Book #89 - Dark Tort by Diane Mott Davidson

I have to say I had no idea who the bad guy/gal was until the author told me. Perhaps it was because she didn't give me enough details to figure it out, but the villain wasn't even on my list of suspects. This book seemed like it had a 380 page build up followed by a 20 page wrap up. It was almost like the author had been told by her publisher to wind it up even though she'd spent a huge amount of time building the plot. I don't think this was one of her best, and it almost felt like she's gotten into a rut on the "caterer who solves murders". There are only so many ways that a caterer can discover a dead body and only so often she knows more than the local police. But, this book allowed me to read without having to think, so it solved its purposed.

Book #17 - The Main Corpse by Diane Mott Davidson

I know all of my avid readers are wondering where in the world I've been. Like the NHL, I took an Olympic break. As I write this, we are waiting for the overtime of the USA/Canada hockey game. The Olympics are fantastic!!! How could I take a break from 2 hours of curling to read? Therefore, my New Year's Project had to take a back seat.

This book was excellent. By far the best of hers I've read. She went a totally different direction in this book than in any of the others. Rather than the main character, Goldy, finding a dead body or needing to prove who did it to save a friend, there was no body...just speculation of foul-play. This book had everything suspense, excitement, rotten cops, several near-death experiences, and of course delicious food. This story resonates the ugliness of people in our world and the triumph of friendship and love.

Book #10 The Grilling Season by Diane Mott Davidson

This is the seventh book in the series starring Goldy Schulz. These are surprisingly good and exciting mysteries. How does a caterer in a small town find herself involved in every murder case in the Colorado town? Well that's simple; she's a busy-body. I actually ordered the 6th and 7th books (from Amazon of course) at the same time, and grabbed this one by mistake. I missed a few events in her life, but it didn't put me behind on the plot. Another nice feature of books like these; you can read out of order and still enjoy. So what I found interesting about this book, written in 1994, is that the premise involved a beast of a woman who was vice president of the local HMO. Much of the conflict revolved around the HMO making decisions about the healthcare of their members rather than leaving it up to the doctors. I wonder if the author wrote this book because at the same time, the Clinton's were trying to push healthcare through the Senate. Did she have an ulterior motive? Was she trying to display for the common, everyday, beach-novel readers what problems we were facing in the health care world? Was she trying to give us the inside view of the corruption, dishonesty, and cover-up? Something to ponder.