Murder With Ganache
Author: Lucy Burdette
Published: February 2014
Publisher: Penguin Group
Format: Mass market paperback
Pages: 308, including recipes
Source: a complimentary copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
Hayley Snow, the food critic for Key Zest magazine, has her plate heaped high with restaurant reviews, doughnut and sticky bun tastings, and an article on the Hemingway cats. But this week she's also in charge of her best friend's wedding. And then someone adds a side of murder....
For better or worse, Hayley has agreed to bake more than two hundred cupcakes for her friend Connie's wedding while still meeting her writing deadlines. The last thing she needs is family drama. But her parents come barreling down the island like a category-three hurricane, and on their first night in town, her stepbrother, Rory, disappears into the spring break party scene in Key West.
When Hayley hears that two teenagers have stolen a Jet Ski, she sets aside her oven mitts and goes in search of Rory. She finds him, barely conscious, but his female companion isn't so lucky. Now Hayley has to let the cupcakes cool and assemble the sprinkles of clues to clear her stepbrother's name -- before someone else gets iced.
For better or worse, Hayley has agreed to bake more than two hundred cupcakes for her friend Connie's wedding while still meeting her writing deadlines. The last thing she needs is family drama. But her parents come barreling down the island like a category-three hurricane, and on their first night in town, her stepbrother, Rory, disappears into the spring break party scene in Key West.
When Hayley hears that two teenagers have stolen a Jet Ski, she sets aside her oven mitts and goes in search of Rory. She finds him, barely conscious, but his female companion isn't so lucky. Now Hayley has to let the cupcakes cool and assemble the sprinkles of clues to clear her stepbrother's name -- before someone else gets iced.
My thoughts:
Ruined delicious lime cupcakes turn out to be the least of Hayley's problems when family comes to Key West for the wedding of her best friend Connie. On the night of their arrival, Rory, Hayley's step-brother, disappears and is found unconscious on the deck of a dilapidated sailboat. Later, the girl he was photographed with the first evening in Key West is found strangled in the water. Is Rory guilty of her murder or are they both victims? Determined to find the truth behind the mystery, Hayley sets out to uncover the events of that fateful evening.
Murder With Ganache is an enjoyable cozy mystery that, had I the chance, could be read in a day. Family drama, broken hearts, greed, and evil all reside in the beautiful backdrop of Key West where Lucy Burdette's (aka Roberta Isleib) protagonist Hayley Snow's deadlines are not only those of the Key Zest magazine.
The author integrates delectable foods (one reason why I love foodie mysteries - good recipe ideas!) with a mystery involving runaway teens and treasure hunters with palatable results. Murder With Ganache is the fourth in the Key West Food Critic Mysteries series. This novel can be read as a stand-alone but once you've read it I'm sure you'll want to go back and read the others preceding. I'm definitely trying the Chocolate Bars with Chocolate Ganache Frosting and the Strawberry Cream Pie with Chocolate Graham Crust looks divine for a summer dessert shared with a special someone. Are you drooling yet?
Meet the author:
Lucy Burdette, aka Roberta Isleib, writes the Key West food critic mysteries including MURDER WITH GANACHE www.lucyburdette.com
Biography
Lucy Burdette is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries. As Roberta Isleib, she has also written the golf lovers mysteries and the advice column mysteries. She is a clinical psychologist whose books and stories have been nominated for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. She is a past president of Sisters in Crime.
Description
Lucy Burdette's mysteries star food critic Hayley Snow, scrumptious food, and the tropical island paradise of Key West. The books are AN APPETITE FOR MURDER, DEATH IN FOUR COURSES, and TOPPED CHEF, with MURDER WITH GANACHE to follow in February 2014.
For sensitive readers, Murder With Ganache is a good clean mystery free of foul language, sex scenes and gruesome scenes. Definitely one I would highly recommend even if this is not your criteria in choosing a book.
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