What We're #Writing @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS comes out on December 2, so I'm obviously not working on that. Other projects have surfaced of course...

In the early days of my marriage to John (when most things were still mysterious,) one of the biggest mysteries about my husband was this: What in the world he could possibly be discussing with his buddies over a 4 to 5 hour golf round several times a week?

So I asked him. What do you talk about?

His answer?

Relationships.

Even a new wife couldn't argue with that!

And that's what I'm writing about now in the sixth Key West food critic mystery, which will be called FATAL RESERVATIONS, and will come out next July. Hooray! Did I forget to mention that I signed a contract for two more books in the series? 
Anyway, back in the third book, TOPPED CHEF, I thought I had figured out the relationships in Hayley Snow's life. But it turned out, I wasn't feeling the zing between her new detective boyfriend and her. So I looked around to see who else might come into the picture. And I've been heading in that direction ever since.

Until I got a fan email from Sue P. last week that made me question, well, everything…

I recently found this series and love it. I do have a complaint though. I was just getting interested to see how the romance would work out between Hayley and her detective. And you bring back his ex and she gets dumped! I was not a happy camper at this development. I still would like to see where this would go, more so than with her boss, which is where you seem to be leading. I think she needs a challenge and this is not her boss. Bring him back!! Just my opinion. Thanks.

So like I said, I'm puzzling over relationships…here's a snippet from FATAL RESERVATIONS:

Fifteen minutes later, I climbed the very steep steps to the Old City Hall building, an imposing red brick structure with ornate black railings and a bell tower. For a hundred years, the city commission had been meeting here on Greene Street, a half block from Sloppy Joe's bar and the chaos of Duval Street. I doubted that visitors had any idea how much city business was conducted while they swilled beer and shouted choruses of Buffet’s Margaritaville and Kenny Chesney’s Key West theme song No shirt, no shoes, no problems.

    The hall was cavernous, handsome, and clearly set out to differentiate the commissioners and city staff from any interested onlookers. A text from Wally buzzed in, reminding me to turn off the ringer on my cell phone. 

    Let me know outcome tomorrow? Mom's chemo was brutal today. I'm going to watch a marathon of Breaking Bad and then crash. See you a.m.at staff meeting.

    As my relationship with Wally took a turn for the better over the last couple of months, his mother’s health had taken a turn for the worse. In that sense, our new half-owner Palamina Wells had been a godsend. She was smart enough to step right in and run the day to day nitty-gritty details of Key Zest while Wally took care of his mom. She was also smart enough to recognize the attraction between me and Wally, and to remove me from reporting directly to him, so we could see where this love train might take us. 



All I can say is, stay tuned to see where this is going. And thanks Sue!

AND some more good news: I have a galley for DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS that I'd love to give away today. To be considered, leave your email and a comment about how you feel about love stories mixed in with your mysteries. (I only hope that one day I will be as good at this as Julia...)