A Catered Christmas (Mystery with Recipes, No. 3) (Paperback)

In the town of LONGLELEY, sisters Bernie and Libby own the store and catering service, A Little Taste of Heaven; they are so well known that they are invited to compete in a cook off on the Hortense Calabash show. Six caterers are given ingredients chosen by the hostess and are supposed to make an entire meal out of them. The winner gets twenty thousand dollars which is donated to their favorite charity. On the first day of taping, the contestants hear a noise; they rush in to find Hortense dead on the floor, a Christmas ornament wedged into her throat.

The police discover that the stove’s gas line was cut and Christmas ornaments were placed in the oven. When she opened the door, the oven sparked a causing a mini explosion. The police agree to keep Hortense’s death quiet while they and Bernie and Libby search for the killer. Although Libby and Bernie solved homicides in the past (see A CATERED MURDER and A CATERED WEDDING), this murder has them stumped because all the contestants had a reason to kill Hortense except themselves.

A CATERED CHRISTMAS is a lively and entertaining amateur sleuth mystery filled with plenty of red herrings, unexpected twists and turns and deliberately planted false clues. The two sisters and their father engage in witty dialogue that will have readers chuckling out loud. The plot is believable, the characters are portrayed realistically and there is enough action to keep readers turning the pages to find out what happens next.

Harriet Klausner

Harriet Klausner always gives an excellent description of the storylines so I’ll simply give my reactions to this book.

I finished it last night and I’m looking forward to seeing these characters again! I have very little time for reading lately but I couldn’t put this one down. Lots of action..but it’s easy to follow.

I like the sisters and especially their dad, Sean. The fact that the POV switches from sister to sister to dad was intriguing. I really liked it. The reader get’s to know the characters though the eyes of the other main characters.

Sean’s interaction with his daughters’ boyfriends was very funny. Their investigative mission to search the victim’s home was probably my favorite part of the book.

The characters in the “competition” were all hilarious and described in a manner that helped you keep them straight in your mind. If one of them wasn’t based on a certain very popular “30 Minute” cooking television show I’ll eat my keyboard. The victim was also very obviously based on a certain Domestic Diva. It was a real romp. I wish we’d seen more of the actual competition.

My quibbles would be the lousy editing. There were several times when “she” was used instead of “he” or vice versa. That kind of thing really stops the reader in her tracks. There were a couple of other errors but this was what really bothered me. I don’t understand how such sloppy work gets through. I doubt it’s the author. The problem is either with edit or set up. From reading reviews of her other books I see it’s a pattern. Ms. Crawford needs to complain to the publisher loud and long.

Perhaps in an attempt to be attractive to all ages of readers, the ages of the sisters, Sean, and the contestants are not explained and that’s something I like to have a handle on. There’s a disconcerting conflict in the age description of one character, Pearl.

My only other complaint would be that the sisters seem to be too critcal of one another. At times they sound like my granddaughters, ages 11 and 9! If I want to be around that, all I have to do is drive my grands to ballet. While some conflict between two such diverse personalities is natural it goes a bit over the top at times.

It sounds as though I have a lot of complaints but they’re all fairly minor. Except for a couple of instances of the girls quibbling I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’d read it again…and I recommend that you read it!

You will enjoy this from start to finish. This is a fun read. The characters really come to life in this cooking related mystery. You will enjoy the interaction between the two sisters that end up investigating the murder. The recipes are great that are included with the book. A tasty treat in more ways than one!