Review: More food commentary than any other murder mystery I've ever read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 8, 2014
As usual I received this book for free in exchange for a review.  This time it was directly from the author.  Despite that kindness I give my scrupulously honest thoughts below.So the key bit of information in this review will probably be simply categorizing the book.  For a book with 'Death' in the title, this one is very airy and light.  It's about as hard-boiled as a wad of cotton candy.  This book features all the usual components of a murder mystery: death, blood, jealousy, some interested party on a quest for truth and a sleazy private investigator but they all come together in a way that makes them completely lacking in the grittiness you tend to expect from a murder mystery.  Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is a judgment call for the reader but you at least know what to expect.To the positive side, you could give this book to your teenagers and not have any fear that they'd pick up any new vocabulary or life-changing ideas.  As an example of just how tame this is, the protagonist at one point goes off on a half-page discussion of how delicious peanut butter, banana and honey sandwiches are.  Whether said sandwiches are indeed delicious or not not is irrelevant but the fact that this interrupts a serious murder investigation is a sign of just how much this book follows a sometimes random stream of consciousness in the main character.To the negative, I have to judge any book based on the genre that it seems to be aiming for.  This seems to want to be a serious murder mystery and I think that the typical reader for that genre will be rather annoyed.  I won't prolong this review on that point because everything I've said before now is example enough but just know that this is no noir.So in summary, this tiny little book is somewhat of a unique submission to the murder mystery genre.  Personally I find it amusing enough but it's probably not going to sit as very satisfactory to those who like their murders with a bit more grit.  That said, you might pick up a good recipe or two if that's your aim.