A year after her first book hit the stands, Oconto author Mary Grace Murphy is announcing the release of a second novel in her Noshes Up North culinary mystery series.
“Death Knock” is the latest in a series of novels featuring a devoted restaurant critic and food blogger who finds herself swept up in a murder mystery while balancing her passion for food and a new love interest in her life.
The main character, Nell, is loosely based on Murphy herself, a widowed, retired teacher who loves experimenting with food. Murphy’s late husband, Mike, had a passion for cooking, sparking her interest in food experimentation.
Writing has always been an interest, but she never seriously pursued the craft until a few years ago and released her first novel in the series, “Death Nell,” in December 2013.
To hone her writing skills, Murphy attended the Wisconsin Romance Writers Conference in Milwaukee in June and the Wisconsin Writers Conference in Wisconsin Rapids in September. She said she enjoyed listening to speakers and attending workshops and was able to promote her first book with a book signing in Wisconsin Rapids.
She was recently accepted into a Writers Police Academy at the Fox Valley Technical College Public Safety Training Center in Appleton. The three-day event in August offers a number of seminars relating to police techniques that writers can draw on for their novels.
Murphy has chosen to take part in 3D Crime Scene Mapping, Fingerprinting, From Crime Scene to Autopsy, Handcuffing and Arrest Technique, Interview and Interrogation, Bloodstain Pattern Investigations and Techniques, Overview of Forensic Psychology, K-9, and Forensic Art and Witness Recall.
“I’m so happy I got in!” she said. “I think I’ll be able to put that info to good use.”
Murphy said she is happy with the results of her first book. All 15 reviews on the Amazon website, where both books can be purchased, have positive ratings. Besides Amazon, the books sell on the Barnes & Noble and Smashwords websites and at BayShore Books in Oconto.
Murphy’s new book will also be offered in electronic format on the Kobobooks.com website. Murphy said she followed her editor’s suggestion to try that option because the Canadian company’s website is accessed more by readers in other countries.
“I’ve already had one sale,” she said.
In her second novel, Murphy made some changes, including the addition of a map of the city of Bayshore where the novel takes place. Oconto residents might see a resemblance of Bayshore to their own city, Murphy said with a chuckle.
Recipes she incorporated into the story are included in the back of the book, an idea suggested by a reader in a review on Amazon.
Many of the recipes she uses are “recipes from home or recipes that I’ve changed to my taste,” she said. Adding them to the story can sometimes be a hurdle.
“I mention several times she (Nell) is going to eat something, so I have to come up with something,” she said.
Like Nell, Murphy is interested in critiquing food and restaurants in her own food blog.
“Something I’d like to start doing is going to area restaurants and critiquing the food and then review on a blog with pictures and opinions,” she said.
On a trip to Florida, she did exactly that, taking pictures of restaurants she visited, writing opinions and putting them on her blog.
“I’m a food tourist on a culinary vacation,” she said.
Her third novel, “Death Nosh,” is already in the works, and the first few pages are included as a teaser in the second book. Ideally, Murphy said, she’d like to up the pace, releasing two novels per year instead of one.
She also is considering the possibility of beginning another series, more of a straight mystery genre with completely different characters. But that is not a priority.
As for the number of books in the culinary mystery series?
“Who knows?” she laughed. “It could be endless!”
Categories
