We are delighted to welcome author Daryl Wood Gerber to Omnimystery News today.
Daryl introduces chef Mimi Rousseau in the first of a new series, A Deadly Éclair (Crooked Lane Books; November 2017 hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats) and we had the chance to catch up with the very busy author to talk a little more about the book.
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Omnimystery News: How would you tweet a summary of A Deadly Éclair?
Photo provided courtesy of
Daryl Wood Gerber
Daryl Wood Gerber: A DEADLY ÉCLAIR, tasty 1st French Bistro Mystery, intro’s Mimi Rousseau—bistro owner, serious foodie—by bestselling author @DarylWoodGerber
OMN: Suppose your new series character were interviewing you. What would she ask?
DWG: Mimi: Daryl, are you a foodie?
Daryl: Oh, yeah. I adore food. I enjoy going to fascinating restaurants. I love experimenting with recipes. I’ve been a cook all my life. I have to admit that life changed when I found out I couldn’t eat gluten, but that has led to a whole new level of experimentation. Taking on French food has been a real challenge and one I’ve truly enjoyed. Mimi, you’ve been an inspiration to me. You made me realize how much fun putting together a daily extensive menu can be. Now, together, you and I will figure out how to make the five mother sauces without regular flour and solve crime all at the same time. Are you game?
Mimi: I’m always game. FYI, Chef C’s daughter needs to eat gluten-free, so she’s already anticipating your needs. As for the crime, I’ll leave that up to you.
OMN: When starting a new book or series, which comes first: the character or the storyline?
DWG: I am contemplating a new series, and as I always do, I start with character and premise. The character matters the most because she is the one who will drive the entire series—her background, her dreams, her goals, plus her tastes in food and clothes and books. The premise comes next. If readers don’t like the premise (mystery set around a French bistro, cookbook store, cheese shop), they’ll never come to meet the character. As for individual stories, the storyline definitely matters, but that is something I “massage” a lot. I come up with the what if question first. What if a benefactor dies—my victim. Then I face the question: who did it and why?—my list of suspects. Then I figure out why my protagonist should get involved. This is HUGE. She has to have a personal reason to investigate, otherwise, the reader won’t buy her curiosity. I want all of these things to feel organic…real.
OMN: Where do you most often find yourself writing?
DWG: I work in my office, in the backyard at a table under an umbrella, and in the kitchen. I’m set up in lots of places. Sometimes I like to write at a coffee shop and listen to music. No matter what, I establish the time allotment I’m going to write and I focus.
OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And do any of them find their way into your books?
I like to golf, swim, and walk my dog Sparky. I enjoy going to movies and theater. I used to be an actress, so that aspect of my life often appears in my work. I include theatrical productions in my books. I feature a lot of fairs and events, whether cheese festivals or baking festivals. I was a caterer and I waitressed and ran a small restaurant at one point in my life, so that aspect definitely finds its way into my storytelling.
OMN: A Deadly Éclair has a striking cover. Do you have any input into the design of your covers?
DWG: I do. I love helping my creative team design the covers. We agree on the title—I like to come up with these, although I’m open to slight alterations. But it’s the cover that lures the browser in the bookstore. For A Deadly Éclair, I provided specific details about the neighboring bed-and-breakfast, the food included in the story, the cat named Scoundrel. I sent my editor a number of photographs to help with visual ideas. I requested a specific artist—and we got her! Teresa Fasolino is a real talent.
OMN: What kind of books did you read when you were young?
DWG: I was not much of a reader until I fell in love with the Nancy Drew series. At the age of nine, I came down with the measles and was laid up for a week in bed. My mother gave me her books (I think there were 37 in all) and I read every one of them. A week later, I tried to write one of my own. That attempt is not in my baby book, so I’m pretty sure it stunk and my mother threw it out (LOL), but it was my first attempt at writing mysteries. I then read Agatha Christie and so many more mysteries and thrillers along the way. I’ve always been a mystery fan.
OMN: When selecting a book to read or a television show to watch, what do you look for?
DWG: I read cozies as well as hard-boiled thrillers. I have a number of go-to authors that I like. When it comes to television, I do watch a lot of mysteries and thrillers: NCIS, Blue Bloods, Scandal. Guilty pleasure? I also enjoy watching Dancing with the Stars. That takes me back to my theater days. By the way, can you explain to me why they haven’t had an author on as a guest artist?
OMN: Good question! We'll have to ask our contacts in the business. Finally, if your books were adapted for television or film and you were the screenwriter: how would you decide what plot points/characters to leave in and what to omit? What are the differences between writing a novel and writing a screenplay?
DWG: This is an interesting question because I started my writing career as a TV and screenplay writer. I created the format for the sitcom series, Out of this World. When my husband and I moved across the country to foster his career, however, I gave up my Hollywood hopes and focused on my novels. If I were to adapt one of my series for television or film, a lot of internal dialogue has to go. A screenplay is visual. A novel offers a lot of the main character’s thought process. A writer has to trust an actor to convey those thoughts. A writer also has to trust the art department to create the look of the novels. No matter what, I would demand that the main act breaks that I include in my novel would be included as well as all of the suspects; I wouldn’t want any to be thrown out for lack of time. They and their motives interweave to make the whole story work.
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Agatha Award-winning Daryl Wood Gerber writes the brand new French Bistro Mysteries as well as the nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mysteries. As Avery Aames, she pens the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. Daryl also writes stand-alone suspense. Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl appeared in Murder, She Wrote. She loves to cook, and she has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line!
For more information about the author, please visit her website at DarylWoodGerber.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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A Deadly Éclair by Daryl Wood Gerber
A French Bistro Mystery
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
It’s always been Mimi Rousseau’s dream to open her own bistro, but it seems beyond her grasp since she’s been chased back home to Nouvelle Vie in Napa Valley by her late husband’s tremendous debt. Until her best friend Jorianne James introduces her to entrepreneur Bryan Baker who invests in promising prospects. Now, working the bistro and inn until she’s able to pay it off and call it her own, Mimi is throwing the inn’s first wedding ever.
The wedding will be the talk of the town, as famous talk show host Angelica Edmonton, daughter of Bryan’s half-brother, Edison, has chosen the inn as her perfect venue. Anxious, Mimi is sure things are going to turn south, especially when Edison gets drunk and rowdy at the out-of-towners’ dinner, but by the evening, things begin to look up again. That is until six AM rolls around, and Bryan is found dead at the bistro with an éclair stuffed in his mouth. And the fingers point at Mimi, whose entire loan is forgiven in Bryan’s will.
Now it’s up to Mimi to clear her name and get to the bottom of things before the killer turns up the heat again …
— A Deadly Éclair by Daryl Wood Gerber
