Trisha Surgarek, is in my opinion, one of the best cozy writers around. She recently sent me a copy of The Taste of Murder, book five in her World of Murder series, and it didn’t disappoint.
The time the murder takes place on the set of a televised cooking competition show, when someone with a serious ax to grind poisons the food of Executive Chef Jeff Kirikos. The killer is never found and Detectives Jack O’Roarke, tall and second generation Irish, and Stella Garcia, petite and with a Cuban husband and children, get it as a cold case three year later. They get the directive with an order to solve it from their commander. Turns out Kirikos is the brother-in-law of the new mayor, so they have to overcome their aversion to cold cases on the spot. O’Roarke and Garcia have featured in the previous four books, and their relationship is easy. The reader gets a view of Garcia’s family life and the detectives’ interaction with the grandmotherly, gray-haired Chief Medical Examiner, Ruby Crutchner.
Ms. Sugarek takes us backstage into the world of cooking shows – how they are run and how they are filmed — as O’Roarke and Garcia maneuver through the politics of investigating the mayor’s relative and taking over another investigator’s case. There are plenty of suspects; the chef’s widow, the man for whom the chef left her, people fired from the show, and obsessed fans. The reader has no clue right up to the last chapter.
I highly recommend The Taste of Murder for a short, enjoyable read to curl up with on a rainy or snowy day, and I look forward to the next in the World of Murder series.
Trisha Sugarek is a talented writer of several genres, including The Secret Language of Women a spirited journal/handbook intended specifically for men, and most recently Women Outside the Walls, a tasty piece of fiction about women whose husbands are all in the same prison.
Ms. Sugarek reaches over a million viewers on social media and can be found at http://www.writeratplay.com and The Taste of Murder can be purchased at http://www.writeratplay.com/shop/the-taste-of-murder-book-5-in-the-world-of-murder-series/.
It surely, pulls my brains to want to read. Good review.
Thank you! It’s an easy read, just for fun.
How did I miss a mystery that takes places on a cooking competition? This sounds like something I would love. Thanks for sharing!
You’ll like it, Katherine!
Would be interested to know where these mysteries are set. Thanks for the review. Addicted to cozy mysteries. I’ll take this under consideration.
Sorry it took a while for me to get to this. It’s set in New York City!