We're Going to Party Like It's 1899!

A date has just been set for an Absinthe Party to celebrate the paperback release of THE SECOND GLASS OF ABSINTHE.


The setting will be the beautiful I LOVE A MYSTERY BOOKSTORE in Mission, Kansas.  If you are a book lover, no visit to Kansas City would be complete without a stop--nay, a pilgrimage--to this wonderful store.  Styled like a Victorian library "with a twist," this shop reminds us all how delightful and special an independent bookstore can be.  Biblio-heaven!


On September 4, 2010, at 11:00am, the local chapter of Sisters in Crime will allow your humble author to hold forth on the mystical history of absinthe and demonstrate the absinthe drinking ritual.  Everyone (over 21, that is) will be given the opportunity to sample the fabled libation.  Now some might suggest that 11a.m. is a tad early in the day to be imbibing this highly alcoholic beverage, but in the immortal words of Jimmy Buffett, "It's five o'clock somewhere," right?


And just what is involved in the Absinthe Ritual?  My character, Kit Randall, describes his version in the opening pages of "SECOND GLASS":

"His thoughts returned to that bizarre absinthe dream. Why did it refuse to leave him? What had really happened here last night? In his only solid memory he had "watched the clouds come out." That was his euphemism for gazing at the slow, tantalizing process by which one prepares to drink the liqueur the French called la fée verte, the Green Fairy.

The light emerald liquid was dripped through sugar cubes that sat perched atop a slotted spoon. Icy water was then added which rendered a spectacular transformation. The clear green absinthe blossomed into a milky opalescence and was ready to sip.

He recalled settling back deep into the sea of sofa cushions in Lucinda's bohemian-inspired second parlor and staring up at the famous Eye Dazzler rug hanging on the wall. He loved to watch the bright zig-zagging pattern come alive. A thousand triangles danced before his eyes in a carefully terraced lockstep, vibrating red black white, red white black, hypnotizing him as it always did."


Absinthe spoons will be given as door prizes, so come indulge in delicious decadence and mysterious camraderie! We're going to party like it's 1899!