Agatha award-winning author Leslie Budewitz wrote ‘A Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries’, a series of light-hearted mystery crime novels with a delicious take on murder. The first book, Death Al Dente, took place in the fictional town of Jewel Bay with main character Erin Murphy, who recently made a comeback in her hometown to help in the family business, Murphy’s Mercantile or the Merc.
To celebrate their recent makeover as a gourmet food market, Erin organized a town festival called Festa di Pasts, featuring culinary goods of Montana’s best goods – including her mother Fresca’s delicious Italian specialties. But Erin’s success was cut short as Claudette, the Merc’s former manager is found dead on the festival’s opening night.
Leslie dropped by the FVCC Book Club Meeting last March 17 and answered our questions on the book, the series, and her thoughts on the writing process, cats, and seeing her books come alive as films.
Leslie’s writing is homey and exudes vibrance, two distinct characteristics of close-knit communities. I’ve immersed myself in Gilmore Girls the past month where 98 percent of the plot happens in the small town of Stars Hollow in Connecticut. Leslie’s Jewel Bay made me love those charming little towns more.
This is a book with a long list of characters so it may be confusing to keep track as to who is who so I suggest doing your own character list to guide you as the story unfolds. Leslie did say she’ll work on a character list and post it on her website.
From one chapter to another, the reader is thrown into a guessing game as to who really killed Claudette. But as the upbeat book club member Stacey noted: “I had different suspects all the time”. Because of this nature, you just have to keep on reading until the very end.
A few weeks ago, our family drove by downtown Bigfork (Montana) and passed by quaint shops and small business establishments which immediately registered in my consciousness. I immediately loved the small town’s vibe and character.
A few pages into Death Al Dente, my mind pictured Jewel Bay as downtown Big Fork. I was getting the downtown Big Fork vibe so I viewed the pictures I took during that short visit and I couldn’t wait to ask the author which town Jewel Bay was modeled from. While reading the book, I just had this feeling that I already saw the shops, the bars, and the inn described in the book.
And I was right!
Leslie said Jewel Bay is Big Fork!
Death Al Dente is a delicious book! The book shares Leslie’s personal recipes that average homecooks can make. Check out Fettuccine à La Fresca (Fettuccine with Minted Tomato Sauce)!
I give this book 10 out of 10 stars. I just bought the other two books in this series literally and figuratively hungry for more murders surrounding food and little towns.
It was a joy to meet Leslie and I am looking forward to more books from her.
I think… when I grow up… I want to write mystery crime novels too.
Below are excepts of Leslie’s answers to our questions.
On the book’s title…
My publisher (Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin Random House) chose the titles of my book. The whole team – editors, artists, sales people – has been in the business for so many years, they know which titles work. We started with titles like a Food Lover’s Guide to Murder… Death Al Dente, I think, was the fourth title suggestion. (The two other books in this series are entitled Crime Rib and Butter Off Dead).
On why she writes about food in mystery crime novels…
I worked in a bookstore as a teenager and met a friend who taught me a lot about food. I developed great passion for great food. On my 50th birthday, I spent a month in France and you know how good French cuisine is. I came home on fire for cooking. These two things come together when I wrote the books.
On developing characters…
My characters have done something I didn’t expect. But have they done something I didn’t want? No. I have the delete key. I have control. But… I see images and themes that I didn’t realize were there not until I go over my draft. You have to research and do something to develop your characters. For example, Erin likes spreadsheets, I didn’t know how to make spreadsheets so I had to learn that while writing this book.
