The Cereal Murders (Goldy Culinary Mysteries, Book 3)

by Diane Mott Davidson

1994

Status

Available

Publication

Crimeline (1994), 368 pages

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Thanks to her recent adventures in Dying for Chocolate, Goldy Bear, the premier caterer of Aspen Meadow, Colorado, is no stranger to violence�??or sudden death. But when she agrees to cater the first College Advisory Dinner for Seniors and Parents at the exclusive Elk Park Preparatory School, the last thing she expects to find at the end of the evening is the battered body of the school valedictorian. Who could have killed Keith Andrews, and why? Goldy's hungry for some answers�??and not just because she found the corpse. Her young son, Arch, a student at Elk Park Prep, has become a target for some not-so-funny pranks, while her eighteen-year-old live-in helper, Julian, has become a prime suspect in the Andrews boy's murder. As her investigation intensifies, Goldy's anxiety level rises faster than homemade doughnuts. . .as she turns up evidence that suggests that Keith knew more than enough to blow the lid off some very unschola… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member cbl_tn

Caterer and divorced mother Goldy Bear has been hired to prepare food for a series of college advisory events sponsored by her son's private school. Anxiety abounds at the first school dinner as the seniors and their parents fret about grades, test scores, class rank, extracurricular achievements,

and the competition for admission to elite schools such as Stanford and Princeton. It's a deadly serious business, as Goldy learns when she finds the body of the class valedictorian during her after-dinner cleanup. Then a series of malicious pranks threaten Goldy, her seventh-grade son Arch, and school senior Julian, Goldy's catering assistant who lives with Goldy and Arch. The events bring Goldy and her admirer, homicide detective Tom Schulz, closer together as they try to protect Goldy's family.

I wasn't completely satisfied with the mystery aspects of the book. The author doesn't leave any loose ends, but the clues didn't really point to any particular culprit. Goldy eventually pieced things together and identified the right person, but following the same pattern of reasoning, I think the clues could have pointed to a number of other individuals. This is one of the earlier books in the series, though, and I know that this aspect of the series improves as it continues. The characters and the overall story line are interesting and fun, and this will keep me coming back to this series.

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LibraryThing member MrsLee

Goldy keeps finding dead bodies at the school her son attends. Not only that, but someone seems determined to harm her and her household. Never-the-less, she is determined to continue her catering and her life.

Not my favorite mystery series, yet this story was more entertaining than the others I've

read by Diane Mott Davidson. A couple of the recipes look try-able. Many of her characters do not seem realistic to me, and the motivation for such rampant murdering just doesn't fly in my book, not that it couldn't happen in real life, sadly, similar things have happened, but I didn't buy it in this book.

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LibraryThing member MsBeautiful

Enjoy this character, love hearing about cooking/recipes

LibraryThing member GJbean

Pretty good book with Goldie the chef getting caught up in more murders and mystery.

LibraryThing member tjsjohanna

After reading more simplistic mysteries, it is refreshing to read a mystery where there are lots of clues, lots of factors, and no simple resolution. The recipes make this story fun, and I was pleased to see the progression of Goldy's relationship with Tom Schultz. My only difficulty with this

storyline is that I had a hard time believing that parents could be so obsessive about their childrens' college aspirations - but maybe I'm just not hanging out in the right circles!!

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LibraryThing member miyurose

This is a series I enjoy and will continue to read/listen to. Goldy is pragmatic and tends to get straight to the point, and I appreciate that. I think that she is a realistic character — despite the fact that Keith Andrews isn’t the first dead body she happens across, it affects her very

deeply. Add into the situation the fact that her son is being harassed, and Goldy has a lot to worry about.

Something that I thought was interesting about this book is that one of its central themes, the cutthroat Ivy League college admissions process, is even more relevant today, almost 20 years after the book was first published.

I also like the little taste of romance. Schultz is a patient man.

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LibraryThing member JenJ.

The mystery plot in this just didn't hold together very well. I guess I prefer a mystery where the clues point directly, although not obviously, to a suspect. I have no idea why Goldy decided the murderer was Hank Dawson when the clues indicated it could have been any one of the parents or

students. Huh. The recipes sound delicious though. Don't know if I'll try the series again.

Listened to the Playaway narrated by Barbara Rosenblatt. I just don't know about this series. Goldy infuriates me - what parent, upon finding out that a dead snake has been left in her son's locker accepts the principal's assurances that it's just a 7th-grade prank? Seriously? I mean, even if you're investigating this yourself, you're telling me you, as a parent, aren't raising high holy heaven and threatening lawsuits and such if the prepetrator isn't found? I mean, come on. And yet, I continue to listen. Go figure.

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LibraryThing member pussreboots

The Cereal Murders by Diane Mott Davidson is the third of the Goldy Bear Culinary mysteries. As with the other books in the series, I chose to listen to the audio, performed by Barbara Rosenblat.

Goldy's son Arch is still attending Elk Park Prep. As Goldy can't afford to give huge financial gifts to

the school like other parents can, she is expected / coerced / guilt-tripped into catering school events. Her latest one: the College Advisory Dinner for seniors and parents. That's all well and good until the school's valedictorian is found beaten to death and buried in the snow.

He is but the first body in this book as tension mounts over college applications and acceptance letters. This is a school that prides itself on getting its students into the very best and the pressure placed on students, parents and teachers results in a collective insanity.

As I have family members who are teachers, I hear the horror stories. Thankfully for my relatives, nothing they've experienced comes close to violence Goldy faces: poisonous spiders in kitchen drawers, a stopped up chimney and a near strangulation.

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LibraryThing member tututhefirst

The series is getting better. This episode features a more complex set of characters and left me guessing until near the end. As with previous volumes, the food scenes are as good as the mystery.

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