by: Victoria Hamilton
Series: A Vintage Kitchen Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: September 21, 2021
Publisher: Beyond the Page
Amazon | Paperback | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads
In the new Vintage Kitchen Mystery from the author of Cast Iron Alibi, Jaymie Leighton is confronted with two murders and the threat of danger far too close to home...
When a woman living under a cloud of suspicion for her husband’s death comes to vintage kitchen collector Jaymie Leighton with a mysterious request, she’s not sure whether, or how much, to get involved. The police believe they have new evidence of foul play in what was initially ruled an accidental death, and the woman’s terrified they’ll try to pin the crime on her. Before Jaymie can decide whether to help her, though, the woman’s found murdered in the woods near Jaymie’s cabin.
Still unsure whether the woman was truly innocent in her husband’s death, Jaymie decides to get to the bottom of both murders. But as she digs deeper into the couple’s past and discovers a tangled array of long-buried wounds and family secrets, Jaymie begins to sense that danger is still lurking in the woods near her home. With a killer on the loose and her family in danger, Jaymie must uncover the culprit before she loses all she holds dear, including her own life...
Includes a vintage recipe!
I’m great… looking forward to moving on to writing the next book, as usual!
You’re always busy. Can you believe it, A Calculated Whisk is the TENTH book in your Vintage Kitchen Mystery series.
I can hardly believe it myself… it feels like it was just a year ago or so that I introduced readers to Queensville, Michigan, Jaymie Leighton (recovering from a devastating breakup) and the other Queensvillians! And yet it has been nine years and ten books. I have come to love them all, Jaymie, of course, but also her sister Becca, valiant Valetta Nibley, and Mrs. Stubbs, the nonagenarian bright spark among others. I so appreciate readers who take the time to tell me they feel the same, like they are going home and seeing old friends when a new Vintage Kitchen Mystery comes out.
What can you tell me about A Calculated Whisk?
Jaymie doesn’t go looking for trouble… she really doesn’t despite what Detective Angela Vestry thinks! This time, though, (unlike other times in the past when the detective thought Jaymie butted in on investigations) Vestry asks Jaymie to keep the police updated on what Alicia Vance – mom of a new friend of Jocie’s – has to say, since Alicia has asked Jaymie for advice, though she wants to think about it first before she confides in Jaymie. Before Jaymie has time to find out what Alicia wants, tragedy strikes and once more Jaymie must track down a murderous foe before that person can strike again.
Can you please tell me a little about the protagonist, Jaymie Leighton, and some of the secondary characters in the series?
Jaymie Leighton Müller: A thirty-something homebody collector of vintage kitchen utensils and bowls, Jaymie has blossomed from an uncertain and unfocused young woman to a confident and ambitious cooking column writer, part-time sleuth, wife to Jakob, and step-mom to a little girl, Jocie.
Valetta Nibley: Pharmacist Val is Becca’s (Jaymie older sister) contemporary, but her friendship with Jaymie is a great joy to her. She and Jaymie have a lot in common, and Val is someone Jaymie runs things past when she needs an unbiased and sensible opinion. Val also is a walking encyclopedia of Queensville connections; she knows where everyone lives and how they are related to each other.
Mrs. Martha Stubbs: One of the oldest residents of Queensville, Mrs. Stubbs has become a great friend to Jaymie, and offers her a historical perspective on Queensville life and the history of its citizens. Jaymie, in return, brightens her day by visiting often with Hoppy and/or Jocie for impromptu tea parties.
Those are just three of the characters in my Vintage Kitchen Mysteries… I could go on and on about Jaymie’s surprising closeness to her one-time rival for Joel’s affections, Heidi; her friendship with police officer Bernie; her love affair with now-husband Jakob and his little daughter Jocie, and many more.
Since this is the tenth book in the series, do you think new to you readers will be able to pick it up and read it without being confused or feeling lost?
I hope I’ve made it so that new-to-me readers can read and enjoy A Calculated Whisk with little trouble. But it is the tenth book in a series; there are multiple recurring characters. Of course, I’d love readers to start from the beginning at VKM#1, A Deadly Grind. By the way… all of my Vintage Kitchen Mysteries (in fact all of my mysteries!) are available in ebook, paperback AND audio formats!!
Jaymie has grown and changed a lot over the last nine books. What’s the biggest change you’ve noticed in her?
Confidence! Since I first introduced her, Jaymie has begun to write a cookbook based on vintage recipes, dated, solved murders (of course), dated some more, got a newspaper column based on vintage recipes, got married and become a step-mom, moved part-time to the country to live in a log cabin with her husband and daughter, and started a blog. Whew! It’s been a busy few years in Queensville, Michigan, and with all of that has come an exponential growth in Jaymie’s confidence in herself, her intelligence, her life choices, and her ability to take care of herself and others.
You have twenty cozy mystery books under your belt. How do you keep the stories fresh and new?
One of the greatest compliments an editor gave me, back when I was juggling three cozy series published by Berkley, was that each had a unique flavor and originality. I take it as another compliment that you also say each is fresh and new… that means a lot. I think where that comes from is that I let the stories grow organically from what has gone before… in other words the stories evolve with the characters and come from their life experiences. I don’t have a story development arc set in stone.
If Jaymie was a real person and I could sit down and talk with her, what do you think she would say about you?
LOL! Oh, that’s funny… I never thought of that. What would she say about ME? Well, to be honest, she’d say I was cruel, that I capriciously kill off folks who don’t deserve to die (in most cases) and create horrible people, and to tell me to please stop doing that. Other than that, we’d get along fine.
I know you just released A Calculated Whisk, but what other projects are you working on?
Ohmigosh, so much. I also have a short story in this year’s Malice Domestic anthology, Mystery Most Diabolical; Reunion with the Devil is a short mystery story set in the 1930s. I’ve written and submitted one (fingers crossed that I am so fortunate as to be chosen again for inclusion) for next year’s anthology, Mystery Most Traditional. I have my 2021-2022 goals in place and will be working now on Some Touch of Madness, the sequel to A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder, a historical mystery set in the Regency. (I’ll be re-releasing that title next year with a new cover) I’m also diligently working on a short story collection featuring stories with some of my series characters, among others. I have commitments for Merry Muffin Mystery #8, Thanks for Muffin; a new Lady Anne mystery; and the next Vintage Kitchen Mystery #11, Sieve and Let Die.
I count myself among the most fortunate people on earth to get to continue doing what I love so much and to have wonderful readers who continue to support that by buying my books!
Wow. You are VERY busy. Victoria, thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions for me.
Thank YOU, RYWBR, for having me! It’s been a joy.
Purchase A Calculated Whisk from:
A Vintage Kitchen Mystery Series:
Freezer I’ll Shoot ~ Review
No Mallets Intended ~ Review
White Colander Crime ~ Review
Leave it to Cleaver ~ Review
Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea Simpson. Victoria is the bestselling author of three mystery series, the Lady Anne Addison Mysteries, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, and the Merry Muffin Mysteries. She also writes a Regency-set historical mystery series, starting with A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder.
Places to find Victoria Hamilton:
You can follow the A Calculated Whisk Blog Tour here.
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Love the vintage cookware and recipes in the series as well as trying to figure out who done it. Can’t wait to start beating this one.
ReplyDeleteThis was so much fun... thank you for hosting me!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Thank you so much for doing the interview.
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