GORDON COPE’S May 2019 Newsletter
Linda and I live in the city of Manzanillo on the Pacific coast of Mexico, south of Puerto Vallarta. The climate is tropical and sunny for most of the year, except for the occasional hurricane. My days are spent writing and watching the cruise ships disgorge tourists.
Our home is in the community of Los Ricos, located on a peninsula that juts out into the ocean. We are surrounded by deep blue water and golden beaches. Waves lap against the cliff on which our home is located.
It is mid-afternoon, and I am sitting on the shaded veranda of my neighbor Valentina, a Sicilian with wavy black hair. After selling her restaurant in Washington, DC, she and her husband Frank decided to move somewhere that didn’t require a snow shovel.
“Where’s Frank?” I ask.
“He’s resting. He got bit by a scorpion.”
I spill my margarita. “What, just now?
“No, last night.” Valentina waves her cigarillo in the general direction of the kitchen. “He went to get a beer from the fridge and it stung him on the toe.”
Conrado, Valentina’s Mexican friend, walks around the corner of the house and joins us on the patio. “That happens all the time,” he says. “They come out at night and are attracted by the hum of the fridge. It is like a love song to them.”
I ignore Conrado. “What did you do?”
“We drove to the clinic.” Valentina points to her leg. “On the way, first his foot froze, then his calf. By the time we got there, he couldn’t feel his thigh. But the doctor gave him the serum and now he’s OK.”
“A waste of money,” says Conrado. “Do you know what we do in Mexico? We take a scorpion and drown it in a bottle of tequila. Then, if you are bit, you drink five shots.”
“Does it cure the bite?” I ask.
Conrado waves his manicured hand in dismissal. “After five shots of tequila, who cares?”
RECIPES THAT APPEAR IN MY BOOKS – PASTA PUTTANESCA
Pasta Puttanesca, or whore’s sauce, is one of my favorites. It appears in my upcoming book, Runaway Bomb. It’s quick, inexpensive and easy to make.
Ingredients
1 clove of chopped garlic.
¼ cup of olive oil.
¼ cup of anchovies.
½ cup of chopped onion.
½ cup of pitted black olives.
1 Tsp of drained capers (optional).
One 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes, drained.
1/2 cup of white wine.
½ tsp of salt, ½ tsp of ground pepper.
1 lb. of spaghetti.
½ cup of chopped basil or parsley.
Grated Parmesan.
Directions
1 Fry the garlic in olive oil. Add the anchovies, onion and pitted black olives and fry until onion is translucent.
2 Add the tomatoes, white wine, salt and ground pepper and let simmer for 15 minutes.
3 Boil and drain the spaghetti. Place in pasta bowls and cover with the sauce. Garnish with basil/parsley and parmesan.
STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
Notre Dame de Paris, Our Lady of Paris, was built in the 13th century and tragically marred by fire in 2019. Several of my books have passages that take place in this architectural and spiritual wonder, including A Paris Moment and Triple Cross. May it once again rise from the ashes for future generations to cherish.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Runaway Bomb, the latest installment in the FBI Jack Kenyon mystery series, is due for release on August 9, 2019.
Pre-order your copy of Runaway Bomb here!
Stay tuned for events leading up to the release!
RUNAWAY BOMB BOOK GIVEAWAY!
That’s right, I’m giving away the very first print copy of Runaway Bomb! The draw will be held on July 1, 2019, and everyone who subscribes to my newsletter will be included!
Credit: Gary Larson
MY FAVORITE BOOKS
Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult
On the surface, Small Great Things is a court procedural in which a public defender represents a woman accused of murder. The heart of the novel, however, is a story that goes to the very soul of America and challenges the reader to question their own firmly-held beliefs.
Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse who works in the maternity ward at Mercy-West Haven hospital. She has 20 years of exemplary experience. She is also the only Afro-American nurse in the hospital.
Turk Bauer is a white supremacist. Brittany, Turk’s wife, is pregnant; one night, she goes into labor, and the couple show up at Mercy-West Haven’s maternity ward to give birth. The child goes into heart failure and the emergency team, including Ruth, responds. Ruth performs manual stimulation of the child’s heart. Their efforts are in vain, and the child dies.
Turk goes to the police and swears that Ruth’s over-zealous intervention caused the death of his child and demands they press murder charges. She is arrested in the middle of the night and thrown in jail.
Kennedy McQuarrie is a lawyer with the state’s public defender office. Her efforts to free her client delve into the heart of racism in contemporary America; what does it mean to be black in a predominantly white world? On an even deeper level, how does racial hatred become so virulent that those who fall into its pit are consumed by madness?
This is a difficult novel to read. The author confronts the ailments that grip modern society and bares them in a painful manner. But Picoult also does so in such a truthful, unvarnished way that it ultimately leads to a greater understanding of the motives of those who participate in the confrontations that dominate today’s headlines.
In the end, the author uses her immense skills as a story teller and her insightful observations of the human soul to illuminate both what is tragic – and what is noble – in our society. If you read only one book this year, I urge you to read Small Great Things.
MY FAVORITE TV & MOVIE ADAPTATIONS
Miss Fischer’s Murder Mysteries, Produced by the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC).
Set in Australia during the Roaring Twenties and based upon the crime novels of Australian author Kerry Greenwood, the series features Essie Davis as the eponymous hero, a dashing heiress who sashays her way through both high and low society, solving murders most foul with her erstwhile partner, Melbourne police Detective Jack Robinson (played by Nathan Page). The series, which began in 2012, is featured on Netflix in North America.
