Customer Reviews

A Catered Murder (Mystery with Recipes, No. 1)

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

 

 

After discovering lover in bed with her friend and co-worker, Bernadette Simmons walks out of their house wearing only the clothes on her back and carrying her pocketbook. She returns to her hometown Longley where her father and sister still live in order to do some emotional healing. She helps her sister Libby cater the seventeenth Annual Clarington High school reunion with former alumni and guest of honor Laird Wrenn, a world renown horror author who just signed a seven figure book deal for two novels.

At the reunion, Laird is giving his opening remarks when he takes a drink of water and dies almost instantly. The police believe the water is poisoned and the killer is Libby's friend Tiffany Doddy. The prime suspect had a very public fight with the author after she found out he was going to marry someone else after leading her on for almost two decades. Though Tiffany confesses, Libby refuses to believe her friend killed the man and decides to find the guilty party. Bernie also helps her sibling by questioning some viable suspects and by the time she figures out who the killer is, she is at that person's mercy.

Fans who love culinary mysteries are going to gain pounds after reading this delicious who-done-it. The two Simmons sisters are heroines even though they think, act, and resolve problems differently. They bring a sense of balance to A CATERED MURDERED, a very exciting debut mystery by an author who provides a moveable feast starring characters readers will care about. The non-stop action adds another touch of excitement to this fast moving plot.

Harriet Klausner

This book definitely is worth a read if you like culinary mysteries (and I do). However, I was surprised that the book was originally published in hard cover; it reads like a novice writer's paperback original. The characters are painted with a broad brush: the "not nice" people are really, really not nice, while the nice people are overly nice. The author overuses attribution, which can become annoying if you're a reader who likes good writing. Also, I find the lack of POV requires Ms. Crawford to use proper names in overabundance. Then there are the times I'm not really sure which of the sisters is speaking, because it sounds like one while being attributed to the other. Hmmmm. These are minor flaws when compared to the number of writers who shouldn't be allowed to string words together for money, but they are an irritant to someone who appreciates a skilled use of language. As a final insult, the recipes are for some of the most mundane dishes mentioned in the book. Read the paperback; it's entertaining and fun. But don't bother with the hard bound edition.

Isis Crawford's first book is a good, easy read. The two sisters work well together and I especially enjoyed their father Sean, a former police officer, who being disable, is similar to a Perry Mason's "Ironside." The banter is light, but many, many editing mistakes which made it choppy reading in some areas, which I hope the editors will take note of next time. The Dracula theme was a little over done, but the cast of characters, overall, made this a delighful read. I never did figure out who the killer was on my own, a BIG plus. I can hardly wait to read the second book, "A Catered Wedding." The description of Libby's cooking made me hungry throughout the whole thing, but then bonus pages with all the recipes at the end of the book were very welcome.

Libby and her spunky younger sister are in the catering business in small town Longely, where crime never occurs... or does it? At a dinner in honor of local hero Laird Wrenn, author of famous vampire books, the odd author drops dead after drinking some water. Soon, Libby's best friend Tiffany becomes the prime suspect and Libby wants to do some amatuer detective work to clear her friend of the crime she's sure she didn't do, even though Tiffany confessed. Amusing characters pop out of the woodwork with a variety of motives, and another dead body appears along the way in this amusing and highly entertaining cozy. The action packed chapters kept my attention!

I'm a lover of cozy mysteries, so when I stumbled onto this series, I was hopeful that it would be entertaining. I just finished A Catered Murder and will probably read the next book in the series, but there are a few problems. The dialogue is often confusing. I can't tell which character is speaking. The grammatical errors detract from the story also. It has not really been explained what Sean's medical problem is. All in all, this book is mildly absorbing.

I love cozy mysteries and am always on the lookout for an author I haven't read. When this kept popping up on my Amazon recommendations, I decided to give it a try since all the ingredients are there for a mystery I would love.

While I didn't dislike the book, it didn't really catch my interest either. When I first started reading, I thought there was a lot of potential. I liked the fact that there were two major sleuths rather than just one since that's different than the way most cozies are written. I also like the fact, while sisters, they were very different characters so they would be able to play well off of each other. The setting of a small town not too distant from New York and a restaurant/bakery seemed an ideal setup.

On the negative side, the potential wasn't realized for me. The setting did not end up playing a major role and I couldn't really define for you what the restaurant/bakery was -- bakery, restaurant, catering firm? It was also filled with employees that were mentioned only in passing but I hope they would be fleshed out in future books. I noticed that other reviewers mentioned the need for a stronger editor and I fully agree. While some of the horrible grammer is used as dialogue by the characters (and therefore gets a pass), there were still areas that could have been tightened up to make it a better book. For example: I counted six references to the character of Bernie playing with her onyx and silver ring. It was so often that I really thought the ring held one of the clues to the murder, but it was just overly described. Also, on page 116, "Bernie handed the bag back to Janet". A conversation ensues between the two characters and at its conclusion "Janet shook her head as Bernie handed the bag back to her." Not sure how that could happen.

The other thing I feel a need to tell readers about is that it's unusual to find a cozy with major cuss words and this one has them. Particularly the major cuss word of all time. The typical cozy reader isn't usually someone who likes reading profanity and it didn't add to the story in any way. I'm not at all sure why it was included.

Bottom line: I probably won't be reading the next in the series which I am truly sad about. There are too many really good mystery series out there (Tea Shop Series by Laura Childs and Coffee Shop Series by Cleo Coyle) to spend the time pursuing this one.

This book is such a mess, I don't even know where to start.

A fast over view of the "plot" A woman runs a catering service. She's catering a party, and some dude who thinks he's a vampire drops dead. The person that catering the party is the main suspect. Bang! That's it. The funny thing is that the cops must be complete dunderheads b/c the woman who is catering, has a stupid reason to wish him dead.

First off, this book needs to be edited better. There were a ton of grammar errors, and half of the time, I didn't know what was talking. It was very distracting to have to look back to see what character was talking.

Speaking of the characters, they were paper thin. No depth and no personality. Even the guy that was killed was boring as all heck.

The book us full of fluff. In the first 115 pages, about 10 (at most) have to deal with the murder and looking for clues. You may ask what the other 105 pages are about? Glad you asked. It's about cooking and setting up for parties (yes, more than one) and we get to go shopping with one of the characters. There is just so much dang fluff.

Normally, I'd say check this out at the library..... but don't even do that. Unless, you like reading about setting up for parties and hearing about going shopping.

This is an enjoyable series. The characters are fun in their own neurotic ways. Definitely a rising new author!

It's really a shame, because the idea is there, and the characters are there. However, awkward phrasing, typos, misspellings, and lack of clarity in the dialogues make the story tedious and frustrating to read. I question her editor's judgment...It's too bad.

I picked this book because I really like culinary mysteries, especially those that include recipes. However, this one did not really live up to my expectations.
I was draw to the idea one of the sisters owned and operated a cafe while performing catering jobs on the side. The rest of the characters, I just did not find that interesting or appealing. There is another set of culinary cozy mysteries where I really enjoy the people of the town, and I cannot wait to read about them in the next installment. This one did not do that for me. I am not even sure I will read the next in the series.
The writing style was also not my cup of tea. I found it difficult to follow dialogue between characters like another reviewer has said. I could not tell who was speaking without going back to the last "said," and counting the lines to see which sister said what. Also, I found a couple of mistakes that I thought any good editor should have caught, and I am not one to usually catch these things (must have been pretty obvious). All in all the writing was disjointed. I kept reading in hopes it would get better.
I dont know that I can totally recommend this book, and three stars was probably generous. Pick it up at your library before making a purchase. You might find it your cup of tea.