Only in Key West by Lucy Burdette

Happy new year to all the Girlfriends and to our valued and adored readers too!  We'd be nothing without you!

I'm lucky enough to be starting off 2012 with a new book: AN APPETITE FOR MURDER, the first in the Key West food critic mystery series.

So many people have asked me "why Key West?" that I thought it would be fun to have a pop quiz about the island. This should give you a good idea about why this island is the perfect setting for a quirky mystery! I will list the answers at the bottom, but no cheating--don't look until you've answered! And then tell us how many you got right--all comments will be entered into a random drawing for a copy of APPETITE. Good luck!

1.  The local residents on Key West are called:

a. Islanders b. Parrotheads  c. Corals  D.  Conchs

2. What's the name of the major east-west thoroughfare, known for its shops and bars?

a.  Duval St.

b.  Whitehead St.

c.  Simonton St.

d.  Hemingway Blvd.

3. How many miles from Cuba is Key West?

a.  500

b.  30

c.  90

d.  200

4. Name a famous current or former writer who calls/called Key West home:

a. Ernest Hemingway

b. Judy Blume

c. Meg Cabot

d.  Annie Dillard

e. Tennessee Williams

f.  all of the above

5.  What's the biggest holiday celebration on the island?

a.  New Year's Eve when a red high heeled shoe drops from the top of Bourbon Street Pub and a conch shell slides down the top of Sloppy Joe's bar

b. Fantasyfest, a nine-day adult Halloween celebration culminating in coronation of a king and queen at the Royal Coronation Ball

c. The Conch Republic Independence Celebration commemorating the city's attempt to secede from the United Staes on April 23, 1982  in response to US Border Patrol roadblocks

d. the nightly Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square

6. A dog up for adoption at the pound in Key West might be assessed for:

a. his reaction to iguanas

b.  his relationship to roosters

c. a fondness for polydactyl cats

d. willingness to wear a costume in the Fantasy Fest parade

e.  all of the above

7.  If you were going to poison someone in a murder mystery set in Key West, you might use this as a vehicle:

a.  conch chowder

b.  key lime pie

c.  margarita

d. conch fritters


You can buy the book at any bookstore or here: http://lucyburdette.com/buy-the-books/  And please follow Lucy on Twitter or join her on Facebook. And she blogs weekly with the fabulous crime fiction writers at Jungle Red Writers.

Answers:  1. d--Conchs!  2.  a--Duval Street of course!  3. c--90 miles to Cuba!  4. f--all of the above--the island is crawling with artists and writers! 5. trick question--how could you possibly choose? 6.  e--only in Key West! 7. I could tell you, but it would spoil the story in AN APPETITE FOR MURDER!

"What fun! Lucy Burdette writes evocatively about Key West and food -- a winning combination. I can't wait for the next entry in this charming series." Diane Mott Davidson

It's All About the Characters by Lucy Burdette

I've always been a huge reader. I tore through the Nancy Drew mysteries, then moved on to my brother's Hardy boys mysteries, gobbling lots of teenage romances in between. I'll give you an example of the kind of detail I remember best. There was a less well known mystery series featuring a nurse named Cherry Ames. Okay, we're talking forty-something years ago and my memory isn't as sharp as it once was, but I remember so clearly the book's title: Cherry Ames, Student Nurse. Cherry was working on a hospital ward and one of her patients reported a fever and chills. She did just what she was supposed to: got a blanket for the sick person and reported the symptoms to the supervisor. Now here's where the facts get fuzzy: I think the supervisor on duty had it in for her and didn't write down what Cherry told her. And later, she got in big, big trouble for failing to report those important symptoms. And now Cherry had a dilemma: Did she rat out the other woman, or take the rap? Isn't it funny how clearly I remember the character's emotional dilemma even though most of the other details about the book have faded?

    And I also remember a romantic series about twin teenaged sisters. I'm certain one of them was named Joby. They both liked the same boy of course and in the end he could only marry one of them. When the single sister went to visit the married twin for the first time, they had a happy evening joking about "their" husband. but that night, the pull-out couch was made into a bed and the newlyweds retreated to their bedroom and shut the door. Oh ouch--i can still feel the pain of the sister who was no longer the center of her twin's universe. (Does this sound familiar--I'd love to know the name?)

    Anyway, I'm just saying, what stays with me after fifty years of reading are the characters and their conflicts.

   As we speak, I am working on my Key West food critic series. These books are mysteries so I understand I need a body. And suspects. And clues. And theories about the murder. But most of all, I'm hoping readers will fall in love with my new character Hayley Snow. I hope they'll feel the shock she does when she sees her ex-boyfriend out at dinner with his new girlfriend. And feel her heart sink when she thinks the job of a lifetime has slipped away. And then want to read the next book in the series and recommend the books to friends. And maybe even remember Hayley in fifty years--now that's what I'd call success!

AN APPETITE FOR MURDER by Lucy Burdette will be published in January 2012 by NAL/Obsidian.  Please follow Lucy on Twitter @lucyburdette or join her on facebook  or read the first chapter on her website. And best of all, you can certainly pre-order!

How I write by Lucy Burdette

My girlfriends have been sharing such lovely and wise posts about their writing processes. Unfortunately, mine is basically slow and tortured and altogether boring-not the best fodder for interesting blogging. However, I did think of two things to tell you that dependably move my stories forward.

The first is no revelation: Plant butt in chair and write. Remain there until I hit my predetermined word count. Lately I've been trying for around a thousand words a day. If it takes two hours to write those words, then YAY!, I have time to do other things that all sounded more appealing as I fended them off while writing. On the more painful days, especially when I don't know where I'm headed with the story, it might take seven or eight hours because I've checked my gmail inbox every five minutes. And then remembered there must be some urgent laundry to do or the dog needs walking or I can't go one more minute without organizing that messy kitchen drawer. But I try to stick with it and to ignore the voices in my head telling me this is the worst dreck I've ever written. Because I know I can always (almost) fix it later.

The second important part of my process is visiting the scene of the crime, either before or while developing the story. (And I'd be the first to admit, this is no hardship when it comes to Key West.)

A research outing might go like this: As I'm wandering through the crowds at the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square on the Key West harbor, I spot a tarot card reader set up at a card table, wearing a deep blue turban with an enormous teardrop rhinestone bisecting his forehead. My mind begins to spin. What if my protagonist, Hayley Snow, is addicted to having her cards read because she's insecure about making her own decisions? And what if her tarot reader sees a card scary enough that even he gets rattled? And what if Hayley uses what she thinks she sees in his reactions to dig herself into deeper trouble? And so Marvin the card reader is born as a character. Only then one of my pals says 'who'd go to a psychic named Marvin?' So I change his name to Lorenzo, but later he admits that he grew up as Marvin but who'd want their cards read by a guy with that name?

Then, as I'm walking and biking around Key West, I notice that homeless people are everywhere, including perched on the stone walls around Mallory Square watching the performers and the tourists. After all, if you had to spend your nights outdoors, you might choose the tropics too. And I think about how they blend into the scenery, but probably notice all kinds of things that visitors wouldn't see. And so Turtle, the homeless guy, is born into the story. One rainy night he takes shelter in a party sailboat moored on the Navy Mole and inadvertently sees the killer coming and going. He would never voluntarily go to the police with this information, but Hayley might worm it out of him.

So with those ideas and story fragments, I go back to my desk and apply seat to chair again. All I can say is: Isn't it a miracle that books get written as often as they do?

Lucy Burdette is the author of the forthcoming Key West food critic mysteries, launching in January with AN APPETITE FOR MURDER (NAL). Please please follow her on twitter or facebook or check out her website, where the artwork is gorgeous and the recipes to die for.