Fried Chicken Castañeda
Historical Culinary Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Las Vegas, New Mexico, in June 1929
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Artemesia Publishing, LLC
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 6, 2025

Synopsis

At the Castañeda Hotel you’ll find romance, gourmet dining, bootleggers, and murder!

Bored with her conventional middle-class life, Prudence Bates escapes Cleveland by heading west to qualify as a Courier for the Southwestern Indian Detours. On the California Limited she meets Jerry Begay, a charming Navajo school teacher. They feel an instant rapport, but he’s headed for Gallup, so it’s but a brief encounter.

In Las Vegas, New Mexico Prudence is befriended by Castañeda Hotel Harvey Girls Martha and Anne and desk clerk Clara. They take Prudence under their wing and invite her along to dances and the local hot springs.

Four days later, Martha’s brother, Tom, is found murdered. Was it because of his bootlegging activities? Or his amorous relationship with Liz Kearney, daughter of the richest man in the area and rumored mob boss? And was that really Jerry Begay whom Prudence saw meeting with Tom in secret the day before he was killed?

Following in the footsteps of her favorite fictional detectives, Tommy and Tuppence, Prudence is determined to solve the murder. But one wrong step and she may end up in the sights of the bootleggers.

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Guest Post

Welcome to the Castañeda Hotel. How may I help you? Certainly, I’ll be happy to. You came at just the right time. The morning passengers from the California Limited have all left on their Indian Detour. Those who aren’t going on a Detour have registered for their rooms and are in the dining room having breakfast, if they’re not sound asleep. It’s not always easy to sleep on the train, they tell me. I wouldn’t know. I’ve never traveled farther than Albuquerque.

Oh, yes, of course. My name is Clara Morgan, and I’ve been the desk clerk here for two years. I was born in Las Vegas, and I’m student at the New Mexico Normal University. Yes, quite a few of the Harvey Girls are also students. Do you mind if I keep wiping down the counter while we talk? If you’ll just move your arm … Thank you.

My plans? You mean, for my life? I’m hoping to take over the Las Vegas Public Library some day – if you haven’t seen it, you really should. It’s a scale model of Thomas Jefferson’s house, Monticello. I can give you a map before you leave. In the meantime, I guess I’ll teach school, like the rest of the girls. Nursing doesn’t appeal to me, and there really aren’t any other options for decent girls. Of course we know about that! It is 1929, even here.  Besides, Las Vegas was a wide-open town until not too long ago and some of the women are still in business. They’re just not as obvious about it. And the police have all they can do with stopping bootleggers. At least, the ones selling to the Indians. No, they turn a blind eye to the speakeasies, as long as no one gets drunk and shoots up the town.

Marriage? Oh, yes, I have a beau and we’ll get around to it some day, but we’re in no hurry right now. He’s studying agriculture at the University in Albuquerque. Once he gets a job with the state department of agriculture, we’ll think about settling down. Even then, I can’t imagine just staying home, at least, not if there’s no baby to take care of.

How do my parents feel about it? Don’t they want grandchildren? I suppose you could say that I’m an orphan. My mother died soon after my birth – I’m an only child – and my father passed a few years ago. Thank you. I miss him every day. He left me the house, so this job is enough to get by on. Marry again? Father? Between raising me and teaching at the University … yes, he was a professor there – he had his hands full. But, more important, he often told me, Mother was the one true love of his life.

Prudence Bates? Yes, I know Prudence Bates. She arrived yesterday and is staying through the end of the week. She has some nice clothes, as nice as anything I’ve seen in the talkies. I remember watching her walk up the stairs to her room, envying her that cloche and raw silk traveling suit. But, if I’m honest, I wouldn’t have anywhere to wear it. Besides, then I noticed her shoes. I almost laughed out loud at how flimsy they were. They might be good for walking city streets, but not for hiking across some of our empty lots and unpaved streets. I couldn’t help but notice when she came back down later that she’d changed them for a pair of sturdy walking shoes. She’s more practical than I gave her credit for. And she’s tactful. Martha, one of the Harvey Girls here, told me that she asked what to wear to the dance last night. Martha told her to wear what she had on, and she did. You can’t tell me that she didn’t bring an evening dress with her, but she didn’t want to show us up.

But she sure did put that Liz Kearney in her place, and did it with real style. Liz didn’t know what hit her. She taught us all a new dance from the East, too. And she gave me some good advice about where to get library training. You know she’s a librarian? She didn’t rub it in that she has a degree, either. We’re all going up to the Montezuma hot springs tomorrow and I think we’ll ask her to come along. I’m betting that there’s a bathing costume in that luggage of hers, but if there isn’t, one of mine will fit her.

It’s been my pleasure. The map of Las Vegas? Let me get that for you. It’s funny, Prudence asked for one just this time yesterday. I’ll mark the sights for you. The library is here … the University here … when you cross the creek, you’re in West Las Vegas. That’s the original Mexican settlement. Um-hmm. 1835. You know we’re on the Santa Fe Trail? Ok, so keep going on this street and you’ll come to the Plaza and right here is the Plaza Hotel. Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders hold their annual reunion there, you know. You didn’t? Yes, since 1899.

On your way back, after you cross the creek, you’ll see the Duncan Opera House here and the Coronado Movie Palace here. That’s right, this side is East Las Vegas. It wasn’t built until the Santa Fe Railroad came through in 1879. That brought the gamblers and outlaws and gunslingers and ladies of the evening … Like I said, it was the most wide-open in the West. It’s all changed now, of course. We’re downright respectable – except for a few bootleggers.

Of course, any time. Enjoy your walk.

About the Author

After 20 years as a librarian and 20 as a professor of library science and library historian, Suzanne Stauffer has moved on to a third career as a mystery novelist. She currently lives in Albuquerque with her Australian husband and brown and white spotted rat terrier dogter, Treme. Her debut novel,  Fried Chicken Castañeda (Artemesia Publishing, May 2025), won the CIPA EVVY Bronze Medal in Mystery/Crime/Detection and the New Mexico Book Award for Cozy Mystery.

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