Customer Reviews

Sympathy for the Devil (Madeline Bean Catering Mysteries #1)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I happened upon this author by accident when I was drawn to the fun cover of her latest book, DIM SUM DEAD. I loved it, read it in about three hours, and then ran out for more by Farmer. Turns out SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL was her first, and what a hoot! Madeline is catering an over-the-top Hollywood Halloween party when the host gets poisoned. Madeline can't let anyone think it was her food, so she sets out to find the killer among a hilarious crowd of party guests. That's all I'll tell you. Read this book for a truly fun time...and look forward to more from this talented author. I've already got my husband and oldest daughter hooked. (Farmer's also got out IMMACULATE RECEPTION and KILLER WEDDING.) Can't wait for what's next!

This is a great read. It's a highly visual, first person mystery set in today's Hollywood. I thought the protagonist wry, charming and smart. The characters are vivid, the settings interesting, the twists surprising. The pace is fast, clues abound, but you really don't know "who did it" until very near the end. I sort of expected a "woman's" book having great sections which would not appeal to men, but I was wrong. The protagonist and her associates certainly have the potential for many more adventures.

In the middle of the biggest party of Madeline's catering career, the host drops over, dead. Bruno Huntley had no shortage of enemies, including his own family. But Madeline's business partner and best friend, Wesley, is the police's prime suspect. Knowing that Wesley could never murder a man, even Bruno, she starts nosing around to find the real killer. But everywhere she turns, she just gets more questions. Can she stay alive long enough to unravel the personal and professional secrets and clear Wes?
This is a truly wonderful book. The plotting is superb, with never a dull moment and some surprising twists. The characters are well rounded and truly come alive. On top of this are an observer's view of Hollywood and a wonderful sense of humor. After finishing this book, I immediately went out and bought the rest of the series.
This is a must read. I look forward to many more adventures with Madeline, Wesley, and their friends.

I loved reading this book. Very fast read; kept me totally focused on the mystery and story; was funny and enjoyable from the very first word with no slow-downs. A book I highly recommend.

Madeline Bean runs a catering business with her friend Wesley and, in a town where buzz means everything, things are just beginning to take off. Their success comes to an abrupt halt, however, when Bruno Huntley -- an abusive and powerful producer, their latest client and the "devil" of the title -- dies a gruesome death at the soiree they're catering for him and his closest 600 associates. When Wesley is considered the number one suspect by the LAPD, Madeline is determined to clear her friend.

I read a fair number of mysteries, and this was the first in a long while that didn't leave me dissatisfied. The wisecracking narrative voice of Madeline Bean was unique and really fun; it was a kick to have the action taking place amid the Hollywood jet set; it was entertaining to have the author talk and tell about food; and the mystery was actually interesting and not transparent. The operative word here is fun, and even though Jerrilynn Farmer writes in a breezy way, her characters have depth and the plot is interesting. I'll definitely read more by this author.

Madeline Bean, caterer to Hollywood's most beautiful people, stumbles onto murder when the obnoxious Bruno Huntley is poisoned at his own over-the-top, star-studded Halloween bash. Madeline is truly delightful, and so is her supporting cast. Lots of suspects, numerous surprises, and writing full of wit and humor make this one of my favorite mysteries in a long time. I eagerly await Madeline's next adventure. Jerrilyn Farmer is a major new talent!!!

Madeline Bean Catering is owned and operated by Madeline and her friend Wesley. They specialize in preparing events for the Hollywood elite. Bruno Huntley may be the most obnoxious producer on the scene, but Madeline has a soft spot for him because he gave her the big break that allowed her company to gain entrance to the highest echelon of society. In turn, Wesley abhors Bruno because the producer cheated him out of $50,000 on a land deal. Therefore, Madeline works with Bruno on his upcoming Halloween party.

They fix up Bruno's estate so that it looks like a haunted house. Bruno also hires a fortune teller, who predicts dark and dire futures for everyone who sits with her. However, catastrophic reality strikes when Bruno abruptly keels over into a spasm and dies from strychnine poisoning. The prime suspect is Wesley who had the motive, the means, and the opportunity. Madeline knows her partner is innocent and begins to investigate what really happened even as she places her own life on the line.

Those of us on a diet need to read the unwritten label of caution attached to this novel: Don't read this book on an empty stomach because the references to delicious food will destroy any thoughts of moderation. Jerrilyn Farmer has created a culinary mystery that rivals the best work of Diane Mott Davidson. However, with SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, the audience feels a much closer connection to the characters than in Ms. Davidson's books. The intrepid heroine contains a wicked sense of humor that pops up at any time, thereby endearing her to the readers, who will be looking forward to more tales starring Bean and company.

Harriet Klausner

The first book in the Madeline Bean series is simply great. The characters are extremely likable, and the plot is interesting and fun. The story flows smoothly, making it hard to put the book down. I can't wait for the next entry in this sure-to-be-a-hit series.

I bought this book looking for a new mystery series. I had high hopes based on the other reviews. This book exceeded my expectations. Madeline Bean is smart and funny. Holly is hysterical and Wesley reminds me of my best friend. I am looking forward to reading Ms. Farmer's next book.

How strange that, though I've been compelled to give almost every type of earned praise in my reviews, this is the first time I've been sparked to give the single compliment most fitting for a culinary mystery:

The opening paragraph made my mouth water.

It featured stuff simmering on a commercial stove, the ambiance of aroma, and a continuum of taste bud appeal carried out in balsamic detail. Yup. That's what I was there for.

Farmer knows how to surge the saliva glands throughout a culinary, and she DOES it! She enhances the essence of "taking a bite of bread," giving detailed, on the tongue descriptions, thereby spreading warm, buttery rapture to the senses, repeatedly interjecting flavors into the plot at just the right intervals. Her yummy scene of making polenta from scratch (occurring 1/3 into the story) was exquisite flavor enhancement, as she stirred with one hand, held the phone with the other, and went through the culinary process with enough detail to cause auto drool, no recipe necessary. Each ingredient and every process was woven into the ongoing action. Diane Mott Davidson, move over a stool at the communal breakfast bar. Make room for another friend.

Not only does Jerrilyn Farmer use all natural culinary draws to their devilish levels of delight, whenever she's not cooking, she packs nearly every scene with heated, jazzy action and well-spiced intrigue. No chance of even a quarter-inch of reader boredom getting within a mile of Farmer's aura.

Maybe Farmer's well seasoned prose should come as no surprise, since she arrived at the initiation of this pilot with a solidified variety of audience-captivation-skills under her chef's apron, as a television writer. What impressed and enthralled me most, though, was the seamlessly easy flowing, flickering contrasts in the plot rhythm and mood.

The opening scenes around the front stage, huge Halloween party for a demon-blooded (metaphorically) Hollywood mogul were intense enough to seat the reader into a race car and throw him against the backrest, sans seatbelt, as the motor roared into a dancing choreography of "let's have a party!" When Jerrilyn puts on a party through her character sidekick, Madeline Bean, she does it BIG, with the Biggest Heads in Hollywood. Obviously and understandably, lots of readers relish the star-struck mystique. While Farmer uses that draw to the Nth degree of perfection, the superstar scenes alone would not have captured me, as I'm not inclined to being "in with the in crowd," given my reclusive, secluded Ivory Tower, cocoon needs.

So, when the party's over and the next morning arrives, I'm welcoming the pace-drop to cozy, ready for the sensual scenarios to begin, luxuriating in the fascinatingly unique, ideal home/office setup Miss Bean has arranged for herself. Being invited to share the intimate details of a character leisurely opening her day, indulging and divulging personal routines, is the strongest ploy of the cozy mystery's ability to allow a reader to let down the hair and begin living in.

Every-which-way, Madeline Bean has pizzazz, class and charm. But, how can such an intense, fast-rhythm-ed woman of extreme competence exude the vulnerable warmth she seems to own in ready abundance? She slips effortlessly from turbo-charged hyper-drive, to curl-up-w/Chamomile tea and sigh into slow molasses. Yet, her engines rev in the wisp of a whim. Her blood should be studied for traces of permanently interconnected gin and rummy. Somehow Maddie's personality allows her an instant slide into any spot on the continuum of pause-the-show or pour-on-the-coal. Many people, even in fiction, can easily become dependent on externally induced uppers and downers to assist in making these transitions, and the to-and-fro flow isn't actually effective with that chemical "aid."

I love the way Maddie gets herself into and out of jams of sonic-boom-paced, risk-factor-rich intensity. Her "getting outta there" brilliance comes forth in such natural, yet ingenious ways, I'm in awe, and I actually begin to relax in the read, even as I skid through the "crapola" she regularly slides herself into. And I mean "regularly." Most cozy heroines stay (through 86% of the book) in the "hometown comfy" mood-and-flow, schmoozing with recurring friends, family, geography and stage, which become addictive habit as the series surges forward. Normally, the action packed push doesn't slide into plot until the denouement scene arrives, heating up like a sudden hot flash to the "slam-bam" stuff (which is all fine with me).

What surprises me in this offering, is that nothing in this book feels "staged" yet all of it is. Every mood and rhythm feels like it could actually be going down just the way it is, outside the book, in MY world, even the outrageous machinations and high-thrill action. The scene of Madeline being chased by 2 bad guys was exquisite action, and her ways of evading and escaping them were simply ingenious. When I say simple here, I mean it in the most efficient, absolute sense of the word, which leaves a person feeling "yeah, that would work. Sure. Why didn't I think of that? How deliciously easy and right."

This is vicarious personified, just for me, allowing me to do stuff I'd never do, never be able to do, but can enjoy in prime entertainment with Miss Bean and company.

Was also impressed with the way Farmer dealt with the budding attraction between Maddie and Lieutenant Chuck Honnett, and with her winding-down, but periodically hot-to-trot, hit-and-miss relationship with Arlo. Jerrilyn has a way with sexuality which is uniquely and surprisingly "right" and refreshing. In contrast, it exposes other novel's efforts to charge up libido and steam windows seem like ... exactly that ... efforts. I hadn't noticed the effort part in many romance novels, until I placed it beside Farmer's ways of subtly titillating the heat without causing the reader to squirm in the discomfort of a Peeping Tom syndrome, chained to a window bearing too much slippery flesh.

This pilot seems to have incorporated and enhanced all the highest ingredients of draw of every cozy series out there, and then added her own subtle, nuance-lush touches. And, somehow I believe Farmer has outdone herself with each book in this series.

Though it wasn't Hollywood which drew me to this literary entre, I'm in, to the end of the ride.

I love a good movie as well as a good novel, and Farmer seems to rule and meld the two. This series would definitely make a fantastic TV run. It would be one of the few I'd watch and read, both (though at different times; I'd want to relish the unique pulls and ambiance of each medium in its separate space of mind and mood ... see my review of THE MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE to shift from Right to Left brain in a happy heartbeat).

Linda G. Shelnutt