I met Leslie Budewitz through the BONI (Break Out Novel Intensive) Lasses group and highly recommend her just released, fabulous, and "deliciously cozy culinary" mystery, Death al Dente. Please join me in welcoming her to Planting Cabbages!
Leslie Budewitz, Author
Every recipe tells
a story—and Death al Dente, unfolds a “culinary cozy” mystery!
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I admit, I was not born into a
foodie family.
Oh, we ate, of course, and
reasonably well for the time. My mother grew up on a farm and most years, we
kept a small garden with beets, peas, carrots, and pumpkins. And a rhubarb
patch. An old orchard near by kept us in apples, pie cherries, and raspberries.
But garden season is short in
Montana, and in the 1960s, our groceries did not offer the variety even a small-town
store offers now. Much of the year, our salads were iceberg lettuce and pink
tomatoes. Our kitchen staples included countless variations of jello salad and
“hot dish”—casseroles made with ground beef, canned soup, and macaroni. (Only
Italian families called it pasta then.)
Except for Christmas cookies. My
mother always enjoyed baking. Each December, she baked more than a dozen
varieties of cookies, along with fudge and, occasionally, hard candy. Friends
and neighbors loved seeing her on the doorstep with a plate. Many of her
recipes came from friends of her parents, back in Minnesota, the Frank girls. I
never met “the girls,” but I still make their cookies—and tell the stories that
go with them.
Because I was born into a
story-telling family. I loved to linger at the table with my father, a
traveling salesman who was gone most weekdays, hearing his stories. Our kitchen
and dining room were separated by a counter, and my mother would pause while
cleaning up to lean against it and listen. To this day, my brother can’t pick
up a fork without launching into a story.
And food is still story to me. I
write traditional or “cozy” mysteries, where the focus is as much on the
characters and their lives as on the puzzle of who killed whom and why. My Food
Lovers’ Village Mysteries are set in Jewel Bay, Montana, a lakeside resort
community on the road to Glacier National Park—a town that calls itself a
"Food Lover's Village." Erin Murphy, my main character, is the
32-year-old manager of The Merc, a market specializing in regional foods,
located in her family's century-old building that once held the town's original
grocery. Erin has a passion for pasta, retail, and huckleberry chocolates—and
an unexpected talent for solving murder.
Unlike me, Erin did grow up in a
food-loving family. She’s half Irish, half Italian. Her mother Fresca makes the
fresh pasta, sauces, and pestos that Merc customers love. The series begins
with Death al Dente—or as I think of
it, murder not quite well-done—set at an Italian food festival Erin cooked up
to kick off summer. In the second installment, Crime Rib (out next May), Erin investigates deadly deeds at Jewel
Bay’s annual Summer Fair Art & Food Festival, and its signature event, a
steak Grill-off. So, in every book, I get to explore food along with the
mystery. It’s a natural combination to me. First, murder is stressful, and who
doesn’t eat when stressed? But more importantly, murder is unnatural. It
damages the threads that tie a community together. The killer must be brought
to justice and the social order restored.
And what does that better than food?
Finally, another confession: When
Dorette asked me to share a recipe, I was daunted. I’m a good home cook, but
strictly an amateur. How could I measure up to a professional chef who runs a
cooking school?
I can’t—but it doesn’t matter.
Because that’s one of the marvels of cooking: Every recipe is, at heart, a
recipe for a story. Take my offering, and make it part of your story.
For more on Death al Dente, including an excerpt, more recipes, and Leslie’s event schedule, visit her at www.LeslieBudewitz.com or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LeslieBudewitz/Author
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In our house,
we call this “Demented Fettucine.” The recipe provides Erin a clue to solving
one of the mysteries in Death al Dente.
Makes 4-6 servings.
½ cup walnuts,
coarsely chopped
2 large ripe
tomatoes
1/4 cup dry
white wine
1 tablespoon
fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/4 cup fresh
mint leaves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon
salt
1/4 teaspoon
pepper
1/3 cup olive
oil
1 small onion,
finely chopped
1 clove garlic,
minced or pressed
8 oz fettucine
(spinach fettucine is particularly nice in this dish)
additional
grated parmesan for serving
1. Toast
walnuts in a shallow pan in a 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. (Don’t wait
until they look dark, as they will continue cooking after being removed from
the oven.)
2. Seed and
chop the tomatoes and place in a medium bowl. Mix in the wine, basil, mint,
salt, and pepper.
3. Heat oil in
a medium saute pan over medium. Saute onion until soft and just starting to
brown; stir in garlic and cook briefly. Add tomato mixture and cook at a gentle
boil, uncovered, about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
4. Meanwhile,
cook the pasta and drain well. Place in a warm serving bowl and spoon in the
sauce, lifting to mix. Sprinkle with toasted walnuts and serve with a bowl of
Parmesan. Alternatively, make nests of spaghetti in individual bowls and spoon
sauce into the middle of each nest.
(Excerpted from
Death al Dente by Leslie Budewitz,
published by Berkley Prime Crime, August, 2013.)
Death al Dente, first in the Food
Lovers' Village Mysteries, debuts from Berkley Prime Crime in August. The
series is set in a small, lakeside resort community in Northwest Montana, on
the road to Glacier Park, near where author Leslie Budewitz lives. Leslie’s
second series, The Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries, will debut in early 2015.
Leslie’s first
book, Books, Crooks & Counselors: How
to Write Accurately About Criminal Law & Courtroom Procedure (Quill
Driver Books) won the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction.
