Retro Reading: Death in Four Courses by Lucy Burdette
Back to Key West we go in the second installment of the Key West Food Critic Mysteries!
In this installment, Hayley's been sent by Key Zest to cover the annual Key West literary conference which has attracted the big names in food writing. Of course she and the other attendees aren't counting on the murder of Jonah Burrows after his tell-all memoir is released.
At the cocktail party following his keynote speech, Hayley finds his body and with one less chef in the kitchen, she's once again a suspect in his murder. After being cleared, it's her friend Eric who becomes the primary suspect.
Hayley's mother has come to the Keys for the conference and she manages to befriend a couple of the famous chef's and gets them to talk about the late Jonah. For Hayley, her mother's a goldmine in this case since she's able to get exclusive interviews and at the same time is able to start putting clues together in an effort to save Eric.
While not as fast paced as the debut in the series, I did find my mind wandering quite a bit. I think it falls back to the number of characters in the story. There were just too many to keep count of.
Burdette does manage to keep the reader feeling as though they are indeed taking part in the Key West lifestyle which should warm you up during these cold nights.
