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Overview
She has been called "the Julia Child of mystery writers." Now, Diane Mott Davidson, who masterfully served up The Last Suppers, Killer Pancake, and Dying for Chocolate, returns with an irresistible five-star helping of suspense. When caterer Goldy Schulz takes a job with a multimillion-dollar financial firm, she finds herself in a high-stakes world where someone is out to make a killing....Goldy, owner of Goldilocks' Catering, barely weathered a disastrous spring in which relentless rains and driving snow put a real damper on her business. But now, thanks to her best friend, Marla, the Colorado caterer is suddenly cooking up a storm...lovingly preparing Crab Quesadillas, Tomato-Brie Pie, and Gold Foil-Wrapped Fudge Bars for her wealthy new client, Prospect Financial Partners.
The Prospect Partners' financial whiz, Tony Royce, with whom Marla is having a tempestuous affair, and Albert Lipscomb, who is personally managing Marla's money, have hired Goldy to prepare a sumptuous party to kick off their latest venture: the reopening of the Eurydice Gold Mine. Anxious to take advantage of a golden opportunity, Goldy arrives at the mine site early, loaded down with goodies. Yet just when she thinks she can relax, all hell breaks loose--and the main culprit is Marla.
Her best friend is sure the mine venture is a scam. And when, several days later, Albert ends up missing, it looks as if Marla was right. Why, then, is the police captain treating Goldy's best friend as if she had committed a crime? And how can Goldy keep her fourteen-year-old son Arch and his unreliable bloodhound from making matters worse?
As Goldy works furiously to restore her business by whipping up hot, fragrant Sour Cream Cherry Coffeecake and featherlight Cinnamon Scones, she finds herself drawn into a most unusual situation of missing partners, stolen millions, and multiple homicides. And only when Goldy can discover which of the victims is the main corpse will she be able to unravel the mystery that threatens to cancel out her friend's dearest asset--her life.
Synopsis
She has been called "the Julia Child of mystery writers." Now, Diane Mott Davidson, who masterfully served up The Last Suppers, Killer Pancake, and Dying for Chocolate, returns with an irresistible five-star helping of suspense. When caterer Goldy Schulz takes a job with a multimillion-dollar financial firm, she finds herself in a high-stakes world where someone is out to make a killing....
Goldy, owner of Goldilocks' Catering, barely weathered a disastrous spring in which relentless rains and driving snow put a real damper on her business. But now, thanks to her best friend, Marla, the Colorado caterer is suddenly cooking up a storm...lovingly preparing Crab Quesadillas, Tomato-Brie Pie, and Gold Foil-Wrapped Fudge Bars for her wealthy new client, Prospect Financial Partners.
The Prospect Partners' financial whiz, Tony Royce, with whom Marla is having a tempestuous affair, and Albert Lipscomb, who is personally managing Marla's money, have hired Goldy to prepare a sumptuous party to kick off their latest venture: the reopening of the Eurydice Gold Mine. Anxious to take advantage of a golden opportunity, Goldy arrives at the mine site early, loaded down with goodies. Yet just when she thinks she can relax, all hell breaks loose—and the main culprit is Marla.
Her best friend is sure the mine venture is a scam. And when, several days later, Albert ends up missing, it looks as if Marla was right. Why, then, is the police captain treating Goldy's best friend as if she had committed a crime? And how can Goldy keep her fourteen-year-old son Arch and his unreliable bloodhound from making matters worse?
As Goldy works furiously to restore her business by whipping up hot, fragrant Sour Cream Cherry Coffeecake and featherlight Cinnamon Scones, she finds herself drawn into a most unusual situation of missing partners, stolen millions, and multiple homicides. And only when Goldy can discover which of the victims is the main corpse will she be able to unravel the mystery that threatens to cancel out her friend's dearest asset—her life.
Publishers Weekly
Colorado caterer and amateur sleuth Goldy Bear is back (from Killer Pancake, Dying for Chocolate, etc.) in a contrived plot featuring some preposterous adventures and 12 recipes. During what seems an interminably rainy spring, Goldy's excitable, wealthy friend Marla convinces Prospect Investment Partners, whose chief investment officer recently died in a car crash, to hire Goldy to cater a party. The affair, thrown to court investors in Prospect's latest venture, the reopening of an old gold mine, is held, in the rain, at the mine itself. As the party begins, Marla has a monumental argument with Prospect partner, Albert Lipscomb, about an assay report. Subsequently, Albert disappears with Prospect's cash. Goldy decides to find out what happened, against the advice of her new husband, Tom Schulz, a Sheriff's Department Homicide investigator. Then Marla and her boyfriend, Prospect CFO Tony Royce, are attacked while camping; next Tony vanishes and the police arrest Marla. Goldy enlists the help of her son Archie, her catering assistant Macguire, Archie's pet bloodhound, Jake, and Marla's brother-in-law, Gen. Bo Farquhar, a retired munitions expert. Breaking laws at breakneck speed, they rescue Marla from jail, solve the mysteries after a frightening climb through the old mine and a shoot-out at the airport and are exonerated by grateful cops. Only Archie, Jake and the recipes create sparks in this damp tale. (Sept.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Colorado caterer and amateur sleuth Goldy Bear is back (from Killer Pancake, Dying for Chocolate, etc.) in a contrived plot featuring some preposterous adventures and 12 recipes. During what seems an interminably rainy spring, Goldy's excitable, wealthy friend Marla convinces Prospect Investment Partners, whose chief investment officer recently died in a car crash, to hire Goldy to cater a party. The affair, thrown to court investors in Prospect's latest venture, the reopening of an old gold mine, is held, in the rain, at the mine itself. As the party begins, Marla has a monumental argument with Prospect partner, Albert Lipscomb, about an assay report. Subsequently, Albert disappears with Prospect's cash. Goldy decides to find out what happened, against the advice of her new husband, Tom Schulz, a Sheriff's Department Homicide investigator. Then Marla and her boyfriend, Prospect CFO Tony Royce, are attacked while camping; next Tony vanishes and the police arrest Marla. Goldy enlists the help of her son Archie, her catering assistant Macguire, Archie's pet bloodhound, Jake, and Marla's brother-in-law, Gen. Bo Farquhar, a retired munitions expert. Breaking laws at breakneck speed, they rescue Marla from jail, solve the mysteries after a frightening climb through the old mine and a shoot-out at the airport and are exonerated by grateful cops. Only Archie, Jake and the recipes create sparks in this damp tale. (Sept.)Library Journal
Goldy Korman, owner of Goldilocks Catering, prepares a beer and hors d'oeuvres celebration for a group of wealthy investors at the entrance to a gold mine. Fradulent assays, a missing company executive, mudslides, murderand fabulous recipesadd up to delightful reading.Kirkus Reviews
Goldy Schulz, owner of Goldilocks' Catering in Aspen Meadows, Colorado, and surely the ditziest of the current crop of culinary busybodies (Killer Pancake, 1995, etc.), crashes over the top in this latest from Davidson. Goldy's best friend Marla Korman, once married to Goldy's ex and now rich but plagued by cardiac problems, is in love with suave Tony Royce, partner with Albert Lipscomb in Prospect Financial Partners, a very hot investment firm—a firm promoting the long-closed Eurydice gold mine in the mountains nearby, their optimistic claims backed by positive ore assays. The company's chief investment officer Victoria Lear, attempting a firsthand look in her Land Cruiser, has died in what the police are calling an accident on the treacherous canyon road. Now, at a party that Goldy is catering for prospective investors, Marla is trumpeting doubts about the integrity of the assay reports. The next day Albert Lipscomb disappears, along with a few mil from the company's assets. But that's just the beginning, as Goldy's policeman husband Tom is taken off the case by detested superior Captain Shockley, a Prospect investor, and Tony Royce vanishes, Marla accused of killing him. With help from her son Arch, his bloodhound Jake, and more spectacularly, from Marla's hated brother-in-law General Bo Farquhar, released from his paramilitary compound, Goldy proceeds, through rockslides, downpours, explosions, and the like, to wrap up the case.Totally unbelievable and infrequently entertaining, except perhaps to backpackers and mountaineering mavens. The recipes, however, do sound intriguing.