Review: Death of a Kitchen Diva by Lee Hollis

Goodreads Summary:
Welcome to Bar Harbor, Maine, one of New England’s most idyllic coastal towns. But as new food writer Hayley Powell is about to find out, the occasional murder can take a bite out of seaside bliss…
Single mom Hayley Powell is barely keeping her leaking roof over her head when her boss at the Island Times gives her a new assignment—taking over the paper’s food column. Hayley’s not sure she has the chops—she’s an office manager, not a writer, even if her friends clamor for her mouth-watering potluck dishes. But the extra income is tempting, and Hayley’s chatty first column is suddenly on everyone’s menu—with one exception.

When rival food writer Karen Appelbaum is found face-down dead in a bowl of Hayley’s creamy clam chowder, all signs point to Hayley. To clear her name, she’ll have to enlist some help, including her BFFs, a perpetually pregnant lobster woman, and a glamorous real estate agent. As she whips up a list of suspects, Hayley discovers a juicy secret about the victim—and finds herself in a dangerous mix with a cold-blooded killer.

My Review: 

I actually wasn't planning to write a full review of this novel. I planned to put this book in the "Meh Books" Part 3 list. However, by the last part of the book so many things annoyed me that it moved past "Meh" into awful. I'm not going to go into everything, but here's my top 3 things I hated about this book.

#1. On page 130,  the main character describes another character: ""Liddy had a flare for the dramatic." Yes, "flare", not "flair". Like Liddy was on fire. What's really irritating is that another character had a "flair" for something on the next page- flair spelled correctly. Normally, I let minor kinds of spelling mistakes slide, but this one just got under my skin.

#2. The police chief, Sergio, is from Brazil and the author portrays him as a Brazilian Ricky Ricardo. Except he doesn't mispronounce things so much as engage in the constant spouting of malapropisms. This is an example of one:

"Puff was growing morally obese." (Puff is the murder victim's cat)

"I'm sorry, what?" Haley asked.
"Morally obese!
 Sergio said, losing patience.
Morbidly obese. 

The first few times were kind of cute, but the author made Sergio engage in this every time he opened his mouth. So, she turned a character into a caricature. Oh, and milking a cute character quirk is annoying. (Tips for authors, right here) Oh, and here's a clip of Ricky Ricardo butchering the English language. Because when Ricky does it is funny and I pretty much need a mental palate cleaner after reading this book.

#3.  The murder victim set up a kitty cam to catch her catsitter overfeeding her cat. (See the morally obese quote above) I'm not going to giveaway any spoilers about what got caught on video from the kitty cam. I'm not a detective, but I've read enough mysteries and seen enough police shows to know that evidence needs to be secure- there needs to be an unbroken chain of custody so a defendant can't claim evidence was tampered with. However, in this book the chief of police (Sergio) keeps potentially critical evidence- the kitty cam tapes- in his home in an unlocked desk drawer. Um, no. I don't care how small town a police department is, this does not happen except as a plot device in badly written books.

If you really like cozy mysteries and culinary mysteries, I still think this book would annoy you. But if you must read it, I'd suggest getting it from the library.

Overall Rating: 1 1/2 stars
Genre Rating: 2 magnifying glasses

Review: Stay At Home Dead by Jeffrey Allen

Goodreads Summary:

When Deuce Winters, a stay-at-home dad in sleepy Rose Petal, Texas, discovers a dead body in his mini-van, it quickly throws his quiet life into disarray. It doesn't help that the victim ruined Deuce's high school football career and married his ex-girlfriend. As the number one suspect in the court of public opinion, Deuce is determined to clear his name, with a little help from his wife, Julianne, a high-powered attorney. His search for the killer leads him to a business plan gone awry and a gaggle of jilted lovers.

My Review:  
This is another cozy mystery that's due at the library. So, I had to read it. A lot of times this doesn't work well; I feel resentful while reading in this situation. I also had some major doubts about this book- the cozy field is pretty much dominated by women. In essence, I went into this book expecting to hate it. To my surprise, I finished this book in less than 24 hours. 


For the most part, I liked the main character who is a stay at home dad. I'm putting down his experiences with people looking funny at him to living in a small, conservative, Texas town. (He lives in one in real life and was a stay at home dad.) My husband was a stay at home dad for a while. Women used to smile at him and tell him he was sweet or that he was "such a good dad". My husband would tell them, "No one should think I'm doing a great job because I only do what women do every day without any thanks. Except they (the women) do it better." He would then go on about what a shame it was that what he was doing was so unique that it deserved to be commented on- that more dads should take an active part in the lives of their kids. Then, they would give him an even bigger smile. 


What I disliked about the character was his "dwarf issue". He encounters a "little person" who is a private detective. They get into a scuffle. He asks someone in law enforcement about the P.I. and is told that he's a good investigator but has "little man syndrome". I think that does cross a line and I didn't like it. But I did think that Deuce's encounters with Rose Petal's "Mommy Mafia"- that group of PTA type moms was spot on. I guess hatred of them is universal.


Recommendation:  I'd say that if you like cozies, you will like this book. It did stand out among the many craft and cooking cozies that we have been overrun with. 

Overall Rating: 3 stars
Genre Rating: 4 teapots (for cozies)

:Jeffrey Allen Interview at RT Book Reviews

Jeffrey Allen's Website 

 

Review: Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch by Nancy Atherton

Goodreads Summary:

Nancy Atherton's seventeenth cozy mystery featuring the beloved Aunt Dimity-the original paranormal detective...When Amelia Thistle moves to Finch, her new neighbors welcome her with open arms-and inquiring minds. Among them is Lori Shepherd, who isn't fooled by Amelia's unassuming persona. Amelia is, in fact, a world-famous artist with a rabid and eager-to-stalk fan base.

In order to keep peace in Finch, Lori must help Amelia conceal her identity. Amelia, meanwhile, sets about working on the riddle that brought her to town in the first place. A fragment of a family diary hints that one of Amelia's ancestors might have been Mistress Meg, the Mad Witch of Finch. Following the clue, Lori hunts through Finch's darkest and most secret corners, all the while dodging nosy neighbors and Amelia's frantic fans. With Aunt Dimity's otherworldly help, Lori inches closer to the true story of Mistress Meg-and Amelia.

My Review: 
I've not been in the mood for cozies, but I keep requesting them from the library. I honestly had no desire to read it, but it was due yesterday and I couldn't renew it. I found the first pages slow going. This book is #17 in this series, but like most mystery authors, the first few pages are devoted to recapping the characters, setting, etc. But once I got past this, I found myself charmed by Lori and the residents of Finch. Of course, it's probably an idealized view of village (small town) life, but how much realism can you really expect? After all, you really have to suspend belief when reading mysteries- how many of us really stumble across a corpse every few months. This series is unique, though, in that not every mystery is a murder mystery. (Maybe none at all- can't remember this is book #17) You can't get any cozier than that, can you? 

 I've read a lot of mysteries and mystery series. At some point, many/most completely fall apart and you get bored reading them. Or annoyed reading them- there are a few long running series that have stretched a love triangle out over many books spanning at least a decade. However, this is one of those series where you like the sameness. It's okay that the characters don't really develop and stay frozen in time like a bug trapped in amber. It means that every year, a new book is like visiting with old friends. Its sameness becomes comforting. This is a series that has done exactly that.

Rating: 3 stars

Genre rating: 3 1/2 tea pots

This is a link to Nancy Atherton's website. She has also put up the recipes that are found at the end of her books. I've not tried it yet, but many have said that "Sir Percy's Favorite Sticky Lemon Cake" is excellent.

Nancy Atherton's website