Linda Wiken cooks up the perfect murder in ‘Roux the Day’

Ask me how much fun it is to kill people and to eat fab food! But believe me, it is not for the feint of heart. We can all handle the murder part because what’s a cozy mystery without some (off screen) bloodshed? But writing a culinary mystery adds another ingredient – food stress.

Believe me.

It’s great fun plotting a new book. By the time I started this second one in the Dinner Club Mysteries, ROUX THE DAY, the characters were my old friends. The task is finding ways to make sure readers feel that way too, while knowing these characters must face challenges that will in some way change them or the way they look at the world. Without losing the friendship of readers.

The setting, Half Moon Bay, a quaint village-like community in Burlington, VT remains the same for each book. Although this time the body is found at a fundraising Casino Boat event, miles from shore, cruising on Champlain Lake. The victim is TV personality Miranda Myers and her co-emcee, Connor Mac, shares a past and an argument with her. Now he’s disappeared and tops the suspect list, with J.J. a close second. It’s up to J.J. and fellow foodies, the Culinary Capers Dinner Club, to find him, and the real killer.

Nothing goes better with a mystery than a touch of romance and I find that Private Investigator Ty Devine is just the guy to provide it. The friction between Ty and J.J. is as much attraction as contrariness. Of course, other characters need some of this, too…so stay tuned.

Now, back to that other ingredient. Unless the writer of culinary mysteries possesses a high metabolism, weight gain is assured. How could it not be, with all those tempting cookbooks filled with enticing photos; those recipes that need to be tested and which appear at the end of each book; and, don’t forget the occasional snacking while thinking up food descriptions.

Yum.

For an added treat, the cookbook chosen by the Culinary Capers Dinner Club in ROUX THE DAY is the MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA COOKBOOK. And, three of the recipes – from Sara Paretsky, Lisa King, and Cathy Pickens — are reprinted, with permission, at the back of ROUX THE DAY.

So, grab your favorite comfort food and curl up with ROUX THE DAY. Food and a mystery – an unbeatable recipe for pleasure.