Brie's Vegan Tomato Basil Soup

By Linda Lovely

I adapted this Barefoot Contessa recipe that appeared on the online foodnetwork site. Here's the link to the original recipe. I changed the recipe to make it vegan, e.g. no butter or chicken stock. I also have never used plum tomatoes, just whatever I happen to have--often from my own garden, especially when all the tomatoes seem to ripen at once. I LOVE this soup, and I'm sure it would be one of my vegan heroine's favorites. Hope you'll read BONES TO PICK so you can learn more about Brie Hooker and her friends in my new humorous mystery series.

Brie's Vegan Version Of Tomato Basil Soup

3+ lbs. fresh tomatoes, sliced like an apple (leave skins on)

¼ cup + olive oil

1 Tblsp Kosher salt

*****

2-3 Tbl olive oil +2 Tblsp coconut oil (can just use olive oil for all)

2 large onions chopped

*****

4 small (16 oz) cans fire-roasted tomatoes with garlic

1 pkg (6 ind. Cubes) Vegetable Cubes softened in 2 cups water

3 Tbls Agave

4 cups fresh or handful of dried basil

1 tsp thyme

·        Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss first 3 ingredients and spread on nonstick cookie sheet. Roast 45 minutes.

·        Put the Vegetable Cubes in two cups of water to soften.

·        In large stock pot, sauté onions in olive and coconut oil.

·        Add the fresh roasted tomatoes and all the juice, then add everything else including the veggie cubes and water. Bring to a boil

·        Reduce heat and simmer uncovered stirring occasionally for 40 minutes. If you're in a time crunch you can shorten this time to about 10 minutes--still great.

·        Ladle small batches into food processor and puree.

Hints: You can use any tomatoes. This is an ideal way to use excess from your summer garden. You can roast the tomatoes, freeze them, and then use them to make soup in the fall or winter. You can serve the soup with croutons or crusty bread.

Not a vegan? Add grated or hunks of sharp cheddar cheese to melt in the hot soup. You can also use chicken bouillon cubes rather than veggie cubes if you’re not doing vegan.

Rita the Mule

By Howard Lewis

Critique Partner Extraordinaire & Mule Owner

I feel the need to write on behalf of the mule, Rita. Somebody has to support her because she has a bone to pick. The mule doesn’t get near enough respect in Linda’s book.

You see, Rita’s not just some other animal. She’s a hybrid. Her mamma’s a horse, and her daddy’s a donkey. Receiving the best from each, she knows she’s better than either.

This means that she’s braver than donkeys and smarter than horses. Her intelligence is why some people consider her stubborn, but it’s pretty simple. If it doesn’t make sense to Rita, she won’t do it. Before she came to live with Lilly, her human sent her to a local horse trainer with 25 years

of experience and a great reputation. Rita had a lot of fun with him before he gave her back saying, “Mules are different.” The trainer was used to pestering horses into doing what he wanted. It didn’t work with Rita. Of course, once she got Lilly trained, she gave in a lot so she could spend time with her human.

Rita loved Lilly. This human made her feel like a friend instead of a servant. Rita grieved terribly when she lost Lilly. Unfortunately, when Brie met her, the mule wasn’t in the mood to meet another human. The first time Brie tried to put Rita in the trailer, she led the mule up as if she were a horse and asked her to climb in. Rita’s not a horse so she just stood there. Brie pulled on the lead, offered her a treat and slapped her on the butt. Rita just stood there. Brie stamped her feet and screamed her cheese curses. Rita just stood there. Eva finally said something to her. Brie rubbed Rita’s nose, hugged her face, and told her she was most beautiful mule in the world. Rita walked into the trailer.

Around the farm, Rita lets Hank, Eva’s horse, be boss. It’s not that she couldn’t whup him. Of course she could. It’s just that being boss isn’t as important to her as it is to him. Even though she lets him think he’s the leader, she does take great pleasure picking on him. She’ll creep up beside him while he’s grazing so he has to chase her off. When he’s on the other side of a fence, she’ll walk close enough to make him mad but far enough away so he can’t touch her. When in the barn, she’ll pee right next to his stall so he has to smell it.

Just like all equines (horses, mules, donkeys, zebras, etc.) Rita’s a prey animal. Other animals want to hunt and eat her. Unlike those stupid horses who always run away, sometimes Rita wants to fight. Especially if she’s mad. With a half a ton of muscle and bone, a quick, intelligent mind, and a tenacity that won’t quit, she’s never lost a fight.

The mule has an impressive heritage. Rita can do anything horses can do: drag plows, pull carriages or even carry people in saddles. George Washington believed that her kind were better workers than horses and wanted one. Being a picky man, he wanted a mule sired by a Spanish donkey, considered to be the superior asses of the time. After spending years trying to procure the donkey, King Charles III sent him two. Only one survived the trip. George immediately put him to work breeding a series of donkeys and mules. George even rented him out for stud running

newspaper ads describing his outstanding qualities. Mares and Jennies lined up for his service.

Rita and her brothers are sterile. It has to do with chromosomes. People have a standard set of questions when they discover this. Mostly dealing with Rita’s sex. Yes, Rita has brothers and sisters. Yes, even though she can’t reproduce, Rita goes into heat and her brothers want to have sex. Yes, most of the time, Rita’s brothers are “cut” or fixed. There’s no reason to keep them intact if they can’t have babies and removing certain male parts make them much easier to deal with.

Rita knows she’s beautiful, but she was made for function as well. She has a longer face, than horses and her eyes are further around her head. With just a small movement, she can see behind her with one eye and in front of her with the other at the same time. Rita has huge ears that she can independently turn toward whatever she’s listened to. While her right ear listens to her rider, she can turn her left ear to listen to whatever’s up ahead. 

Have I made it clear yet that Rita’s right? She deserves a bigger part in Linda’s book. Let’s start a campaign. Readers for Rita. Give Rita the Part She Deserves. Rita for President.

About the Author

Howard Lewis is a talented writer, martial artist, and a marvelous critique partner. He lives in the "suburbs" of Salem, SC, with a mule, two horses, and multiple dogs. He's the past president of the Upstate Chapter of Sisters in Crime and he's part of the Writers' Police Academy "family." He's provided tons of information on his equines for my new Brie Hooker Mystery series published by Henery Press. The first book, BONES TO PICK, is now available for preorder. THANKS Howard!  

Aunt Eva's Turn in the Kitchen-Making Toffee

By Linda Lovely

My great nephew, Duncan Nowling, and a friend recently visited. In addition to spending time enjoying the lake, Duncan had an in-the-kitchen request. He wanted to learn how to make my mother's (his great-grandmother's) toffee recipe, primarily because it's a key ingredient in our family favorite version of Death By Chocolate.

I'm pretty sure this recipe would also be a favorite of Aunt Eva, a main character in my Brie Hooker Mystery series, since it includes large quantities of her favorite food group--dairy. In this case, the dairy comes in the form of butter. Here's the seemingly simple recipe, since it only has four ingredients:

Two sticks of Butter (plus a pat of butter to grease a nonstick cookie sheet)
1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
4 Hershey Milk Chocolate bars (1,55 oz bars)
Finely chopped pecans

There are three prep steps before you start cooking.

1. Grease the nonstick cookie sheet (you'll be glad you did later when it's time to lift the toffee off the sheet). 
2. Finely chop the pecans so they'll be ready when you need them. I never measure but I'm guessing 3/4 cup.
3. Open all four Hersey bars and separate the individual squares so they're ready for later use.

Okay, now comes the tricky part, the cooking. Put the two sticks of butter and the light brown sugar in a heavy skillet on a stove burner set to medium heat. Stir CONSTANTLY. When the mixture is nicely mixed and is starting to get hot, you may want to set a timer for 10 minutes. That's about how much longer you'll need to keep stirring the mixture as it bubbles and starts pulling away from the sides of the pan. The trick is to make sure it does pull away from the pan's edges but doesn't burn.

At the end of your stirring vigil, you'll pour the toffee mixture onto your prepared cookie sheet in two ribbons. Now wait about 1 minute and then start placing the individual Hershey squares on the toffee. By the time you have them all on, the first squares you place will have melted enough to spread with a butter knife. Once the chocolate is evenly spread over the entire toffee surface sprinkle the top with the pecans.

Next, put the cookie sheet on a rack to cool. If you put it in the ice box immediately, it increases the risk that the chocolate layer will separate from the bottom toffee layer. But do put the tray in the fridge when it's cool to the touch. After an hour or two in the refrigerator, it will probably be fine to separate it from the cookie sheet with a spatula and then break it into pieces, which you'll need to keep stored in the refrigerator until they're gone (maybe the end of the day).

Writers Beware--Kill An Animal, Risk a Reader

By Linda Lovely

I promise. No dogs (or horses or cats or mules or goats or pigs) will cross over the rainbow bridge in my new Brie Hooker mystery series. The easiest way for an author to offend (and lose) readers is to allow a character in her book to kill an animal. Well, maybe a poisonous snake would be okay, and, if you're Stephen King you can cast a rabid dog as a villain as he did in Cujo.

As an adult, I developed serious allergies to dogs and cats. So I haven’t had a really close relationship with a pet since Brownie, the Heinz 57 mix dog I loved as a kid. In adulthood, I’ve been bitten by a dog while walking and minding my own business. I’ve also been chased by growling hounds who appear to lust after bicycle tires. These encounters led me to make one of my animal characters a villain in Dead Line, the first book in my Smart Women, Dumb Luck romantic thriller series. The villain dog died.

In my defense, the deceased canine is the villain in a brief subplot, essential in providing insight into the snarling attack dog’s far more villainous owner. What’s more, the subplot also features a tail-wagging hero dog who saves my heroine. Any further explanation could act as a plot spoiler. So here’s what these two dogs might say if they could talk.   

• The Villain Dog

I’m only following orders. I was abused as a puppy, and I was trained to fight other dogs. When I growl and savage other dogs, people cheer, and I get food and praise. I’ve been chained up and beaten. I do what I’ve been trained to do in order to survive.  

• The Hero Dog

I love people. Haven’t really met one I wouldn’t lick. They scratch behind my ears, give me yummy treats, and help rid me of annoying fleas. Sometimes they talk baby talk to me even though I’m fully grown. Guess they still think of me as a puppy even though I’m a hard-working adult. Don’t I chase all those obnoxious squeaky squirrels out of our yard? I’m brave, too. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my humans safe.

Okay, I’ve given my dog characters a say they didn’t get in Dead Line since they weren't afforded speaking parts. Nonetheless, I renew my pledge to avoid any future canine (or other animal) deaths in my books. I’ll stick to killing off literary stand-ins for the people who have seriously annoyed me.

So readers why is it that mystery/suspense/thriller authors can kill kindly, wrinkled grandmothers and clueless, fresh-faced teenagers as often as their plots and murder counts require, but they should never, never, ever kill a dog on the page of a novel?

Why do you think the death of a fictional animal seems more offensive to many mystery readers than the death of a fictional human being?  Like the villain dog in Dead Line, human villains also may have been abused in their youth and rewarded for bad behavior, but we can handle their deaths. Is it because dog is man’s best friend and we have an emotional bond with the species? Is it because humans are supposed to be the protectors of helpless animals? What’s your opinion?

Book Covers and Book Titles-Hooking Readers

By Linda Lovely

On Sunday, I was delighted to have Dru’s Book Musings schedule a cover reveal for Bones To Pick, my new Brie Hooker Mystery from Henery Press. In response, I received a variety of comments. Most—but not all people—really liked the cover. (I love it.) A couple of people also advised me to change the title of my book because other authors had already published book with the same (or similar) titles, e.g. A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris and Bones to Pick by Carolyn Haines.  So it seemed a good time to talk about how the publishing world deals with book cover creation and the selection of book titles.

Book Titles

The folks who pointed out that other books carry the same or similar titles to my Bones To Pick are absolutely right. Is this a problem? No. For starters, book titles can’t be copyrighted.  Searching for Bones To Pick on Amazon calls up a list of 11 novels with the same/similar title, and mine hadn’t yet joined the list. This isn’t unusual. I searched for Fatal Flaw and found about 40 books with that title or a similar one before I stopped counting.

Why is there so much overlap? Book titles need to be short, easy-to-remember and relate to the story. Bones To Pick was a no-brainer for my book since (a) a skull is dug up early in the book, and (b) many of the potential villains have “bones to pick” with the victim and/or the person accused of murder.

There’s really no danger of confusing readers as long as the cover of the book and the back cover description don’t mimic other books that carry the same title. The cover created by Henery Press certainly fills the bill here. There’s no chance of it being confused with another book when doing an online search. The fact that my name appears in large print on the cover also ensures that anyone buying my book won’t mistake it for another.

Book Covers

I’ve heard authors complain about their covers. Understandable, given that cover design decisions are ultimately made by publishers, not authors. However, most publishers do seek input from their authors to guide cover design and ensure they’re satisfied.

That was certainly the case with Henery Press, and it’s why I’m delighted with my cover. Before the cover artist, Stephanie Savage, started design, I completed a form that allowed me to share key information about the characters and plot, the book’s tone, and location. I also was able to list covers I liked as reference points as well as the types of covers I disliked.

The Bones To Pick cover is eye-catching, uses bright colors, and communicates setting (a goat dairy). It also suggests the reader can expect a light-hearted read with a side of humor. I hope people who pick up the book based on the delightful cover won’t be disappointed.

Pigs Don't Sweat, Authors Do!

By Linda Lovely

My Brie Hooker Mysteries are set on a Udderly Kidding Dairy in Upstate South Carolina. The farm's 400 goats and animal menagerie often figure in the plot. In BONES TO PICK, the first book in the series (debuting Oct. 24), Tammy the Pig roots up a buried skull and with it lots of deadly secrets.

In BONES TO PICK, Tammy is a pot-bellied pig adopted by Aunt Eva after her original owners abandoned her. As Udderly's veterinarian laments, too many people buy pot-bellied pigs as pets when they're cute babies but lose interest when they grow.

So what is a pot-bellied pig and how big do they get? While the breed is considered "small," the average adult weighs about 150 pounds. Yet because it's so dense, a pig of this size would be much smaller than an 80-pound German Shepherd. And Tammy would be a dwarf compared to her farm hog cousins that can weigh in at 900 pounds. Long prized in Vietnam as a symbol of happiness, satiety and wealth, the once plentiful breed was put on an "endangered" list in the 1970s in its native habitat. It was marketed as a pet in the US during the 1980s. Purebred potbellies were black and heavily wrinkled with sway backs sagging bellies.

What's Tammy's temperament?

She's very smart. Pigs are considered  earth’s fourth smartest animal group just behind apes and chimps, whales and dolphins, and humans. Sorry, dogs. Potbellied pigs are not only intelligent, they're curious and have distinct, charming personalities. They can be taught tricks but they have an independent streak. While they can be housebroken, Tammy is an outdoor pig. (They will not soil their water source.) Affectionate creatures, they usually get along well with dogs and cats. 

Pigs Don't Sweat

At age three, Tammy is still a youngster. However, she can expect to reach a ripe old age of 15. Like my vegan heroine, Brie, she enjoys fresh fruits and vegetables and needs to have clean water always available. That's because Tammy, like all her pig relatives, doesn't sweat. So she needs the water to cool off. 

Rooting is a natural instinct and how pigs find food in nature. Tammy loves toys. Like her brethern, she's susceptible to Porcine Stress syndrome, e.g. "freaking" out. But Udderly's vet knows how to calm her down.

Authors Sweat

When I was a kid, I spent a great deal of time on my cousin's farm and helped feed the hogs. But I'm no expert on pigs in general or potbellied pigs in particular. That means that I may have made more than one mistake in my portrayal of Tammy. As an author, I do try to get the details right. But I hope Tammy will forgive me if I made a mistake.

Do you enjoy reading books that include animals?  

Write What You Fear?

 By Linda Lovely

We’ve all heard the old saw—write what you know. Oh, really?

Fortunately, most authors of mysteries, thrillers, and romantic suspense have never been shot, beaten, handcuffed, kidnapped, stalked or targeted by a relentless assassin. So does that mean we can’t write about heroines and heroes thrown into terrifying situations?

I couldn't do this!

Of course not. There is a way to write what we “know” when we place our heroines/heroes in dangerous situations we’ve never experienced. Method actors do it all the time. They draw on the real emotions that gripped them at some point in their lives.

I suffer from “moderate” vertigo and a fear of heights. Years ago, when I was a partner in a PR firm that prepared feature articles for corporate clients, I covered the Miss Universe contest for a computerized lighting equipment manufacturer. The client requested photos (I was both writer and photographer) taken from “above” its overhead lights to spotlight its equipment with the Miss Universe contestants on the stage below. To get the shots, I was allowed to climb the scaffolding during rehearsals. (Did I mention this contest was NOT held in the USA where OSHA standards might apply?)

As I scooted along the beam, the whole rickety structure seemed to sway. I was terrified. Sweat beaded on my forehead. My heart raced. My fingers were so sweaty I could barely focus the camera. I got dizzy. Closed my eyes. Tried to steady my breathing. I watched a sweat droplet plummet and wondered if the lady below thought there was a leak in the roof. The incongruous thought made me want to giggle. Edge of hysteria? Maybe.

I climbed to the top of this lighthouse to take
pix for a client. As high as I go & not thrilled. 

My seventh book, Bones To Pick, a humorous mystery, will debut in October. The plots are quite different. But—what a surprise—my heroines all suffer from vertigo and a fear of heights and often find themselves in situations where they must overcome those fears to survive.

In Dear Killer, Marley Clark climbs to the pinnacle of a lighthouse to flee a gunman. In No Wake Zone, the sequel to Dear Killer, Marley must leap from a rooftop to the scaffolding of a roller coaster to lure a killer away from her cousin. In Dead Line, the first of my Smart Women, Dumb Luck Romantic Thrillers, Nexi Ketts rappels into the depths of a cave that’s deeper than the Statue of Liberty is tall.

Do you take advantage of your fears and remembered emotions when you write? If so, do you have fears that resurface in different guises in your manuscripts?