  Mystery
This week: Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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"All that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream"
Edgar Alan Poe
Welcome to this week's edition of the Mystery Newsletter. A mystery by nature is a question in search of an answer - a puzzle! And when we uncover the answer to the question, effectively solving the puzzle moments before the writer gives us the solution, follow clues tactile and cerebral, the momentary satisfaction is sublime!
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Greetings, fellow sleuths. All writers of prose and poetry mysterious, I believe, are closet sleuths. And, Nature provides us as writers with so much raw material, beginning with our innate curiosity. Over the past couple of months, as summer has bloomed verdant in the northern hemisphere, I’ve been exploring the puzzles proffered by Nature which incite the Muse Creative to wax mysterious. As we pick ripe vegetables and fruit, snip clover and lavender for sachets, and pull ivy and nightshade from the crannies in the brick wall, so too we harvest words to share these ‘delights’ with our readers.
Last month, we explored the Gardening Mystery, which is most often a Cozy Mystery for the amateur sleuth to uncover with either horticultural knowledge or acute observation of nature. And now that we’ve harvested the crops, what do we do with them, well, we can prepare sachets of lavender or perhaps clover honey, or, more likely, cook up some vegetables and herbs.
The Cooking Mystery is another type of ‘Cozy’ that has grown in popularity among readers. I think it’s great as the days gradually grow shorter and evenings once again are cooler, to once again think of cooking and baking, although grilled fresh veggies are a viable option or, perhaps, some of those cute little mushrooms at the base of the old maple tree? No, please don’t pick (or touch!) those mushrooms for real, any comments with respect to edible or non-edible plants are for use by the literary muse creative only – not for human or animal consumption, but with your writer’s eye, see what you can ‘cook up’ for your readers’ culinary virtual sleuthing.
Cooking Mysteries generally introduce an amateur sleuth with perhaps an acerbic wit, in an urban or rural setting, following subtle clues to solve a crime ~ a delectable read, although not necessarily an edible recipe. If you want to ‘cook up’ such a mystery, be sure to have your facts at hand about the ingredients (do you know, for example, that the peach is an herb, used medicinally for intestinal ailments? ~ hmmm, is this perhaps a clue, or just a bit of a ‘red herring’ . Sharing this information within the story with your readers will draw them into the story, pique their interest further, and keep them engrossed as they search for additional clues to either prove or disprove the modus operandi.
I recently discovered the China Bayles Series penned by Susan Wittig Albert, where her sleuth weaves actual recipes (edible) along with historical herbal information into mysteries with enticing complicated relationships sentient. The form is growing in popularity and it’s fun to write from your own observation and experience ~ with a twist you’d never really cook up.
You may be a master herbalist or award winning baker of peach cobblers or apple strudel, or stuff the best Portobello mushroom, but if not, you can still write a cooking mystery that your readers will enjoy. Use your own senses and, with your writer’s ‘eye,’ blend (or sauté) what you see, smell, taste, hear (the crisp ‘snap’ of raw beans being tossed into the soup pot), into a culinary delight mysterious Whether or not you are a master, I found a couple of websites that provide detailed culinary and herbal facts to add depth to your story and are fun to read in and of themselves. Check out the following to add ‘spice’ to your culinary mystery:
 http://www.abouthyme.com
http://www.henriettesherbal.com
I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey and see the potential in your own backyard to “cook up” a mystery for your readers’ enjoyment.
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I invite you to partake of the gardening and culinary mysteries prepared by members of our Community
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Now, add your culinary talents to the potluck offered here?
At a loss for the perfect recipe, why not check out the daily creative prompts in this challenge ~ entice the Muse Creative to cook something up.
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Thank you for having me as your 'dinner' guest and invite you to share with me a culinary mystery of yours ~ perhaps to feature next month for everyone's virtual consumption
Until we next meet,
Keep Writing!
Kate
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Mystery: August 20, 2008 Issue [#2564]
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