When Diane Mott Davidson wrote her first mystery novel, she had to fight with her editors to include recipes. Now, 12 books later, readers identify Davidson’s novels, which feature a crime solving caterer, with tasty recipes, writes Paige Lauren Deiner on TheMonitor.com.
Recipes and writing about food give authors a chance to develop characters, plot or setting, said Carolyn Marino, senior vice-president and executive editor at HarperCollins Publishers. “There are writers who use food as a metaphor. They are able to use food the way a different writer uses a setting,” she said.
Davidson said she always tries out the recipes she puts in her books a couple of times at least. She said she asks the UPS man, the post man and anyone who stops by, “Do you like cookie A or cookie B? Did you like this cake filling?” And when Davidson started writing her books about caterer Goldy Schulz and her culinary misadventures, she worked with a caterer to learn the business. “It’s not just about the cooking. You’re running a business,” she said.
Read the entire article on novelists weaving real recipies into books on TheMonitor.com here.
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Saturday, May 20, 2006
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I have been reading Diane Mott Davidson for years and just spent 3 months in Denver. I plan to comment on her work soon in my new (ish) blog site -- Cooking With Ideas, where among the topics will be a focus on mystery/detective books that focus on food. The site is
ReplyDeletehttp://cookingwithideas.typepad.com/cooking_with_ideas/
Come share comments there!