One Taste Too Many (A Sarah Blair Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Kensington (December 18, 2018)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages

Synopsis

For culinary challenged Sarah Blair, there’s only one thing scarier than cooking from scratch—murder!

Married at eighteen, divorced at twenty‑eight, Sarah Blair reluctantly swaps her luxury lifestyle for a cramped studio apartment and a law firm receptionist job in the tired hometown she never left. With nothing much to show for the last decade but her feisty Siamese cat, RahRah, and some clumsy domestic skills, she’s the polar opposite of her bubbly twin, Emily—an ambitious chef determined to take her culinary ambitions to the top at a local gourmet restaurant . . .

Sarah knew starting over would be messy. But things fall apart completely when her ex drops dead, seemingly poisoned by Emily’s award-winning rhubarb crisp. Now, with RahRah wanted by the woman who broke up her marriage and Emily wanted by the police for murder, Sarah needs to figure out the right recipe to crack the case before time runs out. Unfortunately, for a gal whose idea of good china is floral paper plates, catching the real killer and living to tell about it could mean facing a fate worse than death—being in the kitchen!

Includes quick and easy recipes!

Review

I’m a cozy lover going back many years now and every now and then I am introduced to a new series that checks off all the boxes for me on what I expect – food/recipes, animals (prefer dogs but cats are ok), and many red herrings that keep me guessing until the very end.

Sarah Blair has a twin sister, Emily, that is a chef.  I’m in awe of Emily because I love to cook but could never be a chef.  Sarah is struggling to make it after her divorce from Bill.  Bill didn’t seem to give up much in the divorce, so Sarah is in a very small apartment with her ex-MIL’s cat, RahRah.  In a crazy turn of events after Bill is found dead is when all the craziness begins.  Sarah loses RahRah to Jane (Bill’s lover, girlfriend, partner?) and apparently, there is a trust that goes along with RahRah and a home in a carriage house that Sarah’s MIL lived in while alive.  So why is Sarah living in a tiny apartment with no income from the trust?  You guessed it in one, Bill is a slimeball and kept the money.

The author does a great job of throwing red herrings in your path.  I kept changing who I suspected but when the real murderer is revealed, I was shocked!  I did not see that one coming at all.  There are some other twists at the end about how Bill died which you might be able to figure out, but maybe not.  The clues are there but not all of them.

Definitely a series I plan to watch and we give it 5 paws up.

About the Author

Judge Debra H. Goldstein’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series debuts from Kensington Press debuts with One Taste Too Many. She also is the author of Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery and the 2012 IPPY Award-winning Maze in Blue. Besides novels, Debra writes short stories. Her short story, The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine (May/June 2017) is an Agatha Award Short Story Nominee. In addition to being the Sisters in Crime Guppy President, Debra serves on the national Sisters in Crime board and is Vice-President of the Southeast Region of Mystery Writers of America.

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