The October Surprise

It’s been a wild year for me… moving, traveling, and, unfortunately, not getting a lot of writing done.

That’s not to say I haven’t been working on book projects. One in particular has taken a lot of time. Writing, editing, designing, marketing: I’ve had my editor/publisher hat on for quite a bit of this one. (No not the one in the photo.) The book is a collaboration between me and my Thalia Press partner, Katy Munger, plus three other mystery writers. Well-seasoned, all of us – with tarragon and a hint of lemon.

And we’re ready to pull this cupcake from the oven. Stick a fork in it. It’s warm, it’s golden. It’s done!

On Thursday, October 1, my friends and I officially release our project, a group novel we call Beat Slay Love: One Chef’s Hunger for Delicious Revenge. It’s a dark comic send-up of serial killer novels, food mysteries, chick lit, and an iconic book you may remember, Eat Pray Love. We offer our sincere apologies to Elizabeth Gilbert and hope she can appreciate our tongue-in-cheek swipe at all that is holy. For we spare very few in this thriller. Reality TV chefs: done for. Pompous jerks: finished. Fakers and takers: outa here. Gleefully!

The book has been a blast. My friends — besides Katy the fabulous collaborators are Kate Flora, Gary Phillips, and Taffy Cannon — and I took turns writing sections, riffing on each other’s plot lines, developing protagonists and villains, taking our crew from coast to coast, from lobster in Maine to huckleberries in Montana, from food festivals to fine dining. We never really believed, in our heart of hearts, that it would work. Writers are notoriously individualist. Probably somebody would give up, go off the rails, throw up their hands. But, remarkably, to our surprise, it did work. Bestselling author Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries that inspired ‘True Blood,’ said this:

“This incredibly sly mystery has everything you’d want when you bite into a dish: suspense, spice, and a new take on an old classic. For anyone who’s ever watched Chopped or even stopped in at Williams Sonoma — Beat, Slay, Love is the perfect read.”

So the time has come. We hope you’ll enjoy ‘Thalia Filbert’s take on contemporary American food and crime. To celebrate we’ve put together a recipe book called Thalia Filbert’s Killer Cocktail Party. Comment below to get a copy free.

And enjoy Beat Slay Love as much as we did writing it. Think of it as a juicy October dessert. Mmmm.

Kindle    Nook     Paperback