Marilyn's Musings

An advanced copy of the Pot Thief Who Studied Escoffier by Michael Orenduff was sent to me by the publisher at my request. Mike and I share the same publisher and we've met at several conferences, including the Public Safety Writers Association's Conference, and Epicon. I love this series, Mike is a terrific writer and I'd read anything he wrote. Here's what I thought about his latest. The Pot Thief Who Studied Escoffier J. Michael Orenduff The Pot Thief books are known for making the reader hungry and this one is no exception. Herbert Schuze, better known as Hubie, is hired to design and make the prototype for   chargers (better known as plates) for a brand new restaurant soon to open in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The hitch is the Schnitzel restaurant is going to focus on Austrian cuisine. From the beginning nothing seems quite right, from the owner to all the quirky people hired to cook and serve. Hubie gets to know these people better than he’d like because h...

Writers can set their stories in a real place or invent one. Either way, it has to be a place the reader wants to spend some time in. Henning Mankell sets his mysteries in a real place -Southern Sweden, an area called Skane, and he puts a map at the front of the books.  Ed McBain sets his mysteries in the 87th Precinct of a mythical city with boroughs named Isola, Calm's Point, Majesta, Riverhead, Bethtown and Smoke Rise. You’d think a writer as good as Ed McBain could come up with better names. My stories are set in New Mexico, which places me in good company. Tony Hillerman, Steven Havill, Michael McGarrity, Judith van Gieson, Sandi Ault, Nevada Barr, Martha Grimes, Dorothy Hughes, Nancy Pickard, and Stuart Woods have also set one or more of their books in the Land of Enchantment. There must be a reason why so many stories are set in New Mexico and so few in North Dakota.             I think it’s because New Mexico has a d...