Extra Slice of Cake With... Jessica Thompson

This week I am delighted to have author Jessica Thompson back for another slice of cake.

Jessica is the author of the Amazon best-selling mystery novels A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide and A Caterer’s Guide to Love and Murder which was a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Awards. She also curated and featured her own short stories in a family friendly anthology of campfire stories, Beyond the Woods: A Supernatural Anthology. Active in her local writing community, she volunteers as the Assistant Communications Chair for the Storymakers Guild and as a Program Assistant for the Writer’s League of Texas. 

Jessica lives in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with her husband and two children. When not writing, she’s getting her boots dirty at her parents' nearby longhorn cattle ranch. Whether ranching, cooking, or gardening, she sees it all as plot-inspiring material for her next mystery.

Describe the types of books you love to read

Ooooh! I love Agatha Christie. I’m almost done reading her whole collection of novels. I really love all mystery, but especially clean mysteries. If it’s cozy, so be it, but it’s got to be clean. 

Which authors inspire you to write?

Again, Agatha Christie, but modern writers I love are Josi Kilpack (my favorite cozy author), Joanne Fluke (when I need to remember that I CAN do this), Bruce Hammack (his books are similar to my newest release), and J.R. Lancaster (again, her book is similar to my Shoot Shovel and Shut Up because it’s clean and compelling, but not cozy.)

Since we last had a slice of cake, what have you been working on?

I last came on to talk about my culinary cozy mysteries series, which has a new book coming out in January called A Caterer’s Guide to Valentines and Violence, but mostly I’ve been trying something new. My latest book is called Shoot Shovel and Shut Up. It’s a clean, classic mystery, but it’s not a cozy. It’s a modern Western mystery with a splash of romance.

I’ve also been in several anthologies, like Riddles, Resolutions and Revenge, A Beach of a Crime, and Bippity Boppity Boots - Southwestern Fairytale Retellings.

What is your next project?

The third book in my Caterer’s Guide to Crime series is coming out on January 11, 2024. It doesn’t have a link or cover yet, but … blurb time!

Feel the love … with a caterer, a captain, and a criminal.

“Hey, gorgeous!”

As she decides how she feels about her not-so-ex-fiancé, Violet and her friends must cater a formal Army event as their secrets boil over. When she and the handsome investigator discover the boss has been beaten, and not with a whisk, and her fiance becomes the prime suspect, Violet must bite off more than she can chew, decide who to trust, and find the creamy center of the crimes. 

But can she crack the criminal before she melts?

A Caterer’s Guide to Valentines and Violence is a prequel to the mystery series that’ll give you heart eyes!

Have you recently tried any new cake? What was the last cake you made/bought?

My most recent cake was chocolate and raspberry for my daughter’s birthday, but I’m hoping to soon make America’s Test Kitchen’s Magic Chocolate Flan Cake. I made it once years ago and it’s sooooo sexy.

You can connect with Jessica here:

My book Shoot Shovel and Shut Up: mybook.to/SSSU
Website: Jessicathompsonauthor.com
Instagram: instagram.com/jessicathauthor2
Facebook: facebook.com/jessicathauthor
Goodreads: goodreads.com/jessicathauthor
Bookbub: bookbub.com/profile/jessica-thompson
Amazon Author Profile: amazon.com/author/jessicathompsonmystery

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find out more about her books on her website clairebuss.co.uk. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop. Never miss out on future posts by following me.

A Slice of Cake With... Jessica Thompson

Today I am delighted to have a slice of cake with author Jessica Thompson.

When Jessica discovered mystery novels with recipes, she knew she had found her niche.

Now Jessica is the author of the Amazon best-selling culinary cozy mysteries A Caterer's Guide to Love and Murder and A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide. She is active in her local writing community and is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas and the Storymakers Guild. She received a bachelor's degree in Horticulture from Brigham Young University but has always enjoyed writing and reading mysteries.

As an avid home chef and food science geek, Jessica has won cooking competitions and been featured in the online Taste of Home recipe collection.  She also tends to be the go-to source for recipes, taste-testing, and food advice among her peers. 

Jessica is originally from California, but now has adopted the Austin, Texas lifestyle. She enjoys living in the suburbs with her husband and young children, but also enjoys helping her parents with their nearby longhorn cattle ranch. 

What kind of books do you write?

I write cute and clean whodunnits that center around food, so then I include the recipes for the food they just talked about.

Can you describe your writing why?

I do enjoy it, but I’m trying to play the long game. I’m not trying to get famous, in fact I would hate being famous, but I want to get enough of a foothold in the publishing industry to make a living in a few years. Maybe like by retirement. This is my retirement planning. I’ve heard that by the time you have 25 books published, then you are actually making enough money to make writing your day job. If I put out one book a year, then I should be there by the time I retire.

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most

I loved the end the most, but I can’t give away the mystery! So here is a small part of the end:

Just then, the view of two bright headlights and two higher spotlights came over a rise. The lights blinked between trees as a wide, yellow plow appeared where Violet had expected to see a front bumper.

“Oh, my goodness! We’re saved!” Violet exclaimed as tingles shot from her throat out to her extremities.

After the hairpin turn in the driveway and the crime scene where Dr. Yang held his vigil, Jake raced ahead of the plow and parked the snowmobile next to Violet.

“I found them just coming up the main road,” Jake said as he swung his leg over the snowmobile.

“My hero!” Violet cried as she jumped into his arms. “You saved us!”

“Well, just a little.” Jake spoke into Violet’s coat as he hugged her and spun her around. “I might have helped them find the turn, but that’s it.”

Jake set her down and pulled back to look into Violet’s eyes. His forget-me-not blue eyes shone with excitement and pride as Violet basked in his signature crooked smile as he said, “No, you already saved us.”

They kissed until Violet was ready to tell him her big news.

“Well, I have a surprise, too.” Violet could feel her coy smile morph into a manic grin. “While you were gone, I had to go to the bathroom.”

Jake’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion, then rose in understanding. “Oh, for the first time this morning? And?”

Violet nodded with such vigor that her vision blurred with a delirious joy.

Jake threw his head back and let out a call that echoed around the clearing and off the house and Willem’s cabin, “WAHOOOOO!”

Tell us about your latest project

A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide is so fun! It’s a holiday sequel to my first cozy mystery, A Caterer’s Guide to Love and Murder, and to be honest, it’s much better.

Our main character, Violet, and her husband have been hired at personal chefs for the week before Christmas at a remote cabin. During the same big snowstorm, one member of the party dies and they all get snowed in. They’re stuck and Violet is asked to investigate. They have their supplies so they think they’re all set, until it becomes clear that it was murder. Suspicion jumps from person to person until another person dies, driving everyone into their rooms as Violet continues to work on discovering the guilty party.

What is your favourite cake?

Maybe devil’s food, maybe a chocolate cheesecake, or a flourless chocolate cake. Basically it has to be chocolate. I would even go so far as to say that if it doesn’t have chocolate then it is not worth the calories.

You can connect with Jessica on her website Jessicathompsonauthor.com and on social media:

Instagram: @jessicathauthor
Facebook: facebook.com/jessicathauthor
Twitter: @jessicathauthor
TikTok: @jessicathauthor 
Goodreads: goodreads.com/jessicathauthor
BookBub: bookbub.com/profile/jessica-thompson-ede71ffc-5762-4778-a116-3c3a048cb45f
Amazon: amazon.com/author/jessicathompsonmystery

Join me next week when I will be having a slice of cake with Maurice Alvarez. 

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Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find out more about her books on her website clairebuss.co.uk. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop. Never miss out on future posts by following me.