Figs!

In our garden, tomatoes, peppers, and okra come into their own this time of year, but they are outshone by the figs that are ripening by the gallon on our three bushes.  The birds and the june bugs are drunk on their soft sweetness and so are we.

In my last book, Death’s Half Acre, my protagonist, Judge Deborah Knott, was apprehensive when her new husband, Sheriff’s Deputy Dwight Bryant, planted a garden that kept getting bigger.  “I don’t can and I don’t freeze,” she warned him.  That book ended before the garden began to bear and she’s off to a judges’ conference at the beach in Sand Sharks, so I don’t really know if she’s going to carry out her threat.

Somehow I doubt it.

Like me, Deborah grew up on a working farm and did her share of peeling tomatoes, shelling beans, and picking fruit, so I find it hard to believe she wouldn’t want to put a few packages of homegrown vegetables in the freezer or stir up at least one batch of jam.

Even though I’m coming down to the wire with my 2010 book, I had to take some time off this past week and dig out my aunt’s recipe for fig preserves.  Once upon a time, I used to make jams and jellies from every fruit on the farm, but several years ago I noticed that the jars that disappeared quickest from the pantry shelves were the fig preserves.  I cut back on the strawberry, blackberry, apple, and blueberry jams until now this is the only fruit I put up.  I even make enough to send some home with houseguests who rave about it after eating it for the first time on breakfast biscuits or toast.  It’s a super-easy recipe, so if you have access to figs, try this:

AUNTIE’S FIG PRESERVES

• In a large pot, layer 8 lbs of figs and 5 lbs of sugar and 1 diced whole lemon (minus the seeds and white internal membranes.)  Refrigerate overnight.

• Add 1 – 2 tablespoons pickling spice.

• Boil till thick and translucent, then seal in clean hot jars.

• Makes about 10 pints.

If your jars, rings and lids are all good and hot (I keep mine in a roasting pan in the oven at 225° until ready to fill), the jars will seal without a pressure canner or water bath.

I’ve almost finished writing Christmas Mourning, and I haven’t yet taken a peek inside Deborah and Dwight’s pantry, but I’m willing to bet that there’s at least one batch of fig preserves on the shelf.

Win a Bunch of Books!

I'm posting a few days early in case you didn't see this sweepstakes offer from my publisher.

GRAND PRIZE

Death’s Half Acre, the new Deborah Knott Mystery by Margaret Maron and the Deborah Knott Mystery Series Backlist Titles in paperback.

GRAND PRIZE: Twenty lucky readers will receive a copy of Death’s Half Acre in hardcover, the new Deborah Knott Mystery, and the Deborah Knott Mystery Series Backlist Titles in paperback by Margaret Maron, winner of the most prestigious awards in mystery fiction.

Titles in the paperback backlist assortment are: Winter’s Child, Last Lessons of Summer, Uncommon Clay, Slow Dollar, High Country Fall, Rituals of the Season, and Bootlegger’s Daughter.

Winners will be randomly drawn. You may enter by sending an e-mail to mystery@hbgusa.com that includes your name, phone number and email address or you may enter by printing your name, address, phone number and email address (if you have one) on a 3”x5” card and mail it to: DEATH’S HALF ACRE Sweepstakes c/o Grand Central Publishing, 237 Park Avenue, Room 16-158D, New York, NY 10017. Only one entry per person. See Rules for complete details.

Entry deadline is September 30, 2008.  You must be 18 or older to enter. Please see Rules for complete details.

Contest Name and mailing address 

DEATH’S HALF ACRE Sweepstakes 
C/o Grand Central Publishing
237 Park Avenue
Room, 16-158D
New York, NY 10017

Way to enter 
Via email to mystery@hbgusa.com
Via Mail-in:
DEATH’S HALF ACRE Sweepstakes 
C/o Grand Central Publishing
237 Park Avenue
Room, 16-158D
New York, NY 10017

(Click here to read a sample chapter of Death's Half Acre.)

This and That

First of all, my thanks to all who have written to say they like the redesign of my website.  I’m particularly happy that I’m now able to blog on this opening page without having to bother either of my web gurus, so if you’d like to ask a question or want to suggest a topic you’d like me to write about — an aspect of the writing life, or life in general — please drop a line.

Second, it was truly gratifying to be told how pleased some of you were to get that update on Sigrid Harald’s life (“Murder at Montefugoni” in the September/October 2008 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.)  My agent and I are exploring the possibility of putting some of the earlier titles back into print.  There are so many options these days:  from print-on-demand to letting a bookstore do it.

In the meantime, I’ve just been told that  Death’s Half Acre, the 14th Deborah Knott novel, is ready to ship and that I should be getting my author’s copies any day now.  Even though this is my 24th novel, it’s still exciting to open the box and hold my newest baby.  It’s not quite the thrill of that very first book, but it never gets old. 

Summer is my best writing time and I’m well into next year’s book.  I know some of my friends prefer the coziness of snuggling in to write in winter, but winters here in eastern North Carolina are too nice to stay inside.  It’s when the temperature soars to 100+ during July and August that I’m happy to take a jug of cold water and head off to my gazebo, away from the distractions of telephones, eMail, and the Internet.  There's a ceiling fan if the wind's not blowing and an outlet where I can plug in my laptop.  True, I may get too involved in a hawk’s hunt for field mice in the lower fields or watching to see if the lizard on the screen door is going to catch that black beetle, but on the whole it’s a good place to get a lot of work done.

Speaking of which, if I’m going to make the rest of  today’s thousand-word stint, I’d better unplug from the Internet and get to it!