Florida Spectacular
Take a weekly trip across Florida with authors Cathy Salustri and Rick Kilby and discover a side of Florida you never knew existed. From the scallops in Panhandle bays to the Hemingway cats in Key West, every week's a Florida adventure.
Get more Florida goodness with greatfloridaroadtrip.com and rickkilby.com.
Florida Spectacular
Episode 171: Tara Lush, Haunted Cookie Jars, and Florida Mysteries
Send us your Florida questions!
Just in time for the start of the scary season, Florida cozy author Tara Lush joins the podcast to talk about her three mystery series — all set in Florida. One has a haunted cookie jar, one has a decades-old disappearance, and one has a gator. Well, technically, they're all set in Florida, so there are probably gators in all of them, but one specializes in gators. Check out the links below!
Links We Mentioned
Murdle daily puzzle (and Murdle books)
Catitude and Charms (the novella with a haunted cookie jar)
You can order these books from Tombolo and Books at Park Place — and any indie bookstore can likely order them, too.
Tara Lush website
The Rules for Cozies
- Usually about domestic matters and a comforting setting
- Amateur sleuth, often a woman who may be middle-aged or elderly
- Gore and violence are off-page
- Sex, if it exists, is also off-page
- Great example is "Only Murders in the Building" (although it has swearing and Lush's cozies do not)
Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.
Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.
Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).
NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!
