Samantha Barnes sits down for a question-and-answer session with dru’s book musings so that we, the readers, can get to know her better. Sam, take it away!

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What is your full name?
My full name is Samantha Benedetta Barnes, but my friends call me Sam. Also, sometimes people who aren’t my friends call me Sam. This can be confusing.

How old are you?
Through most of An Eggnog To Die For I’m 28, though I turn 29 on New Year’s Day. Yes, my birthday is January 1, our national Day of Hangovers. How sad is that?

What is your profession?
Well, my boss/friend Krista says I am the Cape Cod Foodie. I was a chef, but not anymore. (That’s a long and, to my buddies Miles, Helene and Jenny, hilarious story. Not so much to me, the world’s most reluctant YouTube star.) I write restaurant reviews for the Cape Cod Clarion and (again reluctantly) do online videos about food (and sometimes, inadvertently, murder.)

Do you have a significant other? What is his name and profession?
I do, though it’s, um, complicated. Let’s just say I have a thing for Jason Captiva, the world’s sexiest harbormaster.

Do you have any children?
Yikes, no! My friend Jenny’s three boys — whose names I can never remember so I call them Thing One, Thing Two and Thing Three – are more than enough kids in my life at the moment.

Do you have any siblings?
I’m an only child. Which probably explains a lot.

Are your parents nearby?
Nope. They seem to have temporarily lost their minds and now live in Florida doing yoga and eating health food (which, as all Foodies know, is not food at all). I’m hoping they will come to their senses and come home, though.

Who is your best friend?
I can’t say I have just one best friend. The aforementioned Miles and Jenny are old high school buds who know me better than I know myself (myself not being given to introspection). Helene is my librarian neighbor who looks and acts like no librarian you ever met. Then there’s my boss/friend Krista who is a force of nature (like a hurricane). And, of course, there’s Jason, my first, disastrous teenage crush and now. . .?

Do you have any pets?
I do, but it wasn’t my choice. I inherited a ginormous puppy named Diogi (pronounced dee-OH-gee, as in D-O-G, get it?) along with my Aunt Ida’s house, which was all part of her evil plan to get me to stay on the Cape. Which totally worked, because Diogi is adorable.

What town do you live in?
I live in Fair Harbor, the town I grew up in, on the “elbow” of Cape Cod.

Do you live in a small town or a big city?
Fair Harbor is smallish, but not so small that we don’t get our occasional murder.

What type of dwelling and do you own or rent?
A year or so ago, I inherited my Great Aunt Ida’s falling down house, which, with my friend Miles’s help, I am slowly making somewhat habitable.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
I love the “ell,” the small studio apartment that Aunt Ida added on to the old Cape house when it became too much for her. But I have to say my favorite room in the house, once I scrubbed it down and evacuated all the spiders, is Aunt Ida’s old-fashioned kitchen.

Favorite meal and dessert?
You want the Cape Cod Foodie to choose just one??? Okay. A bowl of real Cape Cod clam chowder (find the recipe on amypershingauthor.com), followed by grilled swordfish with salsa verde and a sliced tomato and sweet onion salad, and ending with chocolate mousse (there’s an easy blender chocolate mousse recipe in An Eggnog To Die For that you have to try!).

Do you have any hobbies?
Sailing, eating and kissing Jason Captiva. Not necessarily in that order.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
I live in a vacation spot! Miles of beaches, beautiful bays like bowls of blue dotted with green islands, fantastic seafood. Why would I go anywhere else?

What music do you listen to?
I like classic rock (my mom is a huge Stones fan, so that’s what I grew up with). Also, I’m partial to opera (a legacy from my Italian nonna, Benedetta Montefusco). And I love singing along (badly) to Adele at the top of my lungs while I cook.

Do you have a favorite book?
I’m a huge mystery fan (surprise!), so I would have to say all of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple books. I try to channel Jane Marple when I solve my own real life mysteries.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
See kissing Jason Captiva, above. Also eating. Also sailing. Best case scenario, all three (but not all at once obviously).

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
The Diary of a Very Tall Girl (which, at 6’1”, I definitely am).

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
Definitely an amateur. If I was a professional, I wouldn’t end up in the crazy situations I find myself in. My favorite officer of the law is Jason. He’s really smart. My least favorite officer of the law is Police Chief McCauley, who is, to put it politely, a big dummy.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
There is no typical day in my life. Sometimes I’m reviewing a new restaurant, which is fun (unless you find a dead Santa while you’re at it, which is what happens in An Eggnog To Die For). Sometimes I let Krista talk me into a Cape Cod Foodie video, which I’m actually beginning to enjoy. And every day includes long walks on the beach or sandy backroads with my sidekick Diogi while I try to figure out whodunnit, of course.

What is a typical day when you are on a case?
I spend a lot of time doing things I shouldn’t (according to Police Chief McCauley) like nosing around trying to prove that he’s got the wrong suspect in his sights. That’s kind of fun. On the other hand, sometimes there’s that trying-not-to-get-killed-by-a-crazed-murderer thing. Not so fun. But actually, I’m beginning to think I’m pretty good at this sleuthing business.

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An Eggnog to Die For, A Cape Cod Foodie Mystery #2
Genre: Cozy
Release: November 2021
Purchase Link

Christmas is coming to Cape Cod, but when Sam Barnes finds a very dead Santa in a very hip restaurant, it’s up to her to sift out suspects who have been naughty vs. nice. . .

Professional foodie Samantha Barnes has a simple Christmas list: a quiet holiday at home with her dog and a certain handsome harbor master; no embarrassing viral videos; and no finding dead bodies. Unfortunately she’s got family visiting, she’s spending a lot of time in front of the camera, and she’s just stumbled over the lifeless body of the town’s Santa Claus.

Plus, Sam’s plans for Christmas Eve are getting complicated. There’s the great eggnog debate among her very opinionated guests. There’s the “all edible” Christmas tree to decorate. And there’s her Feast of the Five Fishes prepare. Nonetheless, Sam finds herself once again in the role of sleuth. She needs to find out who slayed this Santa—but can she pull off a perfect feast and nab a killer?

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About the author
Amy Pershing, who spent every summer of her childhood on Cape Cod, was an editor, a restaurant reviewer and a journalist before leading employee communications at a global bank. A few years ago she waved goodbye to Wall Street to write full time. An Eggnog to Die For is the second of the Cape Cod Foodie mysteries featuring Samantha Barnes, a disgraced but resilient ex-chef who retreats home to Cape Cod where she finds herself juggling a new job as the local paper’s “Cape Cod Foodie,” a complicated love life, a posse of just-slightly-odd friends, a falling-down house, a ginormous puppy and a propensity for falling over dead bodies. Kirkus Reviews gave An Eggnog to Die For a starred review, saying, “A delightful sleuth, a complex mystery, and lovingly described cuisine: a winner for both foodies and mystery mavens.” A Side of Murder, the first of the Cape Cod Foodie mysteries, which Elizabeth Gilbert called “the freshest, funniest mystery I have ever read,” was the first book in the series. The third, Murder Is No Picnic, will be published in June 2022.

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All comments are welcomed.