Edith, not yet adjusted to the time change

Quick report on the book party I held yesterday. I’d never had a launch party for ‘Til Dirt Do Us Part when it released at the end of May this year. The book opens at a farm to table dinner in the fall that I modeled on one that I attended at a local farm. That real dinner was cooked by the chefs at my local bistro, and they kindly gave me a version of one of their recipes to use in the book. So where better to hold a book party than at Phat Cats Bistro?

The date that seemed to work best for them was yesterday afternoon (which also happened to be my birthday). I paid for platters of appetizers, including the Sweet Potato Empanadas that are included in the book, and invited everyone I knew. Despite miserably cold and wet-snowy weather, we got a good turnout. The restaurant sold a bunch of drinks and I sold a bunch of books. I was also able to turn a few friends onto the restaurants, so hopefully they’ll see a hit with some new customers.

I also offered a free raffle to win naming rights for a character in Compost Mortem, the fourth Local Foods mystery, which I am writing now. My young friends James and Birima helped on that, and James also gave everyone present a copy of my new business card. I was surprised that people seemed to want to buy raffle tickets – maybe next time I’ll sell them!

Chef Christine Johnson at Phat Cats Bistro.

My wonderful sons were in town and both came along, and I was able to introduce a number of writers and readers to each other. Diane Weaver, a mystery fan who won the right have her own name on a character in ‘Til Dirt Do Us Part  in an auction a couple of years ago showed up, too.

All in all a great afternoon.