The Cereal Murders [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Diane Mott Davidson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

The caterer for Elk Park Preparatory School's College Advisory Dinner, Goldy Bear discovers that the real main course for the evening is murder, in a work that includes recipes for Goldy's original creations.

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This delightfully wicked mystery features food expert Goldy Bear, seen last in Dying for Chocolate . Goldy, 31 and the divorced mother of a 12-year-old son and the owner of Goldilocks Catering ("Where Everything Is Just Right!") in Aspen Meadow, Colo., caters as many as three events a day, even while solving a murder or two. After catering the senior class dinner at the exclusive but undistinguished Elk Park Prepatory School, Goldy discovers the body of the class valedictorian, Keith Andrews, strangled by one of her extension cords. Tom Schulz, gourmet cook, Goldy's lover and head homicide detective for the Aspen Meadow police, quickly discovers that Keith may have been an extortionist and a thief. Probing further, he and Goldy find that the senior class (oddly restrained in their response to the murder) and their rancorous parents are a group for whom obsession with grades, nasty competition over college slots and blatant bribery are the norm. The book proves to be a light but delicious combination of unique personalities, first-rate recipes and sustained suspense, with only a surfeit of red herrings for leftovers.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-An expensive prep school's SAT scores have dropped, parents are bribing college admissions representatives, and the class valedictorian is murdered in a snow bank. Denver caterer Goldy Bear, who has a 7th-grade son and a senior live-in student enrolled in Elk Park Prep School, keeps finding bodies at the school events she caters. To complete her worries, someone is playing dangerous pranks on her family. This light mystery is the perfect booktalking choice for home economics classes, especially when paired with other titles in which recipes play a major role, such as Virginia Rich's The Baked Bean Supper Murders (Ballantine, 1984). Not only will teens relate to the anxieties felt by all of the Elk Park seniors, but they may even emulate Goldy's live-in student's great cheese manicotti recipe.
Pam Spencer, Thomas Jefferson Sci-Tech, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: New Millennium; Unabridged edition (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590074378
• ISBN-13: 978-1590074374
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 5.1 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,675,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Diane Mott Davidson is the author of more than ten bestselling mysteries. She lives with her family in Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smartness can get you killed!, September 6, 2001

By 

V. VanCamp "lovesbookslovesmusic" (Ithaca, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cereal Murders (Goldy Culinary Mysteries, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

Goldy finds herself in a war in Arch's school. The struggle between parents is over whose senior is the smartest, the most talented and the most well rounded. Many of Goldy's catering assignments in this book end in disaster! Goldy never knows what she is going to find this time around. Will it be a fight, will she be scolded or will there be a dead body?

In "The Cereal Murders" Diane Mott Davidson serves up a hearty meal of murder, jealousy, petty thievery, angst and pranks (which end up getting a few people hurt)! You will be entertained with the activity of many twists and turns in this mystery. As always, Goldy herself is sassy and stubborn.

There are treats involved. A side dish consists of some romance and a marriage proposal that is repeated again and again. How sweet!

D. M. Davidson provides us with 11 very delicious looking recipes in this book. Enjoy!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent choice for decadent mommy time :-), August 20, 2002

By 

Lylah "Lylah" (North Pole, Alaska United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cereal Murders (Goldy Culinary Mysteries, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am more of a sci-fi/fantasy fan but I do enjoy a good mystery now and again. I spotted this one in the grocery store and decided to give it a try.

This book, while not great literature....is a fun and entertaining book which doesnt take itself too seriously. Goldy Bear is a caterer who, as in "murder she wrote" seems to have a penchant for getting into trouble. She is also the single mom of a teenaged boy and a survivor of domestic abuse.

In this book, while catering a party at her son's prep school,( her x hubby pays for this extravegance, though he doesnt pay his child support) she finds the body of the class valedictorian. Being the caterer for most of the school's functions, and many of the students parents, she finds herself quickly embroiled in a mystery which seems to be hitting a bit closer to home than she would like.

The book is peppered throughout with actual recipes, punctuating her catering functions. Personally I think it is really neat to have the recipes, and while not being a chef, it has actually gotten me interested in cooking :-)

I am off to buy the rest of her books and next time I am going to save them to pamper myself with. I am going to look up one of the recipes and bake it before i sit down to read and decadently read and munch lol.
what a great way to spend some quality mommy time. (Treat yourself, why not?)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elk Park Prep is crime scene, August 25, 2003

By 

Karen Sampson Hudson "Karen Sampson Hudson" (Reno, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cereal Murders (Goldy Culinary Mysteries, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

In this book, one of the best of the Goldy Bear Culinary Mysteries, Elk Park Prep becomes the site of a murder when the senior class valedictorian is found dead. Goldy finds herself investigating, and in the process learns about what lengths parents will go to, trying to get their offspring into elite colleges.

As usual, the recipes Davidson inclues are wonderfully fun to make, and delicious to eat. Goldy, fueled by copious cups of heavily caffeinated coffee, unravels the mystery.

Recommended as a marvelous diversion.