Category: Jennifer’s Review

The Counterfeit Lady and the Naval Arms Race

by Kate Parker

The idea behind The Counterfeit Lady came from a conversation I had with my brother about the naval arms race of the 1890s. I realize most people don’t discuss historical topics with their brothers, but our parents read widely and we absorbed their interests. My brother’s favorite subject is U.S. History, and my favorite time period is 1890-1914. It’s no wonder after “how’s the family” and “how’s the job,” we start talking about historical figures and issues.

In our family, we find it perfectly normal.

I mentioned something about dreadnoughts, the super battleships first built in 1906, and my brother started talking about the naval arms race that began in 1890. It seems that economic and technological changes in shipbuilding and warfare began an intense competition between Britain, France, and Russia. Britain wanted to keep a numerical superiority over the next two navies combined to preserve her safety as an island and her connection to her colonies.

In 1890, second and third place belonged to France and Russia, and they were also keen to keep their fleets modern. This was the beginning of the age of the battleship.

By the end of the century, the U.S., Germany, Italy, Austria, and Japan were also in the race to build the fastest, most heavily armored battleships with the biggest guns on the ocean.

And that got me thinking. What if a brilliant British naval architect dreams up something as game changing as the dreadnought ten years earlier? And what if spies for some of these rival nations wanted to steal the designs for this new and improved warship?

Georgia Fenchurch and the Archivist Society wouldn’t ordinarily get mixed up in espionage, but what if the naval architect was charged with a murder when a set of the plans disappeared? The Duke of Blackford, a valued member of government because of his seat in the House of Lords and his contacts throughout Europe, would certainly be called in at such a crisis. And the duke would call on Georgia and her friends to bring their special talents to solving the problem.

What if Georgia has a special connection to this ship designer and this murder? What if the murdered woman, the wife of the naval architect, is a cousin of Lady Phyllida Monthalf? Since Georgia has no relatives, Phyllida and Emma Keyes make up Georgia’s “family” and live in her home with her. Phyllida will want her cousin’s killer found. Now solving this murder becomes personal to Georgia, and she’ll be willing to be a counterfeit lady.

It’s amazing what can happen when my brother and I start talking about history.

And so The Counterfeit Lady, coming from Berkley Prime Crime on August 5th, was born.

About the Author:

Kate Parker has held a variety of careers, including microbiologist in two hospitals, insurance fraud investigator, office clerk, telephone line repairer, and emergency medical technician, but her favorite is writer. Only as a writer can she travel to different locales and centuries.

In the last four years, since she switched from Romantic Suspense to Historical Romance, she has finaled three times in RWA’s Golden Heart® contest with three different manuscripts. Now she’s made the switch to historical mysteries with romantic elements, featuring the twists and turns and dead ends of her favorite mystery writers, including Robert Barnard, Simon Brett, Margaret Frazer, Susanna Gregory, and Deanna Raybourn. When she comes back to the present day, Kate finds herself near the coast of North Carolina with her real life hero, nineteenth century architecture and twenty-first century comforts.

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Who would suspect antiquarian bookseller Georgia Fenchurch of leading a double life—as a private investigator for the clandestine Archivist Society in Victorian London? When England’s national security is compromised, Georgia must pose as a titled lady to root out a spy…

A cousin of Georgia’s dear friend, Lady Phyllida Monthalf, is brutally murdered in her home during the theft of blueprints of a new battleship designed by her husband—who now stands accused of her murder…and treason. The Duke of Blackford, in service to Whitehall, enlists Georgia and the Archivist Society to assist in the investigation. Playing the part of the duke’s new paramour, Georgia gains entry into the upper echelons of London’s elite, where amidst elegant dinners and elaborate parties a master spy schemes to lay hands on the stolen plans.

The duke is no stranger to the world of international espionage, but Georgia is out of her element in more ways than one. She must not allow her genuine attraction to the duke—or her obsession with finding her parents’ killer—to distract her from her role. But when a mysterious stranger threatens to expose her, the counterfeit lady may be in real trouble…

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Jennifer’s Review of The Counterfeit Lady

Review (4.5 Stars): I was immediately drawn into this mystery from the very first page and I have to say that The Counterfeit Lady may be one of my favorite mysteries so far this year.  I enjoy historical mysteries and found myself immersed in Victorian London and enjoying the investigative skills of Georgia and The Duke of Blackford.  In this story, Georgia is summoned to help clear the name of a dear friend of Lady Phyllida Monthalf, who has been wrongfully accused of killing his wife.  All evidence points to his guilt, but Georgia feels that something isn’t quite right with the scene of the crime.  Now, Georgia has to infiltrate the elite of society to find the answers that she seeks, but she may have gotten herself involved in something that may put her own life in jeopardy.

The Counterfeit Lady is a captivating historical mystery that will keep you entertained for hours.  I loved the fact that Georgia ran a bookstore but also was a private investigator in her spare time.  She was smart, loyal and had the gentle yet persuasive type of personality that was able to get her the answers that she was looking for in an investigation.  This is the second book in the series so I suggest that everyone start with The Vanishing Thief before this book so you can meet Georgia from the very beginning.  Delightful series and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Death of a Crabby Cook

by Penny Pike

I have heartburn.

It’s from all the research I’ve been doing for the first book in my new series, DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK, featuring food trucks and food festivals. But if eating a lot of different foods is the price I must pay to make sure my story is authentic, then so be it. Could be worse. I could be writing a book about insects and have to do research on the larvae cycle of the tse-tse fly. Luckily I chose food.

I had my first food truck experience 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.

Now, I’m not the adventurous type when it comes to trying new foods. When I go out to dinner, I order the same foods at the same restaurants—rigatoni Bolognese at the Italian place,  cheese enchilada at the Mexican place, and teriyaki at the Japanese place. So I was a little hesitant to sample the wares from trucks named Kung Fu Tacos, Happy Dumplings, The Boneyard, Fins on the Hoof, Me So Hungry, and Naked Chorizo.

Turned out I liked just about everything!

Now that food trucks have finally come to my hometown, I can please my inner glutton every weekend—and combine it with research for my new series. I head over planning to have just “one bite” of everything, and end up stuffed to the gills.

Here’s my typical game plan: I start my research at Cluck it Up, ordered garlic parmesan wings, and called that the appetizer. Next stop: the Grilled Cheese Bandit, where the sandwiches are named after folk legends like Jesse James and Butch Cassidy. I had the Giuliani (a folk legend?), a grilled mozzarella, parmesan, tomato and pesto sandwich, and called it lunch.

After that it was a blur. A Peruvian pork sandwich from Sanguchon. A burrito cone from Twister. A Coca Cola braised pork sandwich from the Chairman. And I’d only made it half way through the trucks. Luckily I had just enough room for dessert. I managed to down two cream puffs from the Pacific Puffs truck—chocolate and salted caramel—before I spotted the Frozen Kuhsterd truck and had to have the ice-creamy sundae with caramel, chocolate and salted almonds. I knew, with a hospital located right across the street, I could seek medical attention after this food orgy if needed.

These visits to the local food trucks were my inspiration to write a series set among the food truck community. 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 Fest. 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. Combined with the local food festivals—The Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival, Gilroy Garlic Festival, Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival—she’s sure the book will be a best-seller, filled with recipes for such tasty treats as “Red Velvet Whoopee Pies,” “Garlic Ice Cream,” Key Lime Cream Puffs,” “Cronut Dossaints” (croissants crossed with donuts) and so on.  (Recipes included in the book!)

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 (Abigail Pike), 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.

Writing DEATH OF A CRABBY COOK was such an inspiration, I’m thinking of opening my own food truck.  I plan to serve Vanilla Zantac, Chocolate Prilosec, Curry Maalox, Grilled Pepto, and Tums-on-a-Stick. I think it will be a hit.

About the Author:

I’ve been writing since I read my first Nancy Drew in 6th grade. Since then I’ve had over 50 books published, fiction and non-fiction, for adults and children. I’ve been lucky — my books have won national awards, garnered excellent reviews, and have been printed in 14 countries, including Russia, France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, India, Israel, Poland, Japan, and China. My best-sellers include Healthy Snacks for Kids, Kids’ Party Games and Activities, Best Party Book, Games People Play, Kids’ Holiday Fun, Learn to Sign the Fun Way, Baby Play and Learn, Kids Pick-A-Party, and Kids’ Party Cookbook.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Child Development and a Master’s degree in Special Education, and I’ve been teaching child development at the local college for over 20 years. I also teach writing tips at conferences across the country, including Pikes Peak, Whidbey Island, San Francisco, Jack London, and dozens of others. I belong to Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, SCBWI, Women Writing the West, and California Writers Club.

I live in Danville, California, have two grown children, and four adorable grandchildren.

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At the San Francisco Seafood Festival, someone is steamed enough to kill a cook….

When restaurant reviewer Darcy Burnett gets served a pink slip from the San Francisco Chronicle, she needs to come up with an alternative recipe for success quickly. Her feisty aunt Abby owns a tricked-out school bus, which she’s converted into a hip and happening food truck, and Darcy comes aboard as a part-timer while she develops a cookbook project based on recipes from food fests in the Bay Area.

But she soon finds someone’s been trafficking in character assassination—literally—when a local chef turns up dead and her aunt is framed for the murder. The restaurant chef was an outspoken enemy of food trucks, and now Darcy wonders if one of the other vendors did him in. With her aunt’s business—and freedom—on the line, it’s up to Darcy to steer the murder investigation in the right direction and put the brakes on an out-of-control killer….

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Jennifer’s Review of Death of a Crabby Cook

Review (4 Stars):  What a great start to a delightful series!  I love culinary mysteries and I instantly liked the main character, Darcy, who finds herself working for her aunt’s food truck after losing her job at the newspaper.  Darcy is spunky and fun, and has a horrible “addiction” to creme puffs which just happened to be made by the handsome Jake, who is a fellow food truck owner.  Darcy finds herself involved in a mystery when an owner of a nearby restaurant is found dead and her beloved aunt is the prime suspect in his murder.  Looking for clues, Darcy finds that everyone disliked the victim and each of them had plenty of reasons to want him dead.  When another food truck owner is found dead as well, Darcy must find the killer quickly before she is next on the chopping list.

Death of a Crabby Cook is fast-paced culinary mystery that will leave you wanting seconds.  The characters are fun and engaging and I enjoyed learning about the day to day life of running a food truck.  Ms. Pike has created a delightful new series that I’m sure will be a hit and I’m looking forward to readingt the next installment, Death of a Chocolate Cheater, which will be out sometime next year.

Plan B

by Betty Hechtman

Even though SILENCE OF THE LAMB’S WOOL is the eleventh book I’ve written, I still hit the same wall.  There I was sitting down at my computer, synopsis in hand, expecting to start banging away at the keys and have the book pour out.  Not exactly.  I’d type a few words and stop.  Maybe a whole paragraph even and then backspace it all out.  I tried again and again, but every sentence seemed to turn into a dead end street.  Eternity seemed to pass as I sat there willing myself to come up with the beginning.

And then panic ensued.  If I couldn’t even do the first page, how could I write a whole book?  I always seem to forget that this happened before, like with almost every book.  Luckily I did remember I had a Plan B.

It called for me to abandon the computer and head for the kitchen with a yellow legal pad and my favorite kind of pen, a Sharpie fine point. A cup of coffee helps too.  Suddenly there was no pressure.  No blank screen staring at me.  And then as if by magic the words started to come and I began to hand write them all down.  There were stops and starts and lots of arrows pointing to where things continue, and scribbles in the margins, but I turned out a lot of pages.  Could it be there is a special connection between my imagination and my right hand?  I don’t know, but all I can say is thank heavens it works.

It might come from a practice I started a long time ago.  In the early 90s THE creative advice book was The Artist’s Way.  One of the exercises was doing something called morning pages.  I think it was supposed to be three pages and you were just supposed to write more or less a stream of consciousness without any inner editor telling you that what you were writing might stink.  Not one to follow rules, I changed it to become sort of a mixture of a diary, an inner conversation, notes on dreams, story ideas and whatever else was on my mind.  Writing three pages was easy, stopping at three pages was hard.  I have boxes and boxes of assorted notebooks of all those pages.

It has become a habit and I still do it first thing every morning.

But back to the yellow legal pad and pen.  It worked like it has before.  I had a whole pad filled before I went back to the computer.  Of course, since my pen tends to race over the page, my handwriting suffers i.e. a lot of it was unreadable even to me the person who wrote it.  It doesn’t really matter because I have found that while I bring the pad full of pages back to the computer.  I almost never look at them.  By then it is all in my head.

I don’t even notice the blank screen anymore.  I am too lost in the story.

Finally, finally as I’m starting another book I think I have figured it out.  Don’t wast time trying to start out on the computer.  Let Plan B become Plan A.  Try it.  It might work for you.

About the Author:

SILENCE OF THE LAMB’S WOOL is the second book in the national bestselling Yarn Retreat series that features dessert chef Casey Feldstein who puts on yarn retreats at a slightly sinister hotel and conference center on California’s Monterey peninsula.  Betty Hechtman also writes the national bestselling Crochet mystery series.  All books in both series include patterns and recipes. She says it is like a dream come true to be able mix her love of mystery with her love of making things.  She grew up in Chicago and has a degree in Fine Art.  In addition she has studied everything from improv comedy to magic.  She has written newspaper and magazine pieces, short stories and scripts.  She lives in Southern California and Chicago and has yarn stashes in both cities.

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Dessert chef Casey Feldstein has learned one end of a knitting needle from the other after inheriting her aunt’s yarn retreat business, but a murder threatens to unravel her latest event . . .

Casey’s running a new retreat called “From Sheep to Shawl” at a resort on the atmospheric Monterey Peninsula. Participants will learn about sheepshearing, fixing up the fleece, and spinning, and will eventually knit a lovely shawl.

Nicole Welton has been hired to teach the fleece-to-fiber portion of the retreat. She’s an expert spinner, and her small shop in Cadbury by the Sea houses a beautiful assortment of spinning wheels and drop spindles. But when the new teacher fails to show up for class and is found lying dead on the boardwalk, it leaves everyone’s nerves frayed.

Now Casey has to knit together clues faster than she can count stitches before someone else at the retreat gets dropped . . .

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Jennifer’s Review of Silence of the Lamb’s Wool

Review (4.25 Stars): Casey Feldstein runs Yarn2Go, a business that holds idyllic retreats for knitters in the beautiful town of Cadbury by the Sea.  In the second installment of the series, Casey is holding a bigger retreat for guests focusing on taking wool from a sheep and following the process of making it into a shawl.  The teacher that is supposed to help Casey with this retreat is found dead of an apparent suicide and Casey is stuck trying to figure out what to do for her 20 guests.  When things don’t start to add up for the teacher’s death, Casey decides to use her investigating skills again to find out whether it was actually suicide or murder.

Silence of the Lamb’s Wool is a great little mystery where the secondary characters are just as fun as the main character.  Casey is slowly finding her way in organizing yarn retreats after inheriting her aunt’s business and I love that she doesn’t have everything together like some characters.  She is very sweet and has no idea what she wants to do with her life and that is one of the reasons I like this character.  I also like the members of her yarn retreats, that we first met in Yarn to Go.  We spend more time with these characters in this book, I love each of their personalities.  The mystery in Silence of the Lamb’s Wool is very entertaining and I like that we learn more about knitting as the book progresses.  I’m not a knitter but after reading Casey’s adventures in the world of knitting, I want to pick up a couple of knitting needles and give it a try.  This is a great series and I’m looking forward to reading more adventures with Casey and her knitting group in the future.

Guest Post

by Jessie Crockett

When I go to author talks and book signings some of the questions I am often asked are why I write mysteries (because I love to read them) or where I get my ideas (the grocer). People want to know about my work habits (erratic) or the process of getting published (grueling). I’ve even been asked about the sorts of snacks I eat while working away on a tight deadline (baby carrots).

Something I have never been asked is why I set my books in tiny towns in New Hampshire.  Granted, since most of my events are held in New England, the people attending the talk have no reason to ask such a question.  They know why New Hampshire is a great setting for a mystery series.

People who live here know New Hampshire might be worth choosing just on account of the natural beauty of the mountains, lakes and coastline.  There are also the man-made features like charming villages filled with historic buildings, the stone walls zig-zagging through the woods and the delightful surprise of covered bridges.

The weather in here also supports mysterious doings as anyone who has ever survived a winter in New England can tell you.  After months on end of being cooped up with the family it is easy to imagine old arguments becoming dangerous.  Treacherously icy roads provide ample opportunity to fake fatal accidents.  Even mud season and black flies can push upstanding citizens over the edge.  After all, with so many acres of undeveloped land there are plenty of places to hide a body, at least once the ground thaws out.

New Hampshire is full of people who inspire great characters too.  It’s easy to imagine all that independent spirit and stoicism along with a heaping helping of forthrightness and cantankerousness giving rise to all sorts of criminal possibilities.

There’s also the fact that the past is always present in New Hampshire.  A walk in the woods is likely to reveal a tumbled down sugarhouse or cellar hole.  A leisurely drive on a sunny afternoon might easily take you past an overgrown cemetery hidden beneath a stand of maples.  But along with all the nostalgia and charm there is also the darker side of the past.  Behind the front door of any antique cape long memories, old grudges, family secrets and unforgiven debts might just be lurking.  The contrast between the white picket fences and skeletons in the closets makes for fertile soil for mystery writers as well as readers.

If you have the opportunity to visit New Hampshire in person or as an armchair traveller, I think you’ll agree it is the perfect spot for sightseeing, antiquing and even the occasional mystery.

About the Author:

A nearly life-long resident of the Granite State, Jessie naturally adores black flies, 98% humidity, killing frosts in August and snow banks taller than the average grandmother.

When not working on her next murderous adventure she enthusiastically combs the beach, designs bento lunches and throws parties. She delights in mentoring young writers at local schools.

Her debut mystery, Live Free or Die, was the 2011 winner of the Daphne DuMaurier Award for Mainstream Mystery.

Jessie lives with her dark and mysterious husband and exuberant children in a village so small most other New Hampshire residents have never heard of it. Hearing from readers makes the winter seem shorter so please drop her a line.

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In Sugar Grove, New Hampshire, people are serious about their maple syrup—especially Dani Greene, whose family owns the Greener Pastures sugarhouse.  But when murder disrupts the small-town sweetness, Dani pores over clues to draw out a killer…

Despite being a fourth-generation syrup maker, Dani isn’t stuck in the past. She’s starting a new agricultural cooperative that reduces costs for every syrup producer who joins. Everyone considers it a sweet deal except the die-hard curmudgeon Frank Lemieux—and when a saboteur starts targeting supporters, everyone suspects Frank.

But it turns out they’re barking up the wrong tree when Dani finds Frank murdered in his own sugarhouse. As the sabotage continues, she realizes that Frank was framed. With the help of her family, and a handsome official from the Fish and Game Department, Dani must catch the killer before another syrup maker kicks the bucket.

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Jennifer’s Review of Maple Mayhem

Review (3.5 Stars): The interesting thing about these mysteries was that Dani was from a family of maple syrup makers, which I haven’t seen before in any other cozy mysteries.  This is the second book in the Sugar Grove Mystery series and in this book, Dani is on the hunt to find the killer of a cantankerous syrup maker. Frank Lemieux has been a thorn in Dani’s side for quite sometime and she is shocked to find that he has been murdered.  What’s worse is that someone is also framing the victim for vandalizing property of the people that are joining Dani’s new co-op and Dani must get to the bottom of this before it is too late.

I like Dani and I think that she is an adorable character who is a little spitfire when she is on a mission. I love her family and the other crazy residents that make Sugar Grove so interesting.  My only problem with this book was the pacing of the story.  It just felt that it was taking a long time to get the murder investigation going and because of that I had a hard time becoming invested in the story. I’ve enjoyed Ms. Crockett’s first book, Drizzled with Death and I was a little sad that Maple Mayhem didn’t grab me like her first Sugar Grove mystery.  I’m looking forward to her next mystery because I do like these characters and want to see what happens in Dani’s life, but this mystery was just okay for me.