Sweet Revenge (Goldy Culinary Mystery, Book 14) [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Diane Mott Davidson (Author), Barbara Rosenblat (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 21, 2007

A month before Christmas, I saw a ghost...

Goldy Schulz is thrilled to be catering a holiday breakfast feast for the staff of the Aspen Meadow Library. But little does she know that on the menu is a large helping of murder.

While setting up at the library, Goldy spots a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Sandee Brisbane—the Sandee Brisbane who killed Goldy's ex-husband, the Jerk. But Sandee is supposed to be dead. Or so everyone believes. Goldy's suspicions mount when the body of Drew Wellington, a former district attorney, is found in a corner of the library with a map worth thousands of dollars stashed in his clothing. She's convinced that Sandee is involved. But the holiday madness is only just beginning for Goldy. Soon she's drawn into the dangerous, double-crossing world of high-end map dealing. And, like the ghost of Christmas past, Sandee keeps making an appearance. Could she be out to prove that revenge is sweet?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bestseller Davidson is at the top of her form in her 14th culinary suspense novel to feature Colorado crime-solving caterer Goldy Schulz (after 2006's Dark Tort). As the Christmas season approaches, Goldy is thrilled to be catering not only a breakfast for the local library but also an elegant dinner for Hermie and Smithfield MacArthur, rich Southern transplants to Aspen Meadow. But when the body of Drew Wellington, the disgraced former DA, turns up in the library, Goldy is once again forced to put her recipes on the back burner and find the murderer. Discovering that Wellington was dabbling in antique map collecting, Goldy must track down a priceless map and steer clear of Wellington's fellow collectors, ex-girlfriends and clients. Further complicating matters are sightings of the allegedly deceased Sandee Brisbane, the young woman accused of murdering Goldy's ex-husband and then supposedly perishing in a forest fire. Readers will happily sink their teeth into Goldy's latest case and come away hungry for more. 11-city author tour.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Diane Mott Davidson is the author of fourteen bestselling novels featuring the irresistible Goldy Schulz. She lives in Colorado with her family.

Product Details

• Audio CD: 120 pages
• Publisher: HarperAudio; Unabridged edition (August 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006136357X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061363573
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 5.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #628,140 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

72 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Can't believe it's the same author, September 18, 2007

By 

Holly Kincaid "Book addict" (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sweet Revenge (Goldy Culinary Mystery, Book 14) (Hardcover)

I have read every book in this series and have enjoyed each and every one -- until now. The books have always been entertaining, fun and light-hearted. This one was slow-moving and full of filler. It seemed like the author needed to produce a specific number of pages and didn't have enough material to do so. The solution -- recap over and over what had happened so far in the story. While a summation at various points can be helpful to the reader, every few pages Goldy (the main character) would "review what she knew so far". That review was always good for filling up the page but did nothing to advance the story. I found myself extremely impatient with the device since I lost count of how many times it was done. Many pages were also devoted to taking her son Arch and his friends to the snowboarding recreation area. There are only so many times I can read about planning on going, preparing to go, driving to the recreation area, planning on picking him up, loading the equipment in the van and driving back home or arranging for someone else to take him since Goldy was busy. FYI -- if you got impatient with reading that last sentence, think about it taking pages throughout the book to describe !!

In addition, the characters weren't developed in any fashion. Tom (Goldy's husband) spent the entire book enveloping her in big bear hugs and fussing at her for interfering. Her son Arch spent the entire book making sarcastic comments and being a general irritant.

I don't know if Goldy has run her coarse and needs to be retired, but more books of this quality diminish what has been an outstanding series. Either improve the quality or end it gracefully !

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is the last one I read... and I mean it, March 5, 2008

By 

Smeddley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Revenge (Goldy Culinary Mystery, Book 14) (Hardcover)

Do you ever find yourself reading a series and you just can't stop? Even though you're no longer truly enjoying it? I've found myself in that rut with this series. The first few I read (admittedly, I started out of order) were fine, but then as the series wore on Goldy got on my nerves more and more... her over-indulged son, Arch, during his `rebellious' nasty teen tantrums, running over her, all the lamenting about the abuse by her ex... it got tiresome. The character came across as whiney and pathetic. I think to mention it once or twice, sure, but to beat it into the ground over and over became so tedious that I just had to put the series down.

But for some reason I picked it up again. Out of habit? I'm not sure, but the first 100 pages of this book took me a long time to get through. I had to keep setting it down because Goldy annoyed me so very much. Even Tom, her loving husband, irritated me in this book. He came across as... arrogant. Once the actual mystery started, I was able to read it mostly for that and plowed my way through the book (though the people who kept coming to Goldy for help because she `solves crime' was trite and unrealistic... I think I'm getting more and more annoyed with the amateur sleuth series that seem to imply a regular person is so much smarter and more equipped to solve murders than, say, the police force. And Goldy's false modesty didn't ring true or sit well, either.). I think I'd give the mystery portion of the book four stars (a pretty decent cozy) and the characters a single star. Technically that averages out to two-and-a-half, but I'm rounding down. Maybe I'll be smart enough to not even start the next one.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I miss my DMD sweet indulgences, October 16, 2007

By 

Bookylooky "Goldy Fan" (Arkansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Revenge (Goldy Culinary Mystery, Book 14) (Hardcover)

The Goldy Bear mysteries have been one of my favorite mystery series. I would look forward to loosing myself in the pages that went into great detail about the cooking of the recipes and found myself salivating as they were described. In the last few books DMD has moved farther and farther from the roots with which she started this series. The cooking

and recipes are now just a filler device that barely get more than just a mention. In the early DMD books the recipes were included in the section of the book where they were refered to and I would linger over them as Goldy described how she developed the recipe, steps in the cooking of it and lushious descriptions of how they tasted. The recipes are now listed in the back of the book, which may be easier for finding them, but takes part of the fun out of the book in my opinion.

I had to force myself to finish this book. The plot was so stupid, map dealers are in no way interesting. The new characters brought in to move the plot never seemed like real people and they were all bad or had questionable motives. They were never fleshed out. The regular cast of characters were flat and dull and predictable. The descriptive element was also poorly done. With such a beautiful backrop, you'd think DMD would include it more in her writing.

I have been at a DMD book signing and heard her speak and she is an amazing, intelligent and funny woman. I know she is capable of so much more than this book would lead one to believe. I will continue to hope that the next book in this series will be better. But I won't automatically pre-order as I have done in the past. Please DMD, go back to your original style!