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Description
Fiction. Mystery. HTML: A month before Christmas, I saw a ghost... Goldy Schulz is thrilled to be catering a holiday breakfast feast for the staff of the Aspen Meadow Library. But little does she know that on the menu is a large helping of murder. While setting up at the library, Goldy spots a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Sandee Brisbaneâ??the Sandee Brisbane who killed Goldy's ex-husband, the Jerk. But Sandee is supposed to be dead. Or so everyone believes. Goldy's suspicions mount when the body of Drew Wellington, a former district attorney, is found in a corner of the library with a map worth thousands of dollars stashed in his clothing. She's convinced that Sandee is involved. But the holiday madness is only just beginning for Goldy. Soon she's drawn into the dangerous, double-crossing world of high-end map dealing. And, like the ghost of Christmas past, Sandee keeps making an appearance. Could she be out to prove that revenge is sweet?… (more)
User reviews
I keep reading the series because I'm intrigued by the catering, recipes, other characters, and just finding out how Goldy will again stumble into a situation where she finds a dead body. I like to read the recipes because they sound fantastic but I would never make them because they sound like heart attacks about to happen, loaded with butter and cream.
All of the suspects have something to hide, and their behaviors provide lots of red herrings. I found Goldy's behavior really irritating in this one. She couldn't stop meddling in her policeman husband, Tom's, investigation, and made a nuisance of herself with his police colleagues. Why Goldy and Tom aren't headed for divorce court, or at least marriage counseling, is beyond me.
I usually try to read series books in order, but for some reason I've never done that with this series. In this case, it was a mistake. The events in this book are closely tied to an earlier book in the series that I haven't yet read. This book includes major plot spoilers for the earlier book. Thus, I recommend that you read Double Shot before reading this one.
Davidson has a total hit with the series even if this wasnt the best one in the series. I love the family dynamics in this series as funny and convoluted as they are.
The surprise twist had a previous character come back into the story all though I'm not completley sure why. I of course thought I had the murderer picked out but was totally wrong, however I'm still baffled by the ending lol.
This one ranked a 4 out of 5. I would like to recommend this one to anyone who is reading the series already lol.
In between cooking and catering Goldy investigates and learns more than she wants to know about the victim. After Wellington lost the election as District Attorney he went into selling antique maps but he may not have acquired these maps legally. He also had a penchant for teenage girls. Which of these avocations was the trigger for his murder?
Read the book for the answer to these questions. It's also a low-cal way to indulge in all sorts of delicious treats like Chuzzlewit Cheese Pie, Bleak House Bars and Door-Prize Gingerbread. Or if you want to indulge in the real thing the recipes are at the back of the book.
Sweet Revenge takes place in those weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Goldy is completely booked with catering gigs, enough, to leave her extra through the post holiday slump. Things go awry, though, when a rather surly map collector is found dead at the public library.
Goldy is further distracted from her obligations by the potential reappearance of another of her ex-husband's exes. This character's role Sweet Revenge is by far the most spoilery piece of the mystery. Thankfully, though, Goldy in her internal monologues provide enough background to follow along.
Although I do enjoy these Goldy Bear mysteries, I know a big part of that enjoyment falls to Barbara Rosenblat's performance. Without her somewhat askew take on Goldy, I would be questioning the character's motivation — especially when she is dropping her work to recklessly put herself in danger in the hope of solving the mystery. Rosenblat, though, just plays Goldy as crazy and it makes these otherwise unbelievable scenes, fun.
As with some of the other books in the series, I figured out the gist of the mystery long before Goldy did. Some of the clues this time seemed rather basic — details that one would expect to find in a Scooby Do, rather than an adult mystery (even a cozy). How though everything is tied together was something I couldn't quite get. Having a surprising end made of a satisfying audio book.
I like this series, Goldy and Tom, along with son Arch are fun characters and feel like real people. Goldy gets pretty beat up in this one which I didn't enjoy, but the puzzle kept me reading late into the night. I'll continue on with this series.
Goldy and her best friend made me laugh.
While she is setting up a special breakfast at the library, she thinks
While Goldy is hunting for clues she uncovers a number of not-so-nice things about the ex-DA and the people he has associated with. Seems some of these folk are not the nicest and would have no problem making Goldy disappear.
I've probably read almost the whole series, and it has been a while since I've picked one of Diane Mott Davidson's book up, but I find that I still enjoy the characters and the town of Aspen Meadow. I also like that the recipes mentioned and included in the book are grouped at the end for easy reading. A nice cozy of a read.
There are a couple different "mysteries" going on in this book, so not all the plot points go to the same mystery.
Goldy makes stupid
I enjoyed the history of maps that was a small part of this book's plot. It was interesting to learn that maps had to sometimes be smuggled out in the past because they were considered an important commodity--and also to learn about some of the inventive ways people found to smuggle them out.