There is nothing conventional about Misha Popp‘s flavorful debut. Sparkling with sinister magic, sugary pies, and vigilante homicide, MAGIC, LIES, AND DEADLY PIES is rocking the Pushing Daisies vibe. When an avenging pie-maker’s secrets are threatened, it’s going to take more than magic and vintage swing dresses to circumvent a messy recipe for disaster. With inclusive characters, sharp pacing, and a dark sense of humor, Misha Popp is one of my new favorite authors!
Note: This book does include cursing – including some creative uses of the “F” word – and descriptions of domestic violence that may be unexpected for some traditional cozy readers. It also includes loving queer relationships, respect for preferred pronouns, and the radical idea of equal rights for all humanity – a refreshing and welcome change of pace.
Guest Blogger: Misha Popp
Magical, decadent, and addicting! Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies is a breath of fresh air, and Daisy Ellery is a heroine worth rooting for. Honey Crunch Apple pie is my new favorite thing!” —Melissa Bourbon, national bestselling author of the Magical Dressmaking mysteries
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The first time Daisy Ellery killed a man with a pie, it was an accident. Now, it’s her calling. Daisy bakes sweet vengeance into her pastries, which she and her dog Zoe deliver to the men who’ve done dirty deeds to the town’s women. But if she can’t solve the one crime that’s not of her own baking, she’ll be out of the pie pan and into the oven. Parking her Pies Before Guys mobile bakery van outside the local diner, Daisy is informed by Frank, the crusty diner owner, that someone’s been prowling around the van—and not just to inhale the delectable aroma. Already on thin icing with Frank, she finds a letter on her door, threatening to reveal her unsavory secret sideline of pie a la murder. Blackmail? But who whipped up this half-baked plot to cut a slice out of Daisy’s business? Purple-haired campus do-gooder Melly? Noel, the tender—if flaky—farm boy? Or one of the abusive men who prefer their pie without a deadly scoop of payback? The upcoming statewide pie contest could be Daisy’s big chance to help wronged women everywhere…if she doesn’t meet a sticky end first. Because Daisy knows the blackmailer won’t stop until her business is in crumbles. Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies is available May 10, 2022 online and in bookstores, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Hudson Booksellers, and IndieBound. |
First and foremost, I can’t stop reading the description of this book and laughing maniacally at all the clever puns. Very crusty, indeed!
Your main character Daisy Ellery has a very distinctive style. How would you describe her?
Daisy is murder dressed up in whimsy – she’ sweet and deadly in equal measures. She loves the simple things in life – pretty dresses, pie, and her dog – but also dabbles in the darker things with her vigilante baking business. A NetGalley reviewer called her “the superhero [she] didn’t know [she] needed” and I thought that was the best description ever!
That is a great description for Daisy! A lot of cozies feature a pet, and Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies has Zoe the pit bull. Personally, I think that pit bulls get a bad rap. Why did you chose a pittie as her companion?
I chose a pit bull specifically because they get a bad rap. Zoe inverts expectations the same way Daisy does – while Daisy looks sweet and innocent, she’s really a serial killer, and while Zoe may look vicious, she’s really a cream puff.
Daisy drives around in a vintage trailer that she’s converted into a pie truck. What inspired this mobile home/kitchen setup?
It was important for Daisy to be self-sufficient, both in terms of plot and character development. She’s been on her own since she was a teenager and she needed a place to live, a way to travel, and a means of income, and all of that was easily facilitated with a pie van! By having it be the same RV her grandmother and mother used for their businesses, it also provided a tangible link her family that goes beyond the magic.
Recently, cozies have been pushing the boundaries, and Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies is certainly unconventional. What would you say to readers about cozies?
First, I would say Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies is definitely not a traditional cozy! Because it wasn’t originally written as a cozy, some of the rules cozy readers expect aren’t followed. (Specifically, for those interested: There isn’t a murder to solve, the language isn’t “clean” and it’s unapologetically political. Plus my MC is a serial killer!) But it does have floofy dresses, lots of over-the-top food descriptions, and a very good dog, which will all be very familiar to cozy readers. I like to think of it as cozy-adjacent!
Your main character is an adorable avenging angel with a rolling pin. What do you have in common with Daisy?
You mean aside from having a long list of people I’d like to pie?? Beyond that, we share the same fashion sense (you can’t go wrong with a good 50s dress!) and obviously a love of baking and good dogs.
I’ve tried several of the included pie recipes (minus the murder aspect – promise!) and although my pies are never as pretty as yours, they are certainly delicious. Where did you learn to bake? Do you invent your own recipes in the kitchen or prefect existing recipes?
I’m self-taught. I went through a serious cake phase in the early 2000s (along with everyone else, it seems!) and picked up a good side hustle doing sculpted fondant nonsense. I eventually ended up working at a bakery for a while, which was a lot of fun and now I do some dessert catering and a lot of stress baking! It’s a cliché that cooking is art and baking is science, but to a degree it’s true because for some things to work, you absolutely do need a recipe. Those formulas, ratios and methods are vital to getting an end product that works. But there’s endless room for interpretations once you have your basics down and that’s one of the best things about pie. The possibilities for invention are endless!
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on the sequel to Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies, which combines murder and a Great British Bake Off style competition, then I’ll hopefully be moving onto a standalone thriller that’s been percolating for a few years now!
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Misha Popp enjoys writing about murdery women and over-the-top baked goods, but not so much about herself. She lives in rural Massachusetts where she bakes entirely too many pies and sculpts things out of chocolate. An unrepentant school nerd, she has a collection of degrees that have nothing to do with the jobs that pay her. Misha Popp can be found at:
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