Rising cozy mystery author Winnie Archer cooks up her latest installment in her delightful and delicious Bread Shop Mystery series.
When I first created Ivy Culpepper, her mother, Anna, had already
passed. I hadn’t delved too far into Anna’s background at that point, but
during the writing of this book (#8–Bread Over Troubled Water), I wanted to
find a way to bring Ivy’s mom into the wedding festivities between Ivy and
Miguel. That meant I had to figure out who Anna was and what her background
looked like.
Part of what I love about this series is being able to celebrate
bread from many different cultures. Olaya Solis is Mexican, and Yeast of Eden,
her artisan bread shop, uses traditional Mexican long-rise baking methods.
Through her, I get to dive into those traditions.
It is through the mysteries and the other characters in the series
that I have been able to weave in other cultures. In Dough or Die, Olaya begins
a series of classes called Bread for Life. The goal is to lift up and empower
low income and immigrant women in the community and help them develop hirable
skills, as well as self-confidence (this is modeled after a similar program run
by a baker in New York). Olaya teaches them to bake, but more than that, they
share recipes from their families and cultures. They share recipes for
indigenous breads, and they celebrate each other.
When thinking about Anna’s heritage, I wanted, once again, to
celebrate other cultures, which meant I had to go back a few generations to
determine where Anna’s family came from. Randomly, Ukraine came to mind. I
wrote this book long before the current situation there arose with Russia’s
invasion. I couldn’t have timed the celebration of Anna’s heritage via
traditional Ukrainian bread better. I love that this book celebrates a bread
from Ukraine at a time when our thoughts and prayers need to remain with the
Ukrainian people.
I hope you enjoy Bread Over Troubled Water, of course, but I also
hope you see the culture of a people in trouble through the bread celebrated in
this book. Food ties us together, and that is one of the most important
elements in this entire series.
Wishing you all a lovely holiday season.
Melissa
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