Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Strong characters in a twisting, fast moving plot
Cons: A couple of editing errors that are easy to overlook.
The Bottom Line:
Line up for this fun
New mystery series that
Cooks up a winner
Nothing to Make You Crabby Here
It pays to pay attention to pen names. That’s how I learned that Penny Pike is a pen
name for Penny Warner (not that they try to hide it too much since it’s right
in her biography in the back of the book).
Since I’ve enjoyed the books of Penny’s I’ve read, I knew I had to read Death of a Crabby Cook, the first in
this new Food Festival Mystery series.
It has all the ingredients of a winning debut.
Darcy Burnett has lost her job as a food critic for the San
Francisco Chronicle, but while she tries to figure out what to do next, she
gets a job helping her aunt Abby Warner at Abby’s food truck. Abby is famous for her comfort foods, and she
has a permanent spot in one of the most sought after locations in San Francisco .
On Darcy’s first day helping, she witnesses a fight between
Abby and Oliver, the owner of a restaurant across the street from where Abby
and several others park. Oliver is
convinced the food trucks are what is driving his restaurant out of business
even though the food and service at the restaurant have declined. The fight ends with Abby threatening Oliver
with a knife. Later that night, the
police show up to question Abby.
Why? Oliver has been
murdered. Darcy knows that Abby couldn’t
have done it. But can she use her
reporter’s nose to find the killer?
This is a fast moving book from start to finish. There were clues, red herrings, and events
happening constantly, and they kept me confused until the very end. And yet, when everything did come together,
it all made perfect sense.
The characters were absolutely wonderful. Darcy is a strong heroine who sometimes acts
before she thinks, but most of the time does try to be careful in her
investigation. Aunt Abby is lots of fun;
but what am I going to say about someone who is a bigger DisNerd than me? There is a strong love interest, and I like
how their relationship is progressing already.
The detective assigned to the case was a good guy, and I actually felt
sorry for him when Darcy attacked him for not doing his job. The truth is, he was doing the best he could
with the evidence he was gathering.
My only complaint involves some things that slipped by
editing. A couple of times, Darcy refers
to her cousin as her nephew in the first person narration. Additionally, once she repeats herself to
Detective Shelton, who acts like he wasn’t just told that same information 10
pages before. I had so much fun in the
book overall, that both of those were easy things to overlook.
Since this is a culinary mystery, we get three recipes from
three different food trucks. The Crab
Pot Pie doesn't interest me since I don't like seafood, however, the cream puff
sounds delicious. There's also a drink
for the coffee truck here.
On the whole, this book proved to be a wonderful debut, and
I can’t wait to see where Darcy and this cast of characters go next. If you are hungry for fun new series to
follow, sink your teeth into Death of a Crabby Cook.
Great review! I can't wait to read this.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
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