Courting Disaster: An Angie Amalfi Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

by Joanne Pence (Author) "A fat, salty tear trickled down Stanfield Bonnette's narrow cheek..." (more)
Key Phrases: San Francisco, Shelly Farms, Michael Zeno (more...)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Avon (November 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060502916
• ISBN-13: 978-0060502911
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #426,912 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amusing, some romance, and welll-plotted,

By	M. C. Crammer (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews

The detective of this San Francisco-set mystery (and that is a big part of the charm) is Angie, a woman with enough money that she doesn't need to work, which is a good thing because she's not very good at holding down a job despite her ability as a cordon bleu cook. Angie is engaged to a homicide detective. Her mother is planning their engagement party, and the fact that the party is a secret from Angie is driving her crazy -- she's trying to find out where the party is, the theme, etc. But the real mystery plot involves what's going on in a Greek waterfront restaurant. Angie's neighbor and friend Stan "discovers" the restaurant and falls in love with a pregnant woman associated with the restaurant. She turns to Stan for help and Angie gets involved. Before they know it, they're involved in some puzzling things going on at the restaurant, including trouble coming from the baby's father. THen there's Angie's father, who is being stalked by an employee but doesn't want his wife or daughter to know -- so the father seeks out the help of Paavo, Angie's fiance.

As you can tell, there's lots of stuff going on in this book, enough so that the reader moves around among multiple plot lines. It's not difficult to follow, however, in part because the characters are such...characters. Larger than life and likeable, except for the villains.

I intend to read more in the series -- although there are enough in the series that I will be busy for a while.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courting Disaster, December 13, 2004

By	Amanda Killgore (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

With a full schedule to juggle, Angie has little time to plan an engagement party; so she leaves that to her mother, soon regretting the decision as she frets over what her mother will do to the party. That is the least of her concerns soon, as murder, a stalker, a missing new mother, a harried neighbor and the dreaded color purple keep Angie's life interesting. Her neighbor, Stan, seeks solace for his heart broken state over Angie and Paavo's approaching wedding and his loss of free food, by courting a lovely waitress, who happens to be very pregnant. When she suddenly gives birth, Stan becomes her savior, until she vanishes and the child's father is killed. Going to the authorities to investigate would put the baby into the hands of CPS- but there's always Angie, who kind of has police credentials because she has helped out her fiance' before on his police cases. Right? Right. Paavo has his own worries. Someone is scaring Angie to death, and it could become the real deal if he doesn't catch the stalker.

**** Angie Amafali's saga is always so much fun that you can't help but smile when a new entry comes along. It has all the warmth and zaniness of more famous books, but less angst to weigh it down. Her romance with Paavo has a reassuring quality in a very unreassuring world. As always, the adventure continues in the back with recipes to inspire you to imitate one of Angie's safer hobbies. This is a Christmas gift to give yourself. ****

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slow start., January 5, 2005

By	Huntress Reviews (United States) - See all my reviews

Meet Angie Amalfi, chef and freelance food critic. With her "surprise" engagement party around the corner, Angie is in a whirlwind of motion trying to figure out the details. Then a mysterious woman appears at her neighbor's door.

Angie's neighbor is named Stan. He has just been drawn into the life of this woman and her baby. Now Angie must help the woman and Stan out of a murderous baby smuggling ring.

**** A slow start but by the end it was a worthwhile read! Angie and Stan's antics are enough to capture any reader's attention. ****

Reviewed by K. Blair.