Catering to Nobody

By: Diane Mott Davidson

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat

Even though working a wake isn’t Goldy Bear’s idea of fun, the Colorado caterer throws herself into preparing a savory feast featuring Poached Salmon and Strawberry Shortcake Buffet designed to soothe forty mourners. Her culinary efforts seem to be exactly what the doctor ordered … until her former father-in-law, gynecologist Fritz Korman, is struck down—and Goldy is accused of adding poison to the menu. Now, with the Department of Health impounding her leftovers, her ex-husband trashing her name, and her business close to being shut down, Goldy knows she can’t wait for the police to serve up answers. She soon uncovers more than one skeleton in the closet, along with a veritable slew of unpalatable secrets—the kind that could make Goldy the main course in an unsavory killer’s next murder.

“A medley of murder, mayhem, and melted chocolate.”—New York Post

©1990 Diane Mott Davidson (P)1996 Recorded Books

Not Bad

This first book is not bad if you can stand it when words are mispronounced (and Rosenblat never does that...but she did) and when details are wrong. The book suffers from inadequate editing and results in scenes where characters in the room seem to be forgotten by the author, details of events are wrong (e.g.: she has a scene with a stick-shift driver's ed car, and the author does not describe driving that kind of car accurately to the detriment of the story, and she actually gets a couple steps wrong in two recipes), and in the end the villain and hero have weird motivations and actions that don't match their characters or their ages. But if you listen to books like this for a bit of fluff and fun, this one is as good a choice as any. Buy on sale, and FYI: this takes place in the late 1980s or early 1990s, so it feels a bit old.

Slow Moving To Begin

Dead body immediately but I believe it was about 2 hours into the book before much "detecting" went on? A lot of characters and "setting the stage" but it was still okay, you can sure multi-task while listening.

Tip: as far as the mouth noises go that others warned of, being on the treadmill DOES help noticing that part. Not real horrible but still noticeable.

More on the narrator.... she did a great job on "the son, Arch", I thought. Others were okay but she has a very raspy sort of voice in general and this "sighing" type attitude. Not quite sure how to tell you but it's tiring.

All in all, I probably wouldn't have bought it had I known what it was like. I already bought the 2nd book and hoping that one is better but I'm not holding my breath. I had listened to the snippet of the book offtered and thought it was going to be pretty decent so purchased the 2nd one right away too. Probably a mistake as I have no desire to listen to it any too soon.

Cooking with a twist!

Loved the audiobook and the narrator. Tone of voice and various characterizations. Enjoy all her books! Want more!

Dinner with Dessert and a Mystery!

Love the writing and narration! Mystery theater at its best! Barbara Rosenblatt is one of my favorite narrators .

First time reading this author

It was OK, not my favorite. I thought more character development would have helped. Not sure if I will try another.