Have you ever participated in one of those silent auctions? You know the ones, where a charity offers up themed gift baskets, tickets to a sporting event or a concert, or, possibly, a chef-prepared meal by one of the top chefs in the country.
Well, that’s how Ivy Nash—the protagonist in my bestselling mystery-thriller series—happens to hit the food lottery in my latest novel, IN Doubt (due out on May 5). With her and her old / new flame, Saul, sitting at his kitchen table, they watch a famed chef personally cook them a meal that might normally cost north of five hundred dollars. They start with Texas gulf crab cakes, with tomatillo-poblano cream and jicama-tortilla slaw. And then they reach the main course: wood-grilled pork tenderloin, with jalapeno-charred corn, drizzled with Texas peach barbeque sauce.
Ivy, a former CPS Special Investigator in Texas, has never had much money. In fact, food is usually not much of a priority because all of her energy is focused on helping troubled kids. It’s her passion…her calling in life. But it’s because of that passion that lands her at this fundraising event—all the proceeds were donated to drug-addiction detox centers—hosted by a billionaire. She’d saved the man’s daughter a week earlier from being sold by his drug-addicted mom to some random schmuck in exchange for some crack. As is the case with all of Ivy’s adventures, IN Doubt plays out with no shortage of spine-tingling chills or those moments when you heart is in the back of your throat.
It’s kind of funny, really, looking at the plight of my protagonists. They’re all so very different, yet I can see how they and I share one common trait—our passion. Mind, of course, is writing stories that make you look over your shoulder and wonder about the person walking behind you. I don’t know about you and your passion, but I can lose myself in my writing. I’ll snap out of a four-thousand word trance, and realize I hadn’t had a thing to eat or drink in the last eight hours.
But when I type the last word on a manuscript and finish off that last change with my editor, that’s when you’ll find my wife and me celebrating. Like Ivy and Saul, we might indulge in a nice dessert: brown sugar Bundt cake with salted caramel and candied bacon. And then I dive right back into my passion…writing stories that evoke every emotion possible.
Thanks for stopping by to share your food for thought, John!
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