Dear friendly readers,

First, I’d like to express my condolences to all those affected by the devastating California wildfires. We are horrified to watch entire cities burn—my heart goes out to each of you.

As I was thinking about the astonishing fact that it’s 2025, I realized that in August—with the publication of THE MANGO MURDERS—I’ll have written and published 25 books—since 2002. No wonder my hands and brains hurt! How should one celebrate a milestone like that? Do let me know if you dream up anything clever that I could consider!

I’ve been thinking about this more because the Friends of the Key West Library are hosting one of my crime fiction favorites, Ann Cleeves, at the end of the month. She’ll be the guest of honor at our annual fundraising gala. But we’ll also be performing a murder mystery set in Shetland that she wrote to celebrate her 30th book, Cold Earth. If you’re lucky enough to be in Key West in early February, do come! It’s free but you need to sign up.

We’re having a blast planning for this! Here’s the motley crew of suspects—I’ll be moderating.

(Not sure I have it in me to write a mini mystery when I am in the thick of working out what’s happening in food critic number 16.) Yes, you heard it here, there will be two more Key West mysteries to come! More on that soon…

I suspect you’ve been inundated with people’s top ten lists lately as I have—movies, books, things to buy, restaurants, you name it. I decided to join the fray with my own top ten—this was a list of the best things I ate in 2024 (not things I cooked!).

The Lucy Burdette’s Kitchen Cookbook is now available in hardcover—it’s gorgeous, if expensive. You can read about that here.

And finally, one of the most fun things we did over the holidays was called a flamingle. That was our chance to spend 45 minutes alone with the Key West flamingos, Scarlet and Rhett. Here’s the story.

That’s it for now. Stay safe, stay warm, I’m thinking of you!

Love,

Lucy

PS Almost forgot, two of the Key West mysteries that have been out of print are now available in trade paperback! You can order them wherever books are sold.

Do you have a reading friend who might enjoy Lucy’s books? You can forward the newsletter below.