Dying for Chocolate

Diane Mott Davidson

Goldy Bear is the only caterer in small, upscale Aspen Meadows, Colorado. She took her son and left her abusive physician husband. He continues to threaten her. She needs to take extra safety measures around the house. While she is having a new security system installed she and Arch move in with a childless couple who need a cook and live in a high security home.

After catering a brunch, she follows one of the men she is dating to a nearby restaurant. While driving there, she watches as his car careens out of control down the mountain. She sees the car crash and his dead body. Was it an accident? Had her ex-husband had something to do with it? Or are there other forces at work?

The older couple she is living with are eccentric. Yet they are supportive of her after the death and while she starts receiving some bad food reviews in the local paper. They allow Arch to treat their home as his own along with the other teen age boy they are boarding. Between cooking for their home, catering extra functions, caring for Arch, and fending off her ex-husband, Goldy is stretched out. Yet she still wonders about the car crash. She does some investigation of her own in the middle of everything else that is going on.

Some of the recipes she cooks are also included throughout the book. Unfortunately, the cheesecake that caught my eye was not one of them. This was an interesting mystery. Some of the characters never fleshed out well for me, others did. The only reason I suspected the murderer as early as I did is because I've read so many mysteries I know that it has to be someone close to the story and seemingly the one most innocent. The pieces did not fall together until the last couple chapters of the book.

Catering to Nobody
Dying for Chocolate
The Cereal Murders
The Last Suppers
Killer Pancake
The Main Corpse
The Grilling Season
Prime Cut
Tough Cookie
Sticks and Scones
Chopping Spree
Double Shot
Dark Tort
Sweet Revenge
Fatally Flaky