Customer Reviews

To Catch A Cook

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An excellent mystery with lots of twists and turns. Characters you care about. This author should be in hard back on a best seller list! I nearly over looked this gem as it was in paperback. I read about a book per day and this was one of the best I have read in ages.

Homicide detective Paavo Smith grew up believing his mother was a good time girl, who always dumped him and his sister with her neighbor when she decided not to play mommy. The only thing he has that was hers is a cheap cameo broach, which he gives to his San Francisco girlfriend Angie Amalfi, who treasures the gift that comes from Paavo's heart. She wears it everyday until the broach falls out of the setting.

Angie takes it to a jeweler only to learn the piece is a valuable Russian antique that he wants to buy due to its museum-like quality. Angie refuses to sell it and the jeweler agrees to fix it. As soon as she leaves the store, the jeweler places a mysterious call that places everyone connected to the cameo in danger. Paavo's stepfather is in a hospital suffering from a coma after being shot in the head. The jeweler is dead. Numerous efforts to kill Paavo and Angie occur. Paavo believes the current vendetta is tied to something his parents did three decades ago that impacts the Russian Mafia today.

This work is a bit different than the previous Amalfi mysteries because for the first time Paavo accepts comfort and help from someone else. The audience learns more about the inner demons that have driven him for years. By Paavo learning the truth about his past, the healing process finally begins and his girlfriend Angie lovingly assists in the process. Jeanne Pence shows her talent as a mighty good mystery writer and adds a great human element that turns this tale into a fabulous drama.

Harriet Klausner

Angie Amalfi has messed up big time. She has lost the antique broach that once belonged to her significant other's mother. She knows her detective boyfriend will not be amused that he only thing he has to remember his mother by has vanished. She must have a replacement made and soon. To top it all off her apartment, Paavo's place and his stepfather's house have all been broken into. The result is his stepfather is in the hospital. When Angie learns that the jeweler has been murdered, she knows deep down that it's time to panic. The answers lie from Arizona to Russia, from family secrets to an unknown past, all leading to Paavo and his family and a recipe for disaster. TO CATCH A COOK is murder most baffling and nobody stirs a murderous brew like Joanne Pence, complete with colorful characters, and a recipe to die for, Pence serves up a murder so hot, a plot twist so unique that you'll be left dying for another sample. I simply cannot wait to read the next tasty culinary treat that Pence has penned. Pamela Cornwell James