SWEET REVENGE [Hardcover]

Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz had a lot to be grateful for as the holidays approached. She had 25 parties to cater in the month of December, and Hermie MacArthur, who, along with her husband, are wealthy additions to the Aspen Meadow's Regal Ridge Country Club area asked her to take charge of two very important events. This was even more jingle for Goldy's holiday stocking. Hermie's husband, Smithfield, collected antique maps, very expensive ones. That's fine with Goldy, she's quite used to rich eccentrics.

All of this seems too good to be true - and it is because as Goldy says, "A month before Christmas, I saw a ghost." Granted the ghost is a very attractive one. Nonetheless, the apparition appears to Goldy to be Sandee Brisbane, not only a woman presumed dead but the woman who murdered Goldy's former husband, aka the Jerk.

Goldy takes great pleasure in arranging the table for an event she is catering. So, she takes her time viewing the set-up for breakfast at the Aspen Meadows Library, but all that comes to a quick halt when the body of former DA, Drew Wellington is found in a corner of the Library. He definitely was not on her menu - nor was the expensive antique map found along with him. Always perceptive and one to heed her intuition she believes that the thought to be late not very great Sandee and Drew are mixed up in a pot of trouble, perhaps a poisonous concoction for her.

With her 14th culinary caper, author Davidson's plot simmers as temptingly as Goldy's stews. Plus, readers receive more original recipes, including Unorthodox Shepherd's Pie, Prudent Potatoes au Gratin, Chuzzlewit Cheese Pie, Bleak Bouse Bars, and Got-a-Hot-Date Bars.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

With the annoying and tired character of the Jerk (Goldy Schulz's ex-husband) gone, Diane Mott Davidson had an opportunity to create a new, improved direction for the series. Unfortunately, Ms. Davidson chose to change almost nothing . . . especially in keeping the catering clients (and guests) from hell and adding a new source of physical threats for Goldy. Why is it that Ms. Davidson cannot write a book without physical violence aimed at this character? I would like the series much better if Ms. Davidson could resist that particular temptation.

On the one hand, Sweet Revenge has a couple of appealing elements that fans of the series will like: Goldy has never done a better job of balancing the roles of mom, wife, friend, caterer, source for the sheriff's department, and detective; and Ms. Davidson presents us with a victim you'll love to hate. On the other hand, the plot is peculiarly convoluted and the mystery isn't mysterious enough to keep most readers interested. The plot seems unusually far-fetched. The recipes, however, are fun and will put you in the holiday spirit. Noteworthy offerings include Bleak House Bars, Unorthodox Shepherd's Pie, and Door-Prize Gingerbread.

At the end of Dark Tort, Sandee Brisbane admitted to killing the Jerk, who had raped her when she was a teen. Leaping into the inferno of a raging forest fire, Sandee was presumed dead . . . but no one ever found her remains. Why, then, is Goldy seeing someone who reminds her of Sandee driving . . . and later near a murder victim?

Being civic minded, Goldy agrees to cater the holiday celebration breakfast for the staff and volunteers of the Aspen Meadow library on a nonprofit basis. But her set-up the afternoon before is disrupted when local rare map dealer (and former DA) Drew Wellington is found dead just before the library closes. Suddenly, it seems like everyone in Aspen Meadow wants to question Goldy or get her help in one way or another. As the investigation proceeds, Goldy picks up more clues than the sheriff's department does . . . but can't seem to crack the case. But she does get to spend lots of time with obnoxious people.

Ms. Davidson is trying to make her stories more extreme. That's a mistake. Less is likely to be better when it comes to writing about Goldy Schulz . . . especially if the murder can be made actually mysterious rather than merely complex.