B.L. Kappler

Love of Cruising and the desire to explore ship-board culinary treats has led me to write a series of cozy adventures set on the Cruise Ship Serenity. Two of my favorite things are cruising and getting lost in a cozy mystery. I love to travel and explore new exotic cultures and, most importantly, their cuisines. What could be a better combination?

I grew up in a small farming town in the Sacramento Valley of California.. Abundant fresh ingredients were available there and led to many happy hours of cooking and preserving with my mom. The valley provided a rich bounty of fruits and grains. Many do not know that California provides the world with a supply of rice, peaches, prunes, and other fruits. It was one of the first areas of the United States to produce one of my favorite fruits, the Kiwi. My love of foodwas only surpassed by the love of horses and farm life. Barrel racing in rodeos became an obsession that only gave way to my wanderlust to see the world.

After attending college at Cal Poly, I went on to fly the skies of TWA. What a fulfilling life-long dream to visit the world to explore the food and cultures I had only previously read about in books. I loved flying so much that I became a pilot and taught eager students to fly. But the desire to travel was in my blood. Then the unexpected happened. On a long flight from Athens to New York, the captain talked me into a blind date with his son. You may have guessed, love at first sight. We were married six months later and have been together for over thirty years, much of the time living in the Napa Valley of California. My love of cooking and exploring the grape resulted in opening a catering company that specialized in wine and food pairings.

We adopted a handsome, intelligent son who has given us three grandchildren and now one great-granddaughter. I miss them a lot as they all still live in California and hold out hope that someday they will come to Arizona and fall in love with the desert the way we have. Until then, we visit as much as possible.

Years working as a psychologist kept my husband, Kevin, very busy, and I settled into a career as a Real Estate agent and for a little while owned a scrapbooking store where writing became my new love. During this time, I dabbled in writing short stories and book-length manuscripts for personal escape and enjoyment. Retirement gave us the time to travel again, and boy did we ever go! The next four years found us in an R.V. going coast to coast and border to border exploring regional cooking and cultures until we stopped for a week to visit Tucson and never left.

In 2015 we took a cruise on the Ship, Marina, with Oceania Cruise Lines. They showcased the first-ever hands-on cooking school aboard a cruise ship. Oh my, the combination was irresistible. I dragged my husband, quite willingly, to every available class. It was a fantastic adventure. What a setting and an incredible chef/instructor. It was during this cruise I first explored the idea of a cozy culinary mystery set on a cruise ship. Many years later, and here we are. Dead In The Water and ready to go.

Annie, my co-author, and J.J, my ship-board chef, genuinely hope you enjoy exploring life and mystery aboard the Sanctuary.

B.L. Kappler and Annie Poo