Leslie’s Got A Brand New Blog

Welcome to Custard and Clues—a blog dedicated to mystery writing and food.

Those who follow my old blog have no doubt observed that I haven’t posted anything on that site in some time. There are several reasons for this.

First, during the early part of this year I was contributing to a different blog—Fairbanks Dreaming—which details the experiences my partner Robin and I had while spending four months in the coldest city in America.

 fresh snowfall in Fairbanks

(all photos by Leslie unless otherwise noted)

And then when we returned home to Santa Cruz, though I was planning on picking right back up with my old blog, somehow it just didn’t happen.

You see, my interests have been evolving. Sure, I still love food (more on this below). And music (I’ll be singing again with the Cabrillo Chorus this fall). And cycling (I’d like to state here for the record that I think Lance has been made a scapegoat and treated miserably by both the USADA and the press).

But what I’m mostly focusing on in my life right now is my writing.

About two years ago I began work on a mystery novel, with the idea that it would be the first of a series, each book involving one of the five senses. It’s called A Matter of Taste, and juxtaposes the world of a traditional, family-run restaurant with that of trendy, politically-correct foodies.

My sleuth—civil attorney Sally Solari, who practically grew up in the kitchen of an old-style Italian eatery—sets out to solve the murder of her Aunt Letta, who has been found stabbed to death at Gauguin, Letta’s swank Polynesian-French restaurant in Santa Cruz, California. I finished the manuscript last winter, and am currently sending out queries to potential literary agents (no bites yet, but I have several promising nibbles).

I’m now working on the sequel, Such a Smell of Sulfur, which takes place on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, where Sally is vacationing. During a daytrip out to the active volcano, she is horrified to witness a body being covered over by hot, flowing lava. Infuriated that no one believes her story, she resolves to discover the identity of the mysterious body in the lava.

 lava flow near Kalapana

So I’ve decided to start this new blog—the name being a nod both to mystery writing, and to food and cooking, which will play a prominent role in all the books. I’ll post updates on my agent search, as well as musings about the mystery genre, writing in general, and all the issues that go along with it. And I will of course continue the tradition started in eat.sing.ride., and feature plenty of food, photos, and yes—recipes!

 vegetables at a Paris marché

(Thanks to Sean at U-Save Liquors, who gave me a few cigarettes he had sitting next to the register to use for my blog photo-shoot.)