I backtracked in this series to read the Cereal Murders, the 3rd book that I somehow missed. It was very good. I did not have any clue who the murderer way. I love when that happens. This book revolved around the stresses of senior year and the prep that comes from applying to college. I could relate to the students struggles and worries some (remembering way back when I was a senior) but not at the level these students were taking it to. Either the situation was exaggerated for the sake of novel or it's more of a public school (me) vs. prep school (book) difference. Either way it was interesting to see the situation from both the student and the parent perspective, plus murder too. ( )

Caterer and divorced mother Goldy Bear has been hired to prepare food for a series of college advisory events sponsored by her son's private school. Anxiety abounds at the first school dinner as the seniors and their parents fret about grades, test scores, class rank, extracurricular achievements, and the competition for admission to elite schools such as Stanford and Princeton. It's a deadly serious business, as Goldy learns when she finds the body of the class valedictorian during her after-dinner cleanup. Then a series of malicious pranks threaten Goldy, her seventh-grade son Arch, and school senior Julian, Goldy's catering assistant who lives with Goldy and Arch. The events bring Goldy and her admirer, homicide detective Tom Schulz, closer together as they try to protect Goldy's family.

I wasn't completely satisfied with the mystery aspects of the book. The author doesn't leave any loose ends, but the clues didn't really point to any particular culprit. Goldy eventually pieced things together and identified the right person, but following the same pattern of reasoning, I think the clues could have pointed to a number of other individuals. This is one of the earlier books in the series, though, and I know that this aspect of the series improves as it continues. The characters and the overall story line are interesting and fun, and this will keep me coming back to this series. ( )

Goldy keeps finding dead bodies at the school her son attends. Not only that, but someone seems determined to harm her and her household. Never-the-less, she is determined to continue her catering and her life.

Not my favorite mystery series, yet this story was more entertaining than the others I've read by Diane Mott Davidson. A couple of the recipes look try-able. Many of her characters do not seem realistic to me, and the motivation for such rampant murdering just doesn't fly in my book, not that it couldn't happen in real life, sadly, similar things have happened, but I didn't buy it in this book. ( )

Great story. Keeps you guessing until the end plus great recipes! ( )

Enjoy this character, love hearing about cooking/recipes ( )