My recent release, The Taming of the Stew, gave me the wonderful opportunity to merge two of my greatest passions: the works of William Shakespeare and the bizarre, wonderful world of historical English culinary traditions. Setting a mystery at a revived Shakespeare Festival meant that my characters weren’t baking their usual cakes and biscuits; instead,…
A question that pops up in my inbox is how I manage to balance the lighter, mouth-watering elements of baking with the inherently dark business of writing a murder mystery. It’s a delicate tightrope walk. If a book is too dark, it loses that comforting cozy warmth that readers crave; if it’s too sugary, the…
If there’s one thing that defines a quintessentially British cozy mystery, it’s the presence of a steaming pot of tea. But in a culinary mystery, the afternoon tea table is more than just a comforting pitstop between interviews; it’s a tactical minefield. As a writer, I’m endlessly fascinated by how the polite social rituals of…
When I’m not mapping out a fresh crime scene for the Parchment Paper Mysteries, you’ll invariably find me in the kitchen, surrounded by dusting sheets of flour and the comforting warmth of the oven. For a culinary cozy mystery author, baking isn’t just a hobby; it is a vital part of the world-building process. And…