Sweet Revenge (Goldy Schulz)

by Diane Mott Davidson

2008

Status

Available

Publication

Avon (2008), Edition: Reprint, 512 pages

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 Brisbane�??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

LibraryThing member phyllis2779

This book was all right but seemed somewhat repetitive of other books in the series as the protagonist, Goldie, continues to do somewhat stupid things, like confronting suspects and known killers, on her own. Not surprisingly, she gets involved in situations where she gets bruised, battered and

choked. One would almost think that the author dislikes this poor caterer. I'm surprised Goldie's husband still has a career given the stuff she does that could contaminate a murder scene or result in a murderer escaping.
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.

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LibraryThing member cbl_tn

The holiday season means lots of business for Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz. She has a full weekend of bookings, starting with a Saturday morning staff breakfast at the public library. Goldy's event set-up isn't the only thing going on at the library late on Friday afternoon. Just before closing,

ex-DA Drew Wellington is found dead in a corner of the library. Who might the culprit be? His ex-wife? His current fiancee? A disgruntled partner in his map dealing business? A rival dealer? An unhappy client? Goldy will have an opportunity to do some sleuthing as most of the suspects are on the guest lists of her weekend catering events.

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.

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LibraryThing member kymmayfield

Well this was an ok book, it took a long time to pick up unlike the rest of the books. However, when it picked up I didn't want to put it down. Goldie gets caught in the worst situations ever in this book. Julian, Marla, Tom, Arch were there of course to offer the support but it makes you think how

much are these guys going to be able to handle.

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.

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LibraryThing member thornton37814

Christmas is always a hectic season for caterer Goldy Schulz in the town of Aspen Meadow, Colorado. This one is no exception. She's setting up for an event to be hosted at the library when she spies for the second time in recent weeks a person she believes to be the killer of her ex-husband. This

killer was presumed to have been dead. A former district attorney who is dealing in rare maps turns up dead in the library shortly after this sighting. Was Goldy "seeing things" or was that really who she thought it was? All the suspects in the ensuing sheriff's department investigation seem to be hiding something. This series is getting to be somewhat like a soap-opera in my opinion. If you haven't read earlier installments, you need to read those before reading this one. This installment was rather long, especially for a cozy with a Christmas setting.

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LibraryThing member JennyMcb

Couldn't finish the book, it was taking too long to get anywhere. Too many characters.

LibraryThing member gypsysmom

It's the pre-Christmas season and Goldy has 25 parties to cater between the first of December and New Year's Eve. Two of them are for the ultra-rich MacArthur's. It's on the way to their house to firm up the menus that Goldy sees a ghost. Sandee Brisbane had killed Goldy's ex-husband and then

disappeared into a forest fire right after she confessed. So how could she be driving a car down the road from the MacArthur's? Goldy tells her present husband, police detective Tom Schulz, but nothing much is done about it. Then Goldy thinks she sees her again in the library as she is setting up for the librarian's Christmas party. Just after seeing this apparition the librarian calls for help because one of the patrons has collapsed. It turns out Drew Wellington has been poisoned and stabbed and he is dead before the paramedics get there. Could Sandee have killed him too?

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.

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LibraryThing member pussreboots

Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson is the fourteenth of the Goldy Bear mysteries. As with all of the others I've read, I listened to an unabridged audio performed by Barbara Rosenblat. I'm not being particularly careful about reading these books in order. Sweet Revenge comes immediately before

Fatally Flaky.

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.

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LibraryThing member pmla1028

I've read all the books in this series, and I usually enjoy them very much. This one was ok, but seemed a little r epetitive to me. It seemed as if each chapter recapped the previous one. I found myself skimming large sections because I had no problem remembering what happened 20 pages ago. I still

love the characters, and I look forward to the next book, hoping that one of my favorite caterers, Goldy Bear, is back to her usual self.

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LibraryThing member bookswoman

Goldy is busy during the Christmas holidays with catering for party after party. Morning, afternoon and evenings. When a former DA is found dead in the library, while Goldy is setting up for an event, the hunt is on for the killer. Is it Sandee, the woman that Goldy thought dead? One of the dead

man's "business" acquaintances? Or someone that Goldy doesn't even suspect?

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.

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LibraryThing member 400mom

I have read many of this culinary mystery series and enjoyed some of the recipes. This one, however, was just bad. The characters were flat and boring and Goldy was ridiculously stupid.

LibraryThing member JanetArmentani

awesome. love the Goldy books, my latest culinary-based mystery addiction.

LibraryThing member nx74defiant

Goldy Schulz is a caterer living in Colorado. She is married to her 2nd husband Tom, who is a police detective. She has a teenage son, Arch who has his permit and is ready to jump at any chance to drive.

Goldy and her best friend made me laugh.

LibraryThing member John_Warner

Although initially not interested in reading a cozy mystery involving a caterer, I'm glad I did. It was a light read similar to Janet Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum mysteries

LibraryThing member MM_Jones

I've enjoyed other books in this series of Goldy the Colorado Crime Solver/Caterer, but this one is just plain bad. I actually searched on the internet to see if she started using a ghost writer. The "local color" was mostly rich folks houses. Her repeating characters were out-of-character and

there were too many other characters. Not surprised so many reviewers gave this one poor marks. Took me forever to finish.

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LibraryThing member ChazziFrazz

It is Christmas and New Years time. Goldy Schultz's busiest time of the year. Her catering service is in high demand among the citizens of Aspen Meadow. How is she going to work in solving a murder with all her culinary demands?

While she is setting up a special breakfast at the library, she thinks

she sees a woman who should be dead! Is it really her or is it a look-alike? To top that off, the ex-DA is found dead in the library on the same morning. Not being the best thought of man, it is no surprise but then who among those who don't like him did him in?

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.

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LibraryThing member JenniferRobb

I've read other books in this series but not necessarily in order. I found this one on the book exchange shelves at the Y. I don't think it's the best in the series.

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

choices--and more than once within the confines of this novel. Sometimes I do wonder how she's still alive--or what it will take to smarten her choices. Then again, I also wonder why people keep choosing her as their caterer when dead people seem to "follow" her around, so . . .

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.

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LibraryThing member jguidry

Another good installment in the Goldy the Caterer series. My only complaint was the killer who came back from the dead bit was rather cheesy. I didn't expect that from this author. The rest of the story was the usual comic happenings.

LibraryThing member tjsjohanna

I always enjoy the next adventure in Goldy's life, but the writing in this book didn't seem up to par. Too choppy or something.

LibraryThing member bookbrig

I'm working my way through this series totally out of order. I remember reading a few when they came out, and I thought I'd try them as something light with tasty food. The food bits are the best, the mysteries are... ok. Sometimes I like the protagonist and sometimes I find her choices really

perplexing, but for a quick little read to take my mind off other things, this works.

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