Book Review: Chopping Spree

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Chopping Spree     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Diane Mott Davidson
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Cozy   Woman Main Character   Culinary
Series: Goldy Bear # 11
Bantam, July 2002, $23.95, 306 pp.

While Goldy’s ex-husband is in jail, her marriage to policeman Tom Schulz is stable and happy and her catering business is successful beyond her wildest dreams. Her old school friend Barry Dean has commissioned her to cater an event at the Westside Mall but the evening ends in Barry’s death and a trip to the hospital for Goldy.

The police question her, making it clear she’s a suspect but they eventually arrest Julian, Goldy’s assistant and a very dear friend. Julian’s fingerprints are on the murder weapon, he failed a polygraph test, and a witness says that Julian tried to run Barry over earlier in the week. Despite the overwhelming evidence, Goldy knows he is innocent and sets out to prove it as only she can.

Readers will have a hard time deciding what is better the mouth- watering descriptions of various recipes or the fast paced compelling story line. Diane Mott Davidson has once again constructed a clever and complex mystery starring a congenial heroine and her equally enjoyable friends. The protagonist’s teen is so well drawn that every mother who raised a teenager will have a great deal of sympathy for Goldy.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner