Al Roker cooks up a murder mystery
The ‘Today’ personality talks writing, cooking, and favorite Massachusetts grocery store ahead of ‘Murder on Demand’
When I Zoom with Al Roker, he’s walking on a treadmill in his New York office, dressed for work: suspenders, tie, pressed white shirt.
The multi-tasking feels on brand. Roker’s a busy dude.
The longtime weather presenter/ “Today” cohost/Sirius radio show cohost/author has two books releasing this year. “Al Roker’s Recipes to Live By,” a cookbook with his daughter Courtney Roker Laga, a professional chef, is slated to release this fall. Much sooner: a murder mystery. Yup, some 13 years since his last installment, Roker has revived his murder-mystery series starring morning show host/chef/amateur sleuth Billy Blessing. “Murder on Demand,” co-written with Matt Costello, hits shelves April 23.
The first three in Roker’s series — “The Morning Show Murders” (2009), “The Midnight Show Murders” (2010), and “The Talk Show Murders (2011), all co-written with Dick Lochte — have been recently rereleased by Blackstone Publishing.
You needn’t have read them to enjoy this one. Like the first three, “Murder on Demand” is a cozy mystery: warm and funny.
“It’s almost like ‘Murder She Wrote’ except with a bald Black guy instead of Angela Lansbury,” Roker told me.
And, as with the first three, Roker, 69, does a solid job bringing the audiobook to life with character voices, inflection, and thoughtful narration.
In the book, streaming is beating out cable, and Billy is no longer a TV host. He’s now a chef on Long Island. One night — in a hardboiled moment — a woman walks into the restaurant needing Billy’s help. Her father’s boat washed up, but Dad can’t be found…
We talked mysteries, cooking, his dream gig, favorite Massachusetts grocery stores, and the New England restaurant on his bucket list.
Q. So why murder mysteries?
A. I’ve always been a fan. My first mystery reads were The Hardy Boys, then I got into Sherlock Holmes, and as I got older, Chester Himes’s works.
My mother [loved] thrillers, mysteries. I’d written a few books, and listen: We all end up trying to impress our parents. My mother was: “Oh, you wrote a couple of books.” When I decided to write a murder mystery, she really perked up.
Q. [laughs] Right.
A. They say write what you know. Billy likes to cook, he’s a chef — it’s wish fulfillment. I’d love to have a restaurant. I’d love to be a world-renowned chef with a TV show. We came up with a chef [and] cohost on a popular morning TV show, who gets pulled into different mysteries. He’s an alter-ego. An amalgam of who I am and who I’d like to be. The idea for this book was to set Billy back on his heels. He’s back to square one. Sure enough, he gets involved in — what a surprise — a murder mystery.
Q. Why the 13-year hiatus between book 3 and 4?
A. It was the folks at Blackstone who reached out and said, “We really like this character, we think he should come back. Are you interested?” I went “Oh!” I’d kind of put him to bed. Listen, not that I didn’t enjoy doing [the first three], but you move on, you got other things, I had some health issues — just the “Today” show will keep you busy.
Q. I bet.
A. Life kept moving. Just like I wasn’t thinking about a cookbook — it was Courtney’s idea. I said, “I’ll help you with the recipes and talking
nd to the family, but you’re going to have to do all the work because Daddy’s busy.”
Q. [laughs] You mentioned health issues. How are you feeling?
A. Feeling great. Part of the tonic is a new grandbaby. Having a great time at “Today.” Life is good.
Q. Would you open a restaurant?
A. They’re a risky business. They open and close at the drop of a hat. It’s a lot of work. You don’t want to do something that’s just a vanity — slap your name on it, and you’re never there. So not at this moment. Maybe in a couple of years.
Q. What about a cooking show?
A. If somebody said, “We’d love you to do a food show,” I’d jump at it.
Q. You have a new co-writer for this book.
A. Matt Costello, who’s really good at this light touch. I’m good at ideas and characters, but I don’t know how to get from point A to point Z. He’s a great traffic cop.
Q. There was a line with a character asking about the weather, and another says, “Who am I? Freakin’ Al Roker on ‘The Today Show’?” Was that your line? A. Yes.
Q. How does mystery co-writing work?
A. When I’m working on a book, I get up maybe a half hour earlier than I normally do. I’m most productive then. I ship it off, wait for his reactions, and back and forth. He’ll comment, expand. I come back, punch it up.
Q. What time do you usually get up? A. About 4 a.m.
Q. So you wake up at 3:30 a.m. to write?
A. Yeah, sometimes 3:15 a.m.
Q. How did “Today” inspire the story line, with Billy working on a morning show?
A. In the original three he was part of “Wake up, America!,” which was loosely based on, obviously, “Today.” But that was pretty much as far as it went. I mean, in the first book, the executive producer ends up dead. It had nothing to do with how I feel about my executive producer.
Q. [laughs] Right.
A. A lot of times books set on TV [shows] or movies are disingenuous. I think we gave people a decent peek behind the curtain.
Q. Your son goes to school in Vermont. Any other New England connections?
A. We have a house in the Berkshires on the New York side, but we spend a lot of time in Great Barrington, Pittsfield, and Lenox. There’s a great grocery store in Pittsfield and Great Barrington, Guido’s. I shop there a lot.
Q. Favorite restaurants in Massachusetts?
A. Cafe Adam in Great Barrington is terrific. In Lenox, Bistro Zinc, that’s terrific. Daniel Boulud has a great restaurant, Cafe Boulud at Blantyre; the hotel is closed for renovation. There’s a place in Maine on my bucket list: The Lost Kitchen.
Q. That’s the one where you have to send a postcard to get in.
A. Exactly. I’ve not been but I want to go.