Latest / Reality Writes / Soufflés and Seasides—Exploring the 20th Bakeshop Mystery

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Soufflés and Seasides—Exploring the 20th Bakeshop Mystery · Reality Writes

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello, and welcome to a special release week episode of Reality Rights.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I am author Ellie Alexander, and I'm here with uh the tech guy.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, another week, another release.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:23
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• 0:32
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• 0:35
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• 0:39
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• 0:40
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• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Somebody, somebody had to say it.
• 0:46
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• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, actually, if you're not listening to the Severance podcast with uh been an Adam, you should be because um it's pretty awesome.
• 0:56
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• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: They're actually likely going to call us soon, I'm sure, and say, you know, we just love what you've been doing over there with reality rights.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we feel like, you know, come on to Severance, let's talk about the show a little bit.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, we don't try any uh less than they do to succeed.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah, they just happen to have the benefit of already being celebrities, so it helps.
• 1:25
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• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we actually this afternoon we were brainstorming some fun um new segments that we're gonna add to the podcast.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: So uh those will probably debut next week, right?
• 1:36
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• 1:37
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• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: But no, we in it like in reality, we really do have some great stuff that we're gonna be adding to the show.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: And uh because we really like doing this.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I enjoy it.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh, you know, we uh um we like we kind of live and breathe this stuff, so um, it's always fun to talk about our experiences and and just provide tips and a peek behind the curtain whenever we can.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: So um, but we came up with some great, great ideas that we're still noodling on.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So and some ways to involve the darlings more because we love that heart of it, especially because we got our start really with like all the live streams back in the day.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: So trying to think of some ways to incorporate some of that into right.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna, it'll definitely so some of the segments will definitely be interactive uh from week to week.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: So it'll be great.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, and more to come on that.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: So but what but but today, today we're talking about the new Bake Shop Mystery, and this is book number 20! 20.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: 20 20 20 books in a series.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: How is that real life?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's a lot of books.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of books.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's a lot of books.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was uh reminiscing because uh Sky Guy, aka our son, uh turned 21 this week.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I was thinking back to when I was first writing the Bake Shop Mysteries.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: He was in early elementary school, and I had such a short amount of time every day because I would drop him off at school and have to be back to pick him up at like two o'clock.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it really actually ended up being such a gift in hindsight because it taught me to write in a very short amount of time, and it didn't leave me any space to um, you know, do other things like laundry or make dinner.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right or all the things that look compelling when you're trying to write your first book.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: I know I know right now the darlings out there who are watching are like, wait, what are listening to?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um 21.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: You guys have them when you were 10?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's like around.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I just I know you're shocked, but no, he is yeah.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: Totally, yeah.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's it's just we bring the youthful energy.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: We do, we do.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're young at heart.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh not quite always.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, but so book 20, Killing the Souffle, just released.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Love the punch.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Love the punch.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Such a title.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and that one goes out to uh my friend Kat Webb, who is uh a very um active member of our community here.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all the applause for that one.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I can't, I was trying to remember what my working title was.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'd have to go back and look, but it was nothing as good as killing me souffle.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Kat came up with that, and I was like, yes, immediate yes.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then I sent it to my editor, and she wrote back, I kid you not, like 30 seconds later and was like, done.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sending it through right now.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's the title.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, ask me that's awesome.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: That it fits perfectly with the rest of the series, too.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's just it's so great.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's got the uh the pun level is off the charts and it mixes in baking.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: So more can you ask for?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot ask for anything else, except I will be singing that song like all week long now for better or for worse.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: So that yeah, apologize advanced to anyone who follows Ellie on social media, but you'll probably be hearing that song a lot in posts.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: What are you gonna do?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's it has to totally, it's gotta complete the pun.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: So perfect.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So uh killing me souffle.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you'll be singing it.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you might be baking a souffle, hopefully, this week if you're reading it.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I thought that what we could do with this episode of Reality Rights is give the darlings a little overview about the book, about the story, about sort of where things are at 20 books in, um, without spoilers, which is, I gotta say, maybe more challenging than writing the books at this point in time.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it feels like if uh I mean, I guess you it'd be hard to give a series overview at this point without pretty major spoilers because 20 books in, a lot has happened in Ashland.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I don't know how you do it.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh, you could give a very generalized overview of the series, I guess, but um yeah.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Books, baking, a little shakespeare, um, and all was a body.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Dun done and done.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right, totally.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, no, for this book, uh, what I can say is for anyone who is new to the series or not caught all the way up to book 20, which I fully understand, uh, is that Juliet, our pastry chef, uh and a few of her team members from Tort, the artisan bake shop that she manages and owns in Ashland, are heading to Brookings in the charming southern Oregon coastal town to um cheer on two team members, Sterling and Steph, who are launching a new endeavor.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And this storyline came about because I had a dear friend in Ashland, Wendy, who unfortunately died a couple years ago.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And when we first moved to Ashland, she was like, You have to go to Waleshead Resort.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: You have to go to Waleshead Resort.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: I have a cabin there.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Come to Waleshead.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: You have to send jewels out to Waleshead at some point in time.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And at this stage, I don't know, I was writing what, like book seven or eight.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like we had just moved to Ashland.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I wasn't that far into the series.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I'm not ready to send her anywhere else yet.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then the first summer that we lived in Ashland, we took a road trip to Brookings and Gold Beach, and we were like, oh, okay, yeah, this is great.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we drove up.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember to Waleshead to like check out the cabins and like get a view up there and everything?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, first let's talk about how you get to the southern Oregon coast from Ashland because it's not an easy venture.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, for for people who aren't familiar with the area, you you can't drive west from Ashland and get to the Pacific Ocean.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um not at all.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: If you if you drive west uh from Ashland, you will drive into the Bureau of Land Management Forest that goes on for hundreds of miles.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just like, yeah.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you actually have to drive up to Grants Pass, uh north north of Ashland, it's about 30 minutes north of Ashland, or down into California, loop around and come back up into Oregon to get to the southern Oregon coast.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then if you go north to Grants Pass, then you can go west and then come down the coast.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um beautiful drives both ways, but it's it is just funny that you have to drive 30 minutes north or 30 minutes south.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no, actually, when you go to Grants Pass, you still then that is when you come back down to California.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: You have to go up to hang to get like you have to go way farther north to come and backtrack down.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: To go, that's right.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: I forgot about that.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: You have to go, well, that's right, it's faster to go up north to Grants Pass and then come down into California and then loop up.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: So you're kind of doing this like S turn around the forest, um uh, which is pretty amazing.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's actually it is a beautiful drive.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's actually also a very dangerous drive.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um historically, it's the road is pretty scary.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's pretty dark.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: So don't do it at night.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh if no first time.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's right.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I forgot.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: See, I blocked it out.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: We love road trips, but I blocked that part out.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, that one is scary.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have the cliffs that are right there, and like rocks are just like these giant boulders barely clinging on with like a shred of dental floss waiting to come down and smash your car.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's very good for uh mystery plotting along the right.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and one of the first times we went, um, it had been a summer of just horrendous smoke in the valley.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ashland is called like the valley of smoke.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we were trying to find clean air anywhere.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember like we got like past this point where the skies cleared, and it was literally like in the rear view mirror, you could see this wall of smoke.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then out in front of you was like the ocean and blue eye.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was uh that that was the year it was unfortunate.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: I can't remember.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: Gosh, there were so many fires.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I've forgotten many of the names, but that fire was in the forest I was just talking about.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: So we weren't even sure we were going to be able to make it, but then you know, like I mean, obviously we wouldn't put ourselves in danger, but we we went down there and then yeah, I got got over to the coast and uh got away from the smoke for a nice little reprieve, which is great.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you take this whole massive trek to get out there, which is like two and a half, three hours from Ashland.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um, then once you're on the coast, it's stunning.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: There are these gorgeous monoliths out in the ocean and just like miles and miles of untouched beaches.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um, again, the forest like juts right up to the beach there as well.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Whaleshead is up on a cliff, and then you can hike down from there to get to the coast.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: But um, we're also talking just tiny little old retro beach towns, like you feel like you're stepping back in time a little bit.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: But because of that, um, very pristine and open beaches, like there you would never see a crowd, um, except for festivals, because they do have like you know, kite flying festivals and stuff out at the beach, and they're they're well attended.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but we were we were amazed the first time we went, and you know, being lifelong Pacific Northwesterners until we moved to California.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: I had never been to the coast and gotten to go on like a miles-long walk and maybe seen like four people.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe never.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone, yeah.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: That didn't happen.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was amazing.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that was all sort of like in the backdrop of my head when I was working on this book.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And um, one of the gifts of writing a long-running series of working on, you know, book 20, is that obviously Juliet is our heroine, she's the main character uh in the series, but all of the secondary cast get to have their own time to shine.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And Steph and Sterling have become beloved, not to me, but I feel like a lot of the darlings also have really like resonated and connected with these two characters, which just makes my heart so happy.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so this book is all about them and their story.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I don't want to say a lot more, um, because I know, yeah.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: Spoilers.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Spoilers.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: But it's gonna be a lot of baking at the beach.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: What I love also about Whaleshead, the resort, where my friend Wendy um so kindly guided us back in the day, is that it is also very rustic.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so do not think like swanky.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Not that it's not nice, but um, you know, this is like you go to the beach and you're getting sand in the cabin.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, there is one restaurant with this beautiful deck that has a stunning, like 360 view, uh, 360-degree view of the ocean.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so Sterling and Steph are on a short-term project to try to revitalize the restaurant for the summer and put their own spin on it.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna be a lot of baking with them, and then of course, jewels and the contingent that come out from tort to help them kick off this new project.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's um it's definitely right.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard to sell it because you don't want it's not it is a resort.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's the beautiful beach and everything, but it's not um uh fancy is not a word that that I would use for that's those towns down in southern Oregon.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um peaceful and charming uh and quaint um all come to mind, yeah.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um so if you're looking for that, I mean I I would highly recommend it if you're if you're ever traveling through the area to see it because the again, the oceans and the beaches down there are just stunning and what a great place to have for a setting.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, it's such a great place for murder.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, come on.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, you know, somebody's gotta die, but uh who know.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: I I remember going on that trip because you were instantly like, oh, and what if I what if this happened here?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: And oh, look at that.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh what if we make this happen over there?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it was just great to see.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I came back with copious notes.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: And um, then of course, as always, I'm often writing during a different time of year.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we went back a few other times just to make sure that I was like capturing the tone.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's always interesting because um I was just having a session with one of my coaching students last week, and we were talking about the things that will pull a reader out of the story.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, the fact that Jules has had 20 plus bodies um show up in some way, shape, or form either around her or on her doorstep, or she's stumbled over them.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Readers really are able to suspend belief about that.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're able to like center in because you know, like you're going into this cozy mystery thinking there's gonna be a body soon, right?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: But if you get the other details wrong, that is what is gonna pull somebody out of the story.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot more work that goes into making sure all of those layers are authentic, even if it is just what does the coastline look like, you know, in July versus January, because it's very different.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Especially for people who know the area because they'll jump all over it.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: Even though it's a work of fiction, you know, it's just like if if you get something wrong in the description, and not intentionally wrong, but just wrong, like that, yeah, I can see where that would pull people out.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I do like the suspension of belief though, and finding 20 bodies over the years.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like Jules would be in like, you know, daily therapy right now for um or she would have been called in for questioning.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're like as people authorities are gonna be like, wait a minute, man.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: Are you the killer?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Or hired by the police department because wow, you solve all these crimes.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Suddenly the FBI is opening a satellite office unit in Ashland, Oregon.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: They'd have the best page of office pastries, I guess.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's true, yeah.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, that's a good segue.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: So because Killing Me Souffle was not my working title, I sent the finished book into my editor.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I I really I do have to look it up because I can't remember what the title was.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then Kat suggested Killing Me Souffle, and I was like, yes, that's it.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: We made the change.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: The my editor had sent back, you know, copy edits and her line edits and everything.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized there was not a single mention of a souffle anywhere in the manuscript.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Nowhere.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and I guess that's uh uh that's interesting.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um readers and writers uh probably want to know.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so when you're writing the bake shop mysteries, uh do you have a title in mind all the time to start out?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then knowing that you theme the food or the baking, the the scenes where Jules is actually baking, not the recipes at the end, but the scenes where she's baking and stuff.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's themed after the title.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: So this obviously presented a challenge.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: It presented a challenge because the book was done, the recipes were done also.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to cut one recipe in favor of a souffle.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if you remember, I spent a frantic weekend baking souffle, which we talk about in a minute.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I usually have a working title that does not always necessarily dictate what the final recipes are.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Usually what I do, and it's funny because I was just talking about this with a different client um last week, I do multiple letter layers of editing.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: So in the first pass, let's say the very first draft that I'm writing, because it's pretty short and very bare bones.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: I might say, uh, Jules bakes a cake, and it's just that.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing else.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then once I'm finished with that draft and I let it sit for a while, I come back to it with fresh eyes.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And in the second pass, I might actually flesh out that scene a little bit more.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like Jules bakes, or let's let's use souffle as an example.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Jules bakes like a decadent chocolate souffle, and I add in a few like sensory details of what the chocolate souffle might smell like while it's baking in the oven or people tiptoeing around or whatever.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the third pass, if it's going to be one of the recipes that makes the final cut for the back of the book, Jules is actually physically baking that.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: So then I'll write a scene where she's like, you know, whisking the eggs and pouring in the vanilla and all the ingredients that she's baking in the book are the same ingredients that you find in the back section of the recipes.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: But that's like the very last pass.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: So all of that had been done with this book or multiple recipes.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to go cut like a giant section where she was baking something else and have her bake a souffle instead.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: And souffles are something you make every day.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: I had never baked a souffle in my life prior to that.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, I love this title.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, I'm gonna have to bake a souffle.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I remember that was a stressful weekend.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because I remember you were like, I I have to bake some souffles.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta try some recipes.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't know if I can do this.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, yeah.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And my sole memory of souffles is just from childhood because my mom was such a baker, as you well know.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: You were um the lucky recipient of many of her bakes.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: But my still carrying around some baggage from many of those bakes.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my core souffle memory is of having to have the house be so silent and we had to like tiptoe.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: We couldn't run because the souffle might fall.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I just I had this, I think I've just been intimidated by them for all these years.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know scary bakes.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, scary bakes.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I don't know, knock on wood.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: They were much easier than I thought, and they turned out delicious and they puffed up.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: We did them in the wonder oven.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, the wonder oven.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: The wonder oven's a wonder.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's right.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: We shot uh a time lapse of them and to see them rise and everything.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: That was that was really cool.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: And they were delicious too.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know they turned out great.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there's so much, they're really it is.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like this is like, um, who's the souffle council?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna get like ad dollars?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because let me tell you, like if you haven't had a souffle in your life, uh, they're great and they're very versatile.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: You could do like a savory thing with a little cheese, you could do like lemon when I did chocolate versions.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that all happens.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, go ahead.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I would just say I'd recommend the chocolate person.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Putting it out there.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then I also needed to do a bunch of research on how to bake them professionally too, because that's another layer that I don't want to get wrong in the book because Jules is such an um artisan chef.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: And over the years, as we've talked about, I have spent a lot of time interviewing professional chefs.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and somehow I never thought to ask about a souffle.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Darn it.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: You do a lot of research.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: In a lot of interviews.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: I've I've always been impressed by that.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you do still hear from readers who they themselves are, you know, accomplished bakers or or chefs, and and they'll be like, oh no, you should never do that.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: And the thing is, like those are just differences of opinion, right?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: Because when you're putting something about baking into a bake shop mystery, like there's there's research behind it.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: So somebody who does this for a living has talked to you about like this is what you do, right?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Usually multiple people.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Usually multiple people, yeah.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: In the souffle case, not multiple people, one person, and then a lot of internet searches and all right YouTube videos.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my favorite thing is though, I also I would say even more than um, you know, there will always be of a few readers who are like, no, don't do it like that.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I always love it when I hear from professional pastry chefs who are like, where did you go to culinary school?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd be like, not go to culinary school.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: I fooled you.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yay.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's a win.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: But that those are those are the good ones for sure.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's also fun to see the reader, uh, reader comments that you know, people that write in or like they follow Jules' instructions, you know, from the book, and it turned out perfectly, and we loved it.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: And that that's really cool too, because maybe you are uh uh educated uh uh you know pastry chef and you just didn't know it.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe, maybe over the years.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, how many years do you have to study, right?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, now we're at 20 books, so I think I could have like um, you know, some sort of uh honorary diploma at this point in time.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there are some tips that I learned in that process.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like you need to make sure that you run a knife around the edge of um the ramekin or whatever dish you're baking it in before you put it in the oven, because that allows um the mixture to actually like puff up.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't, it might like overflow, and then that's where they're more prone to fall.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: So ours puffed beautifully, and um, but all of those layers end up in the book, which is um probably more than some readers want, but that's what you get when you read a bake shop mystery.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so this so normally it's three, sometimes four layers.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: This one had an extra bonus layer because you changed the key baking item in it after it was finished.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: After it was done, done.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like recipes had already been sent, and that's the very last thing I send.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a title, yeah.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're saying, like you can't, it's souffle is in the title.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: If it was something that was more, you know, like I don't know, meet your baker or anything that is more generic, it wouldn't matter.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: But right, right.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a good point.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because you do have like it'd be like caught bread-handed without bread in it, you know.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, some of the there have been some of the titles that you know didn't need to have a specific food, but but it would it would be weird for in it for one collect killing me souffle to not even have the word souffle in the book anywhere.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that would be misleading to people would people would not be happy about that.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Darlings, tell us, I feel like you might murder me if you were like, where's the souffle?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still waiting for the souffle.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, and and that's no exaggeration.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: You that would be instantly on release day.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: That would be you, your inbox would be inundated with messages of people saying, I don't understand.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: Where I didn't my copy didn't have the souffle recipe in it.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh this is an error.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: Ellie, how can I get the souffle recipe?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: And it would just be that would have been a nightmare.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: A nightmare.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Nightmare.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Pure nightmare.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think on the non-nightmare side, I have also been um sort of just like reminiscing about the gifts that have occurred over the last 20 books.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it's been a lot and like reliving a lot of like my favorite bake shop memories starting from the very beginning.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of Meet Your Baker, we um we kicked off that book with a launch party up in the Portland Vancouver area where we were living at the time.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I didn't know if anyone would show up.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but my dear friend Erica worked with me and um we reached out to local bakers and pastry chefs.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's how I made a lot of those connections early on.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: And um, they all brought pastries to give away and cakes.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um, we had it at this local indoor wine shop.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that night was like unbelievable to me because it was standing room only.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Sky Guy, who we were just talking about, is now, you know, like a full-fledged adult.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: He had his little, he made a security badge.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember that?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: He and a couple of his friends were security for the event.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: That was amazing.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know, he was what is that like fourth grade or something at the time?
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Some and I I convinced my dad, I didn't really have to work that hard.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, to I found a costume rental shop in Portland that had like the full Shakespearean garb.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I convinced him to come dressed up as Shakespeare.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so oh yeah.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: He gave you gave it away because I was gonna I was gonna say he had this Shakespeare costume in it hanging in his closet.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: He might have kept it.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's funny.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: No, we were, we were that was um but just blown away.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that was like I think that made it very, very real.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: Just the the number of people that showed up in the excitement.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: And and I think a lot uh I mean all of it had to do with you, but it it's like tie the whole this whole series, food is a character in it.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's just so integral to the I mean, yes, I get that the series is called the Bake Shop Mysteries, but it is like the thing I think that you get the most email DMs, everything about is the food and and just people just like going on and on about the food and loving the food and wanting more recipes, and you know, just and that that part has been really, really cool to see.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think uh yeah, I've been thinking so much about that too, and just in terms of like all of the connections that we've made over the years and um the way that you darlings have touched my life back, or the things that you'll share with me.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, getting invited to your weddings, to baby showers, a reader who got a tattoo of one of the covers.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, it's just yeah, I know.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then everything that has transformed and led to the Ashland Mystery Fest, which is trying to give you a taste of what it's really like to be in Ashland and be in this like cozy, welcoming artistic community.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's um it's pretty amazing.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: It makes me kind of want to tear up.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: Leading, yeah, just the fact that the series, like it's it has been so long running and that it has led to amazing things like the Astral Ashland Mystery Fest are uh that I mean that's just incredible.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I remember last year we it was like the first day or of I registration and everything.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't it wasn't even time for the opening event, and we were standing in our hotel room and and just looked down at the street and saw all the people walking around with their Ashland mystery fest fest badges on, and that was just an incredible feeling to for for me, and I I don't even write the books, so it was just I can't even imagine like it it just uh it felt really good to see like the community that's grown over the course of 20 books in this.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know, yes, and um so many darlings who are listening now have been part of that since like book one, which is also incredible to me.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for coming along with Jules and um her very high body count.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: I know, yeah.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: I do feel bad.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like uh I feel good about the Ashland Mystery Fest because I feel like we're giving back to a small town that you have made seem like the murder capital of the world.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is our penance.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: Population 20,000 20 plus murders in five-ish years.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's um that's incredible.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, odds aren't good on that one.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't want readers to think, darlings, this is not where it ends because there's gonna be more bake shop after Killing Me Souffle.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: I happened to be doing edits for Killing Me Souffle last year when we were in Costa Rica, and I was there.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was tagging along with you because you had a work trip.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was a great opportunity.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I was doing research for book 21, which will come out this August, Laying Down the Latte.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: Laying down the latte.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Laying down the latte.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was really fascinating to be in this, you know, like tropical environment and birds of paradise and this lushness and this symphony of bird song everywhere.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the hotel where we stayed was like everything was just open all the time because it's warm.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was editing at the beginning part of our stay, Killing Me Souffle, and it's on the Oregon coast, and they're all like, even though it's summer, they're bundled up and they're like squeezing and making a bonfire.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so a few times I would have to check myself because I'd be like, oh no, change.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nope, that's wrong.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: That it is supposed to be cold.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're right to read that.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's well, and you've had that happen multiple times with this series too, because the way the publishing schedules work.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: You've I I feel like you've always been working on a book that's cold when it's hot wherever you are, and vice versa, you know.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, like it'll be the middle of winter, and you'll be writing about um was it uh crime of passion fruit?
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh like Jules and crew are on a cruise in a Caribbean, and it's just like, yeah, it's it's 12 degrees outside, and there's a foot of snow on the ground.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm typing this with four blankets on my lap.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Three pairs of socks, Ma, and we're still freezing.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: Crackling fire McCormick, yeah.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I will share the cover again for laying down the latte.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: But um, if you are reading Killing Me Souffle as we speak, or you're gonna read it soon, don't worry.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be more murder, food, and a lot of lattes to come.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: I will tell you that book 21 is gonna be Andy's adventure because he's gonna obviously have to go to Costa Rica to immerse himself in the coffee culture for sure.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's gonna be awesome because the coffee culture there was amazing.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: That was like, oh, yeah.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Can we just flip back right now?
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: So good.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we are going back.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh in a couple in a few months, we will be going back.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, um, and I just I can't wait for the coffee.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um I dreamed about some of that coffee.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so I mean, I think that's that's a as much recap as I can give you in the short term without a thousand spoilers.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but for this podcast more than any, I just want to thank you all, darlings, for um, you know, your love, your support, your notes, your tattoos, your baby shower invitations.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: All of the incredible, crafty things that you have made from the bake shop.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're talking uh big shop bracelets and ornaments and felted book covers and art pieces.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: I all I my office at some point I should just take a picture of all of the reader art, maps of Ashland, um, the dazzled book covers.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: I could go on and on.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_02: That one last year, the mystery fest, that was amazing.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: So cool.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: Very artistic.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's no better gift than feeling like something that I have written has um inspired you to maybe create some kind of art.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's the best.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's awesome.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: So on that note, um, big thanks.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um until next time when we have some new ideas to share with you.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh a little bit of a cliffhanger here.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just uh we'll say that there'll be some new fun stuff coming and you'll have to tune in next time.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_03: Goodbye.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_03: Bye.