian/NAL/Penguin). She can be reached at www.pennywarner.com

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They say, “Write what you love.” Like most readers of mystery novels—aw, let’s face it, like most women on the planet—I love chocolate. In fact, I’m a choc-addict. That’s sort of like being a crack addict but more fattening. I just introduced the drug to my five-year-old granddaughter—I gave her a Hersey’s Kiss—and now all she talks about is getting more “shock-lit.” Apparently the addiction runs in the family.

Naturally my protagonist, Darcy Burnett, featured in my mystery series, DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK and DEATH OF A CHOCOLATE CHEATER, has this same disorder. She claims she uses it for its health benefits. Chocolate is known to help alleviate depression, lower  blood pressure and cardiovascular problems, relieve PMS, increase your circulatory system, boost cognitive abilities, lower cholesterol and possibly help prevent cancer. So when she’s assigned by the newspaper to write a stringer article on the upcoming San Francisco Chocolate Festival, she’s on it like melted chocolate on, well, just about anything.

Unfortunately, Darcy finds chocolates are sometimes lethal, as is the case in DEATH OF A CHOCOLATE CHEATER. Darcy and her Aunt Abby, along with hot cream puff guy Jake Miller, are serving chocolate goodies from their food trucks at the Chocolate Festival. But when one of the judges is found floating in a vat of liquid chocolate, Darcy soon discovers the judge’s death is no accident. Someone has dipped the intoxicated woman in her favorite dessert.

So how did Darcy end up in this chocolate mess? That’s the way I wrote her, of course. After all, it’s a murder mystery. While I haven’t had much experience killing people in vats of chocolate, I’ve certainly had lots of experience with chocolate—eating it, mostly. And since they say, “Write what you know,” what choice did I have?

Naturally the book contains recipes for all sorts of chocolate treats. Here are a couple to get you started.

ADVISORY: Keep chocolate handy while reading DEATH OF A CHOCOLATE CHEATER.

Aunt Abby’s Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pies

If you haven’t tried a whoopie pie, you’re missing a classic American treat! Traditionally, a whoopie pie is a sandwich of two cakey cookies with a fluffy marshmallow center. But that’s just the beginning. Try Aunt Abby’s Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pies, which took first place at the San Francisco Chocolate Festival competition.

 Ingredients for Chocolate Cakey Cookie

 1 ¾ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

½ cup unsweetened good quality cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
4. Combine butter and sugar in a separate bowl.
5. Beat in egg.
6. Add cocoa powder and vanilla and mix well.
7. Stir in flour mixture and milk until smooth.
8. Spoon dough into 2 tbsp.-sized balls onto baking sheet, about two inches apart.
9. Bake for 11-13 minutes until cakes spring back when touched.
10. Cool completely.
11. Spread raspberry filling (below) onto one cakey cookie and top with another cakey cookie.

 

Ingredients for Raspberry Filling

             1 cup softened butter

            ¼ cup raspberry puree

            1 tbsp. milk

            1 tsp vanilla

            3 cups powdered sugar          

Directions

1. Beat butter in medium bowl.
2. Add raspberry puree, milk, vanilla, and 2 cups powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
3. Add more powdered sugar is needed to thicken frosting.
4. Spread onto cakey cookie.

Makes 16 whoopie pies.

Jake Miller’s Mocha Mousse Cream Puffs

 Cream puffs, like whoopie pies, are so versatile when it comes to mixing and matching the outsides with the fillings. This melt-in-your-mouth puff is perfect with a latte in the morning, a glass of milk in the afternoon, and a bottle of red wine in the evening.

 Ingredients for cream puff shell

 ½ cup water

4      tbsps. butter

Pinch of sugar

½ cup flour

2 beaten eggs

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine water, butter, sugar and salt in medium pan and bring to boil.
3. Remove from heat and add flour.
4. Place back on medium heat and stir well with wooden spoon for 30 seconds.
5. Remove from heat and pour into bowl; stir 1 minute.
6. Add eggs, half at a time, stirring constantly until batter is smooth.
7. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. Scoop mixture into balls and place on prepared baking sheet. Leave 2 inches between puffs.
9. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown, light, and crisp; cool on rack.

 Ingredients for mocha filling

            1 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

            6 tbsps. good quality semisweet chocolate chips

            1 ½ tbsps. sugar

            Dash salt

            1 tsp vanilla

            1 tsp instant coffee granules

            Powdered sugar

 Directions:

1. Combine 6 tablespoons of cream, the chocolate chips, sugar, and salt in a saucepan.
2. Cook over low heat until chips are melted and ingredients are blended.
3. Remove from heat and gradually stir in vanilla, coffee and remaining cream.
4. Refrigerate for two hours.
5. Beat filling until stiff.
6. Fill puff shells with mocha filling.
7. Dust with powdered sugar, or drizzle raspberry sauce over top.

 Makes 8-10 depending on size of puff.

 

 

NEWS and Writing What You Know and Knowing What You Write

NEWS

We have two special guest posters this coming week!

• On Monday, we have Marilyn Meredith, aka F.M. Meredith, author of mysteries and more!
• On Wednesday, we have Penny Pike aka Penny Warner, who is also a LadyKiller alum and author of mysteries for adults, young adults, and children.

Aside from that, the other bit of news is that Michael A. Black paused in his mad dash toward an end-of-the-month deadline to let us know he will be signing today (Sunday), 2 p.m., at Centuries and Sleuths Bookstore.

What Do You Know?

... and is that good fodder for fiction? Well, Mark Twain thought so.

LadyKillers, prepare to discuss.

Gentle readers, please drop on by this week with your favorite cuppa and join in, as the spirit moves...

 

NEWS and Dreams

NEWS AND VIEWS

• Michael A. Black is a featured speaker at the Off Campus Writers' Conference in Glenview, IL on May 9th along with Presumed Innocent author, Scott Turow. For more information, click here:
  http://ocww.bizland.com/new/event/ocww-writers-conference/
  
• On Sunday, May 3, join LadyKillers Staci McLaughlin and Carole Price and LK emeritus Penny Warner at 2:00 at the Livermore Library for a discussion about their latest books. They will be competing with the Livermore Wine Festival, but will have chocolates for your added enjoyment.
• Mysti Berry survived her first Malice Domestic conference and is now in Edinburgh, Scotland for the week, writing until she hits her word count, then touristing for the rest of the day. Jet lag won’t be an excuse for missing word counts!
• Pics from the Edgar Week in NYC:

Camille, chair of Edgar Best Novel committee, gets hug from Steven King, winner of Edgar for Best Novel

Winner and chair!

LadyKillers Camille, Ann, and Mysti attempt a Times Square selfie 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE STUFF OF DREAMS

Next week, the LadyKillers tackle dreams. Or maybe dreams tackle them.

DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK by Honored Guest Penny Pike Warner

Please welcome today's honored guest, Penny Warner (aka Penny Pike), author of over 60 books for both adults and children. Her first mystery series, beginning with DEAD BODY LANGUAGE, features Connor Westphal, a deaf reporter living in the California Gold Country. The book won a Macavity Award for Best First Mystery, and was nominated for an Agatha and an Anthony Award. Her second mystery series, beginning with HOW TO HOST A KILLER PARTY, features event planner, Presley Parker, and is set in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her middle-grade series, THE CODE BUSTERS CLUB, won the Agatha Award for  Best Children’s Mystery, and has been nominated for the World Mystery Anthony Award for Best Children’s Mystery.

Her newest series, starting with DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK, features Darcy Burnett, a former restaurant critic who now works in her eccentric Aunt Abby’s food truck and lives in an Airstream RV. The book features food trucks and food festivals, beginning with the San Francisco Seafood Festival.

 Penny can be reached at http://www.pennywarner.com or [email protected].

 -------------------------------------------------

Do you munch while you read mysteries? How could you not, when reading one of the many wonderful food-related series on the market today, everything from cupcakes and pies to bacon and fries. I think the reason these culinary mysteries are so popular is simple: they make you hungry, you eat while you read, and they come with recipes.

I got the idea for writing a food truck mystery a couple of years ago before the “meals on wheels” phenomenon swept the country. I was in Napa, CA, doing research for another book (AKA drinking a lot of wine), and spotted a circle of colorful trucks offering intriguing specialties. I decided to try some plein air dining and ordered a little of everything from trucks  Kung Fu Tacos, Happy Dumplings, The Boneyard, Fins on the Hoof, Me So Hungry, and Naked Chorizo. Yum. I was hooked.

Combining my love of both food and fiction, I began writing the first book in the food truck/food festival series, DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK. I created Darcy Burnett, a total foodie who loves to eat, but barely knows how to heat a frozen dinner in the microwave. To complicate things, I made her a restaurant reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle, suddenly downsized, and desperately in need of a job. While eating a therapeutic Caramel Espresso Cream Puff whipped up by Jake Miller from the Dream Puff Truck—and recognizing a hot food trend when she sees one—she’s inspired to write a cookbook full of food truck recipes.

Her first source is the upcoming San Francisco Seafood Festival. Darcy plans to use her journalistic skills to gather recipes for everything from Crab Mac and Cheese from her aunt’s Big Yellow School Bus food truck, to Hangtown Oyster Omelets from the Bacon is the New Black truck.

But her plans are interrupted by a loud commotion in the Ft. Mason food truck area. Chef Oliver Jameson is arguing with a petite woman wielding a large knife. The woman happens to be Darcy’s sixty-something Aunt Abby, a former school cafeteria cook who now owns her own tricked-out school bus and serves comfort food to hungry diners. Abby accuses Jameson of harassing the food truckers in the area—competition for his brick-and-mortar Bones ‘n’ Brew restaurant—which he denies. Did he really plant a rat in her bus to get her in trouble with the Health Department?

When the chef is suddenly poisoned by his own crab bisque—and Aunt Abby becomes a suspect—Darcy smells a rat. Together with Aunt Abby’s hacker son Dillon and dream puff Jake Miller, she discovers something rotten in the food truck world. But it’s not the recipes…they’re to die for!

I just finished DEATH OF A CHOCOLATE CHEATER, and I have to admit, the research was more fun than the writing. I think I’ll include a warning label inside the book: Read with chocolate. And there will be plenty of recipes to help.

News, Munchies, and WIP Progress

NEWS

• Camille Minichino starts a new set of writing classes through Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA, Monday 8/4. Details on website.
• The first of a series of library visits through Skype! Camille will give a talk “IN" Gainesville FL on Saturday 8/9, while drinking coffee in her Bay Area office.
• Author (and LadyKiller emeritus) Penny Warner will guest blog on Tuesday, August 5. Drop on by to see what she has to say about...

 

.... MUNCHING THROUGH MYSTERY

This coming week is the lovely combination of crime and cuisine. Whether your preference is savory or sweet, the LadyKillers will provide food for thought throughout the week as they discuss MYSTERY AND MUNCHIES. Please drop on by and comment as the spirit moves!

 

COUNTING THE WORDS

LadyKillers reports on where they stand on their current WIPs.

• CAMILLE MINICHINO: on 7/28: 76,125; on 8/3: 0, until I start the next book.
• MARGARET LUCKE: The word count on the novel I recently began writing stands at 6,690.
• TERRY SHAMES: I've finished the first round of edits on Craddock number 4, which means now the real work begins--deepening character, lacing in relevant descriptions, tightening plot, and expanding the last chapter, which right now basically says, "they lived happily ever after."
• MYSTI BERRY: I'm at 20k for the novella! I'm typing one-handed because we got a new kitten and she insists I hold her if I'm sitting down. Not sure what I'll do when she gets bigger than one hand!
• PRISCILLA ROYAL: No WIP. No news. Hiding in cave. I'm musing on future titles. "Land of Shadows" is tempting me! Not certain yet but it keeps coming up...  Ice cream gone. A piece of cheese bread just arrived.

Left coast crime rotogravure

Having trouble posting again but here are some pictures from the Left Coast convention at Monterey.  Ann Parker

Mysti Berry

 

My netbook is a bit wonky but I'll barge in with other photoa as I manage to get them.

I don't understand the question

Sorry, this one has me baffled.  No one in their right mind decides to be a writer.  With the exception of celebrities and self-help people, the only reason to sit for hours facing an empty page/screen putting sentences together is pure obsession. 

You write because you have to.  Not for money or prestige or even in the hope that you'll get it right.  You write because if you don't something inside you goes mad and dies.

That's it.  If you don't feel that way, find something else to do.  You'll be much happier.