As Minnesota housewives race to meet the deadline for the Times Register?s meat loaf contest, an unsavory small-towner named Kirby Runbeck is blown to smithereens by a car bomb.
Days later, the town?s former mayor, John Washburn, near death from a stroke, confesses to the killing. His wife and two children vehemently deny it, but when Sophie Greenway, food maven and friend of the family, happens upon an old snapshot, a bundle of letters, and a tattoo of a red-eyed snake, she wonders about Washburn?s innocence. Unlike the recipe for a prize meat loaf, this murder is seasoned with spicy secrets and a generous portion of scandal, which Sophie dares to bring to a roiling boil. . . .
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Best mystery EVER read!
I enjoy mysteries with a heavy dash of WHY-done-its, surprise revelations along the way, and psychological profiling. I enjoy reading things that make me think "Oh Yes! I knew that" and "Oh yes, I have known people like that" and "Oh yes! I can see how that would happen!"
I also love getting so enmeshed in a story that I need to keep reading, and eating can wait, sleep can wait, bathroom breaks can wait-LOL That doesn't often happen to me, but it happened with THIS book. I had read ... Read More
During the interview, Bernice announced ... Read More
Rating: - Pretty good culinary mystery
Sophie Greenway is a restaurant reviewer with a newspaper in the Twin Cities. Her husband is a popular radio talk show host. When her friend Bernice's father suffers a stroke, she offers to drive her home. John Washburn confesses to a murder while in the hospital, and that's only the beginning.
This series is entertaining and the mystery has many twists and turns. Not bad, I would definitely read another of the series.
Rating: - Not exactly comfort food . . .
Anyone who thinks coincidence has no place in fiction has obviously not read the books of Ellen Hart. She uses coincidence to trigger the plot in several of her books, but none better than the totally believable set-up here.
Sophie Greenaway is now, in addition to general manager and owner of the Maxfield Plaza Hotel in Minneapolis, the restaurant reviewer for the Star-Tribune. Her immediate supervisor, the food editor, Berniece Washburn, is also a friend. When Berniece needs to go home ... Read More
Rating: - A Tasty Entree for Mystery Buffs!
Having grown up in Minneapolis, I've always enjoyed the way in which Ellen Hart capitalizes on what I think of as the uniquely Minnesotan mindset to provide a logical albeit somewhat locally-skewed rationale for her characters' attitudes and behaviors. That's why I found it not at all unusual that irascible Cora Runbeck...her ne'er-do-well husband's sudden demise from a car bomb starts the plot action of the book off with a bang!...would take time out from her own somewhat nefarious plans for blackmail ... Read More
- Best mystery EVER read!
- Pretty good culinary mystery
