My Ten Favorite Things about Writing LICENSE TO DILL
By Mary Ellen Hughes
Starting a new series is always exciting, but it’s also plenty of hard, intensive work. There’s so many decisions to make, such as where to set it, who your characters will be, their relationships, and so on, which is what I went through with THE PICKLED PIPER, book #1 of my Pickled and Preserved mystery series. After careful thought, I chose upstate New York as my setting and named my fictional town Cloverdale. I sent my twenty-nine year old principal character, Piper Lamb, there from Albany after she ended her going-nowhere engagement. And I put Piper’s Aunt Judy and Uncle Frank on a nearby farm, gave Piper a great assistant for her pickling shop, and introduced Piper to Will, a handsome Christmas tree farmer. So all the important decisions were made with book #1.
Book #2, LICENSE TO DILL, by comparison, turned out to be a breeze. Everything was set up and ready to go! All I needed to do was write the mystery (“all” she added, laughingly). But having already done the ground work, I could now relax and focus on the plot, which became the first of my…
Ten Favorite Things About Writing License to Dill:
1. My characters, after a couple of weeks of rest, were super-eager for action. They practically snatched the pages from me to get back to work.
2. Piper and her new boyfriend, Will, had progressed beyond the awkward getting-to-know-you stage and were pretty happy and comfortable with each other.
3. Of course, I couldn’t let that continue, so I brought Piper’s ex-fiancé, Scott, back from his travels, and he decided to settle in Cloverdale. (Uh-oh.)
4. I imported an entire soccer team of handsome young men from Italy to challenge Cloverdale’s All-Stars, which meant writing exciting soccer scenes. I now understand the game much better!
5. The Italian team’s coach and manager occasionally spoke Italian. With the help of a Italian-born friend, I learned several useful Italian phrases and sometimes found myself writing with an Italian accent!
6. Since a dill field figures importantly in the murder, I learned—and shared in the book—quite a bit about growing and using fresh dill. I could practically smell that wonderful weed as I typed.
7. Since Piper makes all the pickles and preserves for her shop herself (with the help of her assistant, Amy), I kept various pickles on hand, because writing pickling scenes was sure to bring on a craving.
8. Piper spends plenty of time with her Aunt Judy and Uncle Frank at their farm. Whenever Piper drove up, Jack, their mixed-breed dog went crazy with excitement. I, unfortunately, am allergic to dogs, but I could enjoy petting Jack vicariously through Piper—with no sneezes!
9. While looking into the murder, Piper meets several people in the Cloverdale area with new-to-me occupations. I particularly loved writing about the chainsaw sculptor and will have to seriously consider bringing him back some day.
10. After spending months with Piper and all the people of Cloverdale in THE PICKLED PIPER, I became pretty fond of them. (Well, most of them. There was, after all, a murderer in the mix.) But writing LICENSE TO DILL was like going to a reunion—lots of fun getting reacquainted with everyone. But I do hope they’ve forgiven me by now for what I’ve put them through…
About the Author:
Mary Ellen Hughes is the author of the Craft Corner mystery series – WREATH OF DECEPTION, STRING OF LIES, and PAPER-THIN ALIBI – as well as the Maggie Olenski mysteries – RESORT TO MURDER and A TASTE OF DEATH.
She has also authored several short stories, including THE WOMAN ON THE TRAIN, and short mysteries included in the Chesapeake Crimes and Tales from the Backlist anthologies.
A transplanted Wisconsinite, Mary Ellen now lives in Maryland where she is excited to be working on her new Pickled and Preserved mystery series beginning with THE PICKLED PIPER.
Piper Lamb knows how to make fruits and vegetables keep for months. Unfortunately, it’s the people around her who are expiring too soon…
After her fiancé left her, Piper came to Cloverdale to rebuild her life and open up her shop, Piper’s Picklings, to sell pickles and preserves. When her ex decides to drop in for a visit—just as things are heating up between her and a local Christmas tree farmer—Piper finds herself in a jam. But there are other visitors to worry about…
An Italian soccer team is set to play the Cloverdale All-Stars in an exhibition game. Their manager, Raffaele Conti, was a bitter rival of Piper’s dill supplier, local farmer Gerald Standley. After Conti is found dead in Standley’s field, Piper must work to clear Gerald’s name and find out who relished killing Raffaele before the town is soured by another death.
Jennifer’s Review of License To Dill
Review (4 Stars): The thing I liked about this series was that you really felt like you were a part of this small town community while reading these mysteries. Piper is settling into life as store owner of Piper’s Picklings when she learns that her ex is coming to town for a visit. After being gone six months, Scott is under the impression that they can continue where they left off but Piper has moved on and is now seeing Will, the local Christmas tree farmer. While Piper is dealing with her ex, the town is gearing up for an exhibition soccer game between the Cloverdale All-Stars and an Italian semi-professional team. It is a bitter rivalry between the teams and soon the body of the Italian team’s manager, Raffaele Conti, is found in the field of Gerald Standley. Gerald and Raffaele knew each other from high school and it is no surprise that someone wanted the irritating Italian dead. Now, Piper must find the clues to prevent Gerald from going to jail for a crime that he didn’t commit.
License To Dill was a fun, entertaining and mouthwatering mystery that had me craving more of this sassy heroine. I liked Piper from the very beginning and I felt bad that she kept trying to convince her ex that it was over between them to no avail. The mystery was very fast-paced and exciting and you could definitely see why there was a long list of suspects that wanted Raffaele dead. This is the second book in the Pickled Preserved mystery series and I can’t wait to go back to spend more time with the residents of Cloverdale, New York.
Giveaway
I’m excited to give away a copy of License To Dill. This giveaway is for US Residents only. To be entered in the drawing by February 18th, please leave me a comment below:
Love the title; thanks for the chance, it looks great 🙂
jslbrown2009(at)aol(dot)com
Love the artwork on the cover. I own the first book in this series and would be thrilled to add this one to my home library collection.
funny title
Sounds like a fun read—thanks for the chance to win a copy!
Another fantastic book to add to my “to Read” list!
Would love to win this, have heard so many good things about it.
It sounds like a fun read. I love the cute cover. Thanks for having the giveaway.
Pickled and Preserved mystery series book sounds like fun! Thank you for the review and giveaway.
myrifraf(at)gmail(dot)com
Sounds like a fun book! Please enter me for a chance to win one.
Really cute and colorful cover. Thanks for the review and giveaway opportunity. kuzlin at aol.com
Sounds like a great new cozy.
I enjoyed the first book, and can’t wait to see what Piper gets into next. In the summer, I like to pick a couple of dill heads and place them in a vase in the kitchen. Their scent is wonderful; it smells like summer! So favorite thing #6 made me smile. I am planning on a lot more canning and pickling this summer while I have the time. I’m sure to pick up a hint or two from Piper.
Sound like a good new series.
kaye dot killgore at comcast dot net
I’d love to win. I’ve been wanting this series. I’ve read some of her other books.
catbooks72(at)gmail(dot)com
What a great title! My daughter has played a lot of soccer, it will be fun to read and understand that part of the book! Thanks for the chance to win!
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com
It sounds like a great series and it’s a cute title.
mce1011 AT aol DOT com
I admit I haven’t read the first yet, but I’m looking forward to catching up with The Pickled Piper as well as reading what sounds like a very good sequel. Thanks for the chance to win.