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A Catered Christmas (Mystery with Recipes, No. 3) [Mass Market Paperback]

Isis Crawford (Author)
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews) |

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Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006
As picturesque Longley, New York, gets ready to ring in the holiday season, caterers Bernadette and Libby Simmons are coping with their busiest time of year. If that's not enough to make them run around like crazed elves, they're recruited for a cooking show contest that pits celebrity chefs against each other--and gives rise to murder...

Visions of sugar plums are most decidedly not dancing in Libby's head--especially since she and her sister are set to appear on the Hortense Calabash Cooking Show. The premise is to give six professional caterers random ingredients and have them whip up a holiday meal. The icing on the fruitcake is that Hortense Calabash is a grinch of year-round proportions. And the other contestants are some of the most demanding--and difficult--chefs in the business.

Bernie and Libby are thrown into the mix as arguments and accusations simmer on the set. Holiday spirit has left the building--and leaves a body--when Hortense, all dressed up as Santa Claus for the opening sequence, is killed by an exploding oven.

With the holiday rush in full swing and a killer still on the loose, Bernie and Libby have no choice but to wrap up the mystery before their geese are well and fully cooked. . .

Includes Scrumptious Holiday Recipes for You to Try!

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Kensington (October 1, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0758206887
  • ISBN-13: 978-0758206886
  • Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #531,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Isis Crawford
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In the town of LONGLELEY, sisters Bernie and Libby own the store and catering service, A Little Taste of Heaven; they are so well known that they are invited to compete in a cook off on the Hortense Calabash show. Six caterers are given ingredients chosen by the hostess and are supposed to make an entire meal out of them. The winner gets twenty thousand dollars which is donated to their favorite charity. On the first day of taping, the contestants hear a noise; they rush in to find Hortense dead on the floor, a Christmas ornament wedged into her throat.

The police discover that the stove's gas line was cut and Christmas ornaments were placed in the oven. When she opened the door, the oven sparked a causing a mini explosion. The police agree to keep Hortense's death quiet while they and Bernie and Libby search for the killer. Although Libby and Bernie solved homicides in the past (see A CATERED MURDER and A CATERED WEDDING), this murder has them stumped because all the contestants had a reason to kill Hortense except themselves.

A CATERED CHRISTMAS is a lively and entertaining amateur sleuth mystery filled with plenty of red herrings, unexpected twists and turns and deliberately planted false clues. The two sisters and their father engage in witty dialogue that will have readers chuckling out loud. The plot is believable, the characters are portrayed realistically and there is enough action to keep readers turning the pages to find out what happens next.

Harriet Klausner
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
A fun read! January 17, 2007
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Harriet Klausner always gives an excellent description of the storylines so I'll simply give my reactions to this book.

I finished it last night and I'm looking forward to seeing these characters again! I have very little time for reading lately but I couldn't put this one down. Lots of action..but it's easy to follow.

I like the sisters and especially their dad, Sean. The fact that the POV switches from sister to sister to dad was intriguing. I really liked it. The reader get's to know the characters though the eyes of the other main characters.

Sean's interaction with his daughters' boyfriends was very funny. Their investigative mission to search the victim's home was probably my favorite part of the book.

The characters in the "competition" were all hilarious and described in a manner that helped you keep them straight in your mind. If one of them wasn't based on a certain very popular "30 Minute" cooking television show I'll eat my keyboard. The victim was also very obviously based on a certain Domestic Diva. It was a real romp. I wish we'd seen more of the actual competition.

My quibbles would be the lousy editing. There were several times when "she" was used instead of "he" or vice versa. That kind of thing really stops the reader in her tracks. There were a couple of other errors but this was what really bothered me. I don't understand how such sloppy work gets through. I doubt it's the author. The problem is either with edit or set up. From reading reviews of her other books I see it's a pattern. Ms. Crawford needs to complain to the publisher loud and long.

Perhaps in an attempt to be attractive to all ages of readers, the ages of the sisters, Sean, and the contestants are not explained and that's something I like to have a handle on. There's a disconcerting conflict in the age description of one character, Pearl.

My only other complaint would be that the sisters seem to be too critcal of one another. At times they sound like my granddaughters, ages 11 and 9! If I want to be around that, all I have to do is drive my grands to ballet. While some conflict between two such diverse personalities is natural it goes a bit over the top at times.

It sounds as though I have a lot of complaints but they're all fairly minor. Except for a couple of instances of the girls quibbling I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'd read it again...and I recommend that you read it!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Not Entertaining. December 29, 2007
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I rarely write reviews on books I do not like but this one is just such a drab little book I felt compelled to write a short review.

The characters bicker and bicker. The two main characters are sisters who are complete opposites. It is completely unbelievable and they fight constantly. The other characters the potential murderers bicker, gossip, back stab and worry more about themselves than anything else. The characters are unbelievable. Even the main sister's boyfriend is protrayed as a dumb doofus and yet he's probably the most believable and enjoyable in the book.

And the solution was even less believable.

This is not escapeism at it's best. This is a book you can skip.
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Isis Crawford, Eric Royal, Jean La Croix, Little Taste of Heaven, Bree Nottingham, Reginald Palmer, Hortense Calabash Show, Pearl Wilde, New York City, Heavenly Housewife, New Jersey, Park Avenue, Chief Broad
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