Ditie Brown first appeared in Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot and one of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Ditie.
What is your full name?
My full name is Mabel Aphrodite Brown. My father called me Aphrodite because he thought I was beautiful. My mother wouldn’t stand for that. She said I was of sturdy farming stock and should be named after my hard-working grandmother Mabel. My close friends call me Ditie (from Aphrodite). People who don’t know me well call me Dr. Brown or sometimes Mabel.
How old are you?
I just turned 36 in March.
What is your profession?
I’m a pediatrician and I work in a refugee clinic in Atlanta, Georgia.
Do you have a significant other?
I have a wonderful significant other and one day we’ll get married.
What is their name and profession?
His name is Mason Garrett and he is an Atlanta police detective.
Do you have any children?
I have two fantastic children. I guess that’s what every parent says. Lucie is nine and Jason is six. They are the children of a childhood friend who was murdered, and soon they will be mine through adoption.
Do you have any siblings?
I have one brother, Tommy. We used to have a very difficult relationship, but we’ve both worked on it. Now, we’re close.
Are your parents nearby?
Both my parents died. My father died of cancer while I was away at school, and my mother died of a stroke shortly after I graduated from medical school.
Who is your best friend?
My best friend is Lurleen du Trois. I don’t even know if that’s her real name. She’s a hard person to describe—she loves all things French, along with me, my kids, and her boyfriend, Danny. She likes to tell stories, and sometimes it’s hard to know which ones are true and which are invented. Sometimes, I think she invents stories because her past is too painful to talk about. No matter what happens I know she always has my back. She knows the same about me.
Do you have any pets?
I have a wonderful dog, half German shepherd and half collie named Hermione. She’s really a Bodhisattva, which to a Buddhist means an enlightened being and to me means a dog that’s mostly human. She’s always around when one of us needs love or comfort. I also have a large orange cat, Majestic, who tolerates only a few humans—fortunately that includes my family and closest friends.
What town do you live in?
I live in Atlanta. It’s a big city full of colorful neighborhoods. Lurleen and I live close to one another in a neighborhood called Virginia-Highland. It’s about ten minutes from downtown and twenty minutes from Buckhead where many wealthy Atlantans live, including my brother.
Type of dwelling and do you own or rent?
I own a brick bungalow built in the 1920s. It’s around 1800 square feet, just the right size for my family of two kids, two pets and lots of friends.
What is your favorite spot in your home?
I’d have to say the kitchen. It’s where I experiment with recipes, bake bread and cookies. I had it renovated to suit me and now it’s mostly white with an island that is marble topped—excellent for kneading bread and serving snacks to the kids.
Favorite meal and dessert?
My favorite meal is whatever is my last experiment. Same for my desserts although I am known for my cookies and always have plenty in the house.
Do you have any hobbies?
Cooking and gardening are my pleasures. My other hobbies are old movies and whatever the kids want to get into.
What is your favorite vacation spot?
I love the beach, any beach, and the ocean. I go to Cape San Blas on the Florida Gulf Coast almost every summer for a week or two. The kids love it as much as I do.
What music do they listen to?
I love any music that makes me feel like dancing.
Do you have a favorite book?
I think To Kill a Mockingbird is just about the best book ever written. I also love children’s books like Charlotte’s Web and Where the Wild Things Are.
What is your idea of a really fun time?
A really fun time to me is making dinner and sharing it with friends and family.
If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
That’s a hard one. I might call it ** Food, Family, Friends and Mayhem ** .
Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m an amateur sleuth and never intended to be a sleuth at all. Lurleen is more the one who loves murders and mysteries. I collaborate with her, of course, when something comes up and with her boyfriend, Danny, a former cop and private detective. My boyfriend, Mason, wants me to stay out of the line of fire, and I try to do that. My first goal is always to keep my children safe. Mason looks after me and sometimes gets dragged into the line of fire himself. We’re all a team and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
My typical day starts with my children and getting them ready for school. I drop them off, and on most days head for the refugee clinic where my days are full of surprises. It’s work I love because of the staff and my boss, Vic, and because of the people I treat. They are always appreciative and always have stories to tell. Lurleen picks the children up from school and looks after them until I get home. Yes, I know how lucky I am to have that kind of help. She loves the kids as much as I do. When I do get home, it’s time with the kids, dinner, and a comfortable evening with the people closest to me—Lucie, Jason, Mason, Lurleen and Danny. It’s a full, rich life, and I wouldn’t change any part of it.
I do get caught up in murders from time to time. When that happens, I get all the help I can. I never do anything foolish—I’m not that sort of person—and I always make sure the children are safe. Mostly, but not always, that means using my head to figure out who a murderer might be. I’m not so big on brawn—that’s more the department of my friends—but when I need to act I do.
Murder Most Southern is the third book in the “Ditie Brown” cozy mystery series, released May 5, 2020.
Mabel Aphrodite Brown unpacks her knives—and her detective skills—when she joins a cooking competition that someone would kill to win . . .
Somehow, Ditie’s best friend, Lurleen, has sweet-talked Ditie into a spot on the next edition of The Great Southern Cooking Contest. It’ll mean leaving her almost-adopted kids for a little while, but they love spending time with their uncle. And she can’t turn down the chance to bake at celebrity chef Savannah Evans’s antebellum estate in Beaufort, South Carolina . . .
Even when Savannah’s husband dies suspiciously at the welcome party, the show doesn’t stop. As technical problems plague filming and the body count rises faster than a soufflé, it becomes clear that everyone is hiding more than just biscuit recipes. It’s up to Ditie to sift through a slew of suspects and motives to cut through a mystery with more layers than her Georgia peach strudel. If she doesn’t come through with a killer soon, she might get chopped—from real life.
Includes Family-Friendly Recipes!
Purchase Link
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About the author
Sarah Osborne is the pen name of a native Californian who lived in Atlanta for many years and now practices psychiatry on Cape Cod. She writes cozy mysteries for the same reason she reads them—to find comfort in a sometimes, difficult world. Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot is the first of three cozies in her Ditie (as in Aphrodite) Brown Mystery series. The second is Into The Frying Pan, and the third is Murder Most Southern, to be released in May 2020. Please visit her website at doctorosborne.com or her Sarah Osborne, Mystery Author Facebook Fan Page.
All comments are welcomed.