Traci Andrighetti's Blog, page 4

Fangs, a Facebook Party, and Other Freaky-Fun Stuff

If you’re not friends with me on Facebook, then you missed the pics of my recent adventures in the French Quarter. I went to New Orleans to do research for a couple of Franki Amato mysteries and to see some old friends. What I didn’t expect to see? A VAMPIRE.

Yeah, I know. Vampires aren’t real. But tell that to the one I met on the Haunted History Vampire Tour. The first thing I noticed about her was that she had eyes like Marilyn Manson’s—basically just pupils with ice-colored irises. When I stared at them (yes, that’s impolite, but can you blame me?), she smiled at me.

And bared her FANGS. Not the stark white plastic ones that we wore as kids for Halloween, but yellowish ones that were a little too real-enamel-like for my blood, er, taste.

At first I thought that this vampire vixen was a tour company prop. But as we went along the various spots on the tour, it became clear that she was just a regular old paying customer like me (except, of course, that she was a vampire). How do I know that? Because she was wearing a feather boa like tourists do in the Quarter, and her husband (uh-huh, someone married her) mentioned that they were from New York City. So, the only thing I can figure is that she wanted to learn about the history of her undead people.

As it turns out, there were—and still are—a lot of vampires in New Orleans. If you don’t believe me, check out the New Orleans Vampire Association (NOVA).

Anyway, the whole experience was as creepy as all get out (and get out, I did). But the good news is that I finally have a plot idea for CAMPARI CRIMSON!

Speaking of the Franki Amato mysteries, this Tuesday, June 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. central time, I’m hosting a Facebook party to celebrate the release of AMARETTO AMBER. I’m keeping it small, so this is your chance to chat and maybe win some stuff, like an e-copy of Amaretto Amber, an Amazon gift card, a LIMONCELLO YELLOW scarf, a PROSECCO PINK boa, or the AMARETTO AMBER Coach handbag.

To join the launch party and find out how to win the bag, check out the invite. Chat with you soon!

A Giveaway and Other Good Stuff

To promote the June 7 release of AMARETTO AMBER, I’m giving away this Coach Chelsea Crossbody. Pretty, isn’t it? I chose it because Coach describes the color as “saddle,” which is the name of one of the stripper suspects in the book. Also, it looks like amaretto, doesn’t it?

In other book news, I’m writing my second Danger Cove Hair Salon mystery. This one’s called A POISON MANICURE AND PEACH LIQUEUR in keeping with my drink theme. I’m also going to New Orleans at the end of the month to research the next Franki Amato mystery. This one’s going to involve a steamboat, and it’s titled GALLIANO GOLD.

Speaking of book titles, the details of the handbag giveaway for AMARETTO AMBER will be posted on my Facebook author page in the coming days. Be sure to like my page if you want to be notified of the contest start date and the requirements. One of the things I’m considering for the giveaway is awarding the Coach bag to the reader who comes up with the best title for a future Franki Amato mystery. Could be entertaining, right?

So put on your thinking caps on and get to creating! But remember, the book title has to follow my Italian liqueur or wine + matching color theme, which is a lot freaking harder to come up with than you’d think (trust me, I agonize over the titles).

In the meantime, if you’re so inclined, preorder AMARETTO AMBER here. And by the way, I had a TON of fun with this one!

My Name is in a Vineyard!

In March I went on a whirlwind business trip to Italy. While I was there, I worked in some pleasure. What kind? Easy—a winery. Because my life wouldn’t have been complete without visiting a vineyard that grows the glorious grapes that produce prosecco. I mean, come on.

It all started when I saw a tweet by an Udine-based group called The Winefathers, who have created a kind of Kickstarter for artisanal wine producers in Italy. Basically, you pay to become a member of a wine grower’s family. First you pick a project, i.e., where you want to go—unless you just want to order wine (in which case, you stay home and wait for it). Then you choose your sponsorship level, i.e., your relationship to the family—wine cousin, wine friend, wine uncle/aunt, wine brother/sister, wine father/mother—depending on what you want from the experience.

The projects are amazing. For example, you can hang with wine-growing nuns (yeah, they drink too!) on the island of Sardinia, rub elbows with people who produce wine on Sicily’s Mount Etna (that’s a live volcano, people), or chill at the Bele Casel winery in Caerano San Marco in the Veneto region (where Venice is, y’all). And they’re just a few of the sponsorship options.

I chose “The Wild Vineyard of Monfumo” project in the Veneto because that’s where my nonno (grandfather) was born. And since I had 24 hours to kill, I became a wine sister, which meant that I got to bring someone with me to do cool things like tour the winery, eat lunch with the family, stay at a stylish B&B, and, of course, drink prosecco. Not only that, I was given six bottles of the stuff to take with me when I left. Benvenuta in Italia (welcome to Italy)!

What was it like? Well, I loved the 100-year-old vineyard—it was bellissima. But the best part was probably being with the Ferraro family (including their adorable dog, Ettore) and meeting one of The Winefathers founders, Luca Comello. This is a truly great group of people, and they all worked SO hard to show my friend Dianne Wallace and I a good time—and not just at the winery and the vineyard. Paola Ferraro and Luca took us to the town of Asolo, a.k.a. the “Pearl of the provice of Treviso” too.

Note that I said probably above. That’s because my favorite part of the experience—EVEN BEYOND DRINKING THE BEST PROSECCO I’VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE—might’ve actually been eating the meals that Antonella made. (I’m a foodie, guys. And if I have to choose between people and a plate of homemade lasagne—I’ll go for the plate pretty much every time.) This woman knows how to use a kitchen, and everything she cooked was grown on their property—even the roast chicken. And the sorpressa they served me was so good that it alone is enough to get me to go back.

Anyway, a few days ago the winery was a distant memory, and then I checked my email and discovered that they’d put my name on a sign in the Monfumo vineyard! Of course, it’s an honor. But it’s also just so freakin’ appropriate, isn’t it?

Now if only I could get my name in an orchard that grows lemons for making limoncello…

Amaretto Amber Cover!

The cover for Amaretto Amber, the third novel in the Franki Amato mysteries, is finally here! And the designer, Lyndsey Lewellen, really outdid herself this time. She captured the crime scene to a T (as in, Traci).

I can’t tell you about all the items on the cover because that would ruin the fun of reading about them. What I will say is that the murder takes place on a Bourbon Street strip club stage, and there’s a bottle of amaretto next to the bathtub containing the body. But the bottle is only part of the significance of the “amaretto” in the title. So, again, you’ll just have to read the book to find out what it all means.

What’s not on the cover? The inspiration behind the crime—the Amber Room. King Frederick William I of Prussia gave this room (four panels of amber decorated with gold leaf, jewels, and mosaics) as a gift to Tsar Peter the Great in 1716. During World War II, the Nazis stole the panels from Catherine Palace (near St. Petersburg), and they’ve never been seen since. The craziest—i.e., creepiest—thing about the Amber Room is that those who hunt for it all seem to die odd or awful deaths (I seriously couldn’t make this stuff up).

Anyway, in case you’re wondering, Franki doesn’t have to travel to Russia to solve the murder in Amaretto Amber, but I do see travel in her future. Whenever possible, I incorporate reader requests into my stories, and it seems that a lot of you want Franki to go to Italy. So look for Franki’s Italian adventures either in Campari Crimson or Arancello Orange (I still haven’t decided which book is next).

In the meantime, send me your requests. They’re always so much fun for me to read!

Best Bookstore in Bologna (& Book Business)

During my recent whirlwind trip to Italy, I went back to my favorite bookstore in Bologna: the Libreria Coop Ambasciatori on Via delle Orefici (and yes, that means “Street of the Orifices”). This bookstore is in the heart of medieval Bologna near the two twelfth-century towers, Garisenda and Asinelli, that are the symbol of this marvelous city.

Why is it my favorite? It’s not the awe-inspiring location because, obviously, when you’re in a bookstore you don’t see what’s around it. It’s the concept that I love: books on the main floor, and two additional stories that have a restaurant, Italian food products, and more books!

Okay, okay, so the restaurant is an Eataly, which exists here in the U.S. And while in Italy I would never advise eating somewhere you can eat here at home. I mean, HELL-O. But what’s not to love about being able to buy a tube of chocolate hazelnut paste while you browse? (And by the way, I squeezed the entire tube of that paste into my mouth when I was waiting for my return flight to Austin at JFK. #noregrets)

Now that I’m back in the States, I’ve been thinking about that bookstore a lot, and it’s not just because I want some more Italian books and chocolate-hazelnut paste. The thing is, while I was standing in the middle of the mystery room, I realized that I had to write a book set in Italy. But where? How? And with whom?

Here are the questions that are tormenting me like I was in Dante’s inferno:

Amaretto Amber is coming out in June, so will Franki Amato go to Italy in the next book? Or will I write a new mystery series set in Italy? If I write a new series, should it be about 1) an Italian teacher who takes students on study abroad trips, 2) an Italian-American woman who inherits a pensione on the island of Capri, or 3) a female Italian police inspector who solves crimes in a famous city? And should it be funny or serious?

Lettori, aiutatemi (Readers, help me)! What do you want to read?

Terrifying Tales from a Writers’ Retreat

Last weekend I went on a retreat to a nature resort in the Texas Hill Country with fifteen other writers. It seemed like the perfect location for us because it was isolated enough to ensure that we would get some work done, but it also had a beautiful restaurant and separate bar for post-writing recreation (yes, eating and drinking count as “activities” in my book).

Because I’m behind in writing my latest mystery, Amaretto Amber, I decided to stay alone in a cabin by the lake to make sure that I actually wrote while I was there. And right after dinner on Friday night, I headed off to my cabin to finish chapter 14.

The first sign of trouble was that the much-needed flashlight I received with my room key didn’t work, so I wandered around in the dark for ten minutes until I found my cabin. Then the rain started—one of those torrential downpours the area is famous for (hence the Stevie Ray Vaughn song “Texas Flood”).

As the night wore on and the storm intensified, my mind drifted to the Halloween movie marathon I’d watched the week before and to Friday the 13th, which took place AT A CABIN BY THE LAKE. Of course, I didn’t think that Michael Myers and Jason were going to come and get me, but I did think that the bearded resort guest who’d looked into my window earlier that day might. And since he was a “crackhead version of Kenny Rogers” (to quote one of the other authors), he was far more terrifying to me than Michael and Jason put together.

The next thing you know, those storm-related sounds got the best of my mystery-writer imagination. So I sat up straight in my bed with all the lights on, clutching the covers around me and watching the door handle for any sign of movement. And that’s when I spotted them—the reddish-brown stains on the window curtain next to the door. Now, they were probably coffee stains, but in my scared, slasher-film state of mind they bore a striking resemblance to blood spatter (I’ve included a photo for your viewing displeasure).

After seeing those stains, I lay awake all night imagining all sorts of horror scenarios. Was the person who’d been killed in my cabin the renter? Or was it a crazed resort guest who’d come to slash her throat? More importantly, was the killer a burned out Kenny Rogers lookalike with gray-white hair, a beard, and a cheesy country-and-western suit?

Obviously, I lived through Friday to tell about the experience. And honestly, the scariest thing that happened to me took place the following night when a seventy-something businessman from London told me that I looked like Sophia Loren and began to serenade me with a Dean Martin song. As if that weren’t terrifying enough, when I looked away from my serenader in embarrassment I saw none other than Crackhead Kenny Rogers staring in the bar window. Fearful that he was going to come inside and break into an acoustic rendition of “The Gambler,” I fled into the darkness to my cabin, which suddenly seemed a lot safer than the scary bar.

The morals of the story?

1. Safety is relative.

2. Slasher flicks are not optimal viewing material right before you stay alone at a cabin by a lake.

3. Any man at a resort who sings to you—or who looks like he might sing to you—is not to be trusted.

Her Name is Nadezhda

People often ask me how I come up with my kooky characters, and the truth is that my creative process is really random. If you don’t already know this, I live in Austin, Texas, and the motto of the city is “Keep Austin Weird.” Honestly, the phrase refers to supporting local business. But the truth is there is a lot of actual weirdness in Austin, and my books have benefitted greatly from that.

Take Nadezhda Dmitriyeva. She’s a character from my forthcoming Franki Amato mystery, AMARETTO AMBER. Like most of my characters, Nadezhda was born when I was walking my dogs at 4:30 a.m. (yes, that’s earrrrly) down a spooky street in my neighborhood. The street is called North Loop, and it has a lot of, shall we say, “unique” shops that attract locals and tourists alike (one of whom is Guy Fieri, who I almost hit with my car when I was scowling at my son in the back seat). My personal fave is the salon in the picture: VAXING FOR VOMEN.

Now, I don’t know who scratched the other half of the w’s from the sign, but I’m grateful to them. Because after I noticed it, I starting imagining the type of woman who would work in a waxing salon that was actually called Vaxing for Vomen. My assumption was that she would be from a country that pronounced w’s like v’s, so I went with Russia. Then little bits of dialogue started coming to me. Given the salon setting, I imagined her abruptly asking a client, “You vant vax?”

Next, I had to come up with her name. She had to be tough, because anyone who pronounces their w’s like v’s sounds like a bad-ass to me. So I went with the toughest-sounding Russian name I know—Nadezhda, which I discovered thanks to the news coverage of the Russian female punk band, Pussy Riot. Of course, I based her physical description on Russian nesting “matryoshka” dolls, and I made sure to work in the word “babushka,” just because.

There, in a nutshell, is my creative process—some random item or word or place will inspire a character. But not all of them are figments of my warped imagination. In fact, my recurring characters are usually based on real people, like Franki, Veronica, David, and, yes, even Nonna.

By the way, besides Vaxing for Vomen, there is also a creepy old cemetery on North Loop, kind of like the one across the street from where Franki, Veronica, and Glenda live. There is also a sex shop called “Forbidden Fruit.” I snapped this picture of one of its shop windows on a recent nighttime dog walk because it reflects a few of the key elements in AMARETTO AMBER—pasties, a feather boa, and tombs…

Traci’s On Tour!

Thanks to one CRAZY summer (trips to Graceland, the Grand Ole Opry, and New York City) and a looming book deadline for AMARETTO AMBER (the third Franki Amato mystery), I’ve been away from my blog for a while. But DEADLY DYE AND A SOY CHAI, the first mystery in the Danger Cove Hair Salon series, is going on tour, so I’m back in the saddle again!

SYNOPSIS:

Native Texan Cassidi Conti was expecting to face some obstacles when she moved to Danger Cove and opened The Clip and Sip, a hair salon that gives away free drinks. What she wasn’t counting on was a client dying during a dye job. But when eighty-year-old Margaret Appleby comes in for her biweekly appointment, that’s exactly what happens: Margaret drinks her usual soy chai, dozes off under the dryer…and doesn’t wake up. Now The Clip and Sip is under suspicion, clients are wary, and Cassidi is on a mission to prove that while her styles may be killer, her employees are innocent! But as Cassidi wades through the myriad of suspects in the small, costal town, the killer sets his sights straight on everyone’s favorite stylist. If Cassidi doesn’t watch her back, she may just end up Danger Cove’s latest fashionable victim.

SCHEDULE:

September 27 –  Chloe Gets A Clue  – Interview 

September 28 –  readalot  – Review, Giveaway 

September 29 –  Laura’s Interests  – Review, Giveaway

September 30 –  Queen of All She Reads  – Review, Guest Post, Giveaway

October 1 –  Brooke Blogs  – Review, Guest Post, Giveaway

October 2 –  Book Babble  – Review

October 3 –  3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy,  &, Sissy, Too!  – Spotlight, Giveaway

October 4 –  Cozy Up With Kathy  – Guest Post

October 5 –  Natural Bri  – Review, Guest Post, Giveaway

October 6 –  Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews  – Spotlight 

October 7 –  deal sharing aunt  – Interview 

October 8 –  LibriAmoriMiei  – Review

October 9 –  Michele Lynn Seigfried’s Blog  – Review, Giveaway

October 10 –  Babs Book Bistro  – Spotlight

October 11 –  Tea and A Book  – Review, Guest Post

!!GIVEAWAYS GALORE!!

Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for the “Kate Spade Cobble Hill Bow Stacy” wallet in blue pebbled leather (the winner will be randomly selected at the end of the tour).

Also, you can enter to win an e-book at each stop of the tour! DO. IT.

Fresh Fiction’s Dallas Bookclub

If you’re in Dallas tonight, come see me at Fresh Fiction’s Dallas bookclub! We’re meeting at the La Madeleine on 11930 Preston Road to talk about my latest book, Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai, which is the first mystery in my new Danger Cove Hair Salon series. And I can’t wait!

For more information about the event, check out Fresh Fiction’s Facebook event page. A presto!

 

My Danger Cove Debut!

It’s release day for DEADLY DYE AND A SOY CHAI, my debut mystery in the Danger Cove Hair Salon series! So, Franki, Veronica, and Glenda (from my Franki Amato mysteries set in New Orleans) went on a lengthy vacation while I went to work creating Cassidi, Gia, and Amy. Because Danger Cove is located in the Pacific Northwest, the hair salon series a little tamer than my NOLA series—but no less outrageous. So, read on if you’d like to learn more about The Clip and Sip, the mystery, and the handbag giveaway!

THE BUSINESS

Although The Clip and Sip opened its doors in 2014, the building has a long and storied history. From 1860 until 1955, three generations of the LaSalle family ran a brothel on the site that serviced local lumberjacks. Following a mysterious fire, the building lay abandoned for four decades until Vincent “Vinnie” Conti purchased it in 1995 as his residence and hair salon, The Yankee Clipper. The Clipper, as Vinnie became known, served the ladies of Danger Cove (it was widely known that he tended to more than just his clients’ coiffures) until his unfortunate passing in 2013. A committed bachelor, Vinnie left his entire estate to his niece, Cassidi Lee Conti. Also a hair stylist, Cassidi renamed the business “The Clip and Sip” because she serves a free drink to all her clients. She believes that a beverage on the house will draw the locals in—and go a long way toward removing the bitter taste left in their mouths by the building’s unsavory history.

THE BLURB

Native Texan Cassidi Conti was expecting to face some obstacles when she moved to Danger Cove and opened The Clip and Sip, a hair salon that gives away free drinks. What she wasn’t counting on was a client dying during a dye job. But when eighty-year-old Margaret Appleby comes in for her biweekly appointment, that’s exactly what happens: Margaret drinks her usual soy chai, dozes off under the dryer…and doesn’t wake up. Now The Clip and Sip is under suspicion, clients are wary, and Cassidi is on a mission to prove that while her styles may be

killer, her employees are innocent! But as Cassidi wades through the myriad of suspects in the small, costal town, the killer sets his sights straight on everyone’s favorite stylist. If Cassidi doesn’t watch her back, she may just end up Danger Cove’s latest fashionable victim.

THE BAG

To celebrate, I’m giving away this fabulous blue Italian silk satin and leather handbag by Kate Spade. It’s called “Evening Belles Alouette,” and its picture doesn’t do it justice. To enter for a chance to win, visit Gemma Halliday’s Facebook page on Tuesday, July 21 for details.