Customer Reviews

Death For Dessert

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Heroine: plump

After thirty five years of marriage to her surgeon husband Ted, May Bell List finds herself traded in for a series of silicone sylphs. So after a brief but satisfying vendetta, she sets out across country in Ted's "STUD DOC" '68 Camaro convertible and winds up taking an apartment in a California Active Seniors center.

And wasn't she sorry that she signed that lease?

As soon as she moves in, May Bell finds herself surrounded by odd neighbors: inedible-cookie-baking-queen Ida, owl-eyed-walker-wielding Fanny, Mr. and Mrs. "loud-Mariachi-music-in-the-pre-dawn-hours" and their little yapper of a dog Paco, "I've got Viagra" Grady, and senile part-time nudist "Bob 'What What?!'". Not to mention Mrs. Berkowitz, a scary fruitcake of an old hag who seems to have an eerie hold on the other members of the living complex. She stares at May Bell as if she knows all her deepest, darkest secrets; then begins to taunt her with them, naming the unknowable aloud.

Is Mrs. Berkowitz psychic, psychotic, or both? It's up to May Bell to find out!

What worked for me:

I gobbled up "Death for Dessert" in one sitting. It was the funniest thing I've read in a while!

If nothing else, the messages I took away from this book were a) I'd rather be living alone with 23 cats in my blue-hair days than move into a retirement village and risk having neighbors like Mrs. Berkowitz and Bob What-What, and b) I should invest in Oil of Olay, stock and product.

Size-wise May Bell was plump, but lost a bit of weight worrying over her life.

What didn't work for me:

I've still got images of Bob What-What wearing some of his most revealing attire floating before my eyes.

Overall:

Engaging characters, clever prose, and fun surprises make "Death for Dessert" a do-not-miss for fans of quirky cozy mysteries!

Warning: there is some weight loss in this book.

If you liked "Death for Dessert" you might also enjoy the Odelia Grey mystery series, "The Southern Sisters" mystery series or "The Gumshoe Girls".

This is The Funniest book I have ever read. Every chapter had me laughing so hard I was gasping not to say of tearing eyes. I am so glad I found T Dawn Richard this world needs more ladies like her the comic relief is priceless. The Best Entertainment Yet. I loved her characters and all the shenanigans of her gang Don't miss this book.
Nancy

Following her husband's desertion her for a younger model after thirty-five years of marriage, May List moves into the Active Senior Living Apartment Complex. She almost immediately runs afoul of her weird new neighbor Mrs. Berkowitz over a typewriter. Still she settles in only to find the place boring except for her nosy neighbor who knows thins about her no one should know.

When she buys a computer, Mrs. Berkowitz shows her how to use it. May leaves the Berkowitz apartment only to realize she inadvertently took with her some disks belonging to her neighbor. These contain blackmailing information that apparently Mrs. Berkowitz uses to extort money from other seniors. May confronts the other seniors and learns that it is true so she goes to challenge Mrs. Berkowitz only to find the woman dead. Tampering with the crime scene and delaying the calling of the cops, May searches for the identity of a killer when everyone detested the victim.

Although Mrs. Berkowitz may come across as a lowlife with no redeeming qualities, readers will enjoy this amusing yet intriguing cozy because of her human insight and schemes. The audience will see an assisted living facility from the inside and though well kept, the tedium takes a toll on the residents. Though it is never clear how Mrs. B attains her data even if it is implied that the computer is her source especially to May, fans of amateur sleuth cozies will enjoy this senior citizen investigative tale.

Harriet Klausner

Death for Dessert is the first book in a series with her elderly lead character May List. There aren't that many authors prepared to have elderly heroines so what T. Dawn Richard does with this series is quite unique. The other two books so far in this series are of course A Wrinkle in Crime (Five Star Mystery) (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star Mystery Series), and Digging Up Otis (May List Mysteries). No doubt there will be more to come. There are a few other authors out there who fight the stereotype that old people are useless and also have their crafty old and very intersting characters save the day also check out Retirement Homes Are Murder (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star Mystery Series) by Mike Befeler and On the Warpath by Gerald Hammond.

In Death for Dessert May List leaves her husband and moves into a retirement home. Once moved in she finds she can't wait to get out but the manager tells her she will not get a refund so she's got to stick it out for a little while. Inside the complex are an assortment of odd retirees who get up to mischievous and weird acts. Across the hall is a particularly scary old lady who never leaves her apartment but seems to take pleasure in tormenting her from behind the door. Her name is Mrs Berkowitz and the other residents have warned May to avoid and have nothing to do with her. This is easier said than done however as the old lady seems to know details of May's life that even her husband never did. May is not only disturbed by this but determined to work out how this woman knows what she does and why everyone else is so afraid of her. Soon she and her neighbours have an a lot more serious issue to worry about but prove their minds aren't dead with a scheme to make things right and improve all of their lives.

A very entertaining book, is a bit slow in parts to begin with as the scene is being set and we are taken to the main storyline. I didn't see the point to the events in the last few pages which are the only reason I don't rate this five stars. Saying that I can't wait to read the next books in this series.

I kept finding myself wanting to add plot lines and twists that the author didn't.

After a life time of marriage, May List flees a philandering doctor-husband and ends up in an "active senior living" complex. Not only has her life ended up this way but she encounters a bizarre group of elderly residents that aren't exactly as they appear. After a bizarre encounter with the erratic Mrs. Berkowitz, May is warned to stay as far away from this woman as possible, but May's curiosity gets the best of her when Mrs. Berkowitz just happens to know the secret details of May's life.

May starts putting the pieces together and finally see this woman as the blackmailer that she really is, the only problem is that it's a little too late when Mrs. Berkowitz is found dead and the plate of brownies that May had found next to her door is now empty on Mrs. Berkowitz's counter.

It's up to the "Active Seniors" to solve the crime and get their secrets back.

Parts of this book are very funny, but with the slow pace and pat ending, this book just didn't work for me.