I think I have outgrown Diane Mott Davidson. Her books are like the comfort food protagonist, caterer Goldy Bear Schultz, makes in each episode of the series. She has a likable family at the center of this series--Sheriff's Dept investigator and husband Tom, son Arch, catering whiz and partner Julian, and a new half-brother to Arch-- with a trusty best friend Marla. She always does a decent job of creating her Aspen Meadows setting near Boulder, Colorado, and Goldie always solves the crime ahead of the officials who don't have her penchant for poking her nose in where it could get her in trouble. One evening as Goldie goes into a local law firm to help prepare foods for an early morning breakfast for clients, she trips over the body of the firm's paralegal and Goldy's neighbor, Dusty Routt. Distraught at losing her young friend, Goldy is asked by the girl's mother to find out who did it. She claims the law firm where Dusty worked was a "nest of vipers." The story also involves a recently deceased chef and painter whose wild success as an artist barely preceded his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer. But his demise is from what is assumed to be an accidental fall. Another apparently random death gets pulled into the mix before this is all over. If you like mysteries with tasty recipe thrown in, this is for you. They just move a little too slow--without enough compensation in character or setting, etc.--to make these worthwhile for me anymore. Of course I have read at least half a dozen so take my grumping with a grain of salt.
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