A FIVE-INGREDIENT MYSTERY (Book 2) by Maya Corrigan, Kensington Mystery, July 2015.
* An ARC was provided by Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss for an honest review.
SCAM CHOWDER, by Maya Corrigan, is the second book in the FIVE-INGREDIENT MYSTERY series and is perfect for fans of good food, small towns and lighthearted mysteries. The story is set in Bayport, a small town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and stars Val Deniston as a 32-year-old former Manhattanite who now lives with her grandfather and manages the Cool Down Cafe at the Bayport Racket and Fitness Club.
The tale opens as Val cooks a chowder dinner for her grandfather and his guests from the Ambleside Active Adult Village. Though Granddad writes a food column in the local paper as the Codger Cook, he's mostly a hazard in the kitchen. So he's going to pass Val's meal off as one he prepared himself. Granddad has planned the dinner to corner a guest who he feels scammed his best friend, Ned, by taking off with his savings. But before Granddad can accuse Scott of any wrongdoing, Scott becomes sick while eating his chowder soup and goes home. Scott eventually dies from his illness, and Granddad becomes a person of interest in the death. Val gets involved in finding the real killer to prove her grandfather's innocence.
The thing I like most about SCAM CHOWDER is it's well-developed characters, who are unique and somewhat humorous. Val is adapting to life in a small town after losing her fiance and cookbook publicist job in Manhattan. She's juggling her attraction to two men, a deputy sheriff she meets during her research into the murder and another man with whom she has a frequently interrupted friendship. Her best friend/coworker at the cafe dresses too young for her age, and her grandfather passes himself off as a great chef when he can barely boil water. The story is peppered with several believable suspects and enough red herrings to keep readers guessing who the real killer is.
If you like cooking but don't want to take forever in the kitchen, try some of the five-ingredient recipes the author includes in the back of SCAM CHOWDER. Recipes include Waterman's Clam Chowder, One Ugly Spread, Crunchy Lime Chicken, No-Crust No-Fuss Spinach Pie, Dummy Rum Cake and Crumby Nut Rounds. And try your hand at answering the trivia questions similar to those posed by Val at Ambleside Village's Brain Game night. You can find them in the back of the book, too.
Overall, SCAM CHOWDER is a fun mystery and a perfect read for a cold weekend in front of a warm fireplace or a well-deserved beach vacation. Just take time to relax in a cozy club chair or on a soft beach blanket and lose yourself in this lighthearted story by Maya Corrigan.
If You Like This, You May Also Like: --- FOOD LOVERS' MYSTERIES by Leslie Budewitz, READ EM AND EAT MYSTERIES by Terrie Farley Moran, SUPPER CLUB MYSTERIES and CHARMED PIE SHOPPE MYSTERIES by Ellery Adams, MERRY MUFFIN MYSTERIES by Victoria Hamilton
Recent Comments