Guest Post & #Giveaway – Murder Wears Mittens by Sally Goldenbaum @sallygoldenbaum #MysteryMonday
Murder Wears Mittens (Seaside Knitters Society)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Kensington (August 29, 2017)
Hardcover: 272 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1496711021
E-Book ASIN: B01MSVCTH9
Synopsis
As autumn washes over coastal Sea Harbor, Massachusetts, the Seaside Knitters anticipate a relaxing off-season. But when murder shatters the peace, the craftiest bunch in town must unravel a killer’s deadly scheme . . .
After retrieving fresh lobster nets from a local Laundromat, Cass Halloran rushes to attend a last-minute gathering with her knitting circle. But Cass can’t stop worrying about the lonely boy seen hanging around the dryers, and the school uniform he left behind in a hurry. When the ladies return the lost clothing the next day, they find the child and his younger sister alone, seemingly abandoned by their mother . . .
The knitters intend to facilitate a family reunion, not investigate a crime. But the death of Dolores Cardozo, a recluse from the edge of town, throws the group for a loop. Especially when the missing mother and one of their own become tied to the victim’s hidden fortune—and her murder . . .
Before scandalous secrets break bonds and rumors tear Sea Harbor apart, the Seaside Knitters need to string together the truth about Dolores—while preventing a greedy murderer from making another move!
* Includes a knitting pattern *
Guest Post
Cooking and Writing…without an end in sight.
Sally Goldenbaum
I love to cook. It’s right up there with hiking in the Rockies, knitting, and walking along an ocean beach with a grandchild. My concerns and anxieties seem to melt away with the feel of a soft little hand in mine, the sound of waves, the smell of pines — and butter in a hot frying pan.
But it was only recently, when my husband suggested that I cook the way I write mysteries, that I started thinking about my cooking in another way.
“Hmm,” I said. “I do? How?”
“Think about it,” Don said. “You start out telling me, ‘There’s nothing in the house. What should I make?’ Then you open the frig doors and stare inside for a while, one foot tapping the floor. But finally, magically, a tasty meal lands on the table, even though you didn’t have a clue what you were going to make.”
I thought about that. He might have something—about my cooking, anyway. Last night was one of those nights. I searched the cupboard, then stared into the refrigerator. A chicken breast. A bunch of kale. A sweet potato and a lonely apple. I liked the color combination, but the taste? But after a little more rummaging, I found enough to move ahead, adding, subtracting, tasting, checking the frig once more. The end result: a mounded salad of kale with nuts, apple chunks and a few other things mixed in, all tossed in olive oil and lemon juice. Chopped and roasted sweet potato and sautéed chicken slices went on top. Tasty. Even healthy.
But my husband wasn’t through.
“Okay, now think of this new book. When you started writing Murder Wears Mittens you claimed you didn’t have much to feed a mystery—a scene in a Laundromat with a little kid and the seaside knitters characters. The profile of a woman in a NYT’s book of obituaries that you couldn’t seem to let go of.”
Disparate ingredients. That’s what I had. Just like my salad. Admittedly, my goal for the meal and the novel had similarities: combine it all so it would be engaging, interesting, appealing to the senses—and have some surprises tucked in. And in the end, I definitely always want to satisfy eaters AND readers’ appetites.
“Your processes were similar, too,” he went on. (My husband, as you may have guessed, is analytical.) “Trying one thing and another, going back and adding ingredients, tasting, adding again. Exactly what you do with the mysteries. Write a few scenes, then go back and add some things. Smoothing out.”
Of course no comparisons are perfect, but he had a point.
I’ve always been a pantser as far as my writing goes—I fly by the seat of my pants. And sure enough, maybe I cook that way too. It seems to work for me, even though now and then a recipe would be nice.
It’s true in writing too. Sometimes I’m a wannabe plotter when I’m writing. It would have been nice to have known early on what the recluse in Murder Wears Mittens had in mind when she hid dollar bills all over her house. Or why a young boy left his clothes in the dryer and then ran off as if he’d committed a crime. And where, oh where, was the boy’s mother? But the only way I could find the answers was to keep writing. And hope. (Along with a dash of faith. . .)
And likewise, wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly what I needed to make a perfect meal each night? Or what it was going to taste like when I was finished?
Or would the planning and plotting take a little bit out of the mystery of discovery, the magic of cooking, the joy of writing? I think the jury is still out on that. The only thing I know for sure is that we all march to our own drummer. No method fits all.
But I do think my husband’s observation of the two methods has some merit. Which reminds me. It’s six o’clock, and I have no idea what to make for dinner.
Nor about what Nell, Birdie, Izzy, and Cass are going to do in chapter four of the next Seaside Knitters Society novel when a familiar body is found in a seaside home.
It’s all a mystery.
And my thanks to you for stopping by.
About the Author
Sally Goldenbaum was born on the shores of Lake Michigan, in Manitowoc, WI, to a homemaker mother and a ship-building father. Although she now lives in landlocked Prairie Village, KS, her longing for lakes and the sea is satisfied in part by writing the USA Today bestselling Seaside Knitters Mystery series
Webpage * Twitter * Facebook
Giveaway
check out the other blogs on this tour
August 29 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! – SPOTLIGHT
August 30 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – INTERVIEW
August 30 – The Ninja Librarian – REVIEW
August 31 – The Power of Words – REVIEW
September 1 – Socrates’ Book Reviews -REVIEW
September 1 – Texas Book-aholic – REVIEW
September 2 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW
September 3 – Moonlight Rendezvous – REVIEW
September 4 – Carole’s Book Corner – SPOTLIGHT
September 4 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST
September 5 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW
September 5 – Teresa Trent Author Blog – SPOTLIGHT
September 6 – A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW
September 7 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW
September 8 – A Holland Reads – SPOTLIGHT
September 8 – Cozy Up With Kathy – INTERVIEW
September 9 – Island Confidential – GUEST POST
September 10 – Brooke Blogs – REVIEW
September 11 – Bibliophile Reviews – REVIEW
September 11 – Back Porchervations – Review
Dianne Casey
This is a new series to me. I really enjoyed the description of the book and would like to read.
peggy clayton
sounds so good !