Crime in the Desert

Left Coast Crime—a mystery fan convention held annually in Western North America—took place last week in Phoenix, Arizona, and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend. It was going to be my first fan convention since having a published book, and I had been placed on one of the author panels—also a first. Not only that, but I would be meeting my editor and publicist there for the very first time. Not surprisingly, then, as I sat on the plane from Hawai‘i to Arizona I experienced a combination of excitement and anxiousness akin to that of a kindergartener on her first day of school.

The sudden transition from Hilo (the rainiest city in the U.S., with a humidity level to match) to Phoenix (located in the arid, sunbaked Sonoran desert) was intense, and almost immediately upon landing I could feel my lips becoming chapped and my skin parched. But I didn’t care—I was at LCC!

Home Made Pasta!

I’m generally an adventurous cook, willing to take a stab at most any new recipe and, if I fail, simply serve it to my guests with an apologetic laugh. But there are a few things I’ve long been leery of attempting: pizza, duck confit, and home-made pasta.

I tried making pasta several years ago, but it was pretty much a disaster—tough and almost inedible. My problem, I now realize, was that I tried to roll it out by hand, a technique probably best left to Tuscan nonnas and their progeny.

Our friends Nancy and Steve here in Hilo, however, have a pasta machine, and after watching Steve mix, knead, roll out, and cut a batch of tagliatelle one evening (which was scrumptious!), I decided to borrow their machine and give home-made pasta another try.

my finished product—fettuccine!

Steve recommended the recipe and technique in Giuliano Hazan’s book The Classic Pasta Cookbook (yes, he is the son of the renowned cookbook author, Marcella Hazan), which I followed. (This recipe serves six, easily.)

Galleys and ARCs and Blurbs—Oh My!

Last week I received what in the olden days of letterpress printing would have been called the “galley proofs” of my mystery novel—the book typeset, or rather, digitally formatted to look like typesetting. Nowadays it’s called the “advance copy,” and my editor informed me that this would be my last chance to make corrections to the text.

I’ve gotta say it was a thrilling feeling to open the document and see my manuscript—which has taken four years of writing, editing, honing, and further tinkering—finally looking like a real live book.

Title Page of Advance Copy

And it was interesting how, in this new format, typos, repeated words, and other problems with the text suddenly popped out at me from the page. I’ve now finished my final edits, and the content is thus finally out of my hands.

Dying For a Taste: Cover Reveal!

It’s here, the moment you’ve all been waiting for (okay, maybe not all of you, but I’ve been waiting anxiously for it). The cover art for my forthcoming mystery novel, Dying For a Taste, is now complete:

Pictured is the restaurant owned by my protagonist Sally Solari’s family, which is located on the Santa Cruz Wharf, and you can see the Giant Dipper roller coaster in the distance. (Yes, for you Santa Cruzians, it’s true that the Boardwalk is not technically in that position relative to the Wharf, but that’s what you call artistic license.)

Being an avid cyclist, I’m thrilled there’s a bike on the cover (Sally rides a Specialized Robaix in the story), and I’ve also gotta say it’s pretty darn exciting—and weird—seeing my name splashed across the cover of a real live book.

So, many thanks to all the supportive folks at Crooked Lane Books for the terrific concept and art!

Dying For a Taste, which is currently in the copy-edit stage, will be released by Crooked Lane Books in the spring of 2016.

Cop For a Day (Part Two)

This is a continuation of my previous post regarding the Citizen Police Academy, offered twice a year by the Santa Cruz Police Department.

SWAT Team

The SCPD Special Weapons and Tactics team is part of their Emergency Services Unit (ESU), which also handles hostage negotiations and scuba dives (usually to recover evidence). Being a part of the ESU is in addition to an officer’s regular post with the department, and generally comprises about 10 hours of the officer’s work week.

The tactical (SWAT) portion of the ESU is responsible for high-risk searches and arrests, hostage rescues, dealing with barricaded suspects and armed suspects, and terrorism. It takes about one hour to deploy the Santa Cruz SWAT team.

Here’s a photo I took of the lucky student who got to show off the extremely heavy SWAT team gear to the rest of our class:

Cop For a Day (Part One)

Twice a year, the Santa Cruz Police Department offers a ten-week course for members of the community, called the Citizen Police Academy. Figuring this would be a great way to get some insights for future mystery novels—not to mention being interesting in its own right—I decided to sign up for the most recent session.

Officer Joe Hernandez of the SCPD’s Community Service section ran our class, which consisted of guest speakers, field trips, and demos (including class participation!).

I learn how to conduct a high risk search of a building

(Photo: Deborah Elston)

Criminal Intent in Culver City

Last weekend I attended the California Crime Writers Conference, a biennial event put on by Sisters in Crime Los Angeles and the SoCal Mystery Writers of America. (See here for my blog about the 2013 CCWC in Pasadena.)