...to my blog this week. Hi, Jessica, and thanks for making time in your busy schedule to be here today. So, tell me, what is your current release?
JT A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide is a holiday-set sequel
to my first book, A Caterer’s Guide to Love and Murder. It is also a culinary cozy mystery with
recipes. But lots of the recipes in
this book are Christmas-y and several are gluten-free because one of my
characters has some sensitivity. It was
really because I noticed that many of the recipes were already naturally
gluten-free.
AW What first got you into writing and why?
JT I always enjoyed writing little things and I already loved
mysteries and recipes, but I never took it seriously until I decided to
actually try to be published. That
happened when I read a terrible book. It
was formulaic, boring, the recipes were banal, and the mystery was obvious. And that was a best-seller! Right then I decided that if that could get
published then so could I. It just so
happened that book was also my introduction to the genre of culinary cozy
mystery. So at the same time I knew
that this was a subgenre in which I could carve out a place for myself.
AW You write cosy crime stories – your first
including recipes. Is it all
imagination or do you also undertake research?
JT I do a lot of research. I
research and try the recipes, have independent recipe testers, and do all the
conversions to metric measurements for my readers across the pond. I also research a lot of mysteries. I read and watch other mysteries, outline,
and try to understand the psychology behind killers and other people that have
justified their actions to radical degrees, and think about the psychology of
my reader so they won’t guess who the killer is right away. I also try to make the modes of death
realistic. So I research the poisons,
the timelines, the injuries, anatomy, and all that. I also ask my nurse-friends a lot of morbid questions.
AW And what about other types of writing? Have you ever dabbled with short stories,
for instance, or other genres or perhaps a recipe book?
JT I have tried a few short stories, including one plot that came
fully-formed in a dream, but so far they have always turned into mysteries. Right now I am writing a short story that is
Frosty the Snowman crossed with the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley for a
Halloween anthology. It may be my first
piece that has not turned itself into a mystery. I have also considered a recipe book many times, but maybe I’ll
compile all the recipes from my books into their own book some day.
AW Famous authors, such as Roald Dahl and Dylan
Thomas, had a special space for writing.
Do you have a writing ‘shed’ of your own?
JT I just have a writing corner. Not enough space for a shed. I have taken a corner of the dining room that already had most of
my houseplants, added a desk, piled it with writing paraphernalia, and I just
put on headphones with strictly instrumental music in order to ignore what is
going on behind me when it is time to write.
AW
Finally, what would your eight-year old self think of, and say about,
you today?
JTI’ve thought about this a lot
in recent years. In some ways I have
done everything young-Jessica had on her list of goals, but in other ways I am
very far away from where I thought I would be.
I have met all the life goals that I had, but maybe I was maintaining
too realistic of goals. I’m
happily-married, have two kids that I stay home with, have black belts in two
different martial arts, went to my college of choice, worked in my dream job
and gave it up to have kids as I had always planned to do, have a house, a dog,
live near my parents, and regularly go out to foreign food restaurants without
any complaints from the kids. That’s
when I tell them that I’m “livin’ the dream.”
But eight-year old
Jessica would be shocked and horrified that I mow people's lawns, work on the
car, do all the handyman jobs around the house, regularly work as a ranch hand,
get covered in sweat and poop and blood, and just generally get dirty. When I
was a kid I thought I would live in California forever. Austin Texas only became the goal when I was
in high school and visited with my parents. And I think being handy and useful in most practical situations
was only the goal in and after college.
about
the book…While acting as personal chef for a friend’s mountain retreat, Violet
and her husband, Jake, must set aside their stress over infertility and create
a magical and delicious holiday – until tragedy crashes the party. Being snowed in and unreachable from town, Violet and Jake end up hired
for a different kind of job – finding out which of the guests committed murder
and why they’re trying to frame their hostess.
Violet must find a balance between following her gut and keeping it all
under control until the police can reach them, while still managing the
kitchen. But can she sniff out the
killer before anyone else bites the big one?
about
the author…When Jessica
discovered mystery novels with recipes, she knew she had found her niche.
Now Jessica is the
author of the Amazon best-selling culinary cozy mystery, "A Caterer's
Guide to Love and Murder," and will be publishing her second book of the
series, “A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide,” on October 19, 2021. She is active in her local writing community
and is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas and the Storymakers Guild. She received a bachelor's degree in Horticulture from Brigham Young
University but has always enjoyed writing and reading mysteries.
As an avid home chef and food science geek, Jessica has won cooking
competitions and been featured in the online Taste of Home recipe
collection. She also tends to be the
go-to source for recipes, taste-testing, and food advice among her peers.
Jessica is originally
from California, but now has adopted the Austin, Texas lifestyle. She enjoys
living in the suburbs with her husband and young children, but also enjoys
helping her parents with their nearby longhorn cattle ranch.
You can get Jessica's books on Amazon
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