Looking for an intoxicating summer read? Check out this Rockledge author's bartender books

Summertime, and the reading is easy.

At least it should be. It's too hot outside for heavy, literary tomes. Now's the perfect time to dive into into something light and entertaining, like the Bohemia Bartenders series by Rockledge author Lucy Lakestone.

The books are fun and funny, with a shot of mystery, a dash of romance and a swirl of adventure. Toss all that into a cocktail shaker and rattle it around with some ice cubes, and you've got a cool, intoxicating summer reading list.

The whodunits star a group of bartenders who travel to cocktail events and eventually run into trouble, Lucy said.

"Their star is Pepper Revelle, who is quirky and tends to rush into situations that her colleague Neil would never go into unless she goaded him into it. So that makes a great tension for the romantic element."

Full disclosure: I've known Lucy, aka Chris Kridler, since she walked into the FLORIDA TODAY newsroom more than two decades ago. It was the fall of 1999. She was interviewing for a job as tech editor. Y2K was looming, and we needed a tech-savvy writer to cover the impending doom.

We went out for dinner and drinks after her interview and ended up shopping for sunglasses at Ron Jon sometime after midnight. She took the job, and we've been friends since. Chris covered technology, space and general features for 12 years before leaving the paper for another kind of writing.

An avid storm chaser, she wrote a trio of Storm Seeker adventure novels before switching to steamy Bohemia Beach romances as Lucy Lakestone.

"Lucy is a pen name," she said, "but Lucy is also a little more free in her writing, perhaps. The spicy romances are something I didn't feel ready to publish under my real name, at least at first. And Lucy might have more fun. I feel like the mysteries unite the best of me and my alter ego."

While the storm-chasing novels play off Chris' love and respect for all things weather, the bartender mystery books are dedicated to her appreciation for a good cocktail.

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For several years, her husband, George Jenkins, was one of the Straw Hat Barmen, part of a boutique bartending team. In addition to mixing drinks at local parties, the barmen participated in big annual cocktail conventions such as Hukilau in South Florida and Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans.

"I got a glimpse of what it was like behind the scenes for a bartender," Chris said. The Straw Hat Barmen helped with the prep work to make thousands of cocktails in a weekend.

"The kitchen was chaos, but organized chaos, and amazing people were working together to make the magic happen."

That's the kind of magic she creates as the Bohemia bartenders squeeze limes, fashion garnishes and bring murderers to justice.

The Space Coast inspired Bohemia and Bohemia Beach in the books, and while all set in Florida's east coast, it always gets a cameo mention.

While the Bohemia Beach romances are sexy, with a good bit of overt romance (wink, wink), Chris calls the Bohemia Bartenders stories quasi-cozy mysteries, which means there's minimal cursing, and sex and violence don't occur on the page.

Cozy mysteries generally are set in a small, close-knit community with recurring characters.

"In this case, the cocktail community is like a small community," Chris said, "but it moves from place to place."

Pepper, Neal and their friends travel New Orleans, South Florida, London and Kentucky.

"When you go to cocktail events, you see the same people," Chris said of the real life gatherings she's attended. And the same bloggers, mixologists and distillers show up at her fictional events, including Pepper's bearded ex, turned California-based celebrity bartender.

Chris took inspiration from Janet Evanovich's kooky Stephanie Plum bounty hunter books, but her books also borrow from the spirit of spirits.

"Behind every liquor is a good story," she said, "and a lot of times the stories aren't true, but they're very interesting and entertaining."

When it comes to publishing a book, writing is just half the work.

"I do a lot of research for these books," she said.

Some of the plots revolve around lost treasure, antique books and rare rums.

"It's more than just people drinking," she said, "although that's fun, too."

Traveling to the places where her books are set is also part of the fun.

"I feel like I write better and get more inspiration if I visit the places I write about," she said.

So does an upcoming trip to Scotland mean the bartenders are headed there, too?

"Oh, yes, they are!" she said.

But first they'll return to Bohemia.

"Every few books I like to bring them back home," Chris said.

So far, the series includes "Risky Whiskey," "Wrecked by Rum," "Vexed by Vodka," "Jiggered by Gin" and "Beguiled by Bourbon." "Shocked by Champagne" comes out later this year. Eventually, she would like to center books around absinthe, tequila and wine. Maybe the bartenders will even travel to Tornado Alley and meet up with some of the storm chasers from her earlier books.

"I need to write faster," Chris said.

Chris loves spending time with her characters. They've become friends. Especially Pepper.

"Pepper is like me with less impulse control and better clothes," she said.

"She's braver than I am. She's not based on me, but there's a lot of me in Pepper."

Kentucky Vacation Cocktail

Lucy Lakestone includes a cocktail recipe at the end of every Bohemia Bartenders book. Here's the one featured in "Beguiled by Bourbon."

If you want to explore bourbon, tasting it neat or on the rocks is always a great start. There are plenty of classic cocktails that show off its flavor, too. This new one, the Kentucky Vacation, blends the dark sweetness of bourbon with the sweet and sour citrus flavors of orange and lemon. It goes down easy, but it’s fairly potent. Enjoy gently!

For the honey tea — the hot tea enables you to dissolve the honey before including it in the cocktail — you might plan on making a few drinks and go ahead and brew a cup of Earl Grey. I poured three ounces of brewed hot tea into a measuring cup and mixed in a tablespoon of Florida wildflower honey and dissolved it, so I had enough for three cocktails or more. This recipe will more than fill an average cocktail glass.

I used Old Bardstown Estate Bottled Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao for the orange liqueur, though any good ones will work.

Pour the following into a cocktail shaker:

2 ½ ounces bourbon

1 ounce orange liqueur

1 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1 ½ ounces fresh-squeezed orange juice

1 teaspoon of honey dissolved in 1 ounce of Earl Grey tea

1 ounce Cocchi Americano (an Italian quinine-flavored aperitif wine)

Add ice and shake well. Strain into a coupe glass, or you may serve the cocktail over ice in a highball glass or other vessel of your choice. If you want a clearer drink without citrus pulp, use a fine mesh strainer like a tea strainer, but a Hawthorn strainer is fine if you like that fresh-fruit mouthfeel.

Garnish with a full or partial orange slice, dehydrated orange slice, orange or lemon twist, or a citrus garnish of your choice.

Check out the books; try a cocktail

What to learn more about Lucy Lakestone's Bohemia Bartenders books? Throughout June, they will be the featured titles at Lourdes Library, 587 W. Eau Gallie Blvd., Unit 105, Melbourne. Follow the speakeasy's Facebook page to learn the book of the week, which serves as the password for entry.

Suzy Fleming Leonard is a features journalist with more than three decades of experience. Reach her at sleonard@floridatoday.com. Find her on Facebook: @SuzyFlemingLeonard or on Instagram: @SuzyLeonard. 

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Rockledge author writes mystery series about Florida-based mixologists