Interview and Giveaway 

with author Leslie Budewitz

Author Leslie Budewitz is a two time Agatha award winner,

 just this year winning for her first book in the Food Lovers' Mystery series DEATH AL DENTE

Enter using the Rafflecopter form after the interview for a chance to 

win your choice of one copy of

DEATH AL DENTE or CRIME RIB!

LKBR:  Hi Leslie. Thank you for being here. You won the Agatha Award for your non-fiction book Books, Crook & Counselors: How To Write Accurately About Criminal Law And Courtroom Procedure. What was that like for you?

LB:  In a word, stunning. Mine was only the third book for writers to win the Agatha
Award for Best Nonfiction. Most winners are biography or literary criticism,
and the other nominees were excellent books by lovely people. The win told me
that I had correctly identified a need and filled it – that writers wanted
information about the legal issues that crop up in fiction, particularly
mystery and crime fiction, and found it well-presented and accessible. We write
to be read, and we write nonfiction to be of use, so that continues to be very
gratifying.

LKBR: Your book DEATH AL DENTE was quite a hit last year and an Agatha Award winner! What was your inspiration for this series?

LB: I live just outside a delightful village in Northwest Montana, a place that
invariably catches visitors by surprise. It truly is a cozy community, with
marvelous people, great restaurants, galleries, and shops, in a magnificent
setting. We have mountain trails for horseback riding and hiking, rivers and
lakes for all kinds of boating, a top-notch golf course, skiing, the Bob
Marshall Wilderness, and Glacier National Park – all right here. 

The best cozies use all the familiar elements – the people, the food, the
setting – to explore how crime affects a community, and how the community
responds. My hope with this series is to give readers a good story that does
exactly that, along with a view of the West they might not know. 

LKBR: What’s next for the series?

LB: The second Food Lovers’ Village mystery, CRIME RIB, will be out July 1, 2014.

“Gourmet food market owner Erin Murphy is determined to get Jewel Bay,
Montana’s scrumptious local fare some national attention. But her scheme for
culinary celebrity goes up in flames when the town’s big break is interrupted
by murder…

Food Preneurs, one of the hottest cooking shows on TV, has decided to feature
Jewel Bay in an upcoming episode, and everyone in town is preparing for their
close-ups, including the crew at the Glacier Mercantile, aka the Merc. Not only
is Erin busy remodeling her courtyard into a relaxing dining area, she’s
organizing a steak-cooking competition between three of Jewel Bay’s hottest
chefs to be featured on the program.

But Erin’s plans get scorched when one of the contending cooks is found dead.
With all the drama going on behind the scenes, it’s hard to figure out who
didn’t have a motive to off the saucy contestant. Now, to keep the town’s rep
from crashing and burning on national television, Erin will have to grill some
suspects to smoke out the killer…”

CRIME RIB was great fun to write, because it combines a real event---the annual
local Arts Festival---with a made-up event, the steak Grill-off, and adding the
TV coverage. Lots of quirky folks and fun foods, plus a head-scratching
mystery. Erin’s love life takes a turn, and her tensions with her old friend,
Detective Kim Caldwell, heat up.

And I’ve just turned in the third installment, tentatively titled IT HAPPENED
ONE BITE. It’s February in the village, a time to relax and enjoy good friends,
good food, and a few good movies.. When Erin agrees to help organize Jewel
Bay’s First Annual Food Lovers’ Film Festival, she has no idea her co-chair
will wind up dead, leaving her in charge---and Erin’s brother Nick the chief
suspect.

LKBR: Any ideas for a new series or stand alone title?

LB: Delighted to say I have a three-book contract with Berkley Prime Crime for the
Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries, featuring Pepper Reece, a former law firm HR
manager who unexpectedly finds herself at the helm of a venerable institution
in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. In the first installment, ASSAULT AND PEPPER,
out in March 2015, Pepper must investigate when a Market resident is found dead
in the Spice Shop’s doorway---and a trusted employee is accused of murder.

This is NOT the real cover. Just a silly blogger image. 

LKBR: What's your idea of a perfect day?

LB:  Every day is perfect in its own way! But I love waking up to snuggle with Mr.
Right and our cat, taking my coffee and journal out to the back deck – this is
a perfect summer day – to sit among the tall trees and let the bird song drift
around me. I’d write, take a walk along the river, cook a fun dinner with my
hunny, and curl up for the evening with my guys and a good mystery! The perfect
winter day? Much the same, but I watch the snow fall in the woods around our
home from the warmth of my kitchen counter!

LKBR:  What are three things you would like your readers to know about you?

LB: 1. I really do enjoy cooking, and all the recipes are tried, tested, and true
– and easy for you to recreate at home, whether you’re an experienced cook or a novice.

2. Readers have asked how much of Erin is based on me. Like her, I grew up in
Montana, left for a few years, then returned – a common story -- but she’s quite a bit younger than I am, so I’m enjoying exploring how that is for a younger woman.

3. And I love hearing from readers! But my email’s been a bit cranky lately – you can all relate, right? – so, if you write me and don’t hear back, please find me on Facebook, at www.Facebook.com/LeslieBudewitzAuthor, and we’ll chat there!

LKBR: Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?

LB: The response to DEATH AL DENTE has been wonderful, and I want to thank the
readers who have given me their time and trust. There is nothing more heart-
warming, more smile-inducing than to hear from a reader who says she loved the
book, she stayed up too late reading, she made the Fettucine a la Fresca and it
was really good, and when will the next book be out! So, thank you.

It’s was a thrill to be nominated for and to win the Agatha Award for Best First Novel,
given at the annual Malice Domestic convention celebrating the traditional
mystery. I could even say “it’s maliciously good fun!” The other nominees are
delightful women who’ve written really enjoyable books, and I’m so pleased to have
been nominated with them. I have long thought there are few more generous
communities in the world of mystery writers---and then I met the mystery
lovers, who are so engaging, so happy to find and share new books and authors,
and so very encouraging.

You can read more about me and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, and read
excerpts of DEATH AL DENTE and CRIME RIB on my website, www.LeslieBudewitz.com http://www.lesliebudewitz.com/index.html

My characters blog on the 27th of the month at www.KillerCharacters.com

I’m also the author of BOOKS, CROOKS & COUNSELORS: HOW TO WRITE ACCURATELY
ABOUT CRIMINAL LAW & COURTROOM PROCEDURE (Quill Driver Books), winner of the 2013 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction---a reference for writers and readers.
For more on that, and an excerpt, please visit my website www.LawandFiction.com
I blog for writers and readers interested in legal issues at www.LawandFiction.com/blog.

Find me on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LeslieBudewitzAuthor.

LKBR: Thank you, Leslie for spending this time with us.

LB: Thank you, Lisa!

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, June 24, 2014 

Hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea

It's simple...

I'm giving the first paragraph of the first chapter of a book. 

Since I have the interview and giveaway with author Leslie Budewitz going right now, I'm going to choose her first book in the 

Food Lovers' Village Mysteries DEATH AL DENTE.

"Who put these huckleberry chocolates on the front counter?" I grabbed the stack of purple boxes crammed with gooey huckleberry-filled chocolate wannabes swathed in purple foil and shoved them onto an open shelf on the side wall, next to the herbal snoose.

Hosted by Miz B Should Be Reading

Another fun one...

Open current read to a random page and share

 2 "teaser" sentences from that page.

Although I am not currently reading DEATH AL DENTE, I'm sticking with my theme and choosing my teasers from this book.

I gaped at the wreckage, unable to take it in. Who would do this?