Maya Corrigan

This is one of the best written mystery books I've read in a very long time. The author is creative and I loved the theme of having a dinner party on a yacht. I have always been fascinated by the Titanic. It was so full of promise on that fateful day and many lives were lost. There have been sightings of the lost ship in the sea and artifacts recovered to keep the intrigue of the Titanic going.

Val is one sharp person. She is busy with her granddad and his cookbook while also running a show more fitness cafe. Wen Val is offered the opportunity to cater a dinner party with the Titanic as the theme, she decides to take the job. I was hooked as soon as Titanic was mentioned in the book. The host wants her recreate the last meal served on that fateful night. What a big chore Val has taken on. Thank goodness she gets help to pull the dinner off. After changing the menu a bit, the party is booked. I loved that the guests were going to be playing a murder-mystery game during the evening. I have always wanted to attend something like that. It would be fun to play detective for one night.

As the evening goes along, the game begins and that is when the real mystery starts. it seems the host has met with an unfortunate accident . The author is good at leaving subtle hints in the story of what happened and I tried so hard to figure out who went off script and killed the host. Val finds herself deep in the investigation and has a list of suspects that all look guilty. There are unexpected twists in the story that heightened my suspicions, but I was never able to figure out who the killer was until the author revealed it.

I admire the way the author cleverly put together a story that was intriguing, wonderful characters and an ending that was very satisfying. The author has included the menu from that horrific night aboard the Titanic along with recipes from the famous Codger Cook's recipe that Val and her granddad were working on. I love how knowledgeable the author was about the Titanic and how masterfully she wove an historical event into a story that was one of my favorite books this year.

I received a copy of this book from The Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour. The review is my own opinion. show less

Val Deniston runs the Cool Down Cafe at the local health club, and also has side jobs catering small events. When she's hired to cater a Halloween-themed party at a new bookstore, her grandfather's tenant, Suzanne Cripps, mentions how she'd like to enter. But Val doesn't expect the entrants to be at each other's throats before the contest, nor that the next morning Suzette will be mowed down by a car and die. While the chief of police think it was a mere accident, Val starts looking at show more Suzette's past and she's not so sure. With the help of her grandfather, Val starts digging into the suspects, and discovers that more than one person could have had a motive; but Suzette was a decent person who didn't deserve her fate, and Val is determined to see someone pay for the crime...

I have to say that when I first started reading this book, one name in particular struck out at me. Being a huge classic film fan (I own thousands of them), I was later happy to see that I wasn't the only one in the book who noticed it, and where it was from. But I will say no more on that subject, since I don't want to ruin the book for others who might not know until it's pointed out.

That being said, I really enjoyed the book. When I first started reading this series, I wasn't impressed. But I'm glad that I stuck with it, since both Val's grandfather Don and Val herself have been growing throughout the series. I am impressed at how far Don has come, and finally showing his granddaughter how much he loves and appreciates her; and that Val's bitterness toward what was her life has turned into happiness at what her life has become. These are good things in a book.

But back to the plot: after Suzanne is killed, Val and her grandfather want to know why. They start researching the people she worked with in her job as a hotel clerk, and also her co-writers in a writers' group. What Val finds is disturbing on both counts. But without any evidence, police chief Earl Yardley isn't going to go along with it, stating that it was probably an accident.

But along with that, Don has been hired to find out why things are missing from his clients' homes, and the person who owns the Title Wave bookstore, Dorothy Muir, is an old friend of Don's, but the same can't be said of her son, Bram. He doesn't like the idea of hiring a caterer, and he seems harsh and stolid. But is that because of his personality, or because he doesn't understand how small towns work? At any rate, Val is about to find out.

When it becomes apparent that there's more to Suzanne's past that leads them to the point they now are, Val figures it out eventually, and when she does, it comes to a nice conclusion that wasn't really expected. While rather sad at points, there's no reason for taking a life, and the ending leaves us looking forward to the next in the series. I really enjoyed how all the threads eventually came together, and I do like the fact that Val never puts herself in harms' way (at least intentionally); and yet she manages to get to the bottom of things. I also have to say that I'm glad the way the series is going and looking forward to reading the next one soon. show less

Val Deniston has returned to Bayport, Maine, to live with her uncle and run the café at the local fitness club. She's settling into her new life after a tragic accident left her with no memory of the night it occurred. She's gaining new friends and working on creating a cookbook in her spare time.

Her grandfather is a crusty curmudgeon who, though gruff on the outside, loves his granddaughter. He's also suddenly mysteriously interested in learning to cook, although his specialty might be show more trying to burn down their old Victorian home. Still, Val is willing to teach him (as long as there are no more than five ingredients as he tells her); although she wonders why the sudden interest.

She's also given an opportunity that might never come again: one of the club's members, Nadia Westrin, has offered her the chance to cater the club's big party, and she's not one to turn down something this plum. The only problem is her cousin Monique. Monique's husband Maverick has had a recent affair with Nadia, and Val doesn't want to get involved. But now it seems she'll have to stay on Nadia's good side, and part of that is when Nadia asks her for a ride home she agrees. However, when they arrive, there's an old wooden tennis racket burning from a tree in Nadia's yard.

Even though Val tells Nadia she should call the police, Nadia refuses, telling her she knows who did it. And when Val arrives at Nadia's a few days later to go over the proposed menu for the party, she finds the woman dead - in a most gruesome way. Now the police chief has asked her not to reveal it, and not to answer any questions regarding the murder. But when Monique becomes the prime suspect, she wants Val to look into the murder and find the real killer. But will doing so put her life in jeopardy, and will she be able to find the truth or will she wind up the next victim?...

While this is an older book, I'm very glad I took a chance on it. Val Deniston is a rare bird in the cozy genre: she doesn't walk up and accuse people outright of murder, she doesn't overtly question them about the murder, and she doesn't walk into dangerous situations without thinking of the consequences.

While she does question people, she does it under the guise of writing a memorial about Nadia for the club's newsletter. There's nothing in her questioning to make people suspicious, (or they shouldn't be), and she's not so stupid as to walk out into her yard in the dark when she hears noises at night.

I also love the fact that she doesn't withhold information from the police. The police chief is a friend of her family's, so he doesn't treat her like the enemy, and when she garners a piece of information she thinks is valuable, she shares it, and even if he thinks it's not, he still listens to her, althought it did bother me that the rest of the police force acted like she was hallucinating and treating her like she'd done things wrong.

Val is a wonderful character, and I'm glad I got the chance to know her. While there were a couple of things that I didn't like - I felt that both her grandfather and her cousin were a tad selfish in their own wants instead of thinking about Val - and I didn't like the fact that she never confronted Chatty, who was actually committing fraud.

I'm still on the fence about Gunnar; while I'm glad he was there for Val all the way, I can't see an accountant becoming an actor. (Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it seems the life he's lived was a bit more exciting than waiting around for an agent's call that he got a bit part); and also about her grandfather. While he obviously cares for her, he's secretive and it turns out he actually steals her recipes and passes them off as his own. His reason for doing this doesn't hold water. He can't boil water without her help, yet when people start congratulating him, he doesn't even mention how helpful she's been and what a wonderful cook she is - he doesn't even say that they developed the recipes together! This doesn't endear him to me. I get why he does it, but I don't think it's right. He's just a little too curmudgeonly toward her. She shows her love by giving him a very nice gift, and this is what he does to repay her.

Other than this, I found the book to be delightful. The plot was intriguing, and even though the clues were there, we discovered them right about the same time as Val, and that was a good thing. The murderer came as a surprise, which was also nice, and I felt that the writing was very well done, making for an enjoyable read all around. I've discovered a new author, and I hope this series goes on for a very long time. Highly recommended. show less

Val lives with her grandfather in the house he's owned forever, and they're both happy with the arrangement. When Val learns that there's been a fire and her boyfriend Bram has been fighting it alongside others, she's worried. But more so because both he and Grandad knew the victim -- a woman named Jane Johnston, who was in the play both of them were rehearsing. But then there's a complication -- Val learns that Jane may have found a person who got away with a crime, and she was not happy show more about it. This person works at the new spa in town, and Val wonders who it is and what crime was committed...

So begins a tight tale of murder, exposed crimes, vengeance, and suspicion. It's woven tightly and with the threads difficult to unravel. Just as Val and her grandfather think they've found one clue; another red herring pops up to move them in a different direction. Or does it? Are they being manipulated intentionally? Or are there just that many things occurring at the same time?

When Val is roped into playing Jane's part, she meets the other people in the play, and it appears to her that they might have secrets of their own. In fact, they may have known what Jane knew, so are they suspects or potential victims?

This time, Val might be playing a dangerous game with others' lives without even knowing it, and will she be able to figure it out in time? Or will her personal life keep her on her toes, as Bram has been leaving small hints himself when he speaks to her. Val knows one thing -- if there's been one murder, there could very likely be two -- or three. Will she be able to prevent them or will she be a victim herself?

This is a delightful mystery, one that pulls you in from the death in the beginning to all the clues scattered throughout. Ms. Corrigan is talented enough that she can weave a tale that keeps you guessing, and hoping that you have everything right. After all, half the reason you read mysteries is to see if you can solve it before the protagonist. Even if you do, you might not have the right answers as to why the murder was committed. When we come to the end, and the murderer is revealed, it all turns into a very good mystery that kept me reading throughout the night. I love this series, I love the author, and the story (and the others) are written well with plots that are indeed worth it all. Highly recommended.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review. show less