Are You a Closet Southern Belle? by Duffy Brown

Duffy Brown loves anything with a mystery. While others girls dreamed of dating Brad Pitt, Duffy longed to take Sherlock Holmes to the prom. She has two cats, Spooky and Dr. Watson, and conjures up who-done-it stories of her very own for Berkley Prime Crime. Iced Chiffon, out October, 2012, is the first in the Consignment Shop Mystery series. Duffy writes romance as Dianne Castell and is a USA Today bestselling author.

 

 

 

 

 

Why, hi there!

 

One of the reasons I wrote Iced Chiffon was that I wanted to set a book in the South, the real South as it really is. It has a flavor all its own from the way folks talk...How’s your mamma and daddy?...to the food, anything that has a stick of butter and cup of cream has got to be delicious...to life moving a bit slower, a smidge more meaningful! 

 

So my question today is... Are you a closet Southern Belle? Now you ask, Okay what the dickens makes a Southern Belle? Well, I just happen to have a little list...

 

* Do you never wear white after Labor Day or before Easter

 

* Do you own a strand of real pearls and wear them with pride

 

* Always drink sweet tea and love it when they have it on the menu

 

* A part of you truly believes in damn Yankees

 

* Civil War? What Civil War? Now that unfortunate Northern Occupation...that you know about

 

* Have Lee as part of your name or your children’s

 

* Fav movies are GWTW and Steel Magnolias and Fried Green Tomatoes, Something to Talk About

 

* Actually read GWTW and reread parts from time to time. Wish you had the name Scarlett

 

* Have a tiara hidden in your panty drawer and know how to twirl a baton

 

* Have an umbrella that looks a bit like a parasol

 

* Make sure your children know manners and use them

 

* Love Red-eye gravy, grits, country ham and make your own biscuits

 

* Know that prime real estate is The Mall, The Country Club and The Beauty Salon

 

* Buy more then one can of hair spray at a time

 

* Have actually said Y’all come back, Bless your heart, Drop by when you can, How’s your mamma?

 

* Love white gloves and wear hats

 

* Have a subscription of Southern Living or rippeda recipe from that magazine at the doctor’s office

 

* Have a pineapple decoration somewhere in your House

 

* Think the scent of magnolia is heaven on earth

 

And what about the food? Do you own a Paula Deen Cookbook? Catch her on TV whenever you can? I know how to make cream gravy from scratch and would rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick than put cool whip on my pecan pie! Is there anything better than Southern cooking? Well maybe Italian but that’s another blog.

 

So, how do you measure up? Is a part of you a Southern Belle? Do you know someone who is? I really tried to keep these characteristics in mind when writing my Consignment Shop mystery series. A gal in NY City is way different than a gal in Savannah and I sure wanted it to feel that way.

 

I am definitely a closet Southern Belle! I do make fried chicken and bathtub gravy. That’s what my kids call my cream gravy because they could eat a bathtub full of it. I do make my own pies, have white gloves, crab at my kids if they don’t mind their manners, buy extra-hold hair spray, subscribe to Southern Living, have a fancy umbrella that I’ve been known to twirl from time to time and I do know how to twirl a baton for real. I even took lessons and still have the baton!

 

On the Southern Belle scale I’m about a 7. Well, maybe an 8. What about you? What is your Southern Belle Score? Are you a closet Southern Belle like me who sometime feels as if they got born on the wrong side of the Ohio River? Or are you a Yankee through and through and proud of it?

 

I’ll give away three Iced Chiffon totes and a signed copy of Iced Chiffon from the replies.

 

Ya’ll have a good day now, ya’ hear.