Lou Jane Temple
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Subjects -> Mystery & Thrillers -> Authors, A-Z -> ( T ) -> Temple, Lou Jane
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Subjects -> Mystery & Thrillers -> Mystery -> Women Sleuths
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10
Average rating: 3.0 of 5
This Is Not A Cozy Mystery 2 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.
I received this entire series as a gift and will be reviewing each one as I read them. Although it looks like a cozy mystery, I don't consider it to be one for several reasons, the top three are:1. The liberal use of the F* word by both the main character and other's in the story.
2. The main character - 4 time divorced - 1 widowed - Heaven Lee, who is about 45 - sleeping with a 25 year old.
3. Heaven Lee - A former stripper and disbarred lawyer who says she was disbarred for "doing what all lawyers do, putting together a drug deal for their clients." I'm sure there is a story behind that but it's not told in this book and I think I think it should have been, because I don't think it casts Heaven in a good light.
It's Open-mike night at Cafe Heaven. Unfortunately, the evening ends early when lawyer, Tasha Arnold drops dead. Since Tasha is dating and sleeping with two of Heaven's ex-husbands and dies of poisoning after eating dinner at the Cafe, Heaven becomes the top suspect.
The problems with this book starts with the fact that I don't like Heaven Lee. There are so many characters in the book, but they are so undefined that I had a hard time following who they were, and what they were doing.
I think the only people that I got to know were Chris, who works at the restaurant and was the victim of gay-bashing hate crime in the past. Murray - a former New York City Crime reporter and Sandy - a lawyer who is one of Heaven's ex-husbands.
All of the other characters, I thought were so lacking in personality that they don't really stick out.
Then there's the recipes. They are flopped right in the middle of the pages. The story just stops for a recipe and then continues after the recipe. Usually on the same page as the recipe. (I'm sure this is an editing problem and not the author's, but it is irritating.) And I can honestly say I would never try any of these. For one thing, I don't even know what a Jicama is or what wheatberries are or where to find them.
However, the mystery was and characters were just interesting enough that I will read the second book. I know a lot of mystery series I read seem to have problems with their first book and don't really hit their rhythm until the 3rd or 4th book.
With the character's I enjoyed and the mystery which was ok, and a nice surprise killer are enough that I want to go onto the next book and hope for improvements in the future.
Editorial Review:
At Cafe Heaven, the souffles don't fall, but the bodies do.
Heaven Lee is sassy, brassy, and street-smart. She's also one of Kansas City's premier caterers. With a string of failed careers and stalled marriages behind her, Heaven's finally found her true love-Cafe Heaven, a trendy restaurant on midtown 39th.
Open-mike night at Cafe Heaven gets pretty hairy, but Heaven is shocked when lovely lawyer Tasha Arnold drops dead from poisoning med-dinner. With the law and word-of-mouth threatening to close her down, Heaven does what any chef worth her salt would-she turns sleuth.
But asking questions on a mean street like 39th gets Heaven into hot water. Somewhere out there is a killer who would turn Kansas City's favorite caterer into Kansas City's freshest corpse!
Featuring original recipes for such tempting treats as risotto with mushrooms and asparagus, gingerbread upside-down cake and pumpkin piccadillo.
