Summer Watching!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Since we've all topped up our TBR piles with Lucy's What We're Reading post last week, I thought it was time we had a look at what's on the goggle box (as they say in the UK.) When we're worn out from gardening and barbecuing–or we just need some lazy air-conditioned evenings, it's nice to have a pocketful of suggestions. Here's what's been keeping us glued to the screen lately.

On our recent REDS & READERS Happy Hour,  I mentioned DEPT Q, the series adapted from the Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen's first novel featuring the irascible Copenhagen detective Carl Morck, THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES. The story has been moved to Edinburgh and stars one of my very favorite (as in huge crush) English actors, Matthew Goode, as Morck, with an otherwise Scottish and brilliant cast.  It's fairly gritty, but the writing is terrific and Goode and all the cast give fabulous performances.

Since then we've watched THE RESIDENCE, a charming (billed as mystery/comedy/drama) series about a world famous detective (Uzo Aduba as Cordelia Cupp) brought in to investigate a murder in the White House. Aduba shines as Cupp, an avid birder, and the sets and models are amazing. 

We've also watched a couple of documentary series, Stanley Tucci's new TUCCI IN ITALY, and the new season of CHEF'S TABLE, which is called LEGENDS and features cooking legends Jamie Oliver, Jose Andres, Thomas Keller, and Alice Waters.

Oh, and boo, we're very sad the latest season of GRAHAM NORTON'S BEST BITS has finished.

Fellow REDS, what are your TV tips?

HALLIE EPHRON: There’s so much good stuff available right now. I loved THE RESIDENCE. Looking forward to the next season but it’ll be a while.

And also just started watching DEATH VALLEY with the wonderful Timothy Spall on Britbox. And I just started “PATIENCE which is on PBS (though the solution of the first episode is patently ridiculous).

All of them are recycling the trope of the wacky (damaged? Handicapped? Over the hill?) detective with a much younger, down-to-earth sidekick available for copious eye-rolls.

JENN McKINLAY: Loved YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS with Jon Hamm. Excellent storytelling and characters. Highly recommend. Another hit was FOUR SEASONS (an 8 episode show based on the movie of the same name) starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell - it far exceeded my expectations! Currently, we’re watching POKER FACE starring Natasha Lynne, who I adore. So many good shows for the summer! Next up for us is DEPT Q! 

DEBS: Rick watched YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS without me and really liked it. Maybe I'll make him watch it again!

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh dear, I’m in such a fussy phase. We watched one episode of FOUR SEASONS before deciding not to continue. John and I also watched one hour of BLUE LIGHTS and DEPARTMENT Q. Both too dark for me, though he continued. I’m eagerly anticipating the next season of THE BEAR as well as THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB, but I’ll see if John will try THE RESIDENCE with me. I also heard that Jeremy Allen White will be playing Bruce Springstein in an upcoming biopic, but that’s not until October! Can’t wait for that!

RHYS BOWEN:  I have absolutely adored LUDWIG ( and not because one of the characters was called my name. So clever and well acted). I find I spend most of my TV watching on Britbox these days, often revisiting favorite mystery series; SHAKESPEARE AND HATHAWAY, ROSEMARY AND THYME. Apart from those I’ve enjoyed David Suchet tracing Agatha Christie’s journeys. 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well of course we binged THE BETTER SISTER–gotta support our writer pals, and I adore Alafair Burke. I was intrigued by SIRENS, and love the milieu, but my skeptical editor brain kicked in.

And yes, Jenn, I was incredibly surprised by how much I  enjoyed YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, the Jon Hamm series. It really was terrific, and much more layered that one would think. I know I am going to hate-watch THE GILDED AGE, it drives me crazy with how thin I think it is but it is somehow irresistible–it might be the dresses. And oh, we enjoyed I, JACK WRIGHT on Acorn or wherever. It was quirky and unusual.

I tried DEATH VALLEY, and THE RESIDENCE, I really did, but they are not for me. LUDWIG, on the other hand, was standing-ovation good.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I think I’ve mentioned this one before, but I’m very much enjoying MURDERBOT on Apple+. It’s another straight from the book show, and I know we all like those. DEPT Q is up next after everyone’s raves. I’d love suggestions for some good summer-novel-type shows like THE PERFECT COUPLE with rich folks in beautiful locations behaving badly. I also tried SIRENS, and it didn’t catch me. 

Oh, and I’m doing another themed movie week, with 1970s horror/thriller movies. I was inspired by the 50th anniversary of JAWS, and then went on to see two I can’t believe I’ve never actually watched - the 1978 version of THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING. Both amazingly stylistic films, with such clear visions by the directors. They really don’t make ‘em like that any more.

DEBS: Julia, we watched JAWS over the weekend, the Spielberg remastered version. I HAD NEVER SEEN JAWS! I've also never seen THE SHINING. Or THE GODFATHER... Although tops on my to-watch list is the series THE OFFER, starring Matthew Goode as Bob Evans and about the making of the film. Unfortunately this series, which got rave reviews, is on Paramount+ which we don't have. MURDERBOT is up there on the to-watch list as well.

DEBS: What have we missed, dear readers? Tell us how you're whiling away you summer hours!

Blood Ties and Deadly Lies by Ang Pompano

 LUCY BURDETTE: It's always a pleasure to host my good friend Ang Pompano to the blog. Welcome Ang!

ANG POMPANO: Hello, Reds! It’s great to be back. I always feel at home here because Lucy, Hallie, and Hank were among the very first “real authors” I ever met. And they were so kind to me. Over the years, through conferences and book events, I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting Jen, Deborah, Julia, and of course Rhys. Each of you has been so encouraging that you truly feel like family.

And speaking of family…

Have you ever taken a DNA test? If so, did you discover anything that surprised you? Did you trust the results?

Those were the questions on my mind as I started writing Blood Ties and Deadly Lies, the second book in my Blue Palmetto Detective Agency series.

In the first book, When It’s Time for Leaving, retired cop Al DeLucia heads to Savannah to take over the detective agency given to him by the father who abandoned him. Al’s not exactly the sentimental type. If he has a soft side, it’s buried under layers of sarcasm, skepticism, and New Haven street smarts.



Al's Sachem Creek


Now, in Blood Ties and Deadly Lies, Al’s past crashes into his present when his high school nemesis, Abe Cromwell, a guy Al once dreamed of throwing into Long Island Sound, shows up with a wild story. Abe’s been arrested for assault and claims Al is his brother. Not a long-lost half-brother. A full-blooded, DNA-certified sibling.

Al doesn’t buy it. But something about Abe’s claim gets under his skin. When an old friend dares him to return to their hometown of Sachem Creek, Connecticut, to finally win the cross-Sound kayak race he was once cheated out of, Al agrees. Not to help Abe, but because he’s got a score to settle.

What Al doesn’t expect is to be handed hard DNA evidence that suggests Abe might be telling the truth. Before long, he and his partner Maxine are pulled into a case involving murder, family secrets, and a trail of lies that leads all the way back to colonial New England.

I won’t spoil how it’s possible for Al and Abe to be full brothers because trust me, it’s a twist. But I will say this: DNA doesn’t just tell you who you are. Sometimes, it tells you who you aren’t.

Writing this book got me thinking about how many people have taken DNA tests only to discover unexpected siblings, family secrets, or completely new cultural roots. It raises uncomfortable and fascinating questions. What really makes someone family? Is it blood? Loyalty? Shared history? And when a stranger shows up with scientific “proof” and says, We’re related, how do you even begin to trust that?

So I’ll ask you:

Have you ever taken a DNA test? Did you find anything that surprised you? Did you trust the results? And would you go to bat for someone just because the science says you share the same genes?

Ang Pompano is a mystery author, editor, publisher, and food blogger.  He writes the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency, and the Reluctant Food Columnist series, both published by Level Best Books. In addition to his writing, Ang is a co-founder of Crime Spell Books and serves as co-editor of the Best New England Crime Stories anthology. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Annette, an artist, and their two rescue dogs. His latest novel, Blood Ties and Deadly Lies, drops on July 1. Learn more at www.angpompano.com

Buy Link: https://amzn.to/43NNlaM 

Eating Our Way Through Paris by Lucy Burdette

LUCY BURDETTE: You know how much Hank loves it when a week turns out to have an unexpected theme? This week has two, searching for a place and food. Today you are going to eat with me in Paris, a trip that pushed me to really think about both food critics and chefs.

I was determined—some might say obsessed—about not wasting time on bad meals. You can’t imagine how much I researched where to eat before we set off. I’ve been collecting blog posts for years from David Lebovitz, Dorie Greenspan, Meg Zimbeck (who writes Paris by Mouth and puts out a yearly list of what she believes to be the top 50 restaurants in Paris), and many more.

To make things even more complicated, Lindsay Tramuta published a book with Eater (an online zine) called the Eater Guide to Paris right before we left. I was overwhelmed with possibilities! I had every kind of question circling through my mind: what kind of food do we want to eat? Should it only be French? Should it be fancy French or casual? Should it be confined to the center of Paris where we’d be staying, and if not, how far would we be willing to travel? Could we eat two big meals a day? Estimates of the number of restaurants in Paris fall around 40,000. How could we possibly choose the best when we were there for only eight days? How could anybody make a list of top 50 restaurants, not just in Paris but anywhere? This adventure gave me new insight into the challenges of restaurant critics.

(If all this is making you a little queasy, you might want to skip the rest of this very very foodie post🤪)

Luckily, my traveling companion (John) was relaxed about the whole adventure. He offered opinions when I asked him, but did not try to meddle with my ongoing obsession. I’ll share with you some photos of the meals we really loved. Stay tuned in the future for how some of this will end up in a book…

Pizza is not easy to find in Paris, good pizza that is. We took one of David Lebovitz's suggestions and traveled out to the 11th arrondissement to eat at Oobatz. This was a white asparagus and wild asparagus pizza, alongside a lovely salad. 

We eschewed the suggestion to have the chef's specialty. 

What is the chef's special? John asked.

Nothing specific, it’s whatever he feels like putting on your pizza, the server said.

Since we’d just read that some of his ingredients involved innards, we stuck with the asparagus.

I’d been dreaming about dinner at Café des Ministères which I regretted missing on my last visit, but it was too hard to get a reservation. This time I stalked the site until I grabbed one. I had been dreaming about their stuffed cabbage for years! Here it finally was and I swear to you, it was as big as a human being’s head! They brought it to the table, sliced it open and then poured on crème fraîche. We couldn’t even eat half of it. John ordered a cassoulet which was divine, filled with sausage, duck confit, and molten hot white beans.

Juveniles Wine Bar was the only restaurant we repeated from my last visit and as far as I know, it’s my favorite place in Paris. I had a roast chicken with potatoes and vegetables in an amazing sauce, whereas John ordered sausage in a pool of cheesy mashed potatoes. I could not pass up the rice pudding with caramel sauce on the side.

The next day went on a market tour of Rue Montorgueil, which is known as a foodie street, run by Amanda from Jane Bertch’s La Cuisine Paris. Everything we tried was amazing but this goat cheese was a standout, rolled in beautiful dried flowers and stuffed with a rose coulis. (I don’t even like goat cheese much, but this will definitely become a plot point…)

This was a lunch we had at Le Cornichon. I had what was essentially fish and chips on a homemade slaw (do notice those gorgeous frites in the background) and John had a little steak with a big glob of melted fois gras on top. 

Holy cholesterol, Batman! Fortunately, we were walking miles and miles a day.

This was another astonishing lunch at a Lebanese restaurant called Kubris. The best thing I ate was roasted cabbage with Aleppo pepper butter, shanklish, cri-cri peanut, pickled apricot and oregano. So many flavors! 

And then a stuffed eggplant shawarma. John once again enjoyed the sausage. 😂. 

I will stop there to give us all a break! And maybe give you time to grab a snack. One regret is that we barely had the chance to order dessert because we ate so much of the other food. This calls for another trip...

How does a normal person go about choosing a restaurant in a strange place? Inquiring minds want to know…