Death Al Dente (Food Lovers' Village Series #1) by Leslie Budewitz, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® B&N Top 100 NY Times Bestsellers
Death Al Dente (Food Lovers' Village Series #1) by Leslie Budewitz
FIRST IN THE NEW CULINARY MYSTERY SERIES!WINNER OF THE AGATHA AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL
Food Lovers' Village Series , #1
6.70(w) x 4.20(h) x 0.80(d)
Leslie Budewitz is passionate about food, great mysteries, and her native Montana. A writer and a lawyer, her first book, Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure, won the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction and was nominated for the 2012 Anthony and Macavity awards. Leslie loves to cook, eat, hike, travel, garden, and paintnot necessarily in that order. She lives in northwest Montana with her husband, Don Beans, a doctor of natural medicine, and their Burmese cat, Ruff, an avid bird-watcher.
An intriguing sleuth who loves gourmet food, family, and her hometown, plus recipes to die for distinguish a delectable mystery. ---Carolyn Hart, national bestselling author
Death Al Dente 4.2 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 19 reviews.
Erin Murphy has come home to Jewel Bay to manage the family general store and revitalize it by providing what the community wants, products made in Montana. She even convinces the town to add a festival to start the summer season, Festa di Pasta. She chairs the committee and organizes the first evening&rsquo;s party featuring the culinary goods of Jewel Bay&rsquo;s finest&mdash;including her mother Fresca&rsquo;s delicious Italian specialties. The party takes an awful turn when a woman is found dead behind the store just outside a gate where the party is being held. The woman, Claudette, is a former employee of Fresca&rsquo;s, who left town recently with a married man. Rumors start to fly. Fingers are pointed. People start to take sides. Erin&rsquo;s friend Kim is the officer in charge of the investigation. Erin can&rsquo;t believe Kim actually thinks Fresca is the prime suspect. Erin decides to do a little investigating of her own. She better be careful or she could be the killer&rsquo;s next target&hellip; Dollycas&rsquo;s Thoughts Glacier Mercantile (The Merc) sounds like a perfect small town store going through some growing pains as Fresca still wants to do things her way and Erin is trying to modernize both the store itself and the bookkeeping. Change is always hard. A murder certainly adds some unneeded pressure to the situation. I have to say Erin is a wonderful protagonist. She has layers that are just starting to be revealed. She couldn&rsquo;t wait to leave Jewel Bay behind a few years ago but working side by side with her mom is just the place she needs to be now. She is excited about the opportunity to use what she learned as a buyer for a huge grocery chain to make The Merc and the other shops in Jewel Bay a place were locals and tourists will want to shop. The author has surrounded her with an eclectic group of supporting characters. Fresca&rsquo;s recipes will make your mouth drool!! Erin&rsquo;s friend Kim is in a bind trying to stay impartial. I think she is going to have that problem a lot because with cozy mysteries you know the next book is going to put Erin in the middle of another crime. Tracy works at The Merc and sure loves her Diet Pepsi and she keeps a can right on the counter next to the register. Diet Pepsi is not a home grown product so it drives Erin crazy. I can&rsquo;t wait to get to know her better. Several other Jewel Bay residents were introduced to us readers as well. Budewitz has also written a great mystery. There were clever twists that keep me engaged. It is hard to to delve deep into a whodunit and lay the proper foundation for stories going forward but this author has pulled it off. I can&rsquo;t wait to shop again at The Merc!!
This is a wonderful book! Hard to put down, ignore your family, forget to wash clothes, read until your eyes are closing kind of book. Great recipes too!
I loved the characters, the story, and the RECIPES!!
I "read" this via Audible. Nicely narrated by Rebecca Mitchell, Death al Dente is the first book in Leslie Budewitz' Food Lovers' Village series. Set in Jewel Bay, Montana, Erin Murphy has returned home to run her family's store, the Merc, when her mother's friend and former employee, Claudette, is found dead the first evening of the inaugural Festa di Pasta, and Erin must investigate to clear her mother's name. Clear, concise mystery, and very well-written, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next book, which I'm downloading even as I type this! 5 stars!
Interesting characters, nice mystery, some humor and dialog that's mouth watering!
This has become one of my favorite cozy mysteries. I love the town folk, the family dynamics and the main characters. I am now off to read the second book in this series.
Good enough, though very slow developing plot and characters. A nice read if you have time to kill.
Erin Murphy comes home to Jewel Bay to help her mother and shortly after her return convinces the local merchants to plan a festival to start the summer season - Festa di Pasta. The inaugural event is marred when a returning resident is found dead in the alley behind the party. It doesn't help Erin that the person was her mother's former employee who left with a married man. Fingers start to point in all directions - Erin's mother for possibly being angry a being left in the lurch, the married man, the angry wife - but the police seemed to think that Erin's mother is the prime suspect. Enlisting her friends and family to help find the answers, Erin delves into the secrets of the town to clear her mother. I love the character of Erin who is trying not only to help her mother but also her hometown - working to utilize and sell homegrown items as much as possible. The author has woven a clever mystery while at the same time introduced us to some very interesting characters.