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The third novel in my Pepper Bibeau mystery series, WITH FIERY VENGEANCE Anger Burns Deep, was published on December 7th, the date that would become Pearl Harbor Day. It seemed fitting that my protagonist, born in a Honolulu hospital in 1941, have that birth date. 

WITH FIERY VENGEANCE has Pepper up to her Hawaiian lei in trouble, not only on the Big Island, but in Honolulu’s Chinatown. My research for the novel was done over a period of years, beginning in 2003 while lodging at a spa in North Kohala on the Big Island. When the spa and surrounding property went up for sale some years later, the owners actually contacted me as a potential buyer. (Oh, if only!) 

It is difficult to say which of the Pepper Bibeau novels I enjoyed researching the most. The first two are set in Chicago and Green Bay, respectively, so it is safe to say my research for number three was the warmest, especially considering the Central States’ snow forecast for this month. 

If you live in a snow state, consider burrowing into WITH FIERY VENGEANCE, a mystery set in Hawaii not far from Kilauea’s fiery volcanic activity. Fix yourself a Mai Tai (decorated with one of those paper umbrellas - just keep it away from the molten lava), turn up the dial on the thermostat, and stay toasty-warm with Pepper as she tries to remain one step ahead of danger in paradise.

 

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WITH FIERY VENGEANCE Anger Burns Deep

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K is for KALUA PIG AND POI

 PUPUS, Hawaiian snacks similar to hors d’oeuvers, tapas, and canapés,

make up the third segment of my A-to-Z Challenge theme.
 

 
 Kalua means “to bake in an  underground oven” known as an imu. A very short excerpt from my novel With Fiery Vengeance illustrates a sliver of the preparation behind that luau pork you devoured on your last trip to Hawaii.

Wedding guests had stationed themselves two and three-deep around Uncle Mondo’s imu, the underground pit he had prepared for baking the pig. Since last evening, he had directed all the outside projects. He had instructed the keiki to scour the property for kindling and fist-sized rocks.

 

“Get plenny twigs and small branches ’cause we need a blazing hot fire to heat these stones,” he’d called out to the older children as they headed to the overgrowth beyond the landscaped yard. To the young ones, he said, “Help your mothers gather ti leaves, grasses, and banana leaves.”

Aunty Vai and some of her friends had rubbed the pig inside and out with rock salt. She refused my help, citing my lack of experience. “Need everything for go just right,” she’d said. Though I had been born in Hawaiˋi, and visited my son in Hawi every year, it didn’t seem to qualify me for participation in long-standing rituals. Or else she secretly thought I was incompetent. Her one concession had been to let me help pound taro roots into poi. My arms would be sore for a week.

Everyone watched in anticipation as the men removed the baked pig from the ground. Then someone yelled, “Outta the way, make a path.” Rick grabbed Cary and Cassie by the arm and pulled them to the side. Men and boys grunted with the effort of carrying the bundle to the back door of the house, Nate grinning the entire way.

 

No time to build an imu? Check out Chef Sam Choy’s oven-roasted kalua pig:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sam-Choys-Oven-Roasted-Kalua-Pig-233927

Doing Just What I Want . . . Sort Of



The other day someone asked me how I liked retirement. In 2009, I decided to retire a bit early and enjoy life. That didn’t mean lounging on Waikiki Beach in the shadow of Diamond Head every day reading my fill of mystery novels; it meant researching, writing, and publishing mystery novels. It also meant paying closer attention to my blogs and participating in writers’ groups. But I do enjoy plenty of leisure time because I do just what I want . . . sort of. 

 

That means that although my goals are set and my projects outlined, deadlines are not carved in stone. If there is a deadline, I can begin the project far in advance so as not to be rushed. This year my goals include completing and publishing a novel; posting interviews with the 13 authors involved in the mystery anthology MYSTERY IN PARADISE 13 Tales of Suspense; and participating in Arlee Bird’s April 2014 A to Z Blog Challenge

by writing and posting twenty-six articles with topics ranging from A to Z.

 

Marketing is an area where I need to improve, another goal. My focus for 2014 includes the novel WITH FIERY VENGEANCE published in December 2013. As the third book in the Pepper Bibeau mystery series, and set in Hawaii, I am having fun discussing the settings featured in the story. 

Yesterday I spent time at Paˋina Café for the monthly local NaNoWriMo group gathering. I had been in a quandary about my WIP because of indecision over the story line. Scenarios had been swimming around in my mind since I completed the first draft last November. As I typed out my thoughts at the cafe, everything fell into place. Doing just what I want, letting my thoughts simmer until the time was right for a solution to develop, worked better than trying to force a decision. 

That’s what I like about my retirement state-of-mind: Doing Just What I Want . . . Sort Of. While I must still take the steps necessary to move a project toward its goal, I have the freedom to do just what I want at any given time. This is my idea of stress-free time management, an enviable luxury. 

How do you manage your time?

PEPPER is back WITH FIERY VENGEANCE

In the third novel of the series, Pepper Bibeau returns to Hawaii to visit her son on the Big Island and attend a wedding. The vacation is meant to be a time of healing for her son’s father, and relaxation for the family. Instead, unfolding events reveal Pepper’s inner strengths, and a guilty weakness.

Insurance Investigator Pepper Bibeau returns to Hawaii in December, 1972, where a vengeful stalker shadows her from Island to Island. While in Hawi on the Big Island, to visit her fourteen-year-old son and attend her cousin's wedding, Pepper discovers a body on the blood-soaked back seat of an abandoned classic Woody. A poorly executed plan of a local police detective fails to trap a suspect, who then flees to Oˋahu. 

When a Wisconsin woman is injured in an accident on Oˋahu, and the husband threatens to sue his insurance company, Pepper's assignment is to get his signature on a medical insurance release form. After the suspect in Hawi flees to the labyrinth of Honolulu's Chinatown, Pepper follows. Her plan is simple: settle the medical insurance claim, and flush out the suspect. 

Personal strife, unexplained deaths, and ghostly events are interwoven with the burning anger of a father who has lost all reason. With the sanity of a killer in question, Pepper must fight to save her family, and herself. 

WITH FIERY VENGEANCE Anger Burns Deep is a soft-boiled Mystery wrapped in a Traditional Cozy, an enjoyable read for those quick breaks between all the holiday activities.

Available today, along with all of the Pepper Bibeau Mystery series, at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1iNbwKU