Jenn McKinlay: Book releases never get old. It's always a thrill -- like having your birthday, Halloween, and the Fourth of July all mixed into on great glorious day!
FOR BATTER OR WORSE is the 13th Cupcake Bakery Mystery -- 13th!!! -- which is remarkable mostly because when I started writing the series, I figured three books were about all I could get out of a mystery series set in a cupcake bakery. I've never been so delighted to be so very wrong.
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This particular book finds our amateur sleuth, cupcake bakery Melanie Cooper, attempting to marry her long suffering boyfriend/fiancé Joe DeLaura. Will they finally make it? Yeah, like I'm going to tell you.
It also follows one of the supporting cast members, Oscar (Oz) Ruiz as he leaves the bakery to go out on his own and become the pastry chef at a posh Scottsdale resort.
Side note: I just read in the paper that Scottsdale is the #2 spot in the country for bachelor/bachelorette parties. We're right behind Nashville. So, there's some inspiration for another book.
The kitchen at my fictional Sun Dial Resort was inspired by the audio book Kitchen Confidential written and read by Anthony Bourdain. I had been listening to it at the gym while plotting out the mystery and the idea of setting my story in an Escoffier inspired brigade de cuisine style kitchen took hold and wouldn't let go. If you haven't read Bourdain's book, I highly recommend it.
The inside look at the big kitchens in restaurants and resorts was fascinating. So many interesting people are chefs. Which makes sense because high pressure cooking for strangers is a weird occupation if you step away and look at it. The entire restaurant lifestyle is just so different. I worked as a waitress at Jimmie's of Savin Rock in New Haven (West Haven, technically) for a couple of summers in college. That's as close as I want to get to the high pressure restaurant biz, unless I'm a customer!
Now, because of my gym reading, poor Oz has a dust up with the executive chef and when the chef is found murdered with Oz kneeling beside him, Oz becomes suspect number one. Now Mel and Joe have to find the real killer before Oz's new career is put on ice.
If you want to chat more about it, I'll be live tonight at 8 PM EST on the indie Facebook: Fans of Jenn McKinlay page to celebrate the release of the book and answer questions! And I'll be at Murder by the Book on May 6th at 7 PM CST virtually with Mia P. Manansala and Terrie Moran Farley.
So, Reds, what books have you read that inspired your mysteries? And readers, how much fact do you like with your fiction, because I have to say sometimes it is really hard to pull back on all of the research and just sprinkle the story with pertinent bits!
Happy Book Birthday, Jenn! I’m looking forward to discovering how Mel and Joe get Oz out of this predicament . . . .
ReplyDeleteA little fact here and there or a whole bunch of facts [or none at all] . . . as long as it fits the story, I’m good with it.
Thank you, Joan! It’s such a fine line.
DeleteCongratulations! It sounds like a great story premise.
ReplyDeleteFacts? Bring them as long as they are part of the story.
Exactly!
DeleteCongratulations on Book 13 in the series Jenn!
ReplyDeleteWhen writers sprinkle facts into their story, it usually proves interesting. But the facts shouldn't overwhelm the fiction. This is always a delicate balancing act.
By the way Jenn, I recently picked up the first two books in this series via a library sale. Once I read them, I'm sure I'll be buying the rest of the series from the local bookstore(s).
Aw, thanks, Jay! Library sales are my weakness. Hmm. You may have just given me a plot/setting for the next library lovers book...double thank you!!!
DeleteI'll send you a bill for the idea. :D
DeleteCongratulations on your book release today, Jenn! Boy oh boy, the plots you dream up! Always fun to read.
ReplyDeleteI like and appreciate facts in my fiction, when they are interwoven seamlessly. Then they add to the depth of the reading experience.
I do like the experience of learning while reading but I don’t want to attend a lecture unless it’s by a comedian. :)
DeleteHurray Jenn, you are a marvel and we love your book launches almost as much as you. This backstory sounds very intriguing to me. I love weaving facts into fiction and can't wait to read about your fancy chefs...
ReplyDeleteThe professional kitchen is such a perfect place for murder. Talk about pressure. I’ll take looming deadlines any day!
DeleteHappy Book Birthday! I know this book will be fun and I can’t wait to read it! I do enjoy fiction that incorporates facts, especially if the setting is something I’m not familiar with.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jimmie’s! I may have eaten there when you worked there. Broiled scallops, gooey chocolate desserts...What’s not to love?
DebRo
That’s amazing! It was quite the high pressure kitchen. I worked there in ‘87 and ‘88. Lobster roll!!!
DeleteHalloween Birthday Girl here to attest to how much fun that has always been! I am thrilled for your new release as a huge fan of this series and doubly thrilled for you. I think I told you that I bought the first book of the series for my Kindle and as soon as I finished it, Amazon sent me an offer for the remaining books for Kindle. It was an offer I didn't refuse!
ReplyDeleteThank you for telling us what inspired this story!! I love these characters and I love your books!
I appreciate learning about things in a story, and I totally trust that you will have the right amount of facts in this one. It certainly won't be as thick as The Hunt For Red October which included so much technical info, never mind, but I finished that one, and I hold that as the standard!
Thank you!!! And, oh my yes, Tom Clancy wrote some factually packed novels...but soooo good!
DeleteCongratulations, Jenn! I always like a sprinkling of facts to go with my fiction.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Liz! I feel the same.
DeleteCongrats on your new release! I love reading about restaurant kitchens. I worked in one for three college summers.
ReplyDeleteMartin Walker's Inspector Bruno is a policeman, not an amateur sleuth, but the books incorporate many ordinary details of life in Dordogne, as well as specifics of monuments and prehistoric caves, and a dose of past history (WW2 and the Resistance) affecting present day events.
Thank you! Love the Inspector Bruno books. I always think setting should be treated like it’s a character, especially when it has so much to offer.
DeleteCongratulations Jenn for : For Batter or Worse ! I like this series but I have some catch up to do .
ReplyDeleteI appreciate facts when it is relevant to the story but not so much when it slows down the rhythm of the story.
Exactly! I don’t want to attend a lecture! LOL.
DeleteLove the title, Jenn, and the cover is delicious! Congrats on #13!
ReplyDeleteData dumps are important in scientific writing, where the facts need to be up front and present to support the conclusions drawn. In fiction, the facts have to help support the story, not interfere or overwhelm it. As Jay says, a delicate balancing act.
Indeed. And heaven help you if you get it wrong!
DeleteBatter up! Congratulations, Jenn. This book sounds like it's packed with action!
ReplyDeleteKitchen Confidential was one of the very first audiobooks I ever listened to. Bourdain's narration is very good, and he sure lays it all out, doesn't he? Another book in this vein, if you're interested, is Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany, by Bill Buford. We were fans of his because of his columns in The New Yorker, and I coincidentally had been to the amazing butcher shop in Tuscany (and made a flash appearance while there on Italian TV). One of the other kitchens was Mario Butali's. Both those books came out long before any of the cooking competition shows.
Oh, I’ll definitely look for those! Oh, Tuscany - still the best food I’ve ever eaten!
DeleteBATTER UP! (Sorry, Couldn't resist it...) Wow, and lucky #13. Congratulations, Jenn! I'm fascinated by big kitchens and how they're run, too. As a 'chef' I can manage feeding up to 8 people but more than that and I'm like one of those cuckoo clocks in a cartoon that goes crazy-crazy, popping my springs everywhere.
ReplyDeleteJenn, can you pipe roses like the gorgeous ones on the cover? And is there any hope of doing it so they actually taste as good as they look?
Thanks, Hallie! I am definitely of the sweet variety in the culinary arts! Funny you should ask - I am obsessed with the cake on the cover of the recent Magnolia Bakery’s cookbook. It is GORGEOUS - all different sizes and colors of roses. I am going to conquer it - believe me, it will be three days of blog posts if I manage it!
DeleteJenn, of course I had to go and look this up--oh my gosh! That is one gorgeous cake. If you can make that it will deserve three blog posts!
DeleteCongratulations, Jenn! You are definitely an inspiration! I love learning unexpected things in a book. We do need something more than the bare bones of the main story. I read Kitchen Confidential many years ago when my friend, a restaurant owner recommended it. Boy, was than an eye opener!
ReplyDeleteWasn’t it? I really loved the part about the bread guy and his relationship to his starter. LOL.
DeleteHooray hooray hooray! This is so fabulous. Congratulations. 13! Incredible.
ReplyDeleteI love Kitchen Confidential, it was completely fascinating. And terrifying. You know my sister ‘Nancy is a chef, and has run a catering company for many years. Wow, she does she have stories! She trained in France, and says cooking school is a nightmare – – people were so competitive that would burn each other, and ruin each other’s food. I’m sure she’d be happy to chat with you someday!
Yaaay! And now I want a cupcake. .
Thanks, Hank, and — Oh, wow. Culinary school - that’s where someone needs to set a mystery series! Looking at you, Lucy! I always want a cupcake (sigh).
DeleteSomeone must have done that, right? If not… Yes, Lucy, this is calling your name.
DeleteHappy pub day, Jenn!
ReplyDeleteI try to make my books as real as possible and I love learning real facts when I read other authors. I spent hours in an antique library in Venice when I was researching the book
You had me at Venice, Rhys....can we go now? LOL.
DeleteHappy book birthday - I hope you are celebrating with cupcakes!
ReplyDeleteI like facts mixed in with my fiction, but I don't like fiction presented as facts. Does that make sense, or is it just me. A professional kitchen is a surprisingly high-stress environment. I discovered that waiting tables - a short lived job :)
Thank you, Kait! Yes, waitressing is not for the weak.
DeleteCongratulations,Jenn! I can't wait to read this one. Kitchens can be deadly.
ReplyDeleteI do like facts with my fiction, just not to the point of obscuring the story. i know way more than I needed about whales after reading Moby Dick.
LOL - too funny!
DeleteCongratulations on the new book. I enjoyed watching the replay of your interview with Paige Shelton last weekend. I had to chuckle watching the expressions on your faces while all the technical escapades were happening at the beginning. I did enjoy the interview once the difficulties where thwarted. I like facts mixed in with fiction. (Kait: I agree, fact with fiction but not fiction with fact.) I worked in a food concession at the county fair growing up. Not a hot dog/hamburger/fries joint. We served salads, soups, casseroles, desserts, etc. It always was crazy after the last race. I only worked there two weeks during the summer, but I did it for years. I know it was a great learning experience but I wouldn't want to do it today.
ReplyDeleteSame! My food service are way behind me. And, yes, that was a crazy interview!
DeleteCongratulations on the new book and Happy Publication Day, Jenn.
ReplyDeleteYou are in good company. A memoir by the only child of Eartha Kitt is published today. A memoir by the American actress Julianna Margulies. And I think Arsenic and Adobo by Mia is launched today.
Your Hat Shop series was the first novels that I read by you then I discovered the Library Lovers series at the library. After that I found a few of your Cupcake mysteries.
As a reader, I appreciate bits of facts in fiction. I also appreciate Author's Note when they state that they took poetic license and changed things for the sake of the story from the facts in history.
Diana
I am forever adding the poetic license disclaimer :)
DeleteCongratulations on your book release, Jenn! I may or may not be able to join in the Facebook frivolities tonight. I could be so busy turning your new pages I don't want to stop.
ReplyDeleteYou’re a dear, Gigi! Thank you!
DeleteLucky 13! Congratulations Jenn! I like to think random facts thrown in a story are true if they support the story. My granddaughter is attending a culinary institute and learning to be a pastry chef. Her opinions on various concoctions they use to decorate cakes is hilarious. All are edible but nothing you would really want to eat, as in practically pure sugar. She has made friends at school and it has reminded me of the British baking competition. The students help each other out and the chefs (all French) are there to teach and help. I am SO impressed with this school.
ReplyDeleteI love the GBBO - even though I get so attached to the participants. It can be brutal.
DeleteHonestly, Jenn, if I did any culinary research, I wouldn't be able to fit through the door to get into my office and write. I'm so glad you're doing it, though! Congratulation on lucky number 13!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Food is fascinating - who’d have thought it could lead to so much murder!
DeleteJenn, congratulations on #13! You are an inspiration! I love this series and can't wait to read this one. I think reading Kitchen Confidential years ago was the beginning of my fascination with professional kitchens, and not even writing a book centered on a professional chef has cured me!
ReplyDeleteDeborah, my father told me stories about working in restaurants as a young man after he left the Marine Corps. I remember my family were going to this fancy restaurant and my father told his father in law that the cooks would drop food on the dirty floor then pick it up and cook to serve! So I can imagine the Kitchen Confidential book, though I've not read the book yet. I did meet Anthony Boudanin once at a food event in the City and he was already not well, I am sorry to say.
DeleteDiana
It does become an obsession!
DeleteLove the title! Happy book birthday, Jenn!
ReplyDeleteLove the title too!
DeleteDiana
Thank you! It certainly fits :)
DeleteCongrats! It's so much fun (review to post Thursday morning).
ReplyDeleteHere I thought Vegas as the #1 spot for Bachelor/Bachelorette parties. Shows all I know.
Right? That’s what I thought, too. Nashville is the new Vegas. Crazy!
DeleteJenn, congratulations on For Batter or Worse! You always have the best titles and covers. They should always include the word delicious in any description of them. I'm sure this book is going to be another hit.
ReplyDeleteI know lots of friends who have read Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, and I would love to read it, too, someday. My son has worked in several restaurant kitchens, not as a chef, and there is so much preparation that goes into the dishes, and everybody better be on their game. A disgruntled or perfunctory effort on someone's part just can't be allowed. When he worked at a winery/dining establishment, he got to do some things on his own. He wasn't sure when he was told to make the chocolate cake, but he followed directions and did it.
Phew! Good for him. Sounds like trial by fire. Yikes!
DeleteCongrats on your book release Jenn!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteCongrats on the latest release, Jenn! And, oh my gosh, Jimmies! I just walked past there this Sunday on a beach stroll. And, it was where my parents had their first solo date (although, it was far more of a shack back then). Anytime I need a hot dog fix, it has become my go-to, especially since they now have an outdoor bar/patio area and Chick's has sadly closed. Rock on, Savin Rock!
ReplyDelete-Melanie
Noooo! I used to love Chicks. Our staff and theirs would go to happy hour quite often!
ReplyDelete