Leslie Karst

Sally’s Back!

For those of you wondering what the heck has been going on with Sally Solari, her father Mario, her ex-boyfriend/best pal Eric, and all the others in my culinary mystery series (the last of which—Murder from Scratch—came out over two years ago), I have some exciting news:

Sally is back!

Yes, I’ve just signed a two-book deal with Severn House Publishers to continue the Sally Solari series, the first of which is to be released this coming summer, on August 2nd. And how cool is this: it will come out simultaneously in both the US and the UK! My first international release!

As some of you may know, each of the previous four Sally Solari books have involved one of the five senses (taste, hearing, sight, touch—in that order).

Well, the fifth book, tentatively called The Fragrance of Death, concerns—you got it—smell. Or rather, the lack thereof, as on page one, poor Sally wakes up having lost her sense of smell. (No, it’s not Covid-related; the books all take place several years before the pandemic, thank goodness.)

The story also concerns an artichoke farm,

horses,

a winery,

and lots and lots of food (with recipes, of course!).

In other words, some of my very favorite things.

I now also have a deadline for finishing up book six in the series, though, something I haven’t experienced in a good while. <teeth start chattering in fear>

Yikes! Better go write…

But before I do that, I want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement, and for your continued belief in Sally and in my series.

Buon appetito!

39 thoughts on “Sally’s Back!”

  3. LESLIE: Yay, congratulations! Severn House is a great publisher and I am so happy to hear that the Sally Solari mysteries will be published by them in the UK and the US.

    BTW, I do love artichokes but it is hard to get fresh ones here in Ontario at a reasonable price. I remember stopping in Castroville (“artichoke capital of the world”) on my way back from LCC 2014 in Monterey. My friends bought a huge bagful to take home.

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    1. They used to sell baby artichokes for 10 cents each in Castroville back in the day–the best! I have a plant in my back yard, so twice a year I get a mini-harvest of my own!

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      1. Once again you are making me super-jealous. Your own artichoke plant?!
        Not sure how much my friends paid for that large bag of (regular sized) artichokes but I figure I could only buy 1 or 2 here for the same price!

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  10. Dear Leslie,

    That’s wonderful news and best of luck as you bring Sally’s latest adventures into the light. Can’t wait to learn what happens next!

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  12. Awww that’s great news, huge congrats on the new publisher! I did see your post on FB as well. I didn’t think Sally’s stories were quite finished, and I’m so happy you now have the chance to do that. And readers can once again yummily imagine all that awesome food! (or make it, but I’d rather have someone else do that lol).

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  14. Major congrats, Leslie! Like Tom, I was wondering about the “sixth sense.” Look forward to the finding out!

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  18. This is HAPPY DANCE-worthy! Huge congratulations, Leslie!!

    So excited for you (and for us too, because we will get to read the books, woohoo). YAYYYYYYYYYYY! <3

    ps: those are the cutest artichokes I've ever seen.

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  21. I’m so glad Sally is going to be back. I don’t even pretend to be a cook or chef, but I love this series any way.

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