Customer Reviews

Carbs & Cadavers (The Supper Club Mysteries)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

James Henry's life has brought him many changes in the last few months. Right after his divorce, his mother died and he moved home to care for his dad. He's taken the job of head librarian for the Quincy Gap branch. Of course, since this is such a small Virginia town, the job is much more prestigious then it sounds.

James has had a hard time making friends since he moved back, so that's why he decides to become the fifth member in a local supper club. The entire group could stand to lose weight, so they decided to count carbs together. Dubbing themselves the "Flab Five," they set out to reach their own weight goals.

The club has barely gotten off the ground when the local trouble maker dies in the bakery. Lucy, one of the supper club members, decides this unusual event is the perfect time to prove she can be a real cop instead of just their dispatcher. The victim had made lots of enemies in his short life, so finding suspects is easy. But working together, these five new friends just might find the killer.

This is the first book in a new series that shows plenty of promise. The characters are quirky and charming, and I fell in love with them. The small town setting was equally as enjoyable. The plot was a bit uneven at times, but did proved several nice clues and red herrings before the suspenseful end. The book also includes two low carb recipes to try later.

The "Flab Five" are an entertaining bunch, and I look forward to a chance to meet up with them again soon.

James Henry is a former English Lit professor. He has come back home to Quincy's Gap, Virginia, to take care of his father after his mother's death and his divorce. His father isn't a very nice person. James was lucky to get a job as the local librarian, and now he has no social life. He just hides among the books at work and eats cheese puffs.

When he hears about the supper club, he figures he can stand to lose fifty pounds and he might make some friends. He jumps at the chance to join. He meets Lucy Hanover who works in the sheriff's department and is attractive. She'd like to be a deputy someday. He also meets Lindy, Gillian, and Bennett. They decide to call themselves the "Flab Five." Each of them needs to lose weight, but they all seem to have dreams and aspiration. I think that's what made me like them so much.

James and his fellow dieters end up in the middle of a murder investigation when someone mysteriously drops dead in the Sweet Tooth Bakery. Soon James finds himself looking forward to the next meeting of the supper club. But can they stick to their diets and find the killer without putting themselves in danger? And what is James' father doing in the shed all the time?

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in two days. The characters are so much fun. You might think that a mystery set around dieting would be boring. Not in this case. You will laugh out loud at their antics. The supper club is such a fun idea. I just wanted to keep reading. Can't wait until the next one is out! I highly recommend this book. I hope she writes fast!

Carbs & Cadavers was a nice, easy and entertaining read. I recommend it strongly.

You can love a Clancy, Ludlum or other book but never identify with the hero and their special world saving talent. But Carbs & Cadavers offers numerous characters to identify with in one way or another or possibly recognize a friend or two. The 5 members of the Flab Five share the all too common desire to shed some extra weight, but each has a special food crutch like cheese puffs, frosting, or doughnuts.

What you may not identify with is murder in a small town. But if you believe that the Flab Five can help solve a murder, then you'd be right. The story easily flows and soon you've read the whole enjoyable thing. Just like a good cookie...or two.

Carbs and Cadavers is a refreshing entree from a menu of serial mystery and amateur sleuthing by our talented hostess, J.B. Stanley. Halfway through this main course, I was already anticipating a second helping from her first sequel.

Moving back to his home in Quincy's Gap, Virginia from William and Mary College after a stinging divorce, blooming obesity, and the news that his father needshim, James Henry feels like a loser. As the town's new librarian, he hides in books, amid mounds of cheese puffs. He makes some efforts to interact with local townspeople and joins a supper club for dieters, hoping to make new friends and lose fat.

The "Flab Five" supper club includes ex-literature professor James Henry, postman Bennett, aging hippie Gillian, deputy hopeful Lucy, and teacher Lindy. It is amusing that James' name is the reverse of that of writer Henry James, and many of the characters made me smile. They have real-life problems, but also real dreams and talents. Society may look at the overweight as gluttonous airheads, but that is not the case here. Some passages evoke the image of James looking 150 pounds overweight, rather than 50, and in his own mind he may feel that image is correct. This is a pointed insight into the heart of those trying to lose weight--writer Henry James's brother William was, after all, a pioneer in psychology.

A mysterious death drives the dieters to action and the group shed pounds and seeks out a killer at the aptly named Sweet Tooth Bakery. There is bloodshed, kidnapping, and all manner of danger for the heroes; and their handling of it kept my interest high. There are many surprises as well, such as what James's father is doing out there alone in the shed all the time.

This book includes recipes and the chapter titles are names of select dishes that parallel the dieter's eating adventures. I made the "Crustless Pumpkin Pie," finding it light and delicious. Quincy's Gap is already becoming a second home to my mind.

Armchair Interviews says: Recommended to readers who want relaxation and excitement all at once.

James Henry was perfectly happy in his quiet life as a college professor. but is comes to an end when his mother dies and he must return home to Quincy Gap to take care of his father. He has to leave the job he loves to care for his disagreeable, uncommunicative parent. He is at least able to get a job as librarian in the local library. But is is still not the future he had planned for himself. Even his wife has left him. So to stave off loneliness and to try to lose the weight he has put on, he decides to join the newly formed dieters' supper club. There he meets people who have the same goal as he- make friends while losing weight. He is especially interested in an employee of the sheriff's department, Lucy Hanover.

But the dieters' focus changes when an obnoxious local man is found dead at the bakery. The Supper Club members are drawn into the mystery and quickly find themselves awash in contradictory clues. Lucy has ambitions of becoming a deputy and this may be her lucky break. If she can help solve the murder the chauvinistic sheriff may be forced to take her seriously. James is pleased to help her, both to catch the killer and to spend more time with Lucy. The Supper Club members band together to figure out who killed the football star in the first murder to occur in Quincy Gap since 1913. Among trying to ignore their hungry pains, food cravings and the yearly Halloween parade, the struggling dieters have a lot on their plates.

This book is the first in the planned of Supper Club Mysteries. It is a fun addition to the market of food based cozies with endearing characters that will bring readers back for second helpings. The small town setting of Quincy Gap is also able to provide the ambiance and potential for further development. So many of us can relate to the frustration of dieting and will be looking forward to cheering along the efforts of The Supper Club.

J.B. Stanley is also the author of the Antique and Collectible Mysteries.

This is the first in a new series, the Supper Club Mysteries. James Henry is a newly divorced English professor who has moved back to his small home town to take care of his newly-widowed father. He's become the town's librarian, and is feeling lonely, unappreciated and depressed when a patron invites him to join a new supper club/support group for a few of the town's overweight citizens. There he makes some friends, loses a few pounds -- and becomes embroiled in the murder of the town troublemaker.

The book is well written and entertaining, the characters and the mystery are interesting. I will read others in the series.

Welcome to Quincy's Gap, Virginia home of the warmly engaging James Henry. Whoever said going home was easy? It can be a bumpy rode at first but turns out to be the path meant to travel.Former college professor now librarian, James Henry, returns home to care for his irascible father, Jackson, after the untimely death of his mother. Dubbed "Professor Puff" by his former students, James is more than a little overweight. Determined to do something about his expanding waistline and his incessant munching James joins a diet club to trim off the pounds. There he meets some of the most appealing individuals you'll ever meet.The members of the supper club coin themselves the "Flab Five." The four members of the Flab Five are just as charismatic and delightful as James. The bond forms and friendship builds. The love of food isn't the only ingredient holding the gang together. The darling group gets embroiled in a murder in their charming hometown.Resolved to find out who would do such a thing, the Flab Five set out to track a killer.Chockfull of friendship and fun the entertaining bunch warms you heart. J.B. Stanley does a magnificent job setting up this remarkable series! The characters, plot and setting are sensational. Ms. Stanley is simply superb.I was tempted to visit James and the rest of the bunch in Quincy's Gap.This is a must for cozy fans, series connoisseurs, mystery devotees, or one looking for a phenomenal read.Run don't walk to pick up this phenomenal book!!!

This book is the first of The Supper Club Mysteries series. The main character, James Henry, is a kind of Everyman easy to identify with. He is a quiet fellow who makes the best of life. His weakness for food, especially cheese puffs, is understandable, and you find yourself rooting for him to "get in shape" and feel good about himself. But life is full of food temptations, and it is a constant struggle for James. What I especially enjoy about the story is his difficult relationship with his widowed father. James has returned to his small hometown in Virginia to look after his dad. He takes a job running the town's public library and meets an overweight patron who wants to start a supper club for other people trying to diet and needing moral support. It's a touchy subject, but the group's struggles are inspiring, if sometimes quite humorous. James even finds a love interest among the Supper Club crowd. She happens to work for the sheriff's department, which helps when they come up against a murder. I enjoyed the comaraderie of the group as they solved the crime together.

In response to a Flyer reading:
Are you feeling Out of Shape?
Not so pleasantly Plump?
Downright miserably Fat?
Join our Supper Club!
We plan to get fit together!
We Meet every Saturday Night!
Make Friends!
Lose Weight!
Call Lindy at 555-2846
four diverse folk in smallish Quincy's Gap, Virginia, take Lindy up on her offer and dub their Club the "Flab Five." On their way to slimmer selves, they encounter a bizarre battery in a bakery and they're on the case.
J.B. Stanley's main man James Henry is a Cheeto-addicted former college professor returned home to care for his widowed father and work as the town's librarian with the able assistance of the aptly-named-for-this-line-of-work twins Frances and Scott Fitzgerald. At the opportune moment, he finds a way to use his flab in his favor.
This reviewer and frequent reader of the "cozy murder mystery" guessed the killer before The Big Reveal, but is still happy to join the Club and grow - er- shrink with them. C & C is the first phase of the Flab Five's diet. Afterward, their next caper is previewed and it appears, as they continue to lose weight, the reader will encounter less of them as they add exercise to their regimen and become *Fit to Die.* /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer

Professor James Henry's life is not going exactly as planned. First his wife asks him for a divorce, then he's forced to resign the job he loves so that he can return home to take care of his recently widowed father. On top of everything else James has gained a few pounds...OK, maybe more than a "few". James is lonely and there are few opportunities to meet new people in tiny Quincy Gap, Virginia. When James is invited to join a small group of dieters who are trying to form a support group, he decides to give it a chance. The group form a Supper Club and nickname themselves the "Flab Five". When a young man is murdered James and friends find themselves counting clues along with calories. Who says dieting is dull?

Diets. Hard to imagine that anyone hasn't been on one in some point in their lives. In our weight obsessed culture phrases like "low fat" and "low carb" are pretty common. I thought this was an interesting premise: an overweight protagonist, attractive but not perfect, struggling through some difficult life circumstances. And overall I did enjoy this, with some reservations.

What worked: I liked James Henry a lot. There's a poignancy and depth to his character that I found very appealing. I was touched by the way he's determined to make the most out of his life despite his disappointments. Great character. I thought the small town setting was described quite nicely, and the supporting characters all have potential.

Not so much: The mystery itself felt a little thrown together with too many plot holes to overlook entirely. The `Flab Five' come off as a little silly when they first approach the crime scene; a little too reminiscent of "Scooby Do". And I found myself getting uncomfortable with all the references to "jiggling" body parts, belly rolls and broad backsides. Yes, I get that they are overweight, but sometimes the "fat" references were awkward and took me out of the story in places.

This is a first entry in a cozy series, and while I had a few issues with the story I was intrigued enough by the characters to want to find out what happens to them Not a bad beginning to a series...not bad at all.

No strong language or sexual content. If you like J. B. Stanley's writing style, I would recommend another series she wrote -Stirring Up Strife: A Hope Street Church Mystery (Hope Street Church Mysteries)