I love Josi Kilpack’s Mysteries! Of course I’m one of those that feels compelled to try out some of the recipes in her books.
My daughter loves to make cookies, peanut butter cookies in particular. But . . . I talked her into making Josi’s Butterfinger Cookies and ohh. If you like peanut butter cookies, you have to try them. Unfortunately, Josi hasn’t given me permission to post her scrumptious recipes here. I copy the recipes I think sound great to my recipe box and since there are a bunch, I’m thinking the Butterfinger Cookies are found in Key Lime Pie. For those of you that don’t read Josi Kilpack’s books, that’s the title of her fourth book in the series. I could be wrong though, long summer you know. Maybe the recipe’s in Devil’s Food Cake. Okay, I’ll start keeping track of which recipe came from which book. I might even be able to convince Josi to add a link to this post so you can follow to her blog (hint hint Josi if you have all your recipes posted there.)
I’m currently devouring Blackberry Crumble set in the Portland, Oregon area. Hey, why not with fresh blackberries growing behind our house. Another yummy recipe to try!
I can hardly wait to check out Pumpkin Roll (which I downloaded to my Kindle.) Oh the joys of too little time, too many good reads!
If you’ve read any of her books, and/or tried the recipes I invite you to share . . .
Maybe cozy mysteries aren’t your thing. You’re welcome to share comments on your latest read. Just remember to be kind.
I’m looking for a review of Donna Hatch’s The Stranger She Married. Donna writes Regency Romance and I’m currently looking at her upcoming novel The Dukes Daughter. Okay, I admit it, I love both of these authors.
Until next time, enjoy your reading minutes and find a few more while waiting for the kids at soccer practice or the doctors . . .
Showing posts with label Mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mystery. Show all posts
September 13, 2011
July 19, 2011
Second of Three Part Interview with Liz Adair
Liz, tell me what your favorite genre is, and why?
My favorite genre is Romance with a bit of intrigue. Why? First, because it’s so fun to write. Secondly, I feel that I’m doing good for mankind. Or, make that womankind. A good romance is like a cheap vacation from life’s stresses. That’s what I want to write. Cheap vacations. It’s my service to harried mothers on a tight budget.
Of all the wonderful pieces you’ve written (Please list them all so I don’t miss one or worse, misspell one), which is your favorite?
I’ll list them all, and you can decide if they’re wonderful or not when you read them. My first books published were the first two Spider Latham mysteries, The Lodger and After Goliath, which came out at the same time. They were followed the next year by the third in the series, Snakewater Affair. After that, my publisher wanted a woman as a main character, so I wrote the stand-alone romance/intrigue The Mist of Quarry Harbor. Sometime in there, I edited and published the letters my mother wrote from Afghanistan when she lived there in the 1960’s. The book is called, natch, Lucy Shook’s Letters from Afghanistan. My last book, Counting the Cost, came out in 2009. It won the Whitney Award in the romance category for that year and was also a finalist for the Willa Award and for two categories (literary and regional) for the Arizona Publishers Association’s Glyph Award.
Which is my favorite? Probably Counting the Cost, as it’s based on family history, although I think I’m proudest of Letters from Afghanistan. Proceeds from sales of the book go to SWAN (Serving Women Across Nations), a charitable foundation founded by my daughters and me that gives microcredit to poor women in Bolivia and Kenya to start small businesses. My daughter Terry is the force behind SWAN. I just sit on the board and look wise. You can go to www.swanforhumanity.org to read about what has been accomplished there.
Link to Counting the Cost book trailer. www.sezlizadair.blogspot.com
Thanks Liz. We'll do more next week!
My favorite genre is Romance with a bit of intrigue. Why? First, because it’s so fun to write. Secondly, I feel that I’m doing good for mankind. Or, make that womankind. A good romance is like a cheap vacation from life’s stresses. That’s what I want to write. Cheap vacations. It’s my service to harried mothers on a tight budget.
Of all the wonderful pieces you’ve written (Please list them all so I don’t miss one or worse, misspell one), which is your favorite?
I’ll list them all, and you can decide if they’re wonderful or not when you read them. My first books published were the first two Spider Latham mysteries, The Lodger and After Goliath, which came out at the same time. They were followed the next year by the third in the series, Snakewater Affair. After that, my publisher wanted a woman as a main character, so I wrote the stand-alone romance/intrigue The Mist of Quarry Harbor. Sometime in there, I edited and published the letters my mother wrote from Afghanistan when she lived there in the 1960’s. The book is called, natch, Lucy Shook’s Letters from Afghanistan. My last book, Counting the Cost, came out in 2009. It won the Whitney Award in the romance category for that year and was also a finalist for the Willa Award and for two categories (literary and regional) for the Arizona Publishers Association’s Glyph Award.
Which is my favorite? Probably Counting the Cost, as it’s based on family history, although I think I’m proudest of Letters from Afghanistan. Proceeds from sales of the book go to SWAN (Serving Women Across Nations), a charitable foundation founded by my daughters and me that gives microcredit to poor women in Bolivia and Kenya to start small businesses. My daughter Terry is the force behind SWAN. I just sit on the board and look wise. You can go to www.swanforhumanity.org to read about what has been accomplished there.
Link to Counting the Cost book trailer. www.sezlizadair.blogspot.com
Thanks Liz. We'll do more next week!
June 21, 2011
Interview with JOSI KILPACK Part two
I know, it's been a long month to wait for the second half, but here it is (and two days early at that!)
Josi, tell me about your dream of becoming a writer.
I didn’t dream of being a writer for long—not as a child, teenager or young adult. The dream never really started for me until I finished my first book—something I thought would be a short story but turned into a novel length women’s fiction novel. I’d enjoyed writing assignments in high-school and loved my college writing classes, but being an author was about as realistic as becoming a brain surgeon and I spent the same amount of time thinking about both possibilities (i.e. no time at all) When I did finish that first book and got feedback from friends I thought I was about the coolest thing since individual cheese slices. I dreamed, then, that my first royalties check would take me and my entire family on an Alaskan cruise before buying me a writing cabin in the woods.
Nice dream, so when did you decide you wanted to write, for real? I mean did that one novel serve as your catalyst?
I was on bed rest with my third pregnancy and in the middle of a two-a-day habit of books my sister picked up from the library for me. I got this idea for a short story and started writing it. Six months later I submitted it to publishers, a year after that I held the finished book in my hand. The feedback I started getting was that though they liked the story, the editing was awful. My first royalty check was for $154.00 dollars. I was embarrassed and decided I needed to do more than just write a good story—I had to learn more about the structure of a novel and the mechanics of fiction. And so I did. My second book came out three years later and it was a story I could be truly proud of. I was later able to go back and revise that first book, which was a blessing.
What does it feel like when you write?
Sometimes it feels like I’m going in circles and trying to distract myself from less desirable chores around the house. Other moments feel like work—simply completing a task. (I'm nodding since I feel the same way at times.) Now and then, however, it feels as comfortable as an old pair of sweats and I get this sensation that writing is one of the reasons I was sent here and that God is pleased with the fact that I have taken this gift and, with His help, turned it into a talent and ability I can be proud of and humbled by. In those moments, I get completely carried away in the world I’m creating—that’s the moments I write for and I hold on to the memory with both hands when it happens.
Wow, either I’m a sucker or that really touch my heart strings. How is that you decided that mystery—cozy mysteries at that, are what IMHO you do best?
I started the first culinary mystery, Lemon Tart, in order to enter a contest a friend was doing (Jeffery S. Savage). He’d asked for a mystery that involved food and so I wrote that one chapter with very little thought about chapter two. It was something totally new to me, as everything else I had written was LDS based, and although I didn’t win the contest (I took 2nd place, though :-) I really enjoyed the story. Over the next two years I worked on it here and there as I continued my LDS market books and had a good time with the challenge of taking on something different. It was my publisher (Deseret Book) who suggested adding recipes and making it an actual culinary mystery. I suggested a series and they agreed to three...and then five...and then eight...and right now it’s open ended so we’ll see where it takes us.
And they are yummy recipes! Where do you find these recipes and have you made most or all of them in your kitchen?
Several of the recipes are ones I’ve made, and pretty much everything that appears in the book has been cooked in my kitchen. I also have a test kitchen who has given me many wonderful recipes and who cook everything and help me get it just right. I could never do this without them!
A recipe expert, huh? And with your very own testing kitchen, wow. Is there a secret recipe to writing a good mystery?
Mysteries have long been known as a very ‘recipe’ driven genre. You have a dead person, a sleuth, some red herrings, a little foreshadowing, unsuspected bad guy, and then you tell the story by working backward from the discovery of the crime until you get back to the moment of ‘impact’ which was actually the inciting incident of the story. It’s all a little bizarre, really, and yet readers of a mystery have very specific expectations when they pick up your book. The challenge is to stick to the recipe but still make it your own; add a little extra kick here and blend the flavor differently there but still present the expected dish to your readers. I’ve really enjoyed writing in this genre and learning all the little tricks to make it work.
Josi, you write so well. thank you for spending this time with us.
Here's a reminder of Josi's published work. (I just finished Key Lime Pie and can't wait to try some of the recipes!)
Earning Eternity (CFI 2000)
Surrounded By Strangers (CFI 2003)
Tempest Tossed (CFI 2004)
Star Struck (CFI 2005)
To Have or to Hold (CFI 2005)
Unsung Lullaby (Deseret Book 2006)
Sheep’s Clothing (Deseret Book 2007)
Her Good Name (Deseret Book 2008)
Lemon Tart (Deseret Book 2009)
English Trifle (Deseret Book 2009)
Devil’s Food Cake (Deseret Book 2010)
Key Lime Pie (Deseret book 2010)
Blackberry Crumble (Deseret Book 2011).
Coming soon:
Pumpkin Roll (Fall 2011)
Banana Split (Spring 2012)
Josi, tell me about your dream of becoming a writer.
I didn’t dream of being a writer for long—not as a child, teenager or young adult. The dream never really started for me until I finished my first book—something I thought would be a short story but turned into a novel length women’s fiction novel. I’d enjoyed writing assignments in high-school and loved my college writing classes, but being an author was about as realistic as becoming a brain surgeon and I spent the same amount of time thinking about both possibilities (i.e. no time at all) When I did finish that first book and got feedback from friends I thought I was about the coolest thing since individual cheese slices. I dreamed, then, that my first royalties check would take me and my entire family on an Alaskan cruise before buying me a writing cabin in the woods.
Nice dream, so when did you decide you wanted to write, for real? I mean did that one novel serve as your catalyst?
I was on bed rest with my third pregnancy and in the middle of a two-a-day habit of books my sister picked up from the library for me. I got this idea for a short story and started writing it. Six months later I submitted it to publishers, a year after that I held the finished book in my hand. The feedback I started getting was that though they liked the story, the editing was awful. My first royalty check was for $154.00 dollars. I was embarrassed and decided I needed to do more than just write a good story—I had to learn more about the structure of a novel and the mechanics of fiction. And so I did. My second book came out three years later and it was a story I could be truly proud of. I was later able to go back and revise that first book, which was a blessing.
What does it feel like when you write?
Sometimes it feels like I’m going in circles and trying to distract myself from less desirable chores around the house. Other moments feel like work—simply completing a task. (I'm nodding since I feel the same way at times.) Now and then, however, it feels as comfortable as an old pair of sweats and I get this sensation that writing is one of the reasons I was sent here and that God is pleased with the fact that I have taken this gift and, with His help, turned it into a talent and ability I can be proud of and humbled by. In those moments, I get completely carried away in the world I’m creating—that’s the moments I write for and I hold on to the memory with both hands when it happens.
Wow, either I’m a sucker or that really touch my heart strings. How is that you decided that mystery—cozy mysteries at that, are what IMHO you do best?
I started the first culinary mystery, Lemon Tart, in order to enter a contest a friend was doing (Jeffery S. Savage). He’d asked for a mystery that involved food and so I wrote that one chapter with very little thought about chapter two. It was something totally new to me, as everything else I had written was LDS based, and although I didn’t win the contest (I took 2nd place, though :-) I really enjoyed the story. Over the next two years I worked on it here and there as I continued my LDS market books and had a good time with the challenge of taking on something different. It was my publisher (Deseret Book) who suggested adding recipes and making it an actual culinary mystery. I suggested a series and they agreed to three...and then five...and then eight...and right now it’s open ended so we’ll see where it takes us.
And they are yummy recipes! Where do you find these recipes and have you made most or all of them in your kitchen?
Several of the recipes are ones I’ve made, and pretty much everything that appears in the book has been cooked in my kitchen. I also have a test kitchen who has given me many wonderful recipes and who cook everything and help me get it just right. I could never do this without them!
A recipe expert, huh? And with your very own testing kitchen, wow. Is there a secret recipe to writing a good mystery?
Mysteries have long been known as a very ‘recipe’ driven genre. You have a dead person, a sleuth, some red herrings, a little foreshadowing, unsuspected bad guy, and then you tell the story by working backward from the discovery of the crime until you get back to the moment of ‘impact’ which was actually the inciting incident of the story. It’s all a little bizarre, really, and yet readers of a mystery have very specific expectations when they pick up your book. The challenge is to stick to the recipe but still make it your own; add a little extra kick here and blend the flavor differently there but still present the expected dish to your readers. I’ve really enjoyed writing in this genre and learning all the little tricks to make it work.
Josi, you write so well. thank you for spending this time with us.
Here's a reminder of Josi's published work. (I just finished Key Lime Pie and can't wait to try some of the recipes!)
Earning Eternity (CFI 2000)
Surrounded By Strangers (CFI 2003)
Tempest Tossed (CFI 2004)
Star Struck (CFI 2005)
To Have or to Hold (CFI 2005)
Unsung Lullaby (Deseret Book 2006)
Sheep’s Clothing (Deseret Book 2007)
Her Good Name (Deseret Book 2008)
Lemon Tart (Deseret Book 2009)
English Trifle (Deseret Book 2009)
Devil’s Food Cake (Deseret Book 2010)
Key Lime Pie (Deseret book 2010)
Blackberry Crumble (Deseret Book 2011).
Coming soon:
Pumpkin Roll (Fall 2011)
Banana Split (Spring 2012)
May 23, 2011
INTERVIEW WITH MYSTERY WRITER JOSI KILPACK
I love cozy mysteries and have since Murder She Wrote enraptured me as a teenager. Today I’m visiting with Josi Kilpack, author of some rather yummy culinary mysteries. Come on in a take a seat or hang on the wall! Josi is a facinating lady and we had so much fun, I'll have to share more with you later this summer.
Josi, what is your favorite genre? And why?
To write, I really enjoy mysteries, specifically the cozies that don’t have the gratuitousness some other subgenre’s have. I like it when the ‘gore’ gets to be hidden but is still intense. To read, I enjoy lots of genres so long as they have strong characters. Characters make or break a book for me and I find some authors do better with characters than others. I love Sue Graphton, who writes suspense thrillers, but I also love Leif Enger who writes literary pieces. I’m also a John Grisham and JK Rowling fan, with a little Susan Evans Phillips thrown in now and again. I’m eclectic in my genres, but picky in the books I’ll actually finish. I would guess I only finish about 1/3 of the books I pick up these days—it really has to grab me to make it worth investing my time into the story and its characters who grab me more than plot.
Picky reader—I’ll have to remember that. Of all the wonderful pieces you’ve written (Please list them all so I don’t miss one or worse, misspell one), which is your favorite?
So far I’ve published 13 novels: Earning Eternity (CFI 2000), Surrounded By Strangers (CFI 2003), Tempest Tossed (CFI 2004), Star Struck (CFI 2005), To Have or to Hold (CFI 2005), Unsung Lullaby (Deseret Book 2006), Sheep’s Clothing (Deseret Book 2007—Whitney Award Winner), Her Good Name (Deseret Book 2008), Lemon Tart (Deseret Book 2009—Whitney Award Finalist), English Trifle (Deseret Book 2009), Devil’s Food Cake (Deseret Book 2010), Key Lime Pie (Deseret Book 2010), and Blackberry Crumble (Deseret Book 2011). There is something about every one of them that I love and there isn’t a single one that when I reflect back to it doesn’t stand out as an essential part of my journey. Tempest Tossed was a very personal book for me as I explored some things that have influenced my life personally. To Have or to Hold was the fulfillment of a challenge I’d made to myself to write a common historical romance theme (marriage of convenience) in a modern setting. Lemon Tart was an important growth spurt for me where I really put myself into a new think tank and changed my career. I love Devil’s Food Cake, though, because I just kept upping the ante with myself and the story really captured me. I guess that’s a lousy answer to your question, sorry.
Maybe you didn’t tell us your fav, but that is an impressive list of work, an even dozen to date. For those of my readers that may not know, CFI is Cedar Fort Inc. A publishing house in Springville, Utah.
Tell me about your all time favorite character (of your creating.) Sadie, of your mystery series, perhaps? Is she modeled after a real person?
Another tough question! I do love Sadie, but she wears me out and sometimes I’ll be writing and just shaking my head at her. She isn’t patterned after any one person, but has attributes of several people I know or have encountered. She’s very much her own person, but a lot of fun to write. I’ll always have a deep bond with Kim (Earning Eternity), the first character who ever became real in my mind and Andrew from To Have or to Hold has many features of my husband, so he’s always someone I’m warm and fuzzy toward. Again, each of my characters holds something special—often an aspect of me or my life that I hope other people can relate to as well so it’s hard to choose any one above another.
Sadie wears me out as a reader and as a writer I doubt I could generate her energy. Well done. I’ll have to meet Kim and Andrew in the near future. A hint to the next title? . . .
I’ve just turned in Pumpkin Roll, which will be out this fall (2011). It takes place in Boston and has a Halloween feel to it. As soon as that was handed in, I got to work on book seven, Banana Split which will be out in spring 2012. Banana Split takes place on the island of Kauai in Hawaii and so far is a lot of fun.
You’re quite a prolific author, Josi. Readers, did you here? Not one but two new titles to watch for…
Anything else you want to share . . .
Here’s a link to all my books on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Josi+S.+Kilpack&x=0&y=0
I promise to share Josi's recipe for writing wonderful murder mysteries later this summer. You're welcome to drop me a line (comment) and pester me for it sooner than later, I won't mind.
Josi, what is your favorite genre? And why?
To write, I really enjoy mysteries, specifically the cozies that don’t have the gratuitousness some other subgenre’s have. I like it when the ‘gore’ gets to be hidden but is still intense. To read, I enjoy lots of genres so long as they have strong characters. Characters make or break a book for me and I find some authors do better with characters than others. I love Sue Graphton, who writes suspense thrillers, but I also love Leif Enger who writes literary pieces. I’m also a John Grisham and JK Rowling fan, with a little Susan Evans Phillips thrown in now and again. I’m eclectic in my genres, but picky in the books I’ll actually finish. I would guess I only finish about 1/3 of the books I pick up these days—it really has to grab me to make it worth investing my time into the story and its characters who grab me more than plot.
Picky reader—I’ll have to remember that. Of all the wonderful pieces you’ve written (Please list them all so I don’t miss one or worse, misspell one), which is your favorite?
So far I’ve published 13 novels: Earning Eternity (CFI 2000), Surrounded By Strangers (CFI 2003), Tempest Tossed (CFI 2004), Star Struck (CFI 2005), To Have or to Hold (CFI 2005), Unsung Lullaby (Deseret Book 2006), Sheep’s Clothing (Deseret Book 2007—Whitney Award Winner), Her Good Name (Deseret Book 2008), Lemon Tart (Deseret Book 2009—Whitney Award Finalist), English Trifle (Deseret Book 2009), Devil’s Food Cake (Deseret Book 2010), Key Lime Pie (Deseret Book 2010), and Blackberry Crumble (Deseret Book 2011). There is something about every one of them that I love and there isn’t a single one that when I reflect back to it doesn’t stand out as an essential part of my journey. Tempest Tossed was a very personal book for me as I explored some things that have influenced my life personally. To Have or to Hold was the fulfillment of a challenge I’d made to myself to write a common historical romance theme (marriage of convenience) in a modern setting. Lemon Tart was an important growth spurt for me where I really put myself into a new think tank and changed my career. I love Devil’s Food Cake, though, because I just kept upping the ante with myself and the story really captured me. I guess that’s a lousy answer to your question, sorry.
Maybe you didn’t tell us your fav, but that is an impressive list of work, an even dozen to date. For those of my readers that may not know, CFI is Cedar Fort Inc. A publishing house in Springville, Utah.
Tell me about your all time favorite character (of your creating.) Sadie, of your mystery series, perhaps? Is she modeled after a real person?
Another tough question! I do love Sadie, but she wears me out and sometimes I’ll be writing and just shaking my head at her. She isn’t patterned after any one person, but has attributes of several people I know or have encountered. She’s very much her own person, but a lot of fun to write. I’ll always have a deep bond with Kim (Earning Eternity), the first character who ever became real in my mind and Andrew from To Have or to Hold has many features of my husband, so he’s always someone I’m warm and fuzzy toward. Again, each of my characters holds something special—often an aspect of me or my life that I hope other people can relate to as well so it’s hard to choose any one above another.
Sadie wears me out as a reader and as a writer I doubt I could generate her energy. Well done. I’ll have to meet Kim and Andrew in the near future. A hint to the next title? . . .
I’ve just turned in Pumpkin Roll, which will be out this fall (2011). It takes place in Boston and has a Halloween feel to it. As soon as that was handed in, I got to work on book seven, Banana Split which will be out in spring 2012. Banana Split takes place on the island of Kauai in Hawaii and so far is a lot of fun.
You’re quite a prolific author, Josi. Readers, did you here? Not one but two new titles to watch for…
Anything else you want to share . . .
Here’s a link to all my books on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Josi+S.+Kilpack&x=0&y=0
I promise to share Josi's recipe for writing wonderful murder mysteries later this summer. You're welcome to drop me a line (comment) and pester me for it sooner than later, I won't mind.
April 22, 2011
Haunts Haven by Joan Sowards
Callie Wilford inherited a century-old inn in southern Arizona. She didn't believe in ghosts although many of the town people told her about the ghost who guards the inn. She is determined to turn her inheritance into a bed and breakfast no matter what she comes up against. Callie meets a handsome cowboy and a charming rancher and now her heart is in trouble. Which man will she choose?
Haunts Haven is a great story to just curl up on the couch and get away from the world. A ghost story that is not scary but has twists and turns with a few surprises. Joan Sowards is a great story teller and I enjoyed this book tremendously. A mystery, romance I didn't want to put down.
To buy Haunts Haven see:
http://www.amazon.com/Haunts-Haven-Joan-Sowards/dp/1935217313/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
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This wreath I just finished. For sale at $25.00. Comment if you are interested in buying or if you were looking at another of my creations! ...
