Terry Ambrose

Writing is like a good barbecue sauce, if it ain't bold, it ain't worth doing.

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Behind the story of Truffles and Tragedy

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Truffles and Tragedy tour Graphic
Truffles and Tragedy by Gayle Leeson

Gayle Leeson is a pseudonym for Gayle Trent. Truffles and Tragedy is the sixth book in the Down South Cafe Mystery series. Gayle said that she likes addressing the issue that things aren’t always what they seem. “I’ve examined variations on this theme throughout my books over the years; and with Truffles and Tragedy, I wanted to explore how easily someone could be framed for murder.”

How people play into Gayle’s work

Gayle was working in a virtual office one day when the idea for Truffles and Tragedy came to her. “I thought about how odd it was that all of these writers were together and yet in different places. People in different parts of the world were essentially witnesses to each other’s lives in real time. So, naturally, being a mystery writer, I began considering how horrific it would be if someone in our group were to be murdered with the rest of us being witnesses.”

She also said she loves to use research as an excuse to hear people’s stories. “It’s amazing what volumes of information you can glean for the cost of a lunch. I’ve talked with undercover police officers, FBI agents, forensic specialists, the great-niece of a female serial killer, psychologists, and even a mafioso!”

All about the readers

Gayle Leeson, author of Truffles and Tragedy

“I want my readers to know how very valuable they are. Not just to me, but to all authors. If they don’t read, review, tell others about our books, then we’ll eventually have to stop writing those books. In some cases, the publisher decides no one is interested in the series anymore. In other instances, the author might think the book or series is unpopular. And, I guess, in some cases, it is!”

Some of Gayle’s readers believe she’s like her protagonist, Amy Flowers, but that’s not really true. “Most of the time, I’d much rather be in front of a computer screen than in the kitchen. Some people write and tell me they wish the Down South Café was a real place they could visit. So do I! I’d love to pop in for a slice of pimiento cheese quiche and have a conversation with Homer, Dilly, and Walter.”

Learn more about Gayle Leeson on Facebook. Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.

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Friday Fotos – Lifou Island flowers

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Flowers of Lifou
I have absolutely no idea what kind of flower this is, but I was captivated by its delicate beauty.

These delicate Lifou Island flowers are another of the many tropical sights on Lifou Island. I have no idea what this one is called—I tend to be terrible at remembering plant names! For all I know, these Lifou Island flowers could be a nonnative invasive species that’s considered a weed!

I was thankful that the light was simply spectacular and allowed me to capture the varying shades of green as well as those deep reds. Thinking of your own trip to Lifou Island? You can find more information here.

Want to see more photos from our trip? Here’s a link where you can check out all the entries in our travel journal.

Behind the story of Double or Muffin by Victoria Hamilton

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Double or Muffin tour graphic
Double or Muffin by Vicoria Hamilton

Victoria Hamilton is the bestselling author of several mystery series including the national bestselling Vintage Kitchen Mysteries and Merry Muffin Mysteries. She describes herself as a solitary being who can be coaxed out of her writing cave for brownies and cat videos. She started her writing life as Donna Lea Simpson, bestselling author of Regency Romances, paranormal historical and historical mysteries, and still has a soft spot for the Regency period. Double or Muffin is the seventh Merry Muffin Mystery.

Double or Muffin and conspiracy theories

Victoria said she likes to tackle real life problems and concerns in the Merry Muffin Mysteries. In Double or Muffin, one character has been believing in and espousing conspiracy theories.

“Gordy has gotten into perilous situations as a result. I think it’s something many people are dealing with right now, family members and friends who have been misled by apocalyptic and conspiracy theories like those promoted by Q-Anon. In Double or Muffin he is out of the cult-like group he had been in and my main character, Merry Wynter, helped by her former cop husband Virgil Grace, is figuring out how to reconnect with him. Let’s just say that in the book, Gordy finds redemption and – I hope – the path to healing.”

Getting cozy with opera singing

“Double or Muffin features an opera singing talent competition filming in Merry’s inherited home, an American castle in Western New York State. I do watch reality show singing competitions like American Idol and The Voice, but the true inspiration was a reality singing show in Canada called Bathroom Divas; the title is a reference to singing in the bathroom, as some do because bathroom acoustics make everyone sound better! I enjoyed the show so much, and invented a show called Opera DivaNation. The show runs into trouble at the hotel in Rochester New York, where they were taking place, and so for the last few days of filming move to Merry’s home, Wynter Castle! Of course it’s a mystery novel, so… shenanigans are afoot!”

The life she always wanted

Victoria Hamilton, author of Double or Muffin

Victoria hopes that her mystery novels help readers escape the stresses of their daily lives. “Life can be tough and I know from experience that a mystery can help you escape. I feel so fortunate that they buy, read and enjoy my books! I write four different mystery series and have achieved the dreams I had as a kid, which was simply to write and be published. My readers afford me the only life I ever wanted… writing for a living. My greatest pleasure comes from reading their lovely letters that tell me how my books affect them.”

Who knew research could be so much fun?

“A forensic dive into a mystery writer’s internet search history would be an interesting – and alarming – task! For this book alone I had to research: window washing, filleting knives, steroid use among singers, and – this was fun! – how to mount a camera on a cat’s back. Yes… a camera… on a cat. What I’d love to tell readers is, they would be surprised how much research actually goes in to writing a simple cozy mystery! And it’s worth every minute to give people reading enjoyment. (Who am I kidding?? I LOVE research. You tell me that watching videos of cameras mounted on cat’s backs isn’t fun!)”

Victoria added that she recently watched an old Jack Lemmon/Virna Lisi movie, How to Murder Your Wife. “The whole first long scene is interesting, if you are curious about what a writer might do in the name of research! However… I’m not that kind of writer. The wildest my physical research gets is going into the dark basement and figuring out if I can find my way around by touch alone! “

Learn more about Victoria Hamilton at www.victoriahamiltonmysteries.com. Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.

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Jamaican Curry Chicken and Potatoes — a one-pot delight

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Photo courtesy of New York Times

At Christmas, we invested in an All-Clad stainless steel turkey roaster. When we bought it, my thought was that it would get used periodically during the year to make large one-pan dinners. This Jamaican Curry Chicken and Potatoes recipe was the perfect opportunity to test out my theory. And, guess what? It worked! Like a charm. I was able to caramelize the onions, brown the chicken, and then cook the dish. The really great thing was that the pan not only handled the cooking well, but it was big enough so we had no worries about spillovers or anything like that! Loved it and ready to go again!

If you’d like to see more gluten-free recipes, click here.

Photo courtesy of New York Times

Jamaican Curry Chicken and Potatoes

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Ingredients
  

  • Chicken thighs
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 2 tbsp olive oil plus more as needed
  • 1 large onion sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 tbsp Curry powder
  • 1 tbsp Chipotle peppers Buy a small can, use what you need, freeze the rest in a plastic baggie. Adds a nice depth of flavor.
  • 4 medium Yukon Gold or white potatoes washed and quartered
  • 1 to 2 quarts chicken stock reduce or add liquid depending on pot size
  • 1 dried bay leaf
  • 2 fresh thyme sprigs May substitute 1 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch

Instructions
 

  • Place chicken in a large bowl. Season chicken with the garlic powder, salt (depending on taste) and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, making sure the chicken is evenly coated. Let sit to come to room temperature.
  • Heat a deep Dutch oven or heavy pan over medium heat. Drizzle in the olive oil. Add sliced onions, season with salt and pepper. Using a wooden spoon, stir to combine, and cook until soft and fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic, stirring to keep the garlic from scorching, and cook for 30 seconds or until tender. Using a pair of tongs or a spoon, remove onions and garlic from the pan; set aside in a bowl.
  • If needed, add more oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the room-temperature chicken to the pan, and sear chicken on both sides, in batches if necessary, until golden brown, about 7 to 8 minutes total.
  • Sprinkle curry powder over and around chicken. Let the spices bloom and toast until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
  • Add reserved onions and garlic to the pan. Add chipotle peppers and potatoes, and stir to evenly coat chicken and potatoes in spices.
  • Pour in chicken stock to nearly cover the chicken. Add the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until chicken is tender. Taste and adjust the curry powder, salt and pepper as needed.
  • In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with 1/4 cup water to form a slurry. Stir slurry in, about 1 tablespoon a time and bring back to a boil, adding more until desired thickness is reached. Retrieve bay leaf and thyme stems and discard.

Notes

For this recipe, you can use a combination of legs and thighs if you’d prefer. We use boneless, skinless chicken thighs to keep things simple, but mix-and-match to meet your taste! We ate most of the potatoes the first night, then served with mashed potatoes when we had leftovers.
Original recipe comes from cooking.nytimes.com https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021842-jamaican-curry-chicken-and-potatoes

Three tips to shut down warranty scams

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Vintage automobile - three tips to shut down warranty scamsThe Pomona Review,newspaper, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Pomona Review,newspaper, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“We’re calling about your warranty.” Those five words lead into a scam that can cost victims thousands of dollars. Is it any wonder robocalls, and that includes warranty scams, are among the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) top consumer complaints? Let’s take a look at the scoop behind robocalls and warranty scams.

Don’t touch that dial! Not with warranty scams—or any other

Warranty scams are typically initiated by a computer that can make millions of calls per hour. If you’re a direction follower, you may be tempted ‘press 1’ for more information. Or a different key to be taken off of the calling list. Don’t. Pressing any key will record the response and let the dialer know it has found a live number. And when you’re dialing for dollars, a live number is worth money.

Curiosity killed the cat—and could be hazardous to your bank account

Do a search for warranty scams and it becomes obvious there are almost as many flavors of this scam as there are ice cream. Okay, maybe not quite that many, but there are a lot! To make things worse, data breaches from credit agencies and lenders provide scammers access to specific information about your vehicle.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, “What makes it particularly hard to discern if this type of call is fraudulent is that the scammer may have specific information about your particular car and warranty that they use to deceive you into thinking they are a legitimate caller.”

The bottom line is asking questions, even simple ones like, ‘Which of my vehicles are you calling about?’, can bring you a step closer to making the wrong decision. Hang up or don’t answer at all. It’s your best defense.

What if I make a mistake and engage with the caller?

First off, don’t beat yourself up! It happens. Just make sure you follow these three tips to shut down warranty scams.

Tip #1: Give no information.

Keep your personal and financial information private. Never give it out over the phone or in an email to someone you don’t know.

Tip #2: Screen your calls.

There’s no need to pay a service to screen calls. There are free apps to help with stopping robocalls. On IOS, there’s a nifty feature called ‘Silence Unknown Callers’ (Settings > Phone). This feature sends the caller straight to voicemail if they’re not in your contact list. True, it’s overkill, but it might provide a respite from scam call fatigue.

Tip #3: Report the scam.

If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam, report the crime to the FCC. The best way to shut down warranty scams is to let the authorities know so they can investigate. You may not get your money back, but you might help someone else avoid making the same mistake.

Did you like this scam tip? If so, check out last month’s tip, Beware the temptation to skip the Covid-19 vaccine line.

Friday Fotos – Lifou sights are plenty and beautiful

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Monument behind Lifou school
This monument is behind the school

There were so many Lifou sights to enjoy. Of course, the people were friendly and the setting was pristine. The weather is typical South Pacific—warm and humid (exactly the way I like it!). We only had a day to enjoy these Lifou sights, but it was a delightful one.

We were warned by our tour guide that when we got to the commercial district we should be careful about who we spoke to or did business with. Apparently, with the tour boats come the scammers. Why would things be any different there than here, right? Of course, that could have also been a way for the tour company to funnel business into the very commercial store where we parked.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time on Lifou, despite the warnings, and I’d love to go back if we had more time to just hang out. That, however, will have to come in a whole different year!

Want to see more photos from our trip? Here’s a link where you can check out all the entries in our travel journal. Learn more about Lifou Island here.