The After

As I worked on Tequila Mockingbird, book five in my current culinary mystery series, for National Novel Writing Month, I knew the series was nearing an end. Book six, Cooks in the Can, will conclude the adventures of personal chefs Alli and Gina in Glendale, Arizona.

So what’s in The After?

I still want to write culinary mysteries, but I am switching it up by moving Alli and Evan to Alaska and having Alli work for a couple of small businesses there. A common joke in Alaska is that Alaska is home to both the wanted and the unwanted. Perfect spot for the cop Evan, right?

Their small Alaska town will be populated with a variety of quirky folk, some of whom run small businesses in the town. In this series, the first book will feature Alli, but other books will have her as a supporting character with other small business owners being the focus. I’m not sure how to avoid the Cabot Cove Syndrome yet, but I’ll figure it out.

I already have some titles for these “murders with taste”, but for me, that’s no big deal. Punny titles pop into my head all the time. What do you think about these to pick from: Baked Alaska, Go with the Floe, Chocolate Moose, Dead and Breakfast, Mint to Be, Arsenic and Old Mace, Thyme to Die, Duds and Suds, and Iced? More are occurring to me all the time, so who knows which ones will be in this series.

My plan, at this point, is to create a small town in Alaska with a variety of quirky characters, each of whom runs a small business in town. Each book in the series will have Alli helping to solve the mystery created around the small business and its owner.

The titles above may have tipped you that one small business owner, Maeve, runs an herb shop. She supplies residents and area restaurants with spices and herbs, but a more lucrative component is her salves and infusions made with marijuana. That keeps her bottom line healthy.

Riley is the owner of the local bed and breakfast, Riley’s Roost—Where you rise and shine! She’s the self-appointed mayor and knows everything about everybody in the town. But she’s a busybody with a heart.

Another resident is Bud, the owner of Bud’s Duds ‘n’ Suds, the local bar that has the only laundromat for 50 miles. He sees the good, the bad, and the ugly in the town, and is privy to secrets told by inebriated customers.

I need a bakery, a diner, and a local newspaper still. And, of course, there is the realtor who gets into lots of spaces. Populating a town is a challenge and great fun!

As to recipes—this is a culinary mystery series, of course—rhubarb is very big in Alaska, so there will be several recipes using the ubiquitous plant, like this recipe from the University of Alaska:

Easy Rhubarb Jam    Yields 2 pints

5 cups rhubarb

3 cups sugar

3 ounce package strawberry-flavored gelatin

Combine rhubarb and sugar and let stand one hour.

Boil until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the strawberry flavored gelatin and stir until dissolved.

Let cool. Pour into freezer containers for storing in freezer or jars

for storing in refrigerator.

Jam should not be stored in the refrigerator for more than 2 weeks. Leave ½ inch

headspace.

Also, salmon is the lifeblood of Alaska, so several salmon recipes will be featured, including this salmon caviar one from an Alaskan friend of mine, Sandy Peacock that she received from her Alaskan friend, Chi Dragich. Thanks to them for sharing this absolutely delicious recipe. I ate it like a grizzly bear!

Salmon Caviar     Yields 2 quarts

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon saki

1-3 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon Dashi seasoning

Salmon roe from one salmon

Open the skein, flatten on wire rack, rubbing back and forth to separate eggs.

Flush with cold water, in rectangular plastic tubs, multiple times until water is clear.

Pick out bits of egg, veins, etc. Set in strainer to dry. Color of eggs will return and appear uniform.

In large bowl, mix well all ingredients except salmon roe.

Fold in eggs to seasoning mixture.

Place in sterile jars and refrigerate for up to 3-4 weeks.

Serve on crackers with cream cheese.

What do you think? Would you pick up a culinary mystery series set in The Last Frontier? Please share this post. Thanks!

Facebook: Sharon Arthur Moore is planning her next culinary mystery series. This one will be set in Alaska. Check out what’s on the horizon. Recipes included. http://bit.ly/2ASIx7M

Twitter: @good2tweat shares two #recipes from her next culinary mystery series set in Alaska. http://bit.ly/2ASIx7M

Searching for Mr/Ms Right

I recently, and reluctantly, asked for a reversion of rights for two of my culinary mysteries in the “Dinner is Served” series. Mission Impastable was in print. Prime Rib and Punishment waited in the wings.

It was very difficult to admit it was time to move on. My publisher had been wonderful to me, but her health issues over the past many years had made the future of the company precarious. For my own career, I decided to sever the connection.

It was clear it was the right decision, but that didn’t make it any easier. In fact, I delayed the actual request for rights until several months after I had made the decision. Maybe, it will work out. Maybe the company will right itself. But Maybes were all I had.

Last spring I compiled a list of small publishers of mysteries. There were quite a few of them who were open to submissions without an agent. Not a huge number, but still a respectable number to pursue. I prioritized them and wrote a query letter template. Still I stalled.

Procrastination. What caused it? Reluctance to start over. It’s a hard road, submission is.

Grieving for what had been was another cause. I thought I was done with submissions for this genre, and I liked where I had landed.

Fear of rejection was another. I’d been “accepted” to traditional publishing. Why did I have to prove myself again?

What if no one picked up my series right away? Did I abandon it? Indie publish? Continue submitting until I grew too old to hit the send button?

Serendipitously, I encountered an acquisitions and development editor for a small press at a conference I attended over the summer. I hadn’t come to the conference intending to pitch to anyone, but I quickly pulled something together and pitched my series while handing over a printed copy of the first book. I described book two. Told him I had three books completed in the series beyond the published one, and that books four and five were outlined. He loved the titles of books three through six: Potluck, Ancient Grease, Tequila Mockingbird, and Cooks in the Can.

He asked me to submit the traditional submission materials: a query letter explaining book two and the series, synopsis of book two, the first fifty pages, and a brief bio. I asked if he wanted a marketing plan, also. He seemed surprised I had one, and agreed I should attach that as well.

I sent it all off three months ago. And so the remembered-wait from previous submissions began. I am hopeful but not confident. Small presses only put out a few books a year. I was asking for one of those slots. So were hundreds, maybe thousands, of others. Did already having completed manuscripts give me an advantage? Or was it a liability to commit to a series before sales data on book one was in?

Another piece of the equation always is: so what if they do want me? Do I want them? Am I willing to sign with the first one queried? Shouldn’t I be searching for other publishers to get this process moving in multiple pathways and to soften the blows of rejection? I can always tell myself, “Oh, well. ‘Mysteries Are Us’ didn’t want me, but I still have ten more publishers to hear from.” 

But the procrastination continues. I’ll wait to hear from the conference publisher. If the highly-likely (given publishing odds) rejection comes, I do have my fall-back list of small presses to pull out, make my spread sheet, and send off submission materials. And wait again.

But my fingers, toes, and eyes are crossed in hope that won’t be necessary. You’ll be the first to know how it ends. Well, not really. But you know what I mean.

If you found this post interesting enough to share with your friends, you can make your own social media posts or copy/paste these.

Facebook: Authors, trad publishing has numerous submission heartaches especially when you have to change publishers. Sharon Arthur Moore-Author describes a recent process she has gone through. http://bit.ly/2xDuvAN

Twitter: #Writers face disappointment, long waits, and likely rejection when they submit to trad publishers http://bit.ly/2xDuvAN