Customer Reviews

Killer Pancake

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is the 5th book in the Goldy the caterer series. This time the girlfriend of her beloved assistant and border, Julian Teller, is murdered. Of course Goldy can't stand by and let Julian suffer, so she pokes her nose into things and eventually solves a murder.

Along the way she deals with her best friend's heart attack, her vicious ex-husband, her new husband, a teenage son, demanding clients, the cut throat cosmetic industry, and animal rights activists. All while preparing delicious low fat recipes. Don't read on an empty stomache.

Am I the only food professional who didn't know about these delicious mysteries? In Killer Pancake Mott Davidson's indomitable sleuth, Goldy the Caterer, takes on the cosmetic industry, the lunatic fringe of animal rights activism, and (once again) her menacing ex-husband. And she still has time to operate her demanding business on a daily basis! Actually, that's what I like best about Mott Davidson's mysteries. Goldy has to make time for business; she needs the money. This sleuth is always real. Her business, her family, her love life, and her friendships have ups and downs and ins and outs that seem awfully familiar. Specifically I enjoy the details of her catering business and have learned or been reminded of tons of information about food preparation, storage, and presentation. These books are a veritable archive of food lore. And the recipes--some of which I've tried--are great! I especially enjoyed the recipes from Killer Pancake because they were developed for low fat crowd. Try the Vanilla-Frosted Fudge Cookies. They're yummy. My biggest worry is that Goldy will run out of murders. I mean, Kay Scarpetta has D.C and V.I. Warshawski has Chicago--no end to violent crime there. But shouldn't little Aspen Meadows dry up pretty soon? I guess there's always Denver.

Really rate this 3.5 stars - This was a typical Goldy book, light, fluffy and insubstantial, the kind of book you read for escapism, not reality. I like Goldy, as unlikely as her adventures are, and I simply can't believe how helpful and on-the-spot teenage Julian is for her catering business despite the death of his girlfriend - but hey, it's fiction. And as such, it's fun.

However, it is certainly not factual. Take it from a toxicologist. The attempted poisoning at the end was so full of dangerous nonsense I just have to speak up. First of all, coffee is NOT an antidote to the classic hemlock (conium maculatum) of the ancient Greeks. Not even close - there IS NO SPECIFIC ANTIDOTE. And COFFEE IS NOT AN ANTIDOTE TO ANYTHING ELSE, including alcohol. At best coffee might ease some of the sedative symptoms of classic hemlock, but not by much. Also the paralysis described was all wrong, since it would hit the respiratory muscles at the same time as other muscles - if the victim was poisoned enough that he / she couldn't run, he/she certainly couldn't breathe either. But really, this is a moot point - classic hemlock poison is both stinky and INVALIDATED BY COOKING. If is was baked in the muffins, they'd be both nasty-tasting and nontoxic.

There is a possibility that the author is referring to water hemlock (cicuta), a completely different plant from the stuff that killed Socrates. However, water hemlock is EXTREMELY toxic, would cause major seizures (which the victim DIDN'T have) and may kill the victim within minutes. THERE IS NO ANTIDOTE FOR WATER HEMLOCK - only treatment if it is caught in time (not often the case). Water hemlock toxin can also go through the skin, so any poisoners handling it would likely show symptoms themselves before being able to bake the stuff in muffins.

So, as much as I like the Goldy books, once again I find myself pleading that the author at least TRY to get her facts right. This lack of research really bothers me, and mars what is otherwise a highly entertaining series.

Diane Mott Davidson is an old standby for me. Whenever I'm in a bookstore, I can look for her titles on the shelf and all is right with the universe. This is a series of mysteries with the same character, Goldy the caterer. Though she isn't a detective, her job involves her in a lot of situations other 9-to-5ers might not run into, and that's the hook of the book as it were.

Killer Pancake is light fluffy fun (the allusion to pancakes here is intended). And there are recipes, so who can fault that? I recommend any of her books. The subplot of her relationship with "the jerk" may get a little old for you if you read enough of her stuff, but let it ride. Every great lady has to have a few flaws. Killer Pancake is just one more in a fun little series. Bon appetit.

Enjoyable, but not my favorite book in this series. I have to laugh at some of the crazy situations Goldy finds herself in. Her husband, Tom, was not a central part of this storyline and I wished there was more interaction between them. I love that this series has recipes included in the book. I am going to try the Chocolate cookie recipe and the Killer Pancakes from this book!

In this culinary mystery by Daine Mott Davidson, Goldy the caterer becomes involved in the deadly games of the cosmetics industry. This story has many twists and turns, and dead bodies falling out .... well...everywhere! All the recipes are lowfat, but they promise to be full of flavor. This was a fun mystery, and I look forward to trying out some of these! Main Corpse and Prime Cut are still my two favorite books by this author!

This book really missed the mark for me. The overall storyline seemed more disjointed then her past efforts and previously prominent characters barely made and appearance.

Goldy and her Goldilocks' catering company are hired to cater the luncheon for Mignon Cosmetics Company. Not a problem, until she finds out that her usual fare will not do, everything must be low cal and that is not Goldy's specialty. A dessert without butter and cream is not worth eating.

Nevertheless, a job is a job and she must come up with something, little does she know that finding the right recipes will be the least of her problems. Mignon has been accused of animal testing and as she is trying to delivery the food for the banquet she is confronted by an angry mob and as Goldy is trying to battle her way into the venue there is a squeal of tires and one of Mignon's leading sales women is murdered in the parking lot.

Turns out that there is quite a bit of corruption when it comes to beauty and once again, Goldy throws herself into the business of finding a murderer.

As I said, this book was a bit of a let down for me, would I continue the series, I really do not know. However, I do tend to give authors one more chance that tends to lead to two or three more chances when I have started out enjoying the beginning of a series.

I liked the story but could not concentrate because of the constant grammatical errors! Almost every time the word "close" or "closed" was supposed to have been used it appeared as "dose" or "dosed." There was a lack of punctuation so sentences ran on and recipes included misspelled words such as "portobfxo" instead of "portobello". Most glaring was Goldy's best friend being named "Maria" rather than "Marla" as she is called in the other books in the series. I found these errors very irritating and was surprised that no other reader commented on them. My other kindle books did not have nearly this amount of errors. Clearly there is a need for better proofreading in the conversion process!

Like other reviewers, I found this offering was just so-so. It may be that I'm weary of Goldy always finding dead bodies, always having mini-breakdowns, and Goldy's loved ones always being under suspicion. It seems churlish of me to complain about very well-described human emotions to traumatic death, but after four or five stories it's just gotten a bit tedious for me. Let Goldy solve a murder that's not directly related to her little family for a change.

The so-called "low-fat" recipes in the book appear delightful especially the Hoisin Turkey with Roasted Pine Nuts in Lettuce Cups, and Turkey Curry with Raisin Rice. Hopefully they result in delectable dishes when I finally make time to prepare them. An index of the recipes is included at the end of the book which is great. As for the mystery itself, it is an account of a caterer trying her best to stay sane doing overrated daily chores while assisting the police (whether they welcome it or not) to solve a murder case that involves the well-being of her assistant while balancing a so-called fear of an ex-husband. If there are civilians who are as perceptive as Goldy, the caterer, then maybe a lot of real life murders could be solved more quickly. At least, that's what the writing seems to concentrate on - a woman's intuition. Too much of it makes the story unbelievable even as a fiction. There are a few actions including a shooting spree but the way the tale is told, the tumults cannot be grasped - everything is on the surface, more in the form of a news article than a stirring recounting. It is a rapid read of a short mystery that comprises mentions of lots of good food, drinks, and preparations with a mediocre technique of story telling.