Criminal Appetites

While some apparently see food as an aphrodisiac, for the authors of this anthology, food becomes either a weapon directly or as a reason for murder. Food, which includes a recipe or two with every story, much like the "Martha's Vineyard" mystery series by Philip R. Craig, is an integral part of each scenario. Some stories are more hands on with food than others, but each story would collapse without the vital food element. For Nancy Pickard in her story, "Truth Serum" A Marie Lightfoot Story" food involves a coffee shop in Spokane, Washington. Marie Lightfoot begins to investigate the deaths at Qahveh Khaneh and soon finds the suspect right under her nose. In "When Henry Met Salad" by Tamar Myers, it isn't just all about the food that makes this story both intriguing as well as funny. One can try but one can't fake being truly Amish. Then there is the dark twisted story, "Best Served Chilled" by Robert Perry. I'm not going to even try to explain this one full of twists and turns that will leave you guessing until the end. You just have to read it. While those three were my personal favorites, the rest of the book is equally good. It features stories by Joanne Pence, Tim Hemlin, Denise Dietz, Camilla T. Crespi, Kris Neri, Jeffrey Marks, Amy Myers, William Allen Peck, Toni L. P. Kelner, Anne Perry and Janet Laurence. Not a bad one in the bunch. Each one serves as a tasty read and guaranteed, no matter your level of cooking skills, you won't look at food as quite so innocent again. This complete review previously appeared online at Mysterical-E. Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2005