Gift Basket Business Blog

Guest Blogger: Mystery Lovers Gift Basket

May 29th, 2009 at 07:29am Lorie Obernauer

Visit from Beth Groundwater, Author of the Claire Hanover Gift Basket Designer Mystery Series

         Many thanks to Lorie for inviting me to submit a guest article to her blog as part of my virtual book tour to promote the second book in my series, To Hell in a Handbasket. This book, along with the first, A Real Basket Case, stars a Colorado Springs gift basket designer as an amateur sleuth who solves murders that fall in her lap (literally, in the first book!). Claire has a part-time gift basket business in the basement of her home and puts together different types of baskets in the books.

I’d love to answer any questions you have about what it’s like to write a mystery series based on someone in your profession, and anything else you want to talk about. Every person who comments is automatically entered into a contest for a free set of both books autographed by me. If you have any funny or embarrassing stories to tell me about baskets or deliveries gone wrong, I’d love to read those, too, and may even use them in a future book!

Here’s a favorite gift basket recipe that I hope you’ll enjoy and use for someone who adores all things mysterious.

Recipe for a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket

Color scheme: black, red, and either white or gray

Container: black-painted basket, bucket or box, with a lid or handle sticking up, from which you hang fake spider webbing

Stuffing: dried Spanish moss or red-dyed tissue paper, shreds, or wood shavings

Contents:

- A Real Basket Case and/or To Hell in a Handbasket mystery books (email me at beth07@bethgroundwater.com to find out how to obtain discounted copies)

- CD of eerie music such as Mystery Movie Scores or Mystery Sound Effects

- Pocket-sized mystery party game or travel Clue game

- Movie DVD: Clue, Mousetrap, an Alfred Hitchcock or Sherlock Holmes movie, or a movie collection (Mystery Classics: 50 Movie Pack)

- Chocolate or bubble gum coins or other mystery-related chocolate shapes such as blood drops, knives, or guns (see http://www.chocolatepen.com/pieces.html for a sample vendor)

- And a selection from the following list:

– Magnifying glass

– Pair of play handcuffs and/or sheriff’s badge

– Rubber knife

– Glasses, nose, mustache disguise

– Skull-shaped/logo item(s): tea-light candle holder, squeeze ball, notepad, drinking cup (see the Halloween collection at www.orientaltrading.com)

– Bottle of stage blood from a costume or makeup supply store, or make your own (see chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/fakeblood.htm)

I hope many of you gift basket designers will use this idea for a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket, and don’t worry, you won’t have any competition from me! Unlike my amateur sleuth, Claire Hanover, I do not have a gift basket business of my own. My business is writing mystery novels. My debut, A Real Basket Case, was released in March, 2007 and was nominated for a 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award (named for Agatha Christie). To Hell in a Handbasket, the second in the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, was released May 15th.

I live in Colorado Springs, where I defend my garden from marauding mule deer and wild rabbits and try to avoid getting black-and-blue on Colorado’s black and blue ski slopes. I have loved to read since I was a child and savor those monthly meetings with my Book Club, and not just for the gossip and wine. For more information about me and my books, and to sign up for my email newsletter and enter a contest for free books, go to: http://bethgroundwater.com/. You’ll also find the schedule for my blog book tour there.

So, readers of Lorie’s blog, do you have any more ideas for creative ingredients to add to a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket? Do you have any interesting stories that I can use in future Claire Hanover novels?

Entry Filed under: Promotions, Gourmet Gift Foods, Basket Enhancements, Business Tips