Slice and Dice

Sophie Greenway, former food critic, is settling into her new position of owner and manager of the Maxfield Plaza hotel in St. Paul Minnesota. Her husband Bram Baldric, a talk radio personality, is not fond of her tight schedule, but Sophie assures him that their life will soon normalize. How wrong can she be? Let's see.St. Paul is being taken storm by hometown girl, Constance Buckridge, internationally known cookbook author, and culinary academy founder, and her entourage. The local food world is a buzz. The entire Buckridge group takes up residence at the Maxfield Plaza. Constance is extremely protective about her private life.Marie Damontraville, queen of the unauthorized biography, is tailing Constance Buckridge back to her home town, and some deeply hidden secrets that someone has been sending her hints about. Judging by the reaction of the Buckridge's, she must be on to some thread of truth.A cook is sliced to death with his own cutlery, leaving one obvious suspect. Only, Sophie can't believe that the obvious could be true, so with her already overbooked schedule, she takes it upon herself to extract her long-time friend from his bad fate by trying to find the real killer, putting her own life in peril.The book has a great mix of personalities sprinkled throughout the tale. They are highly believable characters, many amusing in their human frailties.As I detest spoilers I will not give any more plot elements, suffice to say that there are many beautifully woven sub-plots in this book. It is a fast read with much intrigue and drama. There are some rather adult situations in the book. The language is not particularly bad, and the gore factor is rather light.

I will admit to being a long time fan of Ellen Hart's writing. She is one of the best mystery writers out there and I'm glad to see that she was finally given hardcover releases a couple years ago -- it is a vote of confidence from the publisher that was long overdue. But as far as her Sophie Greenway series goes, I have to admit that I prefer her other series protagonist Jane Lawless much more. I have found Sophie and Bram to be a bit "dry" in the past.That all changed with this latest Sophie installment, SLICE AND DICE. This book is a master stroke of plotting! Hart manages to string together several plot lines throughout the book -- challenges to the sanctity of Sophie and Bram's marriage, familial history, journalism and a journal writer's intrigue, and last but not least, murder. Hart also furthers the storylines of her main characters significantly in this book, deepening the emotional intensity and given them the chance to grow and be all too human by erring. All the characters this time out were well drawn, keeping my attention riveted long into the night. Hart managed to get close to the mastery of P.D. James in her ability to plumb psychological depths. A special bonus in this book is an "interview" by the author with protagonist Sophie Greenway. It shows Hart's wit and skill off nicely. Overall, if you like mysteries with a culinary bent and characters that are multi-faceted instead of cardboard, then you should try this book. It is very enjoyable and extremely well written!

Just finished reading Slice And Dice last night and loved it! My favorite in the series is still Murder In the Air, but in this book we get more of a sense of Sophie and Bram, who they are and what their marriage means to them when it is tested. Sexy subplot! I was fascinated by the construction of the book too, the way the journal entries follow one story while the narrative follows another. At the end, everything is tied up. Yes, this is a complex story with lots going on, but it didn't confuse me. On the contrary, I found the writing solid and the plotting exceptional. Oh, and I loved the interview that was included in the back of the book where Ellen Hart interviews her lead character, Sophie Greenway. I thought it was not only hilarious, but terribly clever. I'm looking forward to the next Sophie Greenway culinary mystery, Ms. Hart! How long do I have to wait?

I am a huge Ellen Hart fan, although the Jane Lawless series is my favorite. I met Ellen a few months ago (she is a MN local) and she was very gracious and charming. At any rate, this is a good read--it will keep you guessing until the end. However, it's not my favorite Sophie Greenway. Still, a solid read. Ellen's got a new site up ...

Connie Buckridge is the matriarch head of a culinary empire that includes her son, daughter, and stepson. Connie feels elated because she is coming home to Minneapolis-St. Paul to open up a cooking academy.However, on the eve of Connie's biggest personal triumph, Pluto, a Deep Throat like character keeps sending E-mails to investigative reporter Marie Damontraville. The missives state scandal and nasty skeletons prominently lie in the Buckridge closet. Perhaps it is her belief that this Betty Crocker clone could not be so perfect or just her natural cynicism that comes with her job, but Marie believes the messages. She plans to expose Connie's darkest secrets that will in turn crumble a growing culinary empire.Meanwhile, the biggest detractor of the Buckridge kitchen is local food critic George Gildemeister of the Tomes Register. However, someone kills George and newly hired food critic Sophie Greenway finds the body. Suddenly a scandal that dates back to 1963 threatens to boil over and destroy the Buckridge empire.The latest Sophie Greenway culinary mystery, SLICE AND DICE, is an entertaining story that will thrill genre fans. The fast-paced story line is filled with negative relationships that appear ready to explode at any moment. Though there are too many charcaters to keep up with (thank goodness a score sheet exists), most are fully developed with their motives understandable. One does not have to be a food critic to enjoy Ellen Hart's tasty morsel.Harriet Klausner