Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson Culinary Mystery 1

ISBN:  9780553584707

Publisher:  Bantam Books

Rating:  B

Meet Goldilocks Bear, caterer to the small town of Aspen Meadows Colorado.  She’s a divorcee with an 11 year old son Archibald; an ex-husband lovingly referred to as The Jerk, and a tendency to pick up strays along the way.  From her ex husbands second ex wife, to the daughter of her ex mother in laws friend, Goldy just can’t seem to say no.

When having to cater her son’s favorite teachers wake, it’s not the most ideal job in the world for her, especially when her ex father in law is poisoned by something in food.  With the rantings of her crazy ex husband, and the police sniffing around Goldy’s catering business is shut down pending further investigation.  However, since catering is the main source of income for her and Arch, Goldy decides that she can’t wait for the police to solve this crime, she will have to take care of herself.

After reading several previous reviews of this book I was kind of worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Goldy is a strong woman who is fumbling through being a single parent, and trying to do the right thing by her son and all the friends that she has made into her family along the way.  She’s not afraid to show her vulnerability but she’s all full of sass and spice.  Davidson did a good job of bringing Goldy to an even balance of both.

Even though this was a mystery I was more interested in the character development than in the actual plot of the mystery which is both a positive and negative; as a character driven reader I now know that I will be picking up the second in this series.  I was a bit surprised by who the culprit was that poisoned Goldy’s ex father in law, the rest of the book didn’t surprise me.  I look forward to learning more about Aspen Meadows and Goldilocks.

Kindred in Death by JD Robb

ISBN:  9780399155956

Publisher:  Penguin Group

Rating:  A

With 29 books in this series you would think that it would get old, but it just doesn’t.  This series is intense and the characters so full of life that it feels like you are visiting with old friends every time you open up a new “In Death” book.

Kindred in Death has Eve investigating the brutal rape and murder of a cop’s 16 year old daughter.  Captain MacMaster’s requests that it be Eve who investigates the murder of his daughter Deena, which adds another level to the responsibility Eve feels to all the victim’s she helps find justice for, but will this be the case that breaks the reserve that Eve has built up?

This is one of my favorite series ever written, and it is hard to be objective about it because the characters are what drive me to continue to read it.  While the plots are intense and sharp, I get lost in the characters.  Eve is a juxtaposition of elements and she continues to evolve.  She has always been on my top 10 list of best heroine’s ever written and with each new addition to this series, she climbs up the rankings a bit further.

If you are a fan of strong female characters and well thought out plots with slightly more interesting twists, I suggest reading the in Death series and starting with NAKED IN DEATH which is the first in the series.  And I envy all of those who will begin their friendship with these characters soon.

Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh

ISBN:  9780425226735

Publisher:  Penguin Group USA

Rating:  A

DarkRiver Sentinel Mercy and SnowDancer Lieutenant Riley have always ruffled each other’s fur, but it seems to extend deeper than the normal fight for dominance.   When what has always been a slight annoyance turns into a passion neither can ignore, they must decide if their’s is a bond for life and what that will mean for their respective packs.

This was truly an interesting installment into the Psy/Changeling series by Nalini Singh.  I don’t think I was prepared for how intricate this series would become and how captivated I am by the politics and the life that Singh infuses into these stories.  In my opinion there currently is no other paranormal author out there that can even come close to the depth Singh brings.  Even though this series is incredibly dynamic I do not feel like Singh gets lost in the detail, I think she brings a harmonious balance to both plot and character.

JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series is close, but I don’t find myself as interested in the part of her books that contain the Lesser’s, however in the Psy/Changeling series I am interested in all facets of the storyline and I am always left wanting more.

I cannot wait to get my greedy little hands on the next installment that just came out.

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

ISBN:  9781401323820

Publisher:  Hyperion

Rating:  B

Jameson Rook, pulitzer prize winning journalist, is writing an article about homicide detectives.  In the midst of his research he is paired with a team of detectives led by Nikki Heat, and he has the pleasure of following them investigate the murder of Matthew Starr.

This book is hard to explain if you have never seen the ABC TV show Castle.  Here’s the short:  Rick Castle is a famous novelist of a long running series, Derek Storm, until one day he decides to kill off his lead character.  Imagine the shock of his long time fans, which includes the Mayor of New York. Castle decides he wants to research more and find a new muse so using his friendship with the major gets added to a Homicide team with lead Detective Beckett, Kate Beckett that is and thus Nikki Heat was born.  In a storm of marketing genius, IMO, Rick Castle a fictional author writes a real book about his experience with Detective Beckett.  Season two of the TV show has hints of what is in the book and had me running out to buy it as soon as I knew it was published.

While on the shorter side this book shouldn’t have taken me as long to read it and when I made time to read it I plowed right through it.  I had a hard time putting the voices with the characters because I couldn’t connect them right away to the characters on TV.  While written similarly to the show, the books characters had their own voice and once I allowed myself to recognize that I was pretty happy.

The plot was more intricate than I would have expected with such a short book, and that was a very pleasant surprise.  It was well thought out and well executed.

As a whole I thought HEAT WAVE was written well and showed great potential.  The characters are still on the 2 dimensional side, but that grows and if the team that wrote this continues in the same vane, I will definitely be catching up with Rook and Heat on their next adventure.