Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for French Toast a la Santa Fe by Suzanne Stauffer. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
French Toast a la Santa Fe by Suzanne Stauffer
French Toast a la Santa Fe
Historical Culinary Cozy Mystery
2nd in the Series
Setting – New Mexico
Publisher : Artemesia Publishing, LLC
Publication date : October 13, 2026
Print length : 230 pages
Paperback
In 1929 New Mexico, Prudence Bates joins ten other Detourists, their Courier, and driver, on the three-day Fred Harvey Indian Detour from Las Vegas through Santa Fe and to Albuquerque.
During the trip small, valuable items belonging to the Detourists begin disappearing, and a retired Australian school teacher falls into a kiva. Or was she pushed? Prudence begins to suspect that someone is trying to kill her fellow traveler and wonders where the flapper from Kansas City disappears to at every stop. Or is La Llorona haunting the Detour? And what secrets are the two German men hiding? Prudence is determined to solve the mysteries and uncover the truth.
Interview with Suzanne Stauffer
Thanks for taking the time to share a bit about yourself with my readers and me!
Tell us a little about yourself. My father was in the military until I was a teen, so I lived all over the country. My first job was as a page in our local public library, and I eventually earned my masters in library science. I worked in the New York City area as a public librarian and an academic librarian, then went back to school at UCLA to earn my doctorate in library and information science. I was faculty at Louisiana State University for 18 years and now I’m retired and living in Albuquerque with my husband and rat terrier.
How long have you been writing? It depends on what you mean. I was on the literary magazine in high school, took creative writing as an undergraduate, belonged to a writers’ group in New York, and wrote reams of fan fiction while I was a doctoral student. I started my first novel during COVID, so if we only count that, about 7 years. At the same time, I was writing academic articles more than 20 years, beginning when I was a doctoral student. So … a long time.
Did you always want to be an author? What made you choose the cozy mystery genre? I always planned to write novels during my retirement and, as you saw above, was always writing something. My books are cross genre – historical, cozy, and culinary. Historical because I love history – my research is on the history of the American public library. Cozy because I want everyone to feel comfortable reading my books. Also, the books are set in 1929, and while people certainly swore and had sex (it would be silly to try to pretend otherwise), it wasn’t as socially acceptable to talk about it in public then. There actually is sex in my books, but it’s very much hinted at or “closed door.” Culinary because the Fred Harvey Company was renowned for the food served in its restaurants and on the trains.
Do you prefer to read cozy mystery books, or do you have another favorite genre? What are you reading now? I read cozies, Golden Age mysteries, hardboiled mysteries, traditional mysteries, even police procedurals – as long as there isn’t a lot of graphic violence and gore. Right now, I’m reading a couple of ARCs for authors who read for me.
Do you have a favorite place to write? On my laptop on my desk in my home office.
What’s on your desk (if you write at one!)? A set of in-and-out baskets, a letter holder, a pen holder, a lamp, a small clock, the laptop, a “to-do” list, and a stack of papers with info for my work in progress.
What is the first book you remember reading as a child? What was one of your favorite books you read as a child? My mother read to me from the time I was about six months old, so I don’t really remember my first book. It was probably a Little Golden Book. One of my favorites was “The Little Red Hen.”
Do you like audiobooks, physical books, or e-books better? Why? Physical books and e-books. My attention wanders far too much for audiobooks; I’ve tried them, and am constantly having to rewind. I read a lot of e-books these days simply because I can download them immediately from the library, and carry hundreds with me on my phone/tablet. I have stacks of physical books, as well.
If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose? I’m doing that now. We choose to retire to Albuquerque in part because my books are set in northern New Mexico. I’d love to live in Europe for a year. I’d buy a rail pass and spend the time traveling, but I don’t know about writing a book at the same time.
What or who has influenced you the most as a writer? I really cannot pick just one person or thing. Authors who have influenced me include Elizabeth Peters, Tony Hillerman, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, maybe even Zane Grey. A “what” would be the American Southwest. We spent our vacations touring the National Parks in this area and it’s where I feel most at home.
Do you have any author friends who support you while you’re writing? Do you belong to any writing groups? Definitely! I belong to SouthWest Writers, Women Writing the West, Sisters in Crime and Croak & Dagger, the New Mexico chapter, also the Historical Novel Society. I belong to three writing groups.
Finally, what are you working on now? Can you tell us a bit about it? I just started the fourth novel in the series. Prudence has graduated from the Courier training program and is about to lead her first solo Detour, a two-day round trip to Taos, with stops along the way. I’m also working on two short stories. One is for an anthology, “Crime without Corpses, and the other for the Marjorie Allingham competition.
Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions!
About Suzanne Stauffer
After 20 years as a librarian and 20 as a professor of library science and library historian, Suzanne Stauffer has moved on to a third career as a mystery novelist. She currently lives in Albuquerque with her Australian husband and brown and white spotted rat terrier dogter, Treme. Her debut novel, Fried Chicken Castañeda (Artemesia Publishing, May 2025), won the CIPA EVVY Bronze Medal in Mystery/Crime/Detection and the New Mexico Book Award for Cozy Mystery.
Author Links
Blog https://couriersseries1926.blogspot.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/couriers1926/
Substack Newsletter Amuse-Bouche https://smstauffer.substack.com/
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French Toast a la Santa Fe TOUR PARTICIPANTS
October 12 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT
October 12 – Reading Is My SuperPower – SPOTLIGHT
October 13 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 14 – Sarandipity’s – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 14 – Salty Inspirations – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 15 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 16 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
October 16 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
October 17 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 18 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 18 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
October 19 – Sarcastically Yours, Jen – SPOTLIGHT
October 20 – Book HookUp – REVIEW
October 20 – Baroness Book Trove – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
October 21 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW
October 22 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
October 23 – Romance Novel Giveaways – AUTHOR GUEST POST
October 24 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT
October 25 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
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