Sweet Revenge

Time for the fourteenth book in this series that follows the misadventures of Goldy the Caterer in a little town just west of Denver. In this one, Goldy is about to hit the Holiday rush when she also runs into someone that appears to be a ghost from the past. While driving to a catering assignment, Goldy sees a woman who reminds her greatly of Sandee Brisbane, the woman who killed Goldy's ex-husband and then fled into a raging forest fire to be, presumably, consumed by it. Was it really her? To make matters more interesting, Goldy is donating books at the local library when a murder occurs there. Was that the Sandee ghost lurking about at the time of the murder?As Goldy goes about the Holiday catering rush, she is also assaulted by the murder in the library and the other bodies that start showing up. The police department, and her husband, are investigating, but Goldy takes the lead on all of this and tries to figure out who did what, to whom, when, and how did the ancient maps fit into all of this. Of course, all of this is done with the normal distractions offered by her teenage son and his activities and all of Goldy's friends and church associations.Like all of the Goldy books, there are recipes galore and some of the fun is in reading the descriptions that the author provides of the cooking. Unfortunately, this book is not one of the better ones in this series. I have two main complaints:1. The plot is overly convoluted. While I picked up on who the murderer is quite early on, I was not sure why the crime was committed until the end of the book. When it was finally revealed, I was quite disappointed as the whole chain was quite prepostorous.2. Another ghost in this book is Goldy's murdered ex-husband. The man was a huge presence in all the previous volumes, but he was killed off in the last one. So, let him go already. There was very little reason for all the reminisces of who he was, how he acted, and why Goldy and he were "exes". It is time to move beyond this character.If you have not previously read one of the books in this series, then you will likely not enjoy it very much as some of the material does not make sense unless you know the history. If you are a fan of the series, then this book will fill the gap - but again, it is not one of the best.

The female-sleuth here is Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz. The premise of this book is that Goldy is investigating the murder of Drew Wellington, the former district attorney. She was setting up for a breakfast she was to cater in the city library when she and the head librarian find the dead body of Mr. Wellington. Of course Goldy has to try to figure out what happened, even though her police detective-husband Tom reminds her to stay out of the case and let the police handle it.And there is another mystery to be solved: Goldy also thinks she sees a woman who is supposed to be dead named Sandee Brisbane. Sandee murdered Goldy's ex-husband and then committed suicide. Now Goldy wonders if Sandee really did commit suicide? Did they ever find her body? Why was Sandee, or someone who looked just like her, in the library right before they find Mr. Wellington's body?This book is well written and I would recommend it. The ending is a real page-turner and is quite clever. We discover, along with Goldy, just 'who done it'.

Another outstanding murder mystery by the talented Diane Mott Davidson. She not only conjures up a plate of delicious murder, she also cooks up wonderful recipes for the reader's pleasure. All of the recipes featured in the life of her amateur sleuth, Goldy Schulz (Professional Caterer), are included in the book so the reader can have more of a "being there" experience, if desired. This novel stands on its own, but if read in sequence with the rest of the Goldy collection, the broader, more complete story of Goldy's life unfolds. So much fun!

I concur with most of the disappointed readers. I have read all the books of the series, most of which I could not put down, but this is slow, plodding.I do think that it's never a good sign when you resurrect a character (Dallas, anyone?) AND I missed the separated sheets with the recipes, which in this case are interspersed in the narration. (What is with all the "'Cuz", btw??).The plot is confused, the murders do not make sense, too many ingredients in this soup: it all seems contrived. There are some good moments, but, while I don't want the Goldy series to end, I would like it to return to its previous, very enjoyable standards.

This is a great mystery! Goldie Schulz, caterer, while setting up for a holiday breakfast at the library, sees a woman who had died in a forest fire several months earlier after she had confessed to committing a murder. Then there's the murder of a patron in the library; a former district attorney and map dealer who uses the library! Coincidentally or not so coincidentally, Goldie's catering a dinner for a very wealthy map collector and his wife at their estate home at the end of a very winding two lane mountain road. Going on!!!A fight between two dealers at the party of the map collector, another murder, Goldie is attacked by the 'dead' woman, Goldie is attacked by an unknown someone else, maps are discovered to have been stolen, and a final, very unexpected ending. A really entertaining story, plot, and characters. (Some great recipes, too.)