Author Leslie Budewitz celebrates 10 years of mystery and suspense

For the past decade, Leslie Budewitz has enjoyed killing off her friends and neighbors.

No need to call the police. Budewitz’s murders are the fictional kind and grace the pages of the mystery novels she has been writing for the past decade.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of her first novel, “Death al Dente,” which won the Agatha Award for best first mystery novel and is set in a fictional version of Bigfork, the village of Jewel Bay (which she readily admits wouldn’t fool anyone who actually lives here).

The five-book series (along with a collection of short stories) follows the adventures of Erin Murphy, who turns her family’s century-old market into a boutique full of local delicacies but soon finds herself looking to solve a series of murders in the small town.

With each of her books containing recipes for the delicious food within, Budewitz’s books are a unique blend of meals, murder and mystery that she describes as “Like Agatha Christie, but with recipes.”

Each light hearted mystery in the five books series sports its own whimsical title, such as “Butter off Dead” or “Crime Rib” and brings readers deeper into the world of Jewel Bay.

A retired lawyer, Budewitz was always fascinated by the idea of writing books herself, but it was not until well into her law career that she decided to give it a try.

After a long career of sticking to the facts, Budewitz now gets to create them.

“I always wanted to write, but I never really thought that you could - even though I worked in a bookstore as a kid in Billings. I never really thought of it as a career path,” she said. “One day, a story just came to me. I had been driving a lot and listening to mysteries on tape, so there was no surprise that when a story finally came out of me that it was a mystery. I have always loved mysteries.”

Ten years, and 16 books later, she seems to have securely found her niche.

The cozy - a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur off stage, the detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community - seems to fit Budewitz and her fictional Bigfork perfectly.

“It was really fun for me to introduce people to a different side of Montana,” she said. “When people think of cozies, they are usually set in small coastal towns, usually back East, but Bigfork truly fits that model as well.”

Budewitz’s love of the cozy genre continues with her latest books, the Spice Shop Series, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

This series follows the adventures of Pepper Reece, spice shop owner turned amateur sleuth.

Once again with delightful titles such as “Assault and Pepper,” Guilty as Cinnamon” and “Killing Thyme,” the series take readers into a world that can be comfortably enjoyed by all readers.

Her latest book, “Between a Wok and a Dead Place,” is the seventh in the Spice Shop series with at least two more yet to come.

Along with her cozy novels, Budewitz has also ventured into the world of suspense writing with her two novels “Blind Faith” and “Bitterroot Lake,” written under the pen name Alicia Beckman.

For those wanting to learn more about Budewitz and mystery writing, she will be joining fellow local mystery writers Mark Leichliter and Debbie Burke at Lake Baked/Riverview Bar for a conversation titled “Murder and Mysteries Under the Big Sky.”

The event starts at 12:30 p.m.

Budewitz’s books are available locally at the Bigfork Art & Cultural Center and soon at Electric Ave. Gifts.