June 2020 Newsletter

Life in Mexico

Another beautiful evening in Manzanillo as the sun sets over the Pacific. You can’t see it in the picture, but dolphins are frolicking offshore and beach bunnies are packing up their sun tan lotion.

What, you say? The beaches are open again in Manzanillo? Well, not technically, the ‘beach closed’ signs are still up, but teenagers sneak out to splash in the surf around dinner-time after the last of the military patrols have headed back to barracks. It’s really not a good idea because the number of people with COVID keeps climbing in Mexico, but young people are so antsy from lockdown that many don’t care anymore.

Even after months of reportage and growing evidence, there is a huge gulf between those who take COVID seriously and those who do not. When we go to the mall to shop, guards prevent anyone from entering without a mask. But if you go to the small communities out of town, some volunteers and health officials who try to distribute masks and collect infection information are threatened and told to take their hoax somewhere else!

Which is a shame, because even if those under 25 aren’t getting sick, asymptomatic carriers can still infect their parents and grand-parents. Most young people in Mexico have a great reverence for their grannies but no concept of how easy it is for them to pass on a deadly disease to the folks they love.

We all hope that the pandemic eventually peaks and that vaccines prevent further waves of infection. But until that time, we are being very cautious and respectful of social distancing and hygiene.

Tuscan Butter Shrimp

This is an easy meal to make yet it tastes absolutely terrific!

Ingredients

1 dozen fresh shrimp, peeled

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 Tsp of olive oil

2 Tsp of butter

1 cup of chopped fresh cherry tomatoes

1 Cup of heavy cream

1 Cup of parmesan, grated

¼ cup of fresh basil, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooked pasta

Directions

In a large pan with a lid (or Dutch oven), fry half the garlic in olive oil for a minute. Add the shrimp and fry for one minute per side, until pink. Remove shrimp and set aside.

Add the butter and the rest of the garlic and fry tomatoes. Mix in the cream and parmesan and simmer for five minutes.

Return the shrimp to the pan, cover and simmer for another 3 minutes.

Serve on pasta and garnish with chopped basil

Book Draw for New Jack Kenyon Mystery!

Someone is trying to steal Baron Feargus Morgan’s nuclear engine and it’s up to the FBI to stop the bad guys. There’s lots of action and suspense in Dead Man Cipher as Agent Jack Kenyon races from San Francisco to London, battling kidnappers, murderers and spies.

I am working with book designer extraordinaire Sydney Jane Barnes to create the cover. She came up with three great variations!

We invite all subscribers to vote for their favorite cover by sending me a message from the contact page.

Everyone who submits a vote also enters a draw to win the very first paperback edition of Dead Man Cipher when it is published this fall.

Remember, you have to join my newsletter subscription list in order to be eligible to vote!

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Book Review

IQ, by Joe Ide

The first in a crime novel series, IQ regales the reader with the adventures of Isaiah Quintabe, high-school dropout, quirky loner, and genius detective. Along with sidekick Dodson, a former-gang member, they form an oddball Holmes and Watson, solving mysteries and rescuing damsels in distress in the barrios of East Los Angeles.

The duo are hired by rap legend Black the Knife, aka Calvin Wright, a multi-platinum winning artist whose massive ego is only surpassed by the immense quantities of drugs he consumes on a daily basis. Someone tries to kill Calvin by sending a trained pit bull into his house to rend him apart. Fearing for his life, his manager brings in Isaiah to prove that Calvin’s ex-wife Leona has hired a killer to do him in.

Isaiah quickly uncovers the identity of the assassin, a dog breeder named Skip who even professional murderers consider a lunatic. Together, he and Dodson play a deadly game of wits in order to draw Skip out into the open.

The author does a wonderful job of fleshing out the grim reality of East LA, filling the narrative with engaging characters and colorful dialogue that is reminiscent of Elmore Leonard’s crime novels.

Both hilarious and simultaneously harrowing, I found myself turning the pages until the end, then immediately ordering the next in the series!

Movie Review

Little Fires Everywhere

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

The 8-part TV series is based on the book of the same name, published by Celeste Ng in 2017.

The story is set in modern, middle-class suburbia, and revolves around the picture-perfect family of Elena and Bill Richardson and their four teenage children.

Elena (played by Reese Witherspoon), is the classic progressive, striving to create a better society in America.

Her resolve is put to the test with the arrival of a black family, single-mom Mia Warren and her teenage daughter Pearl. Mia is a gifted artist, traveling around the country documenting and interpreting America through photos and montages.

Their lives soon become intimately intertwined when Elena hires Mia as her house manager, and Pearl becomes romantically involved with the Richardson boys.

The story is complicated by the Richardson’s angst-filled daughter Izzy. A beautiful, talented musician, she feels stifled by her controlling mother and rebels by setting fire to her hair and wearing outrageous clothing.

Elena is hurt and confused by her behaviour, and feels as though she is losing sway over her family.

The series explores so many aspects of life – the tidal pull of motherhood, the nature of artistic expression, the devastating consequences of keeping secrets – in a thoughtful and poignant manner.

In addition to an excellent script (Ng has writing credits on all eight episodes), the cast delivers powerful and skillful performances that elevate the story to a new level.

I highly recommend Little Fires Everywhere!