Book Review Thursday - 1/26

For some reason, there hasn’t been a lot of reading going on in the Darling Jill house. And I haven’t even been listening to audio books in the car on the drive to work. I have no idea why, but that is why there wasn’t a review post last week. Nothing to report.

This week, I finished Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson which is the most recent release in the Caterer Goldy Schulz series. It has been a long time since I have read one of the Goldy mysteries, but Davidson gives mini updates throughout the first few chapters so it is easy to catch up in the series. If you want to see the list of books in the series, go to Davidson’s page on the Stop, You’re Killing Me site. If you love mysteries, this site is awesome to peruse to keep up with the newest publications from your favorite authors and to find new authors.

While preparing food for a lunch, Goldy's newest employee Yolanda breaks down and shares her woes with Goldy. She was living with a boyfriend who started abusing her so she moved into a house with aunt and then the house was burned down in an arson fire. Yolanda and the aunt were then invited to move into a retired cop's house and Yolanda is very upset because he didn't come home the day before. Enter the cops to question Yolanda because the retired cop has just been found shot to death.

Yolanda and her aunt answer questions, but it is clear that they are hiding something. Goldy invites them to move into her house since they again have no where to go and her husband Tom is happy to be able to keep an eye on them until it becomes clear that the peeping Tom they acquired in the house that burned down has followed them to the Schulz residence.

There is a fair amount of action in this book and Goldy is a bit of a busy body just like she usually is. But I enjoy this series and the style of Davidson so I was happy with the book. There are quite a few characters and it was a little hard to keep them straight, but I was able to pick up on the clues and figured out a major plot element without even realizing it. And if you have never read one of the books in this series, there are always recipes included in the book (audio version as well!) of the things that are made in the course of the story. I have never tried one of the recipes, but they sound delicious!