The Grilling Season Review

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The Grilling Season ReviewThe food is the best part of this entertaining mystery. The dishes all sound irresistible, and food as therapy is well displayed both through cooking and eating. If that were all there was to the book, it would be a five star effort.
The story involves Goldy Schulz in some sleuthing when her ex-husband is charged with killing his latest girl friend. On the surface, it looks like he went overboard with his favorite activity of beating up women. Their son, Arch, is horrified and wants to protect and help his Dad. Reluctantly, Goldy tries to do the right thing, even though she cannot stand the vicious creep (referred to as The Jerk in the book).
Unfortunately, Ms. Davidson chooses to turn Goldy into a punching bag for physical and mental abuse throughout the often-distressing plot. Her ex-husband hurts her, suspects hurt her, and her son treats her like something he stepped in. Now really, enough is enough. We all know that much such abuse occurs every day. I did not see that it advanced the plot or my understanding of it to have the heroine being constantly assaulted. On the other hand, Ms. Davidson's development of the theme is well done. She nicely captures the lassitude and passive cooperation of the victim mentality, and the utter insensitivity of the abusers.
The mystery itself involves a sort of HMO gothic, filled with evil careerists who stop at nothing to advance their own ends. Where are the silver stakes when we need them?
I thought that the legal aspects of the plot were badly flawed. Goldy is married to a police officer, and she repeatedly acts in ways that compromise the legal case against various suspects. Ms. Davidson needs someone who knows criminal procedure to look these stories over for her. Goldy's marriage would have lasted about 4 minutes if she had done these things as the real wife of a real police officer. Her abuses of the legal process are awful!
If you are a devoted Diane Mott Davidson fan, you will probably enjoy the story enough to read it, but it will probably be your least favorite of her books. If you have not yet read her work, I suggest you skip this one and read any of the earlier ones instead.
After you finish the book (if you decide to read it), I suggest that you think about how you could use comfort food in a healthy and supportive way to improve your life and the lives of those you love.
Bon appetit!The Grilling Season Overview

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Chopping Spree Review

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Chopping Spree ReviewIn contrast to other reviewers, I find the plotting in this Davidson novel to be more complex and the suspicious characters to be better developed than in her previous books. The victim was a bad guy, a good guy, a two-timer, a lover who wanted (and maybe expected himself) to become faithful, a good friend, and an exploiter -- yes, all rolled into one interesting, attractive man. Likewise, the people who might have knocked him off hardly arouse indifference.
Solve riddles, read recipes, go to a Shopper's Anonymous meeting, sigh at the mistakes we all make with our children: yes, indeed, you can get a lot done reading this book. It is also a great introduction to what passes for springtime on the eastern slopes of the Rockies and to the burgeoning (some would say out of control) commercial and residential development happening here.
I had allowed myself to be put off by reviews here and finally picked up the book for a holiday weekend. I was not in the least disappointed -- except that it had taken me so long to get to it. The book engaged my brain, made me laugh out loud, and brought on ruminations about how life -- and our outrageous mistakes in it -- catches up with us all.Chopping Spree Overview

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Some Like It Hot-Buttered (A Double Feature Mystery) Review

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Some Like It Hot-Buttered (A Double Feature Mystery) ReviewSOME LIKE IT HOT-BUTTERED is the first in a new mystery series starring Elliot Freed, a man who wrote a book, sold it to Hollywood, then took that money -- plus the alimony he gets from his ex-wife, with whom he has a most ambiguous relationship -- bought an old movie palace, and converted it into Comedy Tonight, a theatre dedicated to showing classic comedies. The Only All-Comedy Theatre in New Jersey. Which brings us to the only murder mystery I've ever read where Milk Duds play a significant role.
Jeff Cohen is not only funny, funny, funny, he's great at deflection. I'm not talking red herring; I'm talking about that giant red elephant in the middle of the room, the one that was there all the time, only we didn't see it. No matter how many mysteries I've read, I never guess the end of a Jeff Cohen mystery. I was surprised about six separate times at the conclusion of this book. I want more. What about that ex-wife? What about Sophie, the sixteen-year-old Goth wannabe with iPod buds glued into her ears? I need another dose of Sophie, plus more Leo, the only regular customer at Comedy Tonight. Also, it seems obvious to this reporter that Elliot Freed and Chief Dutton are naturals for a classic Buddy/Comedy/Mystery movie.
Ernst Lubitsch, of whom Elliot is a fan, said that nobody should try to play comedy unless they have a circus going on inside. While I suspect the same is true of writing comedy, I cannot begin to imagine the circus inside Jeff Cohen's head, but I'm always happy to go there. You will be too.Some Like It Hot-Buttered (A Double Feature Mystery) Overview

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Dead Canaries Don't Sing (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 1) Review

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Dead Canaries Don't Sing (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 1) ReviewThis is one of those books that you understand as you're reading it that it's really not very good in some respects but you keep on reading it anyway because it's not so bad, either, and entertaining. But -- the characters are stereotyped, the detective-heroine is not so much spunky as reckless to the point of stupidity (refusing to take seriously the numerous signs that she's making a murderer very unhappy with her), there are some technical errors in the veterinary part (which really are extraneous to the plot anyway), and it's all so improbable.
But -- Baxter is a skillful enough writer that it's a pleasant read -- great for an airplane -- escape reading. The plotting is fairly good, but the series of interviews detective method is improbable and the main character has virtually no reason to get involved in finding the killer. When citizens get involved in murder investigations, I think it works best when there is a plausible reason why (like brother has been falsely accused, that sort of thing).
The plot involves Dr. Jessie Popper, mobile veterinarian (she has a traveling vet clinic), who discovers a body on her way to make a house call on a horse. There's a dead canary beside the body. For reasons that never are clear, Jessie decides to solve the murder and proceeds to do so by presenting herself (using various lies) to anyone she can find who knew the deceased. Her ex-boyfriend is a private investigator, although all he does is try to protect her. There's a fair amount of romance and a couple of very amusing scenes involving the men in Jessie's life.
There's also a lot that should have been edited out, like all the stuff about her landlord neighbor, which never quite works, and the vet visits, which have nothing to do with the plot. Given the way she uses her vet status to lie her way into interviews, Dr. Popper should be worried about losing her license.
I think Baxter has some good writing skills, but this mystery is clearly a first. I hope she will improve over time.Dead Canaries Don't Sing (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 1) Overview

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Right from the Gecko (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 5) Review

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Right from the Gecko (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 5) ReviewI bought this book in a fit of consumption at a Books-a-Million because the quirky orange cover and title caught my eye. I expected a sort of Janet Evanovich type of romp, full of whimsy, humor, romance, danger -- just a bit of enjoyable mind candy.
Instead, although I found the writing perfectly fine and the descriptions of Hawaii tantalizing, the story itself fell flat. Very disappointing. I can suspend many levels of belief, so I didn't have a problem with the plot per se. It just didn't sparkle for me the way I'd hoped.Right from the Gecko (Reigning Cats & Dogs Mysteries, No. 5) Overview

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