THE BIG DIRT NAP: Discussion with spoilers

[becke_davis]

Post any comments that contain spoilers about the book on this thread.

[becke_davis]

I'm going to start with some random comments.  While I was reading THE BIG DIRT NAP, I kept notes on things that struck me funny, or that I wondered about. 

* I'm curious about the series name: Dirty Business.  Rosemary, did the name for the series come first (and the idea for writing a series, as opposed to individual books), or did you come up with this name while writing PUSHING UP DAISIES?

* On page 14, I loved this:  "I settled on a turkey club, hoping that the tryptopan would counteract the caffeine in the diet sodas I'd guzzled..."  I never thought of it that way!

*Same page, I loved this, too:  "She had so much lawn that her property was like a blank slate, like that chunky brick of loose-leaf paper the first week of school.  Filled with possibilities."

*Loved the back-and-forth between Paula and the snarky detective on page 16:  "It's a joke.  Get it?"

* I enjoyed the plant discussion on page 36.  I'd been thinking that I'd seen a corpse flower at Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati, but I realized it was the century plant I was thinking of.  I'll have to keep my eyes open for news of a corpse flower as I visit other gardens.

* I laughed at the reference to a cell tower that had been camouflaged with pine branches and dubbed Pinus cell-ostrobus (a take-off on Pinus strobus).  Rosemary, did you make that up or is it a reference to a real place?

I think that's enough for today; I'll save the rest for later.  How about the rest of you:  any favorite lines?  Any questions or comments? 

[RosemaryH]

When I was writing Pushing Up Daisies I had no idea that I was writing a series - I was a first-timer and my only goal was to write The End. At the first meeting with my agent she said "it's a series, right?" and I said "Absolutely!" (Tip to new writers, that's probably what you always want to say.)

The editor and publisher had originally wanted to call my books the Paula Holliday Gardening series and I really didn't want that. I don't think of it as a gardening series. Humor, amateur sleuth, even suburban mystery, but I thought gardening was too limiting. Besides, what if she changes jobs again? She's done it once before. I can see Paula getting into another dirty business. I actually thought of Dirty Business on the fly...I was having a conversation at BEA and it just came to me.

[becke_davis]

Earthworms, composting:  oh yeah, I can think of a lot more businesses she could get into!