Copy of From Across State Lines with Debra H. Goldstein!

PA Cozy Mystery Writers
Apr 8
3 min read

From Across State Lines Blog Promo Image - Debra H. Goldstein

Please give a warm welcome to Debra from Georgia…

Judge Debra H. Goldstein (www.DebraHGoldstein.com) is an Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, and Claymore finalist and winner of Silver Falchion, IPPY, AWC, and BWR awards. She authored Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series and standalones Maze in Blue and Should Have Played Poker. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and periodicals. With our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying, a collection of her award related stories, was recently released (https://www.mistimedia.com/product/fire/). Debra is the national Vice-President of Sisters in Crime and previously was a member of Mystery Writers of America and SinC’s national boards and president of the Guppy and SEMWA chapters.

Favorite Food: Cheese Pizza

How does your main character differ from you/is similar to you?

Prior to writing One Taste Too Many, my works had been orphaned twice. Knowing I still wanted to write a cozy, I thought about the elements it needed to have. I could easily incorporate several of them: a small town or confined setting, an amateur sleuth, a cat or possibly a dog, and no bad words, sex, or blood on the page. The problem I had is that most cozies have a protagonist who does a craft or likes to cook. I don’t care for either of those. In fact, the kitchen terrifies me. That’s when it dawned on me that there are other people out there like me. Consequently, I wrote Sarah Blair to reflect my own distaste of the kitchen. Like me, she is a woman who finds being in the kitchen frightening and whose fine china is floral paper plates.

Introduce us to one of the animals in your story.

Sarah Blair was eighteen when she married, twenty-eight when she got divorced. The only thing she got out of the marriage, as a hand-me-down from her late former mother-in-law, was RahRah, a Siamese cat. RahRah is a normal cat – no talking or thinking out loud, magical abilities, or acting in any way that a cat wouldn’t. That said, RahRah is type A; runs the household; is Sarah’s confidant; reacts to people like a cat would; and, as the series progresses, is the beneficiary of a most interesting animal trust.

Does your story come with a recipe? (if so, explain a little more about it)

Kensington required the Sarah Blair series to have recipes. Jell-O in a Can, in One Taste Too Many, is a real 1950’s recipe that was created as a collaboration between Jell-O and Dole Pineapple. It requires taking a can of pineapple rings, emptying the juice, replacing the juice with Jell-O and the required water, and refrigerating the prepared can. Once the Jell-O sets, empty the can onto a serving plate, cut between the pineapple rings, and spread the rings around for serving. Kensington enjoyed this recipe and others so much, it created a cookbook of the recipes found in the first four books in the series. Simple Recipes from the Sometimes Sleuth can be downloaded for free from my https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com website.

Dream Vacation: Going to the Beach or Anywhere I Can Sit and Stare at Water.

One Taste Too Many: A Sarah Blair Mystery #1

A Little Bit About the Book:

Married at eighteen, divorced at twenty-eight, Sarah Blair reluctantly swaps her luxury lifestyle for a cramped studio apartment and a law firm receptionist job in the tired hometown she never left. With nothing much to show for the last decade but her feisty Siamese cat, RahRah, and some clumsy domestic skills, she’s the polar opposite of her bubbly twin, Emily – an ambitious chef determined to take her culinary ambitions to the top of a local gourmet restaurant . . .

Sarah knew starting over would be messy. But things fall apart completely when her ex drops dead, seemingly poisoned by Emily’s award-winning rhubarb crisp. Now, with RahRah wanted by the woman who broke up her marriage and Emily wanted by the police for murder, Sarah needs to figure out the right recipe to crack the case before time runs out. Unfortunately, for a gal whose idea of good china is floral paper plates, catching the real killer and living to tell about it could mean facing a fate worth than death – being in the kitchen!