13th in the series of mysteries featuring caterer Goldy Schulz.
Davidson's usual method is to give us two or three chapters of groundwork, introducing the new setting and characters who will be featured in that book before bumping off one of them and finding a way to involve Goldy in the crime. Not so this time, as Davidson dives right in from Goldy's first sentence: "I tripped over the body of my friend Dusty Routt at half past ten on the night of October 19."
Dusty was in training to be a paralegal, and works at her uncle's high-class law firm, where Goldy serves breakfast for lawyers and clients holding early-morning meetings. She was also Goldy's neighbor, and Dusty's mother, knowing of Goldy's frequent involvement in helping to solve murder cases, begs Goldy to help find Dusty's killer. There's no shortage of suspects, most of them the lawyers and secretaries at the law firm, and Goldy once again, against the usual protests of her policeman husband, begins investigating the murder.
As always, the book includes about a dozen or so recipes for goodies that Goldy serves to her catering clients during the course of events; there's a novel twist this time, as Davidson finds a way to make one of those recipes an integral part of Goldy's detective work.
The Goldy Schulz series isn't the place to go for groundbreaking, brilliant writing, but they're solid, reliable entertainment. The regular characters are a pleasant family; the suspects and red herring characters are a mix of colorful personalities; and the mystery itself is cleverly presented, with clues laid out fairly enough that the reader has a good shot at solving the puzzle himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment