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Dark Tort (Culinary Mystery Series #13)

Name: Dark Tort (Culinary Mystery Series #13)
Author: Diane Mott Davidson
ISBN: 9780060527327

by Diane Mott Davidson

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Overview

Goldy Schulz has a lucrative new gig, preparing breakfasts and conference-room snacks for a local law firm. It's time-consuming, but Goldy is enjoying it — until the night she arrives to find Dusty, the firm's paralegal, dead. The poor young woman also happened to be Goldy's friend and neighbor, and now Dusty's grieving mother begs Goldy to find out who murdered her daughter.

Just because the police are on the case doesn't mean Goldy can't do a little snooping herself. While catering a party at the home of one of the firm's lawyers, she manages to overhear an incriminating conversation and ends up discovering a few clues in the kitchen.

Before long, Goldy is knee-deep in suspects, one of whom is incre-dibly dangerous and very liable to cook Goldy's goose.

Synopsis

Before long, Goldy is knee-deep in suspects, one of whom is incre-dibly dangerous and very liable to cook Goldy's goose.

Publishers Weekly

Rosenblat is a performer of many tempos. When caterer Goldy Schulz trips over a corpse and searches for help, Rosenblat speaks at a heart-pounding pace to draw the listener right into the narrative. After the body is taken care of and the flying flour has settled, Rosenblat slows to chart Goldy's methodical search for the killer. But Rosenblat saves smoother tones for the cooking scenes between Goldy and her police detective husband, Tom. Eating is more enjoyable for Goldy than cooking, so Rosenblat lays on her silkiest tones for the dinner scenes between the couple and their son. It's probably best not to listen to this audio on an empty stomach. Rosenblat has her hands full as she deftly and singlehandedly performs a soap-opera sized cast with aplomb. There are recipes at the end of the last CD, and there are lots of good food preparation tips along the way, so listeners will want to take notes. Simultaneous release with the Morrow hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 6). (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Diane Mott Davidson

Diane Mott Davidson is the author of fourteen bestselling novels featuring the irresistible Goldy Schulz. She lives in Colorado with her family.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

Goldy Schulz loves her new gig: Catering breakfasts and conference room snacks for ravenous local lawyers is a cinch. Everything in the coffee-and-donuts patrol is running smoothly until one evening, when Goldy trips over a freshly dead paralegal. Never hesitant to mix sleuthing with food service, she begins a stealthy investigation into the unexplained homicide.

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Goldy Schulz must be the unluckiest caterer in the world. Most caterers just serve food; Goldy trips, falls, and finds lots of dead bodies. This time, after sending ingredients flying all over her clients' law offices, she notices the body of her protegee, Dusty Routt. Poor, hardworking Dusty had been determined to make a place for herself in a world that kept slapping her back. Had Dusty seen something in the office she shouldn't have? Dusty's mother asks Goldy to investigate, with suspects including lawyers (and their wives), the office staff, and an old boyfriend. Meant to be a commentary on the social divide between rich and poor, Dark Tort suffers from verbosity and drifting focus. From the long-winded account of Goldy's initial panic to the tedious and complicated plot wrap-up, this is a book in search of an editor. Fortunately, while not a great mystery, this is still a generally amusing novel. Barbara Rosenblat, who has read other titles in the series, does her usual superb job. Recommended with reservations for most collections.-I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Watch your step. Goldy Bear Schultz, of Aspen Meadows catering (Double Shot, 2004, etc.), has tripped over a body at the law office of one of her best clients. Dusty Routt, an ambitious young woman who had a tough life until her Uncle Richard, a partner at the H&J law firm, took her under his wing, has been strangled. Now her distraught mother begs Goldy to find Dusty's killer. It could have been a robbery gone wrong, but as Goldy picks up gossip from her network of friends and clients, she begins to see motives for murder. Dusty had been helping settle the estate of Charlie Baker, a chef whose paintings of food have made him rich. When a cache of his work turns up in Dusty's house with two very different inventory lists attached, Goldy suspects that Charlie, a terminal cancer patient, did not die from an accidental fall. Dusty's mysterious lover, a suspicious bishop, lawyers with shaky marriages and filthy lucre all provide additional possibilities. With help from her policeman husband Tom, her able assistant Julian, her son Arch and her wealthy pal Marla, Goldy solves the crimes, saves herself from being next on the murderer's menu and whips up more of her trademark scrumptious meals. Goldy and her coterie always provide some enjoyable moments, although the mind-boggling denouement may send you to the kitchen to try the 11 appended recipes.