Guest Post

Guest Chick: Tara Lush

Jen here. A very warm welcome to Tara Lush; I was lucky enough to spend time with her at the inaugural Ashland Mystery Fest last year. I so relate to her gardening (un)skill. Take it away, Tara!

A Bean to Die For

Tara Lush

The inspiration for my book came from my backyard.

No, I’m not some amazing, award-winning gardener. I’ve actually killed succulents, cacti, and a plant that the lady at the nursery told me was “so simple” to take care of.

To say that I have a black thumb isn’t understatement. Things are fast moving around my house, and plants have to keep up (so far, none have).

However, when we moved into our home many years ago, someone gave us a tiny slip of something green. It looked a little scraggly. Still, I diligently planted it in the dirt near the garage door, hoping it would turn into something. I was told that it was a native Florida plant and would thrive in the sandy soil of my yard.

A couple of years passed, and of course I’d neglected the plant. Except, it was hard to overlook the thing, because it was enormous. It had survived hurricanes, wind events, and my inept gardening skills.

Fortunately for the plant, it’s Florida, where things grow unchecked. Flora and fauna always are on the verge of reclaiming their rightful place in the ecosystem here.

My little slip of a plant was no different. It quickly blossomed into a ten-foot-high verdant shrub with vibrant green leaves, delicate white flowers, and waxy-looking red berries. I posted a picture online and asked people what it was.

As it turned out, it was a coffee plant! As an author, I was obviously excited to hear this. I imagined brewing my own artisan coffee, like a homesteader.

However, it’s not the kind of coffee that we drink. The plant produces fruit that look just like coffee. This wild coffee plant — Psychotria nervosa, a name fit for a mystery novel — is in the same family as the coffee we all know and love. But it’s not the same species, and the berries don’t produce caffeine. They’re also terribly bitter.

But it’s gorgeous, and it’s gotten so big that it now threatens the entrance to our garage. Every so often, my husband will prune it, but it always returns to its enormous self. There are few pests or diseases that will kill it, making the plant the best ever for people like me.

I started reading about this plant, and wondered if actual coffee could grow in Florida. Turns out, some researchers are trying the plants as crops in parts of the state.

That got me to thinking… what if my café-owner-amateur sleuth tried to grow coffee in the community garden — and found a body?

A BEAN TO DIE FOR was born.

GIVEAWAY: I’d like to giveaway a signed hardcover copy of A BEAN TO DIE FOR! U.S. only. To be eligible, comment with your favorite hot beverage!

ABOUT THE BOOK: Lana Lewis is brewing up new concoctions at Perkatory, a popular café in Devil’s Beach, when she decides she wants to try her hand at growing her own coffee. She secures a gardening plot in the community garden, thanks to her father and the garden’s owner, Darla. Darla’s list of rules is long, but that doesn’t stop someone from leaving Jack Daggett’s body amongst the gardening plots.

Jack, an environmental activist, had been banned from the garden previously, because of his many fights with Darla about organic produce. Lana promises her boyfriend, police chief Noah, that she’s going to stay out of this case, having been too involved in previous cases. But when she learns that Jack died from an accidental overdose, and Darla is the top suspect because of her shady past, Lana can’t help but poke around in an attempt to clear Darla’s name.

As Lana dives deeper into the case, she learns that Jack had more enemies than she realized. When Darla turns up dead, Lana has to turn up the heat on her investigation. With Lana on the case, it won’t be long before someone spills the beans to crack this case wide open. But will she able to find the killer before they strike again?

BIO: Tara Lush is a Florida-based novelist and journalist. She’s an RWA Rita finalist, an Amtrak writing fellow and the winner of the George C. Polk award for environmental journalism. She was a reporter with The Associated Press, covering crime, alligators, natural disasters, and politics. She also writes contemporary romance set in tropical locations. Tara is a fan of vintage pulp fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, 1980s fashion, tropical chill, kombucha, gin, tonic, seashells, true crime podcasts, Art Deco, telenovelas, street art, coconut anything, strong coffee, and newspapers. She lives on the Gulf coast with her husband and dog.

LINKS:

Book link: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/729844/a-bean-to-die-for-by-tara-lush/

Author website: https://taralush.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/The.Book.Lush

43 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Tara Lush”

  2. I love the inspiration, Tara! Life offers an unlimited supply of ideas, and as writers, all we have to do is plant the seeds. With those idea seeds, we till, plant, nurture, harvest, and have fun, too!

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  3. Hot tea, no sugar, or hot chocolate.

    I empathize with your gardening woes. I’ve managed to keep a succulent alive for a couple of years, but I think it’s dying. And the massive rhododendron bush in front of my house, which I never do anything to except water, is also dying off from something mysterious. I don’t bother trying anything else.

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  4. I LOVE coffee! I used to drink 7 cups a day, but now that I am older and wiser, It is 2 in the morning and decaf at dinner. I will however enjoy a cinnamon tea, and spiced herbal tea. Someday I MIGHT try some Lady Grey. I bought it, but then will always be pulled back to my first love, COFFEE!
    Carol

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  5. I absolutely love that story, Tara! I’ve managed to keep my mint plants alive for three years running. Water and sun, I can handle low maintenance like that. Cheers!

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  7. I thought for sure you were going to say the not-coffee beans were poisonous, lol! (But that would be another story altogether.)

    Thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today, Tara, and congrats on the book! And yes, my favorite hot beverage is most definitely COFFEE!

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  9. I’m so with you. I’m in the process of killing a cactus right now. And the squirrels aren’t making it easy for me to keep plants growing on my balcony. (Seriously, what is it going to take to convince them to stop digging in my flower pots?

    My favorite hot beverage? Hot chocolate. I never grew to like coffee, but I come by it honestly. The only person in my family who drinks coffee is my sister-in-law. (Yes, please enter me in this giveaway.)

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  10. Tara, I love this story and your plant! AND how it inspired your book. (Your covers are gorgeous, BTW.) Don’t enter me in the giveaway but my hot beverage is always tea. I can’t stand coffee in any form – well, one: as a plant!

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  12. Congrats, Tara, on A BEAN TO DIE FOR! It’s nice to meet you in person (well, sort of in-person) here on Chicks–we are publisher sibs. The book sounds wonderful, and I got an extra kick out of your fun post because my husband calls me Round-Up (yup, the weed-killer). Proud to say, however, that I have kept a few things alive: the little succulent favors (they reside in wine corks) from my daughter’s wedding 5 yrs ago, shamrocks on our kitchen windowsill (I add to them each March), and some very straggly spider plants (can’t bear to throw out (or re-pot) the babies). Oh yes, and 3 Norfolk pines that are now almost taller than our annual Christmas tree (in the same room). My son threw some fairy lights on them so they are year-round festive. I’ll bow out of the giveaway since I’m a Chick, but thank you for offering to our readers.

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  19. I might commit a closed room mystery murder if I could not drink my daily coffee. 🙂 So the motive jives!

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