Red Beans and Vice (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Lou Jane Temple (Author)

Book Description

Series: St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries | Publication Date: June 17, 2002

Heaven Lee has come to the Big Easy to get some much-needed vacation time away from her bustling Kansas City restaurant and cook up some dishes worthy of her name for the Sisters of the Holy Trinity's annual benefit diner. But when the Sister's prized crucifix goes missing and a local coffee importer turns us dead, stabbed with Heaven's knife, not only does the famous chef find herself in hot water with the local police, but someone seems to be stalking her as well. Now, embroiled in a mystery as hot as New Orleans' Cajun cooking, heaven must prove her innocence, catch a killer, and whip up some recipes that will save the Sisters from financial ruin before she becomes the main course in a murder trial, or worse yet, ends up as fish food at the bottom of the Mississippi River..

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her sixth mystery featuring Kansas City chef Heaven Lee, Temple (The Cornbread Killer, etc.) serves up fare more short-order than gourmet. Heaven agrees to help an old friend, the wife of coffee importer Truely Whitten, in New Orleans with a benefit for the Sisters of the Holy Trinity, but receipt of an anonymous letter accusing her staff of infecting the food almost puts this plan on the back burner. Heaven travels to New Orleans to confer with other committee members before what promises to be a major fund-raiser. Then news anchor Amelia Hart arrives uninvited to sour the proceedings, while the theft of an 18th-century crucifix and the appearance of graffiti on the sisters' convent walls provoke further consternation. This is too much of a coincidence for Heaven, who voices her suspicions before leaving this pot of trouble to simmer and heading home to hate mail and pastry shells. The week of the benefit, she's back in the French Quarter, plating salads and overseeing the dessert course. When an explosion rocks the neighborhood and the dust clears, Truely is discovered dead in a tub of dishwater. Heaven must find the culprit before she becomes the chef's special. A complex story line that fails to hold together, undeveloped characters, events that contribute nothing to the story the ingredients of this mystery never set properly. Even the descriptions of restaurant specials fail to appetize. (Aug. 20)Forecast: Food mystery fans will want to send this one back to the kitchen and there will be no run on this plat du jour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Redhead Heaven Lee runs a restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri; she was a lawyer once and has a number of ex-husbands, along with a boyfriend 20 years her junior. In this adventure, Heaven has gone to New Orleans as one of the cooks for a benefit honoring an ancient order of nuns in the city. An old school friend of Heaven's, also a lawyer, gets back in touch, and suddenly there's a theft at the convent; there's poison in the herbs; and the lawyer's husband, a coffee importer, ends up dead. The attraction in this overstuffed story is the Big Easy: landmarks, well-known chefs and restaurants, and local color abound. A conniving (and retired) madam, some double-dealing friends and colleagues, and a sleuth who thinks nothing of rifling through a friend's desk or laptop keep it lively. You'll be longing for beignets by mid-murder. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (June 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312982895
• ISBN-13: 978-0312982898
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,586,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A delicious mystery, July 25, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Beans and Vice (Hardcover)

Heaven Lee having been backed out of the legal profession for doing something wrong opened up a Café Heavens Restaurant in Kansas City. To her amazement, Heaven learns she likes to cook and prepare food and soon her restaurant is a success. She has a full house almost every night with many repeat customers. When a nasty letter about her restaurant is sent to Heaven, City Hall and the local newspapers, she is afraid her restaurant's precious reputation will be tarnished.

Thanks to good friends, Heaven is able to keep the note out of the public eye and go to New Orleans with an easy mind. She is part of an outdoor sit down diner to raise funds for the Sisters of the Holy Trinity, one of the oldest convents of the United States. Towards the end of the event one of her closest friend's husband is murdered and Heaven will not rest until she finds the killer.

Lou Jane Temple has created a zany, eccentric and lovable heroine who will go that extra mile for anyone she cares about. The mystery is well drawn out and it is doubtful anyone will guess the identity of the perpetrators although when they are finally revealed it makes sense. RED BEANS AND VICE is a colorful culinary who-done-it that is a feast to read.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mystery, murder, and food, yum!, October 30, 2001

By 

Moe811 (New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Beans and Vice (Hardcover)

Heaven Lee is asked by her old friend Mary to be a participant in a fundraising dinner for the Ursiline nuns of New Orleans. All does not go well. First an African American newswoman protests that the fundraiser is for a white order, when her ancestor helped found an order of African American nuns who were instrumental in educating their community. Suddenly there is a commotion and graffiti is found all over the courtyard and an eighteenth century cross that the nuns brought with them from France. Other incidents follow. Heaven is determined to find out who is sabotaging the event.

I always enjoy the books from this series and this on is no exception. I love the setting, and can't wait to try the recipes.

5.0 out of 5 stars Red Beans and Rice, September 5, 2005

By 

Ann Myers (San Francisco Ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Beans and Vice (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Great relaxation---death essentially occured "off stage" I have already passed it on to two friends who are enjoying it.