Crunch Time

March 7, 2011
In Davidson's enjoyable if overplotted 16th culinary novel of suspense (after Fatally Flaky), Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz hires longtime friend and chef Yolanda Garcia as her catering assistant, after a string of bad luck forced Yolanda and Yolanda's irascible great-aunt, Ferdinanda, out of their rental home. Yolanda has been making extra money cooking meals for Ernest McLeod, an ex-cop turned PI, who also let the pair live in his guest quarters. But when McLeod is murdered, Yolanda's connections to his various investigations—from a cheating spouse to an illegal puppy mill—create suspicion. Goldy insists that Yolanda, who's also afraid of an abusive ex-boyfriend, and Ferdinanda stay at the Schulzes' house so she and her sheriff's investigator husband, Tom, can keep an eye on them. Goldy must once again sift through Aspen Meadow's unending supply of dirty secrets and suspects while whipping up delicious meals. 6-city author tour.

November 15, 2010

First, the apartment building where Yolanda Garcia lives with her aunt is torched; then, when they move in with PI Ernest McLeod, he's shot dead and his house is set ablaze. So Goldy Schulz invites them to stay with her--and swings into action. Morrow's lead fiction title for April and, with a one-day laydown, a 250,000-copy first printing, and a six-city tour, another nice showing for Davidson.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2011

Yet another murderer in Aspen Meadow, Colo., meets his (or is it her?) match in caterer Goldy Schulz (Sweet Revenge, 2007, etc.) and her detective husband Tom.

Goodhearted Goldy is happy to hire her old friend Yolanda Garcia, a top-notch chef fallen on hard times. Yolanda's left her rich but abusive boyfriend, and her rental house has burned to the ground. So she and her abrasive aunt Ferdinanda move in with private eye Ernest McLeod and nine beagle puppies apparently rescued from a puppy mill. Goldy takes them all into her home when Ernie is murdered but ignores hints from Tom that Yolanda may be hiding some sort of relationship with the mysterious Humberto Captain, who shares her Cuban heritage. Instead, Goldy concentrates on the cases Ernie was investigating in order to get a handle on who could be a threat to Yolanda. Puppy mills, adultery and a fortune in gems stolen from a Cuban family are all on the list. Despite Tom's firm warnings, Goldy uses culinary bribes to get people to talk to her. But danger lurks behind every slice of coffee cake.

Davidson's fans will not be disappointed with the usual lavish appended recipes. This time, though, the tale is overlong, with too much attention to food and a chaotic mystery.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 1, 2011
Colorados culinary crime fighter Goldy Schulz has little choice but to invite her friend and co-cook Yolanda Garcia and her chaotic family into her home for an extended stay. Yolandas significant other, Ernest, an alcoholic cop turned private investigator, has been shot dead, and no one seems yet certain just who has committed the crime. Then an apparent arson destroys the Garcia house, leaving Yolanda and her wheelchair-bound, cigar-smoking, Cuban-born aunt particularly vulnerable. As a one-time Castro partisan but now repentant, Aunt Ferdinanda has a sharp tongue and quick temper. No sooner are they settled in Goldys house when a new threat confronts them. Unraveling the many layers of this mystery keeps Davidsons heroines mind churning while she maintains an active catering business in Aspens chic environs. Fans who relished Davidsons previous culinary mysteries will assuredly eat up this newest one, too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)