I haven’t had as much time to read this month as I would have liked – to be honest I’m really not sure where the time has gone. That said, I’m glad that I’ve finally had the time to reread one of the most recommended Cozy series by site visitors, which begins with An Appetite for Murder.
This series stars Hayley Snow, who has recently uprooted her life to move to Key West, Florida, to live with a man she knew only a bit. When she found him in bed with another woman, she also found herself virtually homeless as well, living off of the kindness of friends in town.
In an attempt to bring her life back under control, she applies for the job as a food critic for a new local newspaper. Unfortunately, she already has an unpleasant history with one of the site’s owner, who is the woman her boyfriend was sleeping with. Naturally, the would-be boss dies suspiciously, and Hayley quickly becomes a prime suspect. Hayley needs to not only prove her innocence, but keep up her job application – just because she’s being considered for murder doesn’t mean life doesn’t go on, after all.
In this instance, the setting is of particular interest to me – as I was actually born in Key West. I haven’t spent much time there —> my parents didn’t live there, and I was only born there because it was the closest American hospital to where my father was stationed at the time. So it’s interesting to hear different perspectives and descriptions of Key West, as I haven’t had as much time to form an impression of the city as I would like.
It doesn’t hurt that another key component of the series is another personal favorite – food. It’s easy to connect with readers over the topic of food, simply because it is one of the few absolute common points that all humans have in common – we all have to eat, and we want to enjoy what we eat whenever possible. The murder mystery’s backdrop of food, particularly Hayley’s visits to local restaurants to help ensure her resume for the food critic position rises to the top. There are plenty of mouth-watering descriptions of various delicious dishes that Hayley patronizes throughout the mystery – particularly seafood, since Key West is a big fishing town after all!
If you’re interested in reading more of these brief revisits of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.
JIll says
Thank you for all the work that you do to produce this blog. I check my email daily to see if you posted anything new.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Jill, you’re very welcome!
MJ says
This Food Critic series is a favorite of mine. 🙂 Here are a few of my comments from the past recommendation lists……..
Lucy Burdette is a pseudonym for Roberta Isleib. Isleib has written two cozy series. One is the ‘Advice Column Mystery’ series where the protagonist is a psychologist (as is the author). The other series is the Golf Lover’s Mysteries. The protagonist in that series is Cassie Burdette, an aspiring pro golfer.
Is it a COINCIDENCE that the author’s pseudonym’s last name is the same as the character’s name in the golf series? Nope……………..but I JUST caught on to the connection! I imagine there are blog readers (much smarter than me) who saw this correlation a long time ago.
I always make this comment when I recommend this series: KUDOS to the author for her bio at the end of the book. She acknowledges this pseudonym (Lucy Burdette) and tells the reader of her accomplishments under her real name as Roberta Isleib. She’s proud of her work, so has no qualms in releasing her real name! Thank you, Ms. Isleib.
I’ve enjoyed ALL the cozy mysteries by this author. Very intelligent writing, twisted plots, and smart, savvy sleuths. There’s a lot of depth to all her characters (some are a little quaint) which makes the stories that much more engaging. Always, ALWAYS a good read!! 🙂
Danna - cozy mystery list says
MJ, I know what you mean about the sort of “eureka” moments you’re talking about. In this case I noticed the connection (making pages for authors does make these sorts of details stick out more as you type them out instead of just casually seeing them) but in other instances I’ve caught myself noticing this sort of little detail years after the pieces are all in place.
And you have no idea how much I appreciate when authors are up front with their pseudonyms! It is so much easier running a site like this when you know exactly who has written what series and under which names.
Leslie says
Thanks so much for the info! I LOVE the Food Critic series, and will definitely look for these other two series!
Lucy says
Thank you all for the lovely post and comments! Lucy aka Roberta
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Lucy, you’re very welcome – and thanks for all the wonderful Cozies!
Margaret StashEmpress says
Love this series — so much fun!
Janie says
I haven’t seen a book in this series for quite a while. Is she still writing this series?