Unlock Now A Catered Murder (A Mystery With Recipes, #1) Brought To You By Isis Crawford Released Through Publication

was so poorly written, it was hard to keep track of anything going on, The author would put flashback thoughts in the middle of conversations, making it so spotty and harder to follow, The characters were forgettable, and the actual murderer seemed liar fetched, . . since they were a smaller character that had really no back story to it, All an all, awful but easy read, Well done first book in the series, Good mystery and I was just as lost as to who the culprit was as Libby and Bernie were, Looking forward to more. Bernadette Simmons wasn't sure what to expect when she left L, A. and her nogood, cheating boyfriendto move back in with her family in New York, And her sister Libby had no idea what she was in for when she hired Bernie to work for her catering business, But in between cutting up canapes and dishing up desserts, the two find themselves in the midst of a mystery they can really sink their teeth into.
. .
It's only been a few days since Bernie and Libby started working together at A Little Taste of Heaven, and already they've got their hands fullbaking cookies and slicing rare beef tenderloin to serve at a high school reunion.
The dinner has a "Dracula" theme and a very strange guest of honor: Laird Wrenn, a New York Times bestselling author of vampire novels.
Libby and Bernie know this will be an evening unlike any other, And they're proven right when Laird pours a glass of water, takes a long sipand drops stonecold dead, . .
Now, with murder on the menu and Libby under suspicion, the sisters will have to put their heads together to figure out whodunitin a mystery that promises to be deadly to the very last bite.
Bernadette moves from Los Angeles to New York and goes to work in her sister's catering business, Unfortunately, a guest dies at one of their events, And a friend of Bernadette's sister is one of the suspects,

Crawford delivers an enticing plot, relatable characters and a nice twist ending,

A fun read, I usually enjoy cozies they are quick, easy reads and I use them a a kind of palate cleanser

between heavier or longer books.
So I don't want to have to work to read them, This was work. I struggled to get into this book, It just did not hold my attention at all, and I am not even sure why, It got better after the murder finally happened, but it seemed to take so long it didn't, but it felt that way, Then, I immediately guessed who did it,

I can forgive typos, but there were times that the author seemed to mix up the sisters, causing me to question what I had just read.
Here is an example:

Bernie watched Libby adjust the heat under the pan, “How about I talk to him and the Enterprise people and you talk to the neighbors,” she said, Libby nodded.

Seems pretty straightforward, except on the next page Libby went to Enterprise and Bernie went to talk to the neighbors even though it specifically mentioned Libby would talk to them because she knew them.
This wasn't the only time I had to doublecheck which sister was talking vs, which sister I thought should actually be talking, Very confusing.

I did like end up liking the main cast of characters, I just don't know if I would want to read further in this series,

I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway, I love mysteries. Cozies are my favorite mysteries to read, I'm hooked. Hooked.

I always enjoy getting my hands on a new series, new author new author to the publishing world or new to me.


I get a kick out of being the first to scoop up the latest, I consider myself a cozy devotee,

Sadly, A Catered Murder did zip, zero, nada for me, Nothing. I was bored. I found excuses not to read it, I read other books instead,

I wondered how on earth this book got published, Did it win a contest Was it nepotism

Was the editor Kensington about to embark on a cruise amp said, " Oh, what the heck " or did s/he win the lottery amp give them a shot making their dream come true

I am one of those people who has to finish a book no matter what.


I am slowly learning to stop being so anal amp read the incredible books waiting to be read,

Instead of slogging through the drivel, I have decided to toss the books I can't digest aside,

I have allowed myself to read the firstpages a la Oprah, but have come up w/ my own reader meterpages.


So, what was it about this book that was so foul tasting

Ingredients:
Zzz
Characters too over the top
Grammatical errors
Predictable plot
Dialogue too problematic to follow
Typing errors
Snore Syrup
Lack of Sense Sauce


Isis Crawfords previous experience was as a food writer.


Hmmm maybe the recipes are worth the read, but I didn't bother, I walked away ok, sprinted.

A Catered Murder is the first of the Mystery with Recipes series amp just because it isn't for my palate, . . you may enjoy this serving, Dollycass Thoughts

Bernadette Simmons escaped from Los Angeles leaving her cheating ex behind along with most of her belongings to return home to New York.
There she starts working with her sister Libby at A Little Taste of Heaven, a store and catering company, They have been hired to cater a high school reunion with a Dracula theme, The guest of honor, author Laird Wrenn, even arrives with his own coffin, Sadly, before the night ends he is going to need it because after a big drink of water he keels over dead, Since Libby provided the bottled water she becomes a prime suspect but everyone at the reunion had access to it so the suspect list is wide open and Bernie and Libby are going to find who sucked the life out of the popular vampire.
. . author.

I found the family dynamic interesting in this first book of this series, The sisters are as different as night and day but both seem to attract jerks and deserve better, In addition to working together, they are also taking care of their father, Sean, the former police chief, He is in a wheelchair but no real story as to why as been revealed as yet, Truthfully the author has not given any of the core characters much depth so there is a lot to be revealed in subsequent books.
I did like the interactions between the sisters and with their father, They came across as realistic and true,

The girls investigation into the murder was fun to read, Taking along treats when visiting the suspects did loosen some tongues, In fact, the heat was soon off Libby and onto one of her friends, I also liked that they talked things over with their dad to get his expert opinion, His replacement at the police department is a real tool and needed to be put in his place, I was able to pull all the clues together before Bernie and Libby and the police but enjoyed following along to the end.


This story was good but I wish the characters were more fleshed out so that I would feel more invested in them.
I identified a bit with Sean because I too spend a vast amount of time in a wheelchair but want to know more of his story.
We did learn Bernie has an eidetic memory which can be annoying and Libby is a really hard worker but again I wanted more.


For me, the book is A Satisfactory Excursion, but I am not writing the series off, I have book, A Catered Wedding on my Kindle so I will be giving this author another chance, It is a longrunning series, book, A Catered New Years Eve was just released so I am assuming the flaws I found in this story have all be ironed out.
Murder with Recipes I'll start with I loved the recipes, I did make copies of the cake recipe, My kids loved it. This was the first book in the series and there were moments where I felt like looking at the end to see who did it.
Lots of suspects, lots of "sisterly" nonsense and just seemed longer than it needed to be, I did continue and it was a pretty good story, I am going to try another book from the series and see how I feel after it,  .