With the promise of a hefty commission and some valuable word-of-mouth for their catering business, A Little Taste of Heaven, sisters Bernadette and Libby Simmons agree to cater the charity haunted house being staged at the old Peabody School. But when wealthy socialite Amethyst Applegate is found dead in the haunted house, Bernie and Libby wonder if a murderer might also be lurking about Peabody's gloomy halls...While almost everyone Amethyst ever met might have a motive for killing her, not everyone had access to the Peabody School. All Bernie and Libby know is if they don't solve this mystery soon, they might become the next stars in a real-life horror flick...
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In Crawford's fun, well-plotted fifth culinary cozy to feature Bernadette and Libby Simmons (after 2007's A Catered Valentine's Day), the sisters cater a fundraiser for the Longely, N.Y., volunteer firemen that includes a high-tech haunted house, formerly the Peabody School. In a room evoking the setting of Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, the severed head that rolls down some stairs and lands at Libby's feet proves to be real. The victim, Amethyst Applegate, had been a student years earlier at the Peabody School, where another student at the time, Bessie Osgood, died under suspicious circumstances. Is Bessie's ghost still haunting the place? Aided by their father, Sean, the town's retired police chief, Bernie and Libby discover that Amethyst, a notorious home wrecker, had no lack of enemies. A selection of delectable seasonal recipes rounds out the volume. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Review
"Fun...well-plotted.... A selection of delectable seasonal recipes rounds out the volume." --Publishers Weekly"
--This text refers to the
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edition.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
superb catered amateur sleuth,
This review is from: A Catered Halloween (Mystery with Recipes) (Hardcover)
Amethyst Applegate receives a blackmail letter from deceased Bessie Osgood, who died years ago when they attended school together. Unshaken Amethyst plans to take care of the blackmailer as she took care of Bessie.
The Simmons sisters, Libby and Bernie, owners of A Little Taste of Heaven, are ecstatic to cater the Halloween festivities at the Peabody School, a place rumored to be haunted. Businessman Mark Kane is going all out to include construction of a haunted house with high tech special effects that a Hollywood horror move would envy. Everyone is stunned when they see a torso on a table with the severed head of Amethyst nearby. Finding the killer will not prove easy as everyone has a motive to murder the universally loathed Amethyst whose list of enemies exceeds the Longley phonebook. Libby thinks she sees the ghost of Bessie, but rationalizes that her imagination got the best of her rather than her intuitive powers. Bob Small who is working at the haunted house has a strong reason to kill Amethyst because he spent jail time due to a stunt she pulled. Inez Colley hated the female abomination for stealing her husband and her wealth by seducing and blackmailing her weak spouse. Zachary Timberland held Amethyst culpable for ruining his daughter Zoe. The list goes on. However, the police arrest Bob as he is the only one with opportunity. The Simmons siblings think otherwise so with their father along they investigate the murder of an odious witch. Isis Crawford outdoes her usual superb catered amateur sleuth novels with A CATERED HALLOWEEN as ghosts and Libby's visions enhance a whodunit in which the townsfolk, the sisters, and the readers agree beheading is befitting the odious ogress. The two sisters are total opposites yet best friends as each is always there for the other. Due to Libby's paranormal skills they feel obligated to unmask the real killer as they believe strongly the cops got the wrong person. With euphoric ghosts and plenty of eccentric suspects toasting the killer, solving the case of the murdered witch may prove a recipe for failure for the Simmons, but catered entertainment for series fans. Harriet Klausner
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
So many motives, so little time,
By Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Catered Halloween (Mystery with Recipes) (Hardcover)
A Catered Halloween is number five in this fun series featuring sisters Libby and Bernie Simmons, who run a shop and catering service, A Little Taste of Heaven. They are catering the Longely Volunteer Firemen's Halloween Haunted House, run as a fundraiser by wealthy Mark Kane out of the mansion he had just purchased as a home for his Foundation. He has had experts put in all sorts of eerie holograms and special effects.
Before it is even open to the public, Mark, Libby and Bernie find the severed head of nasty Amethyst Applegate at the foot of some steps, her body on a platform with a pendulum swinging above it. There is no end to the possible suspects for Amethyst's murder because she ruined so many people's lives. The two most likely are cleaning woman Inez and handyman Bob. Both were on site, and the police consider Bob Small the main suspect as he had knowledge of the wire that was used in the murder. But was he framed? Ex-policeman Sean Simmons helps to clear Bob. He is also Libby and Bernie's father, and is aided by Marvin, Libby's boyfriend. Complicating the investigation is the history of the mansion. It used to be The Peabody School, where young Bessie Osgood fell out a window and died. Was it an accident, or was Amethyst involved? The intrepid investigators-Libby, Bernie, Marvin, Sean and friends-find Bessie's diary buried under a tree on the grounds, and learn the truth behind her miserable life at the school, and about her death. While working at the mansion all alone, Libby feels that she is targeted by Bessie's ghost, asking for help. This pleasantly shivery culinary cozy mystery will keep you intrigued as the motives of various suspects are investigated and the sisters squabble. The book includes recipes as well. Armchair Interviews says: Good characters and good mystery are combined for a very fun read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Stop This Woman Before She Writes Again!,
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This review is from: A Catered Halloween (Mystery with Recipes) (Paperback)
I've been trying to finish this book for over a week, and finally decided to stop punishing myself tonight. The book sounds good on the surface, but as I began reading it, found the characters flat, the storyline slipshod and all over the place, completely lacking in descriptions, no introduction to most of the secondary characters- I had to guess who they were in relation to the two main characters- and dialogue so poor I could barely follow it. I was more than halfway through this "monsterpiece" and still know nothing about the people in this book, their town, what their shop looks like, what THEY look like, what their relationship is to other characters and any backstory at all.
The author leaps from scene to scene with no sense and characters pop in and out, with no explanation of who they are, and by the time I reached the center of the book, it was mostly dialogue with forgotton characters' names. It feels like the author never took a writing class in her life, and just spews out dialogue, trying to make sense of it herself as she progresses. To the used book store with this one, ASAP!
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