Sweet Revenge

Every once in a while, when I need a break from heavy duty or very dark books, I will pick up something like this book from Diane Mott Davidson--predictable yet fun mysteries featuring Goldy Schultz, caterer extraordinaire who lives in the mythical Denver bedroom community of Aspen Meadow. We jump into Goldy's life in the middle of the holiday season when her schedule is jam packed with the usual assortment of wealthy, demanding, and irascible customers. As usual, murder intervenes when former district attorney Drew Wellington is murdered at the public library while Goldy is setting up a staff holiday party.   

Kirkus gives this one a lukewarm review but notes that the recipes are worth investigating. Publishers Weekly, on the other hand, says that Davidson is "at the top of her form" in this 14th entry in the book series, concluding that "Readers will happily sink their teeth into Goldy's latest case and come away hungry for more."

Double Shot

I have read many of Diane Mott Davidson's tasty mysteries featuring Coloradosmall town caterer Goldy Schulz. The only one I have posted about previously is Dark Tort; this is the 12th book in the series.  Goldy has a teenage son, a truly despicable ex-husband she calls The Jerk, a loving current husband who is a detective with the Sheriff's department, a good friend who is another ex of The Jerk's, and helpers in her catering business, notably Julian. 

In this installment, John Richard Korman (aka JRK or The Jerk) has had his jail sentence (for physical assault) commuted by the governor and has returned to Aspen Meadows and to making Goldy's life as miserable as he can. When Goldy gets to her new event center to start prepping for a lunch, she is attacked, and then finds that someone has shut off all her refrigeration and the food is all ruined. She scrambles to recover but wants to find out who hated her so much that they would physically harm her and try to damage her business. As usual, JRK precipitates an argument in front of the lunch group--first with a former physician colleague and then with Goldy. Later, when Goldy takes her son Arch to meet his father, ostensibly for golf lessons, she finds JRK shot dead in his garage. Now, because the police find a gun registered to Goldy outside the garage and because of the very public argument with JRK, Goldy is the primary suspect. As usual, she can't wait for the authorities to find the murderer, especially since her husband, Tom, has been removed from the investigation--for obvious reasons. So Goldy and fellow ex-wife and best friend Marla decide to investigate on their own. There is a wealth of clues and suspects, another murder follows, and eventually Goldy solves the mystery--in between catering events. 

While she often describes food prep in the text of the story, the recipes have all been moved to back of the book. There is, of course, an actual cookbook available with all "Goldy's" recipes. I read Davidson's books as a break from darker fare because they are fun, create a sense of small town life, and sound delicious. 

A brief review is available from Kirkus, and a highly entertaining one from Publishers Weekly.

Dark Tort

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.