Product Description

Goldy Schulz is thrilled to be catering a holiday breakfast feast for the staff of the Aspen Meadow Library. But little does she know that on the menu, alongside the Great Expectations Grapefruit, Chuzzlewit Cheese Pie, and Bleak House Bars, is a large helping of murder.

While setting up at the library, Goldy spots a woman lurking in the stacks who bears a striking resemblance to Sandee Brisbane—the Sandee Brisbane who killed Goldy's ex-husband, the Jerk. But Sandee is supposed to be dead. Or so everyone believes.

Goldy's suspicions mount when the body of Drew Wellington, a former district attorney, is found in a corner of the library with a map worth thousands of dollars stashed in his clothing. She's convinced that Sandee is involved.

But the holiday madness is only just beginning for Goldy. Soon she's drawn into the dangerous, double-crossing world of high-end map dealing. And like the ghost of Christmas past, Sandee keeps making an appearance. Could she be out to prove that revenge is sweet?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184983 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Bestseller Davidson is at the top of her form in her 14th culinary suspense novel to feature Colorado crime-solving caterer Goldy Schulz (after 2006's Dark Tort). As the Christmas season approaches, Goldy is thrilled to be catering not only a breakfast for the local library but also an elegant dinner for Hermie and Smithfield MacArthur, rich Southern transplants to Aspen Meadow. But when the body of Drew Wellington, the disgraced former DA, turns up in the library, Goldy is once again forced to put her recipes on the back burner and find the murderer. Discovering that Wellington was dabbling in antique map collecting, Goldy must track down a priceless map and steer clear of Wellington's fellow collectors, ex-girlfriends and clients. Further complicating matters are sightings of the allegedly deceased Sandee Brisbane, the young woman accused of murdering Goldy's ex-husband and then supposedly perishing in a forest fire. Readers will happily sink their teeth into Goldy's latest case and come away hungry for more. 11-city author tour.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Diane Mott Davidson is the author of fourteen bestselling novels featuring the irresistible Goldy Schulz. She lives in Colorado with her family.

Customer Reviews

Whip Up a Batch of Brownies, Pour Yourself a Double Expresso with Cream, and Suspend Disbelief
With the annoying and tired character of the Jerk (Goldy Schulz's ex-husband) gone, Diane Mott Davidson had an opportunity to create a new, improved direction for the series. Unfortunately, Ms. Davidson chose to change almost nothing . . . especially in keeping the catering clients (and guests) from hell and adding a new source of physical threats for Goldy. Why is it that Ms. Davidson cannot write a book without physical violence aimed at this character? I would like the series much better if Ms. Davidson could resist that particular temptation.

On the one hand, Sweet Revenge has a couple of appealing elements that fans of the series will like: Goldy has never done a better job of balancing the roles of mom, wife, friend, caterer, source for the sheriff's department, and detective; and Ms. Davidson presents us with a victim you'll love to hate. On the other hand, the plot is peculiarly convoluted and the mystery isn't mysterious enough to keep most readers interested. The plot seems unusually far-fetched. The recipes, however, are fun and will put you in the holiday spirit. Noteworthy offerings include Bleak House Bars, Unorthodox Shepherd's Pie, and Door-Prize Gingerbread.

At the end of Dark Tort, Sandee Brisbane admitted to killing the Jerk, who had raped her when she was a teen. Leaping into the inferno of a raging forest fire, Sandee was presumed dead . . . but no one ever found her remains. Why, then, is Goldy seeing someone who reminds her of Sandee driving . . . and later near a murder victim?

Being civic minded, Goldy agrees to cater the holiday celebration breakfast for the staff and volunteers of the Aspen Meadow library on a nonprofit basis. But her set-up the afternoon before is disrupted when local rare map dealer (and former DA) Drew Wellington is found dead just before the library closes. Suddenly, it seems like everyone in Aspen Meadow wants to question Goldy or get her help in one way or another. As the investigation proceeds, Goldy picks up more clues than the sheriff's department does . . . but can't seem to crack the case. But she does get to spend lots of time with obnoxious people.

Ms. Davidson is trying to make her stories more extreme. That's a mistake. Less is likely to be better when it comes to writing about Goldy Schulz . . . especially if the murder can be made actually mysterious rather than merely complex.

A DELICIOUS DIVERSION !




Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz had a lot to be grateful for as the holidays approached. She had 25 parties to cater in the month of December, and Hermie MacArthur, who, along with her husband, are wealthy additions to the Aspen Meadow's Regal Ridge Country Club area asked her to take charge of two very important events. This was even more jingle for Goldy's holiday stocking. Hermie's husband, Smithfield, collected antique maps, very expensive ones. That's fine with Goldy, she's quite used to rich eccentrics.

All of this seems too good to be true - and it is because as Goldy says, "A month before Christmas, I saw a ghost." Granted the ghost is a very attractive one. Nonetheless, the apparition appears to Goldy to be Sandee Brisbane, not only a woman presumed dead but the woman who murdered Goldy's former husband, aka the Jerk.

Goldy takes great pleasure in arranging the table for an event she is catering. So, she takes her time viewing the set-up for breakfast at the Aspen Meadows Library, but all that comes to a quick halt when the body of former DA, Drew Wellington is found in a corner of the Library. He definitely was not on her menu - nor was the expensive antique map found along with him. Always perceptive and one to heed her intuition she believes that the thought to be late not very great Sandee and Drew are mixed up in a pot of trouble, perhaps a poisonous concoction for her.

With her 14th culinary caper, author Davidson's plot simmers as temptingly as Goldy's stews. Plus, readers receive more original recipes, including Unorthodox Shepherd's Pie, Prudent Potatoes au Gratin, Chuzzlewit Cheese Pie, Bleak Bouse Bars, and Got-a-Hot-Date Bars.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke