It’s been pretty quiet around here lately, as I have been working on the next book — and it’s a doozy. I’m about 80,000 words into the second draft, and I can safely say it is pretty wildly different than anything I’ve ever written. But everyone knows that a good writer has to be a good reader first, so I thought I’d pop in and tell you about a few of the books that have been feeding my imagination lately.
THE ACCIDENTAL ALCHEMIST by Gigi Pandian is a charming cozy of a mystery set in Portland, Oregon. Zoe Faust is a herbalist with a secret, whose life is complicated by the discovery of a dead handiman on the doorstep of her new — old — house. She teams up with an unlikely posse that includes a teenage boy and a — well, let’s just say a French gourmand — to solve the mystery and bring the reader a collection of tasty vegan recipes, to boot.
I met Gigi at #SiWC15 last year, and I could hear her voice throughout this appealing story. With an engaging cast of characters, a distinctly Portlandic setting and even a wee frisson of romance, I can’t wait to read the further adventures of Zoe and Dorian. Including tantalizing tastes of history, alchemy and mystery, THE ACCIDENTAL ALCHEMIST is the first in a series, and is a book that will appeal to readers of all ages. AND I happen to know that Gigi is just coming off the inaugural tour of her latest Accidental Alchemy book called THE MASQUERADING MAGICIAN, so there is more to come in the story of Zoe and Dorian!
More soon…
~kc