Murder on the Menu: A Cooking Class Mystery

Annie Capshaw is working both full-time at a bank and at nights helping her on and off again boyfriend Jim MacDonald get his restaurant "Bellywashers" up and running. The last thing she needs is to discover the dead body of a friend. The police say it was suicide but Annie and her friend Eve aren't so sure and begin to look into Sarah's death. They soon discover that there are any number of people that wanted Sarah dead. The more Annie and Eve investigate, the more they become targets. "Murder on the Menu" is the well-done second book in Miranda Bliss's Cooking Class cozy mystery series (the first was Cooking Up Murder). The characters are all developing nicely, especially Annie. She is still dealing with the consequences of a divorce that left her with such low self-esteem that she is afraid to get seriously involved with Jim. By the end of the book she took a major and welcome step forward in her life that made her a deeper character. Eve is another great character - blonde, beautiful, a bit ditzy, but a major asset to Annie when solving the mystery. Jim wasn't as major a character in this book, but he's there when Annie needs him. The restaurant elements are extremely well done and believable. The murder elements are well written and well plotted, with just a handful of suspects, but a few red herrings set up some nice plot twists to keep readers guessing. "Murder on the Menu" is a delicious cozy mystery.

Cute, loveable cozy with fun characters. Enough drama to keep you interested but not too much to put you off. Book 2 in the series.

Even though thirty-five-year-old Annie Capshaw, and her drop dead gorgeous Southern belle best friend, Eve DeCateur spent six days a week taking cooking classes at the trendy Tres Bonne Cuisine in Clarendon a few months ago, neither of them learned much about whipping up exquisite meals. Instead, they were schooled in something much different: murder. After solving their first case, and hooking up with their cooking school teacher, the hunky Scotsman Jim, however, they're prepared to take on a new bit of the food industry: running a restaurant. After a failed marriage, Annie Capshaw feels that she is done with men. The constant presence of wonder chef Jim, however, has left her wondering if it's time for a change of heart. But there's little room for romance now that Jim has undertaken a new endeavor...opening up and running a restaurant called Bellywasher's. Luckily, Jim hasn't forgotten about Annie or her bombshell best friend, Eve DeCateur. Eve has been generously handed the position of hostess, and Annie has been graciously bestowed the honor of running everything behind-the-scenes - from balancing the books, making sure there's never a shortage of celery, and keeping on top of the decorating scheme. Things are slow going at first, with just a few customers appearing every now and then; but when a rave review appears in a local newspaper, things change - and fast. Suddenly Bellywasher's is the new place to be, and customers are lining up in droves just to get a seat. Of course, these aren't your typical customers. These are the elite of Washington. People with money to burn, and secrets oozing out of their pores. When Annie and Eve find their friend Sarah dead in her bathtub, the two know that something smells a little fishy. Sarah - a staff member for a powerful congressman contemplating running for Vice President of the United States - had everything to live for, and couldn't have been happier, and the two refuse to accept her death as a suicide. When the police refuse to acknowledge their reasoning, however, Annie and Eve decide to take matters into their own hands. With a new furry friend in tow, the two begin delving into the world of high-priced players, political aficionados, and more secrets than you could ever have imagined. But if they want to come out of this investigation alive, Annie and Eve will have to get out of the kitchen, before things really begin to heat up. After reading Miranda Bliss' COOKING UP MURDER, I realized that it was absolutely impossible not to fall in love with the oft-times self-deprecating, narcissistic Annie Capshaw and the bell-of-the-ball, beauty queen Eve DeCateur, and found myself scouring the shelves for MURDER ON THE MENU. I couldn't be happier with the result. MURDER ON THE MENU possesses all of the charm of COOKING UP MURDER, with a few new twists and turns, and a little more insight into what makes Eve and Annie tick. Annie and Eve are such fun, fabulous characters, whose personalities are wonde

This book is prefect for the beach or just the weekend at home.Its a book that gets the actionand stays with it. Its not full of bad words or talks about blood and guts,it just tells a story of friends who finds a mystery.I liked it and read the next book.

I really liked this book. It has so many twists and turns that really keeps you guessing. Just when you think you have the mystery figured out, something else pops up that makes you change your mind. The ending is pretty abrubt which was a little disappointing, but other than that this is a great book for anyone who likes the cozy mystery genre.