November 2023
An interview with Jennifer J. Chow, Miles Davis for your Noirvember, and a trip to France
What’s new
It’s that post-publication time when all the excitement has died down, and you’re sort of like, Wow, did I even have a book come out this year?? I guess we’re back to the grind…
The grind being book 3! Which isn’t under contract yet, doesn’t have a title, let alone a synopsis I can share with you, but I CAN share that I’ll be working on it next year from a chateau in France, which is…sort of perfect, since that’s where the new one is set.
You can read more about the Chateau D’Orquevaux here. It’s going to be a crucial, and I mean, CRUCIAL, part of my research to test every croissant in the immediate vicinity.
Jennifer J. Chow writes Asian-American novels involving secrets and mysteries. She is an Agatha, Anthony, and Lefty Award-nominated author. Her newest series is the Magical Fortune Cookie mysteries; the first book is Ill-Fated Fortune (February 2024). Jennifer’s previous series is the L.A. Night Market Mysteries. Death by Bubble Tea was reviewed by the New York Times, featured in Woman’s World, and hit the SoCal Indie Bestseller List.
Jennifer currently serves as Immediate Past President on the board of Sisters in Crime and blogs at chicksonthecase.com. She is an active member of Crime Writers of Color and Mystery Writers of America. Connect with her online and sign up for her newsletter at JenniferJChow.com.
What tabs do you currently have open on your computer? Feel free to share as many or as few as you like.
Gmail; Basecamp (project management software that we use at Sisters in Crime); Google Docs; Patch; Dine LA Restaurant Week; Chicks on the Case blog; Facebook; Bamboo Ridge Press blog (Scott Kikkawa's post on Bouchercon 2023); Ink Fish Books Rhody Reader Box with Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie.
What was the last piece of art—book, show, movie, whatever—that made you want to create something?
The Pageant of the Masters festival in Laguna Beach that recreates classical and contemporary artwork using live actors, costumes, and elaborate set designs.
A craft technique you're dying to try out in a future project?
Using different timelines and then weaving them together, or using backwards storytelling.
Tell me about the last internet rabbit hole you went down.
Checking out many recipes for dan tat (蛋撻), like how to make the creamy egg custard middle and all the different types of tart crusts, which range from flaky to cookie crust textures. [Editor’s note: I am salivating. This also happens to me when reading Jennifer’s books.]
What factors have to come together for you to feel your most creative?
Rest, a relaxed atmosphere, and tea.
What would you like to shamelessly plug?
My forthcoming Magical Fortune Cookie novels. Here’s a blurb about the first book in the series, ILL-FATED FORTUNE (February 20, 2024):
Felicity Jin grew up literally hanging onto Mom’s apron strings in their magical bakery in the quaint town of Pixie, California. Her mother’s enchanted baked goods, including puffy pineapple buns and creamy egg tarts, bring instant joy to all who consume them. Felicity has always been hesitant in the kitchen herself after many failed attempts, but a takeout meal gone wrong inspires her to craft some handmade fortune cookies.
They become so popular that Felicity runs out of generic fortunes and starts making her own personalized predictions. When one customer’s ill-fated fortune results in his murder, Felicity’s suspiciously specific fortune has the police focusing on her as the main culprit. Now Felicity must find a way to turn her luck around and get cleared from suspicion.
Which book would you most like to live inside?
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Basically, to be in a place with magical wardrobes and a fantastical other world…except without needing to encounter the White Witch.
Backlist beauties
Recommending: The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
Year published: 1987
Does this recommendation dovetail with my excitement for Ridley Scott’s Napoleon1, out later this month? Oh sure. Set during Napoleon’s reign, it’s a slim book that feels epic, the story of a woman who gambled her heart away, and of one of Napoleon’s soldiers, who only knows how to love in absolutes. Vanity Fair said: “…this arresting, elegant novel from Jeanette Winterson uses Napolean’s Europe as the setting for a tantalizing surrealistic romance between an observer of history and a creature of fantasy.”
No synopsis really does it justice; some parts worked better than others for me, but I was in tears when I finished it earlier this year, on a beach in Cagliari.
My open tabs
Have you heard that Hitchcock was not a nice guy?
Pair this article on the unraveling of a “serial killer expert” with the Sarah Weinman podcast episode I recommend, below.
Reading The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel, which was recently named a Best Book of 2023 by Amazon (and honestly, I see why). Pick it up if you want a true crime book that isn’t quite so bleak.
Celebrating Noirvember by listening to Miles Davis’s score for “L’ascenseur pour l’échafaud,” [aka “Elevator to the Gallows”] a French noir film.
Loving the Sarah Weinman episode of “You’re Wrong About,” which covers the myth of the infallible serial killer profiler.
I love that at some point, Ridley Scott looked at Joaquin Phoenix and was like, I’ve got my go-to dictator guy.