Sisters in Crime is going to ALA! 

 

If you will be attending ALA, please be sure to stop by our table.

See the full schedule of events and activities at the SinC@ALA web page: https://www.sistersincrime.org/page/libraries

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Culinary Mysteries, Cookbooks, and Libraries by G. P. Gottlieb

I remember taking my little girls to the Colorado Springs Public Library each week back in the 1980s. I recall the day when I managed to snag a couple of cookbooks and some Rex Stout novels on our way to check out. It was my first mystery series with descriptions of food, beer, and wine. I always wished he’d included recipes.

 

Then I moved north, and the Denver Public Library offered Diane Mott Davidson’s Colorado mysteries. She included recipes for complicated meals with complex ingredients that nobody in my family would ever eat. The books were silly and fun, and I loved reading them.

 

I loved it so much that I dreamt of writing my own culinary mystery. We’d moved again, and I started meeting two writing friends at the Northbrook Public Library each week, after which I’d take out a few cookbooks to peruse. We used to sit on the second floor overlooking the little brook, each of us working on our respective manuscripts. Mine meandered for hundreds of pages but didn’t turn out to be the book I’d ultimately write.

 

My next library was the Merlo Branch in Chicago. I borrowed and read the mysteries of Donna Leon, Louise Penny, and Ruth Rendell. I devoured Elizabeth Peters, Georgette Heyer, and Andrea Camilleri. And I found an editor.

 

The first novel turned into the Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series and is set in a Chicago neighborhood at a café owned by a single mother whose best friend is also the café’s vegan pastry chef. I’ve spent nearly three decades imagining, studying, and re-creating recipes both to serve my family and to include in my books.

 

I find new recipes in three ways: 1) by deconstructing something I’ve tasted that I want to make for my own family, 2) by finding fruit or vegetables at a farmers’ market (or in the produce department) and figuring out how to use them, and 3) by browsing through cookbooks and magazines at the library and finding recipes that could be made healthier.

I was always the kind of cook who browsed through recipes and rarely followed them, and after taking a few courses at the French Pastry School in Chicago, I became that kind of baker. But I studied many cookbooks to learn how to write the recipes so that people could follow them. To avoid serious mistakes before publication, I invite friends, family, and followers (on social media or my blog) to test every recipe.

 

Sometimes my recipes are happy accidents. After flying back to Chicago last night, I zipped out and rushed through the grocery store, randomly grabbing fruit and vegetables that I thought we’d use. At home, I set a pot of water to boil and chopped shallots, mushrooms, mini-sweet peppers, and baby spinach. Then, I added pasta to the pot, and in a large pan, sauteed the shallot and mushrooms in a tablespoon of olive oil. When the pasta was almost ready, I poured a cup of its liquid into the sauteed vegetables and strained the rest. I gently stirred in the peppers, spinach leaves, fresh thyme, a teaspoon of oregano, and 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast. I sprinkled a bit of chopped parsley over it and tasted it. It was just right.

 

But why not keep working at it to make it even better? What if next time, I use leeks or onions instead of shallots, zucchini and yellow beets instead of mushrooms and sweet peppers, arugula instead of spinach? What if I only have frozen vegetables, will peas and broccoli be a good combination? If I’m out of nutritional yeast, what if I tried adding capers? It’s rarely going to stink, and if it’s not tasty enough, I’ll try squeezing a lemon over it.

I’ll also try different spice and herb combinations—basil and oregano, cumin and coriander, or ginger and fennel seeds. Now, I love experimenting, but in the old days, I used to consult a cookbook just to be sure.

 

Luckily, my libraries always had hundreds of them, and they were free.

 

 

 

Website: https://www.gpgottlieb.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorgottlieb

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gottliebgp

We Love Libraries Winner: West Rutland Free Library!

Library Director, Rene Cressy is pictured with books by SinC member authors

The West Rutland Free Library is a small rural library located in West Rutland, Vermont. Per the application, the library, “buys used books for the collection to save on the budget. [The local school system’s] afterschool program closed, so we have many more children coming to the library. They need a safe place to be for a few hours, and we make them feel welcome. We treat the children as individuals and find crafts and supplies they may like according to their interests. We will try just about anything to get kids in the door and work on showing them how reading is fun. We have Craft and Lego Clubs twice weekly and offer children great crafts to make, bring home and be proud of. Our after-school clubs are very popular, and we need supplies to keep up!” 

 

The $500 We Love Libraries grant will go toward purchasing children’s books and craft supplies for the afterschool clubs and programs. Congratulations to West Rutland Free Library!

 

To find out more about all SinC offers, including live webinars, please visit our website.

 

Thank you for all you do for your communities. Sisters in Crime loves libraries.

 

Susan Hammerman
Library Liaison

 

 

Susan Hammerman, a former rare book librarian, is the Library Liaison and coordinator of the We Love Libraries program. Susan writes crime and neo-noir short stories. Her stories have appeared in Suspense Magazine, Mystery Magazine, Dark City Mystery Magazine, Blood and Bourbon, Retreats From Oblivion, and the Stories (Within) anthology. Website and Twitter 

 

WLL and WLB News Editor: Gail Lukasik’s latest book, White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing, was named one of the most inspiring stories of the year by The Washington Post. She is also the author of the Leigh Girard Mystery series and the stand-alone mystery, The Lost Artist. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, such as The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, and The Georgia Review. Gail appeared in the documentary, History of Memory, which is available on Amazon Prime. Her fifth mystery, The Darkness Surrounds Us, a Gothic, historical mystery, will be released September 5, 2023. Website: www.gaillukasik.com

Here's a spreadsheet with our members' books. This month's releases are in a separate worksheet. Sort the spreadsheet by author name, location, title, or release date.

Sisters in Crime hosts LIVE webinars each month. Webinars last 60-90 minutes depending on the topic and the audience questions! These webinars are open to all.

Looking for diverse books? For many years, SINC has curated Frankie’s List, an extensive list of crime novels by people of color and other marginalized groups. Frankie Y. Bailey, building on work by the late Eleanor Taylor Bland, began to compile a list of published Black crime writers over a decade ago. Frankie has expanded the list to include other WOC and LGBTQ+ authors. Here’s a link: https://www.sistersincrime.org/page/FrankiesList