1--What is the title of your latest release?
CALYPSO, CORPSE, AND COOKING
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Fall in Miami puts cooking show star Miriam Quinones in uncomfortable predicaments—a body by the Halloween tombstone in her front yard, a dead chef, and a food truck gala to organize.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I knew that Miriam’s mother-in-law, a character reader’s love to hate, needed to be the impetus for the setting. She assigns Miriam the task of organizing the annual women’s club fundraiser with a two-week deadline. It is a set-up to fail. But Miriam gets her squad together and they tackle it with panache.
4--Would you hang out with your sleuth in real life?
Absolutely. I think Miriam Quinones is awesome. We could do a deep dive into Afro-Caribbean and Taino culture.
5--What are three words that describe your sleuth?
Cultural, Courageous, Caring
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned how to make flan! I’d watched it done but never baked one myself. Excellent flan is ubiquitous in Miami so there was never a need for me to make my own. But for this book I worked on a flan recipe that is all my own. It has pumpkin in it but is not the typical flan de calabaza.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I am a turtle. Slow and steady wins the race. My first draft is my last draft. I do a light edit before sending it off to my editor.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Expensive, fancy cheese. Maybe with some fig jam and good crackers.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I recently upgraded my writing desk. I used to write on a plastic card table that folded in the middle. Now I have a French provincial thrift store find that has drawers! I’m loving the drawers. They are like pockets in a dress. How did I leave without them. There is no going back now.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Catriona McPherson. I love how she sets the mood and atmosphere in just a few lines.
Ann Cleeves. I love almost everything of hers, especially the Shetland series with Jimmy Perez. The screen adaptation of Vera is also excellent.
You might notice a trend there. I am fond of Scotland. My maternal grandfather’s people have Scottish heritage. I think I got it from him.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
I’ll give you two.
Kurt Vonnegut’s A Cat’s Cradle and Tom Robbins’s Still Life with Woodpecker.
Also, Kobo Abe’s The Woman in the Dunes and Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-up Bird Chronicles.
Okay, that’s four. The first two I read in high school and the second set was in college. They definitely opened my eyes to what a novel could be and do. They were mind-expanding at a critical time in my development.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)
I didn’t have “the call” per se. Mine was a Twitter message and an email from Faith Black Ross, my editor. We’d met at SleuthFest and she’d read an early first 30 pages. Several years later, she got in touch with me in a “Did you finish that WIP I read?” poke. A tweet from Kellye Garrett had gotten her attention and she’d remember my cozy premise and Cuban American MC.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I read suspense and cozy. When my reading gets too dark, I lighten up with a cozy and vice versa. I also love short stories.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Just one?! Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Now if you know me you know this is not my usual jam but for some reason, this movie hit me exactly perfectly with its absurdity and earnestness. I love it. It will pull me out of a funk and have me laughing.
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall but not because of the changing leaves. We don’t have that in Miami. October/November is when the temperature changes from the 90s to the high 70s and it is lovely.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Watching the waves. All I ever want is a quiet place and a view of the ocean.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Podcast: Paradise Lost Crime in Miami. TV Show: Balthazar (French Forensic Pathologist Thriller)
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Depends on the day. Indian, Thai, Cuban/Latin. Those are my top three.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Free time! What is that? Before I was writing a book a year and promoting it and making social media content and repeat, I enjoyed miniature (1:12 scale) projects. I have a feminist meeting house/coffee shop called Café Azul (yes it is a hat tip to Frida Kahlo), a cat café called Kit-Tea Cafe, an antique shop called Flora’s Finds, and a seasonal shop called Between the Eves—it has two rooms one is Christmas and the other is Halloween. I am constantly tempted to start a new project, something smaller and quicker—maybe a writing room in a shadow box.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Book three, Breadfruit, Bomba, and Betrayal will be out in 2023. I’m co-editing a short story collection called Dirty South for Down & Out Books. And I have a passion project simmering that I can’t talk about just yet.
A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery # 2
Fall festivities are underway in Coral Shores, Miami. Cuban-American cooking show star Miriam Quinones-Smith wakes up to find a corpse in her front yard. The body by the fake tombstone is the woman that was kicked out of the school's Fall Festival the day before.
Miriam's luck does not improve. Her passive-aggressive mother-in-law puts her in charge of the Women's Club annual gala. But this year, it's not canapes and waltzes. Miriam and her girlfriends-squad opt for fun and flavor. They want to spice it up with Caribbean food trucks and a calypso band. While making plans at the country club, they hear a volatile argument between the new head chef and the club's manager. Not long after, the chef swan dives to his death at the bottom of the grand staircase.
Was it an accident? Or was it Beverly, the sous chef, who is furious after being passed over for the job? Or maybe it was his ex-girlfriend, Anastasia?
Add two possible poisonings to the mix and Miriam is worried the food truck fun is going to be a major crash. As the clock ticks down and the body count goes up, Miriam's life is put in jeopardy. Will she connect the dots or die in the deep freeze? Foodies and mystery lovers alike will savor the denouement as the truth is laid bare in this simmering stew of rage, retribution, and murder.
Mystery Cozy | Mystery Culinary | Multicultural Latin American [Crooked Lane Books, On Sale: October 11, 2022, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781639101061 / eISBN: 9781639101078]
RAQUEL V. REYES writes Latina protagonists. Her Cuban-American heritage, Miami, and Spanglish feature prominently in her work. Mango, Mambo, and Murder, the first in the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series, won a LEFTY for Best Humorous Mystery and was nominated for an Agatha. The New York Times Book Review wrote, "it executes its mission—with panache." Raquel’s short stories appear in various anthologies, including The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022.
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