Tag: Lucy Burdette

Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!

I saw the cover of Lucy’s An Appetite For Murder: A Key West Food Critic Mystery and knew I was going to love it. The idea of escaping to Key West during a cold Wisconsin winter sounded like a grand idea. Plus the cat on the cover resembles my Sherlock 🙂

I was so excited that Lucy agreed to be a guest here. I had read her other series and enjoyed them so much. I am so happy she is back with a new series and here today to tell us a little bit about it.

Hi Lucy!

Many thanks to Lori for inviting me to talk about my brand new Key West food critic mystery, An Appetite For Murder, written by Lucy Burdette (formerly known as Roberta Isleib.) I’m truly thrilled to be joining the ranks of other culinary mystery writers, including the renowned Diane Mott Davidson. (I have to brag a little–her blurb is on the front cover of my new book!) So I thought it would be fun to talk a little about food, glorious food, as they sang in Oliver!

This is the launch of my third mystery series, but the first one focused on food. (Although any readers of the advice column mysteries will remember that the main character, Dr. Rebecca Butterman, was an excellent cook.) It’s such a pleasure to write about things I love–and food is certainly one of them. I love to eat, to read about new recipes, to cook, to eat out in restaurants, to read about food in both memoirs and fiction. This series has given me license to do all that with a vengeance! My husband likes to tease that “Isleib” means “is stomach” in German. His other fictionalized translation for my family name is “large lunch followed by a restful nap.” No telling what he’ll make up for Burdette…

Anyway, I don’t think I’d like to be a food critic in real life–when I go out to eat, I like to choose what I feel like eating, not what I think other folks want to hear about. And there are places where I’d draw lines that my character Hayley Snow, cannot. For instance, tentacles. Raw fish and meat. Slimy things. Like that:). That said, all the restaurants in the book really exist in Key West and I’ve had wonderful meals in each of them. The only fictionalized establishment is the one Hayley visits in Miami Beach. I suppose if she’s going to start writing bad reviews or if someone is actually poisoned in a future book in a restaurant, I’ll have to do more inventing.

One of the first readers of An Appetite For Murder commented on the way I have chosen to lead off each of the chapters with a quote about food, chefs, or eating. Finding the quotes was so, so much fun. I started with more standard citations that would be familiar to many people, for example Miss Piggy’s famous “don’t eat more than you can lift.” But then the more I read, the more possibilities I found so I could tailor the quote to fit the action and the characters in each chapter–foreshadow what’s to come in many cases. And I came across gems like this one from Dwight Garner: “It is possible to imagine him having a small meal of minor critics for breakfast, as if they were kippers…”

I so hope you all enjoy An Appetite For Murder –would love to hear your feedback!

You can read more about the book and the series on my website: http://www.lucyburdette.com, or Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lucyburdette. And I’m always happy to see my writing and reading friends on twitter! http://www.twitter.com/lucyburdette

~Lucy

Thank you so much for being here today. Don’t you just love Miss Piggy!!!

An Appetite For Murder: A Key West Food Critic Mystery
Obsidian
Published by New American Library
A Division of The Penguin Group
A Brand New Series
A Key West Food Critic Mystery
Available Now

Haley Snow leaves New Jersey to follow the man of her dreams to Key West, Florida. Things don’t go as planned when Hayley learns she’s not the only woman in his life. She is determined to stay in Key West and since her entire life has revolved around food, cooking it, eating it, and writing about it, she decides to apply to be the food critic for a brand new magazine. Sounds good until Hayley learns her new boss would be the other woman in her ex-boyfriend’s life. Things get crazy when the police show up at her door to question her about a murder. The other woman is dead and Haley’s career as a food critic could be over before it has even begun.

Dollycas’s Thoughts
Key West – Paradise – The perfect setting!! for mystery and mayhem!!!

Lucy Burdette weaves us through the streets of this small island, a popular tourist spot, and a place loved by both Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams. Key West’s culinary influences and offerings are as diverse as its population. Hayley has a variety of eateries to critique.

I have absolutely fallen for this character. I want to be this character. Even with the suspicion of being a murderer. She lives in a beautiful place, has wonderful friends and even lives on a boat. Her days are filled with eating yummy food, visits with chefs, a cat herder, a tarot card reader and did I mention she lives on a boat!

The mystery is divine, it is perfectly paced and the ending is a surprise. I have an appetite for much more from Lucy Burnette and the awesome life of Hayley Snow. This is very delicious debut of what will definitely be a delectable series.

Thanks to the people at Penguin I have
2 copies of this wonderful book to giveaway
so be sure to fill out the form below to enter!!

U.S. and CANADIAN RESIDENTS
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something you like here and become a follower.

***Remember GFC is going away March 1, 2012
so be sure you are following in a different way if you want to
continue to follow Escape With Dollycas.

Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
Plus 2 Bonus Entries For Liking My Facebook Fan Page.

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5 Bonus Entries For Each Link.

Contest Will End January 25, 2012 at 11:59 PM CST
Winners Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winners Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”