FEATURED AUTHOR: LESLIE BUDEWITZ

ABOUT THE BOOK

Erin is one smart cookie, but can she keep the holiday spirit—and herself—alive til Christmas?

In Jewel Bay, Montana’s Christmas Village, all is merry and bright. At Murphy’s Mercantile, aka the Merc, manager Erin Murphy is ringing in the holiday season with food, drink, and a new friend: Merrily Thornton. A local girl gone wrong, Merrily’s turned her life around. But her parents have publicly shunned her, and they nurse a bitterness that chills Erin.

When Merrily goes missing and her boss discovers he’s been robbed, fingers point to Merrily—until she’s found dead, a string of lights around her neck. The clues and danger snowball from there. Can Erin nab the killer—and keep herself in one piece—in time for a special Christmas Eve?





Book Details

Title: As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles

Author’s name: Leslie Budewitz

Genre: cozy mystery

Series: Food Lovers’ Village Mystery, book 5

Publisher: Midnight Ink (June 8, 2018)

Page count: 280

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours

INTERVIEW WITH LESLIE BUDEWITZ

Leslie, what’s the story behind the title of your book?
Each book in the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries involves a festival–we do love our festivals in western Montana–and the recipes to recreate the festival food at home. The titles all refer to the festivities and hint at the food. Not hard to tell what we’re celebrating and eating in As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles!

Tell us about your series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers need to read the series in order?
Cookie is the fifth book in the series. Each book stands alone, but I do suggest reading them in order to enjoy the character development, and because while each book has its own mystery, there is an additional mystery that runs through the first three books.

Where’s home for you?
I am a Montana girl through and through, though I went to college in Seattle and practiced law there for several years before moving back to Montana. Erin Murphy, the main character in the Food Lovers’ Village books, made a similar journey, and I’m enjoying exploring the experience through the eyes of a younger woman.

I also write the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. I fell in love with the Market as an 18-year-old college freshman, and still make regular trips for research. By research, of course, I mean “eat.”

What do you love about where you live?

We live in the woods outside a village very much like the one I write about. The best part is that intersection of community and the natural world.


Do you have another job outside of writing?
Once a lawyer, always a lawyer! I still practice part-time, doing civil litigation and mediation.

How did you meet your spouse?
Mr. Right and I met on a blind date. My parents had met on a blind date, and as a friend says, “It’s only dinner, and you might like someone.” By the end of the evening, I knew he was going to be a very important person in my life. He points out that it’s always tricky for a guy at the end of a first date to figure out what to say about getting together again and says it was great that in the parking lot, I put my hand on his chest and said, “You know I want to see you again.” That was 19 happy years ago.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“Never underestimate the value to the Universe of the fully realized life.” – Joseph Campbell

If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
Right here, although I’d like the bathroom remodel project to be finished!

How did you create the plot for this book?
Jewel Bay is closely based on the town where I live, a town that calls itself “Montana’s Christmas Village.” Visitors are always taken by surprise, particularly at the holidays, when every pillar and post is dressed up for the season. Since each book features a festival, I really wanted to recreate the local Christmas festivities on the page, so the book starts on what we call Decorating Day and ends on Christmas Eve.

Years ago, when I lived in another small Montana town, the secretary at the small law firm where I worked was convicted of embezzling a large amount of money. It was her second offense–the lawyer who owned the firm knew she’d had stolen from a previous employer years ago during a difficult period and wanted to give her a second chance. After the theft was discovered–quite by accident–her parents shunned her, evicting her from her home, which they owned, and left town. I knew the family, and was never sure which was worse: her theft, or her parents’ reaction. Not long after, the credit union branch manager was accused of embezzlement and staged her own disappearance, although she was quickly found. I had an account there and had seen and chatted with her frequently for years. I discovered that embezzlers often follow the pattern that both these women fit, and I wanted to dive into it further on the page.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
Readers often ask me this, especially if they’ve been to the real-life village that inspired Jewel Bay. Mostly, the answer is no. I may have someone I know in mind–their job, their walk, a story they told me–as I start to create a character, but they evolve so much as the story unfolds that no one would ever recognize them on the page.

An exception: The woman who owned the local liquor store for many years bought character naming rights for a Food Lovers’ Village book at a local charity auction. She’s the perfect cozy character, from her community involvement to her rhinestone-studded reading glasses, that I had to keep her pretty much as she is. And she loves it!

Are you like any of your characters?
Like Erin, the main character in the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, I grew up in Montana, left, and returned. I’m enjoying exploring that theme, a common one, through the experiences of a younger woman. Like her, I’m obsessed with food and enjoy cooking and entertaining. Erin shares my habit of spouting odd lines of poetry or from a play, my love of cats and cookies, and my commitment to my community. Although her mother Fresca and I aren’t much alike, I suspect that if I met Erin, she would feel like a daughter to me.

Who are your favorite authors?

You could ask me this five days in a row and get five different answers, but a few of the authors I turn to again and again include Louise Penny, Jacqueline Winspear, Toni Morrison, Laura Lippman, and the late Ivan Doig. In the last few months, I’ve also loved books by Anita Shreve, Rhys Bowen, Deborah Crombie, Cleo Coyle, and Catriona McPherson. Uh-oh–looks like I need to add some male authors to the mix. Oh, here’s one: Jamie Ford.

What book are you currently reading and in what format?
I’m reading The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves, a Vera Stanhope mystery, in paperback. Vera is such a great character, and Brenda Blethyn’s portrayal of her in the BBC TV series is amazingly true to Cleeves’ creation on the page.
I’m also listening to The Grave is a Fine and Private Place, the latest Flavia DeLuce mystery by Alan C. Bradley. Listening is very different from reading, but Jayne Entwhistle creates such an appealing character that I wouldn’t want to experience the books any other way.
And the nonfiction book of the moment is Montana 1889 by Ken Egan, Jr., a fascinating look at the year of statehood. 

Do you have a routine for writing?
After 34 years as a lawyer, business hours are pretty well ingrained. I’m usually “on the page” by 8:30, with a lunch break to read news or articles on writing, then back at it for the afternoon. During the afternoon, I might write or work on promotion.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
I’ve got a lovely home office that always makes me happy!

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received about your writing?
“I stayed up too late because of you.” But as every author will tell you, I am also deeply moved by the notes from readers who tell me my books helped them through a difficult time–chemo, sitting with a sick child or dying parent, depression or divorce. Because while I write to explore some aspect of human experience, I also write to entertain.

What are you working on now?
I’m deep into the revisions of Chai Another Day, the 4th Spice Shop Mystery, to be published in May 2019 by Seventh Street Books. As owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece is always on the go. Between conjuring up new spice blends and serving iced spice tea to customers looking to beat the unusual summer heat, she finally takes a break for a massage. But the zen moment is shattered when she overhears an argument in her friend Aimee’s vintage home decor shop that ends in murder.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR 


Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in the Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in Jewel Bay, Montana. The 2015-16 president of Sisters in Crime and first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction, she lives and cooks in North West Montana.



Connect with Leslie:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Killer Characters  |  Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen

Buy the book:
Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  |  IndieBound 

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FEATURED AUTHOR: LESLIE BUDEWITZ

ABOUT THE BOOK

Erin Murphy, manager of Murphy’s Mercantile (aka the Merc), is tuning up for Jewel Bay’s annual Jazz Festival. Between keeping the Merc’s shelves stocked with Montana’s tastiest local fare and hosting the festival’s kick-off concert, Erin has her hands full.

Discord erupts when jazz guitarist Gerry Martin is found dead on the rocks above the Jewel River. The one-time international sensation had fallen out of sync with festival organizers, students, and performers. Was his death an accident? Or did someone even the score?

Despite the warning signs to not get involved, Erin investigates. And when the killer attacks, she orchestrates her efforts into one last crescendo, hoping to avoid a deadly finale.

INTERVIEW WITH LESLIE BUDEWITZ

Leslie, how did you get started writing?
I started writing at four, on my father’s desk. Literally—I did not yet grasp the concept of paper. Fortunately, my parents were very understanding, and kept me well-supplied with paper and pencils. I always wanted to write but didn’t really think you could. As with many people, the creative impulsive broke its way into my conscious life, insisting on being recognized, during a difficult period in my mid 30s, and I’ve been writing ever since. From idea for first novel (still unpublished) to first novel published—with a few short stories and a nonfiction book in between—was 19 years.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
Flow. Getting so caught up in the story that I forget it isn’t real, wondering why it’s cold when it’s July (on the page), or why dinner isn’t ready when Erin, the main character in my Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, just made her special enchiladas. The sense that the story knows where it’s going,  and the discovery that my subconscious mind has developed imagery and a theme that I didn’t consciously see. That might only happen for a few minutes in any writing session, but it’s magic.

Do you write every day?
Now, I write nearly every day except Sunday and my monthly visits to my 91-year-old mother. But when I started, I wrote on Fridays and Saturday mornings, because that was all the time I had. You can actually write a novel that way—I wrote three. If you are consistent and committed, your subconscious—the muse, as some would call it—knows the routine and shows up when you show up.

What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?
Two things: Not knowing whether it’s any good—when you start, you’re sure it is, but you’re probably wrong; paradoxically, as you progress, so do your expectations and judgment, and it becomes harder to tell whether you’re hitting that higher mark.

And the isolation, which contributes to that doubt. I always encourage beginners and those looking to make a leap to join a writers’ group. For me, that was Sisters in Crime—and I’m not saying this just because I’m the immediate past president of the national organization! Writing is a solitary activity, but the support that comes from others is key. 

What’s more important – characters or plot?
The characters drive the plot. I start with a scenario, and because I write a series, my continuing characters and setting. I ask who else is involved, and look at what the key story people want in this book—and what they’ll do to get it. That creates the plot.

How often do you read?
Almost every night. Right now, I’m halfway through Letters from Paris by Juliet Blackwell, in which a young woman feeling at a loss travels to Paris to investigate the origins of a mask her great-grandfather brought  home after WWII, interspersed with the historical story of the mask and its subject. It’s rich and fluid, and beautifully told.

What books do you currently have published?
Treble at the Jam Fest is the 4th Food Lovers’ Village Mystery, which started with Death al Dente, winner of the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel; all are available in paperback and e-book, with two in audio and two more audio books on the way. So far, there are three Spice Shop Mysteries—Assault & Pepper, Guilty as Cinnamon, and Killing Thyme. (Catch the theme?) Look for them in paper, e-book, and audio. And my first book is a guide for writers on using the law in their fiction, Books, Crooks & Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure (Linden/Quill Driver), winner of the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction.

Is writing your dream job?
Most definitely!

Do you have any marketing tips you could pass on to indie authors?
Remember that the key is to connect with readers. They want to know you, meet you, and like you—so there’s no point being nervous. The engaged reader—one who got a response to her e-mail or Facebook post, or who exchanged a few words with you at a festival or bookstore—is more likely to recommend your books to others, and what you want is to get other people talking about your books. Finally, don’t feel you have to do everything—you’ll make yourself too unhappy to do a good job.

What’s one THING you never leave the house without (besides your phone).
I often leave home without my phone, but I’m nearly always wearing earrings.

What do you love about where you live?
My small town has a real community spirit, which I hope I capture in fictional Jewel Bay. Our home is in the woods on the edge of a stunning mountain range, close to lakes, rivers, and hiking trails with incredible vistas, and we get out as often as we can. It’s beautiful and quiet, almost idyllic—with just enough characters and conflict to spark a good mystery!

What's your favorite treat for movie night?
Tillamook’s Oregon Hazelnut and Salted Caramel ice cream, with a big dose of chocolate-Cabernet sauce. So you can join in the fun, I recreated the sauce recipe in Butter Off Dead, the 3rd Food Lovers’ Village Mystery.

What is your superpower?
I can hang a picture perfectly straight and centered without measuring.


Name one thing you’re really good at and one thing you’re really bad at.
I’m really good at making people laugh, and bad at singing, which I love anyway!


What do you wish you could do?
Go back to France with my hunny. We spent a month there a few years ago, in Paris and Provence, and adored it. And it changed our relationship to food and cooking, which helps me enormously in creating characters obsessed with food and finding and testing the right recipes for my books!

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
If you’ve got a book you haven’t read, there’s always something to do!


Would you rather be a movie star, sports star, or rock star?
A rock star, if I could sing like Pat Benatar or Ann Wilson of Heart. Singing like that might make up for the travel and the other demands of the work. 


Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Oh gosh, yes! Erin, sweet as she is, can be a bit self-righteous, and a bit of a know-it-all, which make her a tad bossy at times. I plead guilty! Pepper, in my Spice Shop Mysteries, shares my occasionally sharp tongue. I love playing with their good and bad sides on the page! 

What’s in your refrigerator right now?
A large dish of Tortellini Salad, a recipe from Treble at the Jam Fest that I made for a gathering of women friends—I should have known they’d each bring a dish and we’d end up with too much! Happily, I love it!

What is the most daring thing you've done?
Backpack through Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness with my husband and brother. We carried 60 pound packs more than 60 miles, crossing the Continental Divide on foot at over 7,600 feet. It was also one of the most wonderful experiences of my life, for sheer physical accomplishment, and for experienced the incredible grandeur of the northern Rockies.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“Never underestimate the value to the Universe of a fully realized life.” -Joseph Campbell

What would your main character say about you?
She’s nice enough, but she sure causes me a lot of trouble. 

You have a personal chef for the night. What would you ask him to prepare?
I’d like him—or her—to surprise me with something inspired by the location and the local foods.

How do you like your pizza?
I like it every other Thursday night—pizza night at our house! Of course, sometimes we forget which week it is and eat it more often than might be good for us!

What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
Ha! I change it so often, I had to go check! It’s a glorious picture of the Swan Mountain Range from the road in front of our home.

What’s your biggest pet peeve about writing?
I love books where the authors delve into the characters’ emotions and portray them on the page, whether through action, dialogue, gesture, or the occasional telling. It’s hard, so many authors don’t do it, but I believe that people read in part to better understand the people and places around them, so by pushing ourselves, we can reveal more of that world. And even cozy mysteries like mine—generally fairly light with a touch of humor—can do it. It’s a matter of diving deeply into our own emotional experiences, understanding what our characters go through, and controlling the tone on the page. 



What is your favorite movie?
Casablanca, of course. Romance, adventure, history, a great song, and champagne cocktails.

What are you working on now?
I’ve turned in the 5th Food Lovers’ Village Mystery, set at Christmas, and am working on a stand-alone set from 1981 to the present in Billings, Montana. The seed was a tiny incident my senior year of high school; I’ve wondered “what really happened” ever since, and because I’ll likely never know, I’m making up an explanation! I find myself delving more deeply into the lives of women, with a crime story thrown in.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in Jewel Bay, Montana, and the Spice Shop Mysteries, set in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market. The 2015-16 president of Sisters in Crime and first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction, she lives, writes, and cooks in NW Montana.


Connect with Leslie:
Website  |  Blog  |  Mystery Lovers Kitchen  |  Facebook  Facebook

Buy the book:
Midnight Ink  |  Amazon  |  Barnes and Noble   



a Rafflecopter giveaway