The third in a delicious series featuring a dinner club that tries out new recipes–while trying to catch a killerThe Culinary Capers Dinner Club is planning a fall picnic for their next meeting. What could be better than sharing delicious food with friends under a beautiful autumn sky? But when club member Alison Malkovich opens the back of her SUV to load in the picnic supplies, she finds a … supplies, she finds a dead body. To make things worse, it’s the body of her ex-husband, and now she’s the prime suspect. Because Alison is a police officer, she is suspended and warned not to do any investigating of her own. That’s not about to stop J.J. and the Culinary Capers gang though. They know that Alison is innocent, and after all, they do have some experience solving crimes.
INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES
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Another deliciously deadly Dinner Club Mystery!
It was so much fun to be back with the gang from the Culinary Capers Dinner Club. Author Linda Wiken has truly created a cast of characters that are a joy to read. I’d love to have a group of friends like them to hang out with. As long as murder doesn’t come along with them. Let’s keep that between the book covers.
Speaking of the M word, MARINATING IN MURDER showcases a murder mystery that had me on the edge of my seat (and afraid to open the trunk of my car)! Following along with J.J. and her Culinary Capers cohorts on the search for answers and of course, the killer, was a roller coaster ride of twists and turns. And that ride came to an exciting end with a surprising and satisfying reveal.
Everything you could want in a cozy mystery, I can envision MARINATING IN MURDER, and the rest of the Dinner Club Mysteries being great Hallmark movies!
Make sure to check out the great recipes at the end of the book!
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Nothing can ruin a picnic quicker than a dead body, especially when it is an estranged husband found in his wife’s SUV. Police officer Alison Malkovich just wanted to load the coolers but now instead investigating a murder, she is the prime suspect. Will her fellow officers have her back or will she need her Culinary Caper Club members to prove her innocence?
Having recently read Roux the Day it was fun to revisit these characters so soon. Alison had been pretty quiet about her personal life and her friends were pretty surprised when she had to fill them in on everything. They focused quickly on the new suspect that was brought to light, but she seemed to have an alibi. Private Eye Ty Devine has agreed to work with J.J. on the case both because he wants to help Alison but he also wants to spend time with J.J. He is not happy when she agrees to go on a date to get information, especially when it is followed by another date. J.J. is also confused about her feelings for both men.
Linda Wiken has given us such strong characters. I love the way they are still getting to know each other and have each other’s back no matter what. The club has a nice variety of cooks and bakers from expert to novice and the cookbooks and recipes never fail to make my stomach growl. Like J.J. I love the cookbooks with all the beautiful pictures. Skye and J.J. have many events coming up at “Make It Happen” but it is the perfect job for J.J. because she sets her own hours and has a boss/friend that understands her sleuthing on the side. The whole group are fun and very engaging.
I really enjoyed the way the author had J.J. seeing both men while trying to find the killer. It added not only romantic tension but excitement to the story. It did seem though at times J.J. was rehashing the same thing over and over again. She kept meeting with people to try to get them to answer questions I thought they had already answered. Sometimes it revealed a new tidbit, but other times she was just seemed to be spinning her wheels. Maybe she was just trying to sort out her feelings about this new man in her life. I felt I had a clear picture of the guilty party early on but was truly surprised by the way the story ended.
Another fine culinary cozy from this author. I hope we get to visit this group of characters again very soon.
Marinating In Murder is the third book in the A Dinner Club Mystery series.
The members of the Dinner Club have a planned picnic for their monthly meeting and are meeting at Alison’s house to load everything is a couple cars and head for North Hero Island for their picnic. When Alison comes out and unlocks her SUV and lifts the hatchback she lets out a scream. Inside the SUV is the body of her estranged husband. They were in the process of divorcing, but James never has the time to finalize the paperwork.
J.J. Tanner and the rest of the Culinary Capers club members want to help Alison, but decide it is best to let the police to handle the investigation. But then they receive a startling revelation that changes their minds. It seems that James was a bigamist. With this, they start to investigate James’ background. Facts of his life are hard to come by as neither Alison or #2 wife know very little about the man they married. What little he told them turns out to be a total fabrication.
Much to J.J.’s surprise, Ty Devine, a PI, seems to have changed his feelings and has offered to help with the investigation. Could things be warming up between them? They appear that they might be, but then the brother of wife #2 also seems to be making a play for J.J.’s attention.
This was another exciting and well-told story with an interesting and believable cast of characters. I felt I knew who the killer was, but still was kept guessing until the exciting end.
Delicious sounding recipes are also included with the book.
Will be watching for the next book in this delicious series.