2002 Bantam mass-market paperback bought at the thrift store for The Chef's Challenge. First published in 1992. Followed (so far) by a dozen sequels: Dying for Chocolate, The Cereal Murders, The Last Suppers, Killer Pancake, The Main Corpse, The Grilling Season, Prime Cut, Tough Cookie, Sticks and Scones, Chopping Spree, Double Shot, and Dark Tort. (The series is also known as the Goldy Bear books.) Read more at randomhouse.com and dianemottdavidson.com.

Recipes:
Goldy's Marvelous Mayonnaise
Wild Man's Wild Rice Salad
Goldy's Dream Cake
Dungeon Bars
Goldy's Terrific Toffee
Honey-I'm-Home Ginger Snaps
Holy Moly Guacamole

From Publishers Weekly
Davidson's debut is as embarrassing as a fallen souffle would be to her narrator, divorced culinary artist Goldy Korman of Goldilocks' Catering in Aspen Meadows, Colorado. Goldy, in business to support herself and her 11-year-old son, Arch, caters the gathering after the funeral of Arch's teacher, at which her former father-in-law, gynecologist Fritz Korman, drinks from a poisoned cup. While the police make sure that Goldy is now "catering to nobody," she begins her own investigation to clear herself. As amorous detective Tom Schulz courts her, Goldy courts danger, seeking connections among the recovered Fritz, the teacher and nearly everyone else in the rustic town, including her teenage lodger, Patty Sue. The only rewards of the mystery are recipes for tasty dishes and the endearing Arch, who outwits the killer and is the sole credible character in the overstuffed cast.

From the back cover
MEET THE CATERER WHO WHIPPED UP THE MULTIMILLION-COPY MYSTERY SERIES -- AS GOLDY SOLVES HER FIRST MURDER!

Diane Mott Davidson's winning recipe of first-class suspense and five-star fare has won her and caterer Goldy critical raves and a regular place on major bestseller lists across the country. In Goldy's tantalizing debut, she serves up a savory dish of secrets, suspicions, and murder....

INCLUDING NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED RECIPES

Catering a wake is not Goldy's idea of fun. Yet the Colorado caterer throws herself into preparing a savory feast including Poached Salmon and Strawberry Shortcake Buffet designed to soothe forty mourners. And her culinary efforts seem to be exactly what the doctor ordered...until her ex-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 proclaiming her guilt, and her business about to be shut down, Goldy knows she can't wait for the police to serve up the answers. She'll soon uncover more than one family skeleton and a veritable stew of unpalatable secrets -- the kind that could make Goldy the main course in an unsavory killer's next murder!

I bought this to release for The Chef's Challenge but I decided to read it since it's the first in a series that seems very popular with Bookcrossers. And it has an introduction written by the author in 2001 which gives background about the series and the characters.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I had read The Crepes of Wrath (A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes) by Tamar Myers a year ago just to be able to say I'd read a cozy, but that book was too corny by half! Yes, this book has a punny title and recipes, but that's where the similarities end. An entertaining mass-market lazy-day read. I devoured it in an afternoon (aaauuugh, bad pun!) and will keep an eye out for the rest of the series. (As if I don't have enough books on Mt. TBR already!)

The Main Corpse was caught by the waitstaff at a downtown restaurant, Scoozzi, so I'm going to release this book there tomorrow.

RELEASE NOTES:
Left just before 2 p.m. on the little shelf next to the elevator downstairs at:

Scoozzi Trattoria & Wine Bar
1104 Chapel Street (near York Street)
in the Yale Center for British Art building -- below street level
New Haven, Connecticut, USA
(203) 776-8268
scoozzi.com

Their motto is "Everything Italian, nothing you've come to expect." This book was released for The Chef's Challenge.

Thanks for finding this book
Please write a journal entry letting all its past and future readers know that this book was found. (It's anonymous, and you don't have to join Bookcrossing to do it.) Then read and keep this book, give it to a friend, or even release it for someone else to find--just like you did. Happy reading!