Lucy Burdette’s Key West cozies feature a magazine food critic called Hayley Snow, her husband's nosy dog, Ziggy, and an indomitable sidekick, Miss Gloria, who's rapidly becoming a reader’s favorite, all that set in page-turning beautiful action in Florida's laid back tropical archipelago.
Hi. I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler. And today on Binge Reading, Lucy talks about the joy of combining two of her loves in life, food and Key West, in an award-winning best-selling small town mystery series.
Mystery, Thriller and Suspense Giveaway
Our Giveaway this week as a selection from a group of authors, Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense Giveaway, including Sadie's Vow, Book #1 in my own Home At Last trilogy.
It’s San Francisco, 1872. Sadie McGillicuddy’s word is her bond. Swearing to her dying mother to always protect her wilful sister, she’s soon tested when her beautiful younger sibling runs off into the night.
You'll find a link to download these books in the show notes for this episode on the website, the joys of binge reading.com. That's a Free Download Give away for holiday reading.
DOWNLOAD FREE MYSTERIES
And remember if you enjoy the show, leave us a review, so others will find us too. Word of mouth is still the best form of recommendation and it will help people find a show that recommends books they'd love to discover and read.
Links to items mentioned in the show
The Bobbsey Twins, Laura Lee Hope: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/DMJ/the-bobbsey-twins/
Nancy Drew. Carolyn Keene: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/NAD/nancy-drew/
Frank Bruni, Born Round: https://www.amazon.com/Born-Round-Family-Ferocious-Appetite/dp/014311767X#
Ruth Reichl: http://ruthreichl.com/about/
Dr Laurie Santos: Yale class on happiness: https://www.drlauriesantos.com/science-well-being
Dr Laurie Santos: Happiness Lab podcast:
https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/the-happiness-lab-with-dr-laurie-santos
Ann Cleeves: https://www.anncleeves.com/
Rhys Bowen, Lady Georgiana Royal Spyness series: The Proof in the Pudding, www.rhysbowen.com
Love Marriage by Monica Ali, https://www.amazon.com.au/Love-Marriage-Monica-Ali/dp/1982181478
Ragnar Jonasson, Reykjavík, https://www.amazon.com/Reykjav%C3%ADk-Crime-Story-Ragnar-J%C3%B3nasson/dp/1250907330#
Where To Find Lucy Burdette Online
Website: https://lucyburdette.com/
Facebook: @Lucyburdetteauthor
Instagram: @Lucyburdette
Jungle Red Writers Blog: https://www.jungleredwriters.com/
Introducing mystery author Lucy Burdette
Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Lucy. Hello there, Lucy, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.
Lucy Burdette - Her latest book in the Key West food critic series made the USA Today bestseller list
Lucy Burdette: I am so happy to be here and I really appreciate being invited.
Jenny Wheeler: It's lovely. the wonders of technology to think that you are in Key West, Florida and I'm in New Zealand. It's great, isn't it?
Lucy Burdette: Crazy, Yes. Two islands.
Jenny Wheeler: That's right. Lucy, you've got a flourishing career writing these Key West food critic mysteries. You've just published number 13 in those. How did you get started on fiction writing?
Lucy Burdette: It's a strange story, but your listeners might not know that I'm a clinical psychologist. That was my career before writing and when I met my now husband of 31 years, he was a big golfer and I was not, but I wanted to do whatever it took to spend time with him.
So I started taking golf lessons, and I was just horrible, terrible.
I made every mistake. It was embarrassing. I started thinking about what could I write that would combine psychology and learning golf. I began to pitch some non-fiction stories about the psychology of golf.
I had a few published, but it's very hard as a freelancer to get picked up by magazines.
Why don't you try writing a mystery?
I was talking to a good friend from graduate school about this and she said why don't you try writing a mystery?
Because we've always read mysteries since The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew and passed them back and forth.
I said, that sounds like an interesting idea. I knew nothing about how to write a novel, but I could immediately picture this first protagonist, who was a neurotic lady golfer who desperately wanted to play on the Professional Ladies Golf Tour, but she had too many issues that would keep her from doing that.
That was the first thing I tried, and I found an agent after about a year and I was taking classes and I found a writer's group.
My agent was able to sell that series not too long after that. The trouble with the Golf Lovers Mystery series, as they were called, is that readers tend to hate golf and golfers tend not to have time to read. So, it wasn't a perfect intersection. There were five books in that series, and then I tried writing one that was set in Connecticut that had to do with a lady psychologist. There were three of those.
And then finally, I heard about this editor who was looking for a food critic mystery, preferably in a tropical setting. We had just started traveling a lot to Key West and thinking about moving here at least half time.
I pitched the idea of this series set in Key West and she took it and said, would you consider changing your name because the other eight books were published under my real name, which is Roberta Isleib.
I said, sure. I chose my grandmother's name. She was Lucille Burdette.
And that's how it got started. It was a crazy midlife crisis.
Learning what a food critic likes and does
Jenny Wheeler: It's interesting. You must have already had the feeling you wanted to write something. If that happened to me, I'd probably just give up golf.
Lucy Burdette: I'm a very stubborn person, it turns out, and also a slow learner. You talk to writers and some of them have this feeling that they always wanted to be a writer. That was not me. I've always read like mad and love reading, especially series books because I like to start with a character and follow along ways with her.
But no, I never thought about writing fiction. I have a PhD in clinical psychology, so I know how to write that sort of thing, but this was all new.
Jenny Wheeler: And the Key West Series does really require somebody who has a genuine passion and interest in food. Was that you at the beginning?
Lucy Burdette: I have always loved to eat. That's my main claim to fame. And I was a decent cook. But I have to say that following these characters, the main characters, Hayley Snow, who's the food critic, and her mother, who now lives in town and is a caterer, following them I have had to expand my horizons and try new things, because as you've seen, there are recipes in the back of the book.
I have to make what I am imagining they might make. And then the other part of the research is that we have to go out to eat a lot, which is not too onerous.
I try to make some things that I really love from the restaurants that we've been to. I'm passionate about eating and I will cook if need be.
Jenny Wheeler: And with a food critic character, you have to stay on top of food trends, don't you? Because restaurants are always wanting to be a little bit ahead of the latest trend.
Key West offers a colorful community
Lucy Burdette: Yes, at Key West, probably not so much as you might find in a place like New York City, but yes, I read a lot about food critics.
There's a wonderful book by Frank Bruni, who was the food critic for the New York Times called Born Round. It was a memoir of his life and his experience as the food critic.
So I read things like that. Ruth Reichl, who was also the food critic at the time, She's written a series of wonderful memoirs and novels. All that helped me get into the head of what my character might be noticing and thinking about writing.
Jenny Wheeler: Key West itself is practically a character in the series. There's very strong sense of location, so I guess it's not surprising that you've really integrated yourself into that community as one of its citizens.
Lucy Burdette: Yes, we are here half the year. We have a lot of friends and I am now the president of the Friends of the Key West Library, which really helps me feel connected to the community.
And as far as Key West the character? I always say, if you can't walk around town and find something to write about, you're not trying very hard because it's a very nutty place,
Jenny Wheeler: Is it?
Lucy Burdette: Yes. With many layers. It's an expensive place. It's getting worse as time goes on. And you have a lot of conflicts between the people who are spending a lot of money to buy property here and there are homeless people here because it's warm all the time, so why not?
And then there was a whole group of people who feel like this is their happy place and they come down to unwind. And so there's a lot of tension between all of that, and that's very good for a mystery writer.
Food as a window into relationships
Jenny Wheeler: That's great. Yes. In the book before this new one, A Dish To Die For, Hayley makes a statement that I love so much that I jotted it down in a notebook at the time. It says, “Food is a window into relationships,” and I thought, Wow, what? A lot is packed into those few words.
Could you unpack that for us a little bit and explain more fully what you mean by that?
Lucy Burdette: Sure. I suspect this is not true of all families, but in my family you show your love and affection for people according to what you serve them. And often it's something that you've made and it's a way to connect with them and really enjoy something together. My, mother's family - they weren't great cooks, but they were very food centric.
I think that's where it comes from.
