Friday, September 9, 2016

Jeffrey Siger and The Bloody Caesar



Barry award nominated author, Jeffrey Siger, is just in from Greece to tell us about his latest book - Santorini Caesars - and match it with the perfect drink. 

Jeffrey will be at Bouchercon, New Orleans September 15-18th. He will be moderating the "Wherever I May Roam" panel, Thursday at 12:00pm on the importance of setting with Allison Leotta, Sharon Hopkins, Christine Carbo, Sasscer Hill, Rob Brune. He's also on a Saturday Panel starting at 3:00 PM, titled, “Shake it Off—from notes and first draft to finished novel.”  It’s moderated by Dan Hall, and other panelists are Elaine Viets, Laura McHugh, LS Hawker, and Jeffrey Wilson/Alex Wilson.

In addition, as Bouchercon's National Board Chair he’ll be welcoming all to the convention and presenting the David Thompson Award to Otto Penzler.


If you ever visited the magical Greek Aegean island of Santorini, and were fortunate enough to taste its famed tiny cherry tomatoes, you already know that any drink symbolic of that lost island of Atlantis must involve tomatoes. And, of course, homage must be paid to the sea, for standing atop the volcanic rim’s 900-foot red-black-brown cliffs, looking out across the seemingly bottomless quarter-mile depths of the crater’s sapphire blue lagoon, you can’t help but be transfixed by this seaside wonder of the natural world.  

And that is precisely where I place my eighth Greece-based Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis mystery-thriller, SANTORINI CAESARS.  Here’s a brief description of the story line:

When a young demonstrator is publicly assassinated in the heart of protest-charged Athens, the motive is murky and the array of suspects immense.

Kaldis’ investigation leads him and his team to beautiful Santorini, and a hush-hush gathering of the Caesars, a cadre of Greece’s top military leaders seeking to form their own response to the crises facing their country. 

Is it a coup d’état or something else?  The answer is by no means clear, but the case resonates with political dimensions, and as international intrigues evolve, the threat of another—far more dramatic—assassination looms ever more real. 



So, what drink matches up best with SANTORINI CAESARS?  A Bloody Caesar, of course!  It brings the tomato of the land and the clam of the sea together with all the other spicy ingredients necessary for an intoxicating (or not) experience.  This recipe comes direct from the celebrated mixologists at the Montparnasse Piano Bar on my home island of Mykonos, Santorini’s Cycladic neighbor to the north: 

THE BLOODY CAESAR

Start with a tall glass filled with ice.
Add 2 ounces of vodka (or not, if you prefer the virgin option). 
Fill the glass with Clamato juice.
Season to taste with Tabasco and Worcester.
Garnish with a big stalk of celery and a couple of colossal stuffed olives, and—if you have the right connections—a tiny Santorini cherry tomato.


Yamas!


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