What We're Writing (or not) @LucyBurdette #bookclub

 LUCY BURDETTE: Lots and lots and lots going on this month, including finishing Key West mystery #13, writing blogs to help launch A DISH TO DIE FOR, and strangest of all, going on vacation! If we've had any luck, I should be back in Scotland, perhaps even on the overnight ferry headed to Shetland. I have been reading Ann Cleeves's Black Raven to get ready for Jimmy Perez's home island. (You know I'm desperate to go because I'm willing to try to dodge the BA5 version of the coronavirus and a serious tendency to seasickness!)

What I decided to do ahead of time for today's post is show you the book discussion questions I came up with for A DISH TO DIE FOR. I know of a few book groups who've used the questions I developed for DEATH ON THE MENU and earlier books in the series, so I'm providing these hoping the same will happen for the new book...

the beach where Ziggy finds the body

1. There are a lot of real people, places, and food in this book and this series in general. Boca Chica Beach for example, where the body is found, is a real place, as is Geiger Key Marina where Hayley Snow eats and tracks down clues. How do you feel about bits of reality in your mysteries?

2. Hayley Snow meets her new father-in-law for the first time in this book, as Nathan and his father have been estranged for several years. Talk about your reactions to their relationship and their interactions over the course of this book.

3. Hayley Snow and her husband Nathan Bransford are feeling their way in their new marriage, and also in her role as amateur detective and his as professional. Does this seem believable to you?

4. The Key West woman’s club is a real place and the cookbook mentioned in the story is real as well. How did you feel about the use of the old cookbook as part of the plot? Can you think of other books that have used cookbooks as part of the story?

The Key West Woman's Club

5. The relationship between police and citizens has been fraught with difficulties and terrible events over the past several years. How did you feel about the way the police department is portrayed in this book? Does police work in Key West seem different from the work done in other cities and towns around the country?

Lucy with a few of her favorite police officers

6. One of the questions that always comes up for a mystery writer is how many books should there be in a series. A DISH TO DIE FOR is number 12. Discuss your thoughts about long running mystery series. What causes you to lose interest? What kinds of things make you want to beg the author to continue writing?

7. From Rex Stout’s famous foodie hero Nero Wolfe to Virginia Rich’s the Nantucket Diet Murders to Diane Mott Davidson’s Dying for Chocolate, and now the Key West Mysteries, what do you think explains our passion for combining cuisine and crime? Why do you choose to read culinary mysteries?

8. One of the biggest challenges when writing an amateur sleuth mystery is developing a reason for the sleuth to get involved. How did you feel about Hayley‘s stake in solving the mystery of the murdered man on the beach? How would you handle coming across such a scene?

If the discussion lags--or even if it doesn't--I recommend serving this, based on one in the Key West Woman's Club Cookbook:

Banana cream pie

One of the plot strands in this book has to do with the Woman’s Club in Key West, which is a gorgeous old home on Duval Street. I took a tour of the building this spring, and was the happy recipient of the 1988 version of their cookbook. I had also found an earlier edition of the book on eBay, that had been published in 1949. Oh my, the recipes and stories in those cookbooks had my mind racing with possibilities! This banana cream pie was served to Hayley and Martha Hubbard, while they are probing a suspect. I chose to make a graham cracker crust rather than, but any crust is fine. The recipe is based on the version in the 1988 cookbook.

Ingredients

For the crust

One package graham crackers (nine sheets)

2 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons butter

For the pie

2 ripe bananas

2 cups whole milk

3 eggs, room temperature, separated

4 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

pinch of salt

2 teaspoons water

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the meringue

3 egg whites (see above)

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 teaspoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. 

To make the crust, smash or whirl the crackers to crumbs. Melt the butter. Stir the butter and sugar into the crumbs and press this mixture into the bottom and sides of a 10-inch pie pan. Bake for ten minutes and let that cool.

For the pudding, separate the eggs and set the whites aside. Beat the yolks until thick and smooth with the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cold water. Heat the milk until it's about to boil, then stir it slowly into the egg mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the pudding thickens. (About five minutes.) Let that cool a bit and then mix in the vanilla and butter.

Slice the bananas into the pie crust. Spread the pudding on top of the bananas.

Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl with the cream of tartar until soft peaks appear. Continue beating while slowly adding the sugar until peaks are stiff and glossy--about 5 minutes. 

Mound the meringue onto the pudding, arranging it into peaks. 

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until the meringue begins to brown. Refrigerate the pie for three hours before serving.

Lucy again: Do you belong to a book group? How do you run the discussion? Any suggestions for tweaking the questions above? (I'll be back on Tuesday to properly launch this book!)

Meanwhile, A DISH TO DIE FOR is in bookstores everywhere right now!