Monday, August 10, 2015

Monday With Kaye: "Do or Diner" by Christine Wenger (Reviewed by Kaye George)

No zombies and nothing paranormal as Kaye George offers another cozy mystery that is first in the series for your consideration. Personally, I have enough trouble with food ads on television especially during all the sports stuff I watch. I don’t need a book series based around food, but it does seem to be the thing these days as a lot of authors are doing them.


Do or Diner by Christine Wenger

This is the first cozy mystery from Ms. Wenger, who also writes romance. The book earns its billing as A Comfort Food Mystery since it comes with not one, not two, but seven mouth-watering recipes. This reviewer intends to try most, if not all of them.


Trixie Matkowski finds herself in possession of the Silver Bullet Diner in upstate New York, on the shores of Lake Ontario, and in the fictional town of Sandy Harbor (fictional as far as I can tell). She’s not sure whether she’s excited or anxious about inheriting the place from her Aunt Stella. The diner gives this thirty-something a chance to start over after her divorce from Deputy Doug Burnham and the loss of her job working as a tourist information specialist or the City of Philadelphia. Aunt Stella’s husband, Uncle Porky, has just died and Stella has decided to get out of the diner business and cruise around the world. 


It’s quite a big job, taking over a place that has always been open 24 hours a day, but Trixie loves to cook and thinks it will work out well. She thinks she’ll try to avoid that handsome cowboy, Tyler Brisco, from Houston, Texas, who has moved in over the bait shop next door. She finds she needs his help, however, when she learns he’s a new local Deputy, and when the health inspector, Marvin P. Cogwwell III, a man universally disliked in the area, keels over dead with his face in a dish of the special that day, pork and scalloped potatoes. The dish has been poisoned and after a negative health inspection report is found, suspicion falls on Trixie.

Trixie must figure out who actually killed Mr. Cogswell and there are other suspects, from her own cook to the mayor of the town who owns a rival restaurant. Her business has fallen off drastically and a payment is due on the property. The small town quirky characters are very well done. This is a fun, light read.


Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of Eine Kleine Murder for Suspense Magazine

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