The Drinks With Reads series at Mystery Playground is one of my favorite columns. What could be better than pairing cocktails with crime fiction?
Deborah Lacy at Mystery Playground has been kind enough to host me for the series a couple of times already, and I’m thrilled to be up again this week talking about my story “A Necessary Ingredient” and offering up a drink recipe with its own necessary ingredient, the Black Manhattan.
Here’s an excerpt from my post:
In “A Necessary Ingredient,” a new chef in a mid-sized North Carolina town hires private investigator Ambrose Thornton to track down who in the area might be growing tonka beans—outlawed by the U.S. government since 1954 but a prized delicacy, especially in French cooking, for its sensual taste and aroma. Intrigued by the mission and beguiled by his client’s attractiveness, Thornton sets out on a quest to find the bean—and perhaps win her too.
But another “necessary ingredient” in this mystery’s mix is, in fact, traditional mystery fiction itself….
Read the rest of the post—and find the recipe itself!—at Mystery Playground here.