I Wrote a Book and Lived to Tell the Tale

the cover of my first work of fiction

Some people impulse-buy shoes; I impulse-wrote a murder mystery.

In early June, I got a bee in my bonnet and decided out of nowhere to write a cozy mystery. And it just poured out of me. Like it had been bottled up forever, even though I’d never really given fiction much thought before. That’s my husband’s department. Fiction is his thing.

I guess I wanted a change. A challenge. And, well, I found one. Turns out, it was fun. The kind of fun that makes you want to do it again and again. And so, without further ado, I present my first work of fiction: Killer Sillage. And as some of you may have inferred from the title, perfume is involved. In fact, the lead character, Clare, owns a perfume shop in her (and my) hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. What I didn’t realize—rookie mistake—is that after you finish writing a book, there’s a lot of other stuff to do. I’ve written three other books with my husband, Neal (aka Mr. Minx), all non-fiction and food-related. They were professionally published, so even though Globe Pequot was hardly a marketing powerhouse, at least they handled things like getting the books into stores.

Self-publishing? Whole different animal. Suddenly, I’m not just the writer, I’m the editor, formatter, cover designer, production manager, and distribution department. Right now, Killer Sillage exists as a Kindle e-book, but a paperback will be released in mid-November.

Oh, and apparently I also needed a mailing list and a website. So, in true “let’s-build-the-plane-while-flying-it” fashion, I’ve started both: a Substack for my pen name, Kat LaGue, and a brand-new website.

If you’d like to follow along as I launch Killer Sillage into the world (and get sneak peeks at my next cozy mystery, Savage Gourmand), you can: 

Subscribe to my Substack: LaGue’s Clues, part behind-the-scenes, part fragrance chat. All New Subscribers will receive a FREE bonus origin story. 

Visit my new website: katlague.com, where all the book news will live.

And, of course, buy and read Killer Sillage! 

Come for the murder, stay for the perfume.

P.S. If you know anyone who loves cozy mysteries, perfume, or just a good story with a twist, please send them my way! Sharing this post is the best way to help a new author like me find her readers. Thanks a million!

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Taking a Breather

You all might have noticed that I've taken a bit of a breather here at Minxeats while I've been concentrating more on my fragrance blog, Minxstinks. I haven't given up on blogging here quite yet - Minxeats is 20 years old this August, and I hope to write about food for several more years to come. It's just that 20 years is a long time, and while I still have ideas for recipes and I still watch Top Chef, sometimes I just don't feel like writing. But the Fancy Food Show is coming up next month, so I'll have the opportunity to try lots more new products and bring them to you here. (I was sad to miss last year's show.)

In the meantime, here are some of my somewhat food-related perfume posts for you to read or not. No, really...there are lots of perfumes that are food-y. It's a thing these days.

Here's a post about my thoughts on "gourmand" fragrances--ones that smell like food, primarily of the dessert variety. Read that one here.

One perfumer put out three dessert-scented frags at a time last year. These sounded like they could have potential, but I was largely disappointed when I actually put my nose to them. Read that post here.

A number of companies have produced pistachio-scented fragrances in the last handful of years. Or scents purported to smell like pistachio. I've yet to find one that does, but D.S. & Durga Pistachio smells so amazing, I'm willing to give it a pass. Read about that one here.

Dessert fragrances make sense though, right? How about savory stuff like potatoes? There is actually a potato note in this scent. Read about it here.

As if potatoes aren't strange enough, how about a perfume that smells like pizza? Read about that one here.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.