Kate White (1) (1950–)

When artist Skyler Moore gets a phone call from a lawyer telling her that it is urgent for her to see him, she first thinks it is a scam. However, curiosity and the possibility of an inheritance has her making the trip to Scarsdale from her East Village flat.

It seems that Skyler has been given a trust after the death of Christopher Whaley. The only problem is that Skyler doesn't know Christopher Whaley and has no idea why he would leave her $3.5 million. Christopher's mother and wife don't show more know why he's pick her either. While the mother seems sanguine about the inheritance, the wife is not.

However, when she hears that Christopher Whaley's nickname was C.J., she remembers him as a man she had a one-night stand with when she was a graduate student in Boston. A lot of the one-night stand has left her memory because it happened at the same time that her younger half-sister disappeared from a party they both attended and was found a couple of days later by Skyler. The trauma around her sister's death put the one-night stand way in the background of her memory.

When Skyler starts being harassed, i.e. her apartment broken into, her studio almost broken into if not for the intervention of a fellow artist, a feeling that she is being followed when she is out scouting for art materials for her next collage, a note with the stamped word "whore" placed in her tote bag, and the same word stamped on the collages that are supposed to be viewed at her first show, she at first thinks that it is a former boyfriend who didn't take their break-up well.

The fear Skyler feels when she is harassed comes right out of the pages and managed to scare me too. Skyler already suffers from anxiety which is only getting worse as she gets older. She is just managing to restart her art career after years when she was still dealing with her sister's death and ruin of her relationship with her mother who has always felt Skyler could have done more for her sister.

The story was fast-paced and intense. I liked that it was told in alternate time periods from the Now when she inherits the money and Twelve Years Ago when she has her one-night stand and when her sister disappears and is found dead.

I couldn't put this one down. show less

Ally is a woman suffering from memory loss. When she arrives at work one morning, she’s shocked to find out that she hasn’t actually worked at this office for years. Somehow, she’s suffered a dissociative episode, and while the memories of the past eventually come flooding back, she still cannot remember anything that happened over the previous two days. Alarmed, she seeks out her therapist...her friends...her husband, trying to put the pieces together. There’s been tension in her show more marriage because her husband is pressuring her to have children, so when Ally finds out they had a fight the night before she “disappeared,” the root of her memory loss seems to be clear. However, there are still too many loose ends. Such as why were there bloody tissues in the pocket of her coat? What happened to her cellphone? Could any of this be related to a murder investigation from her childhood? Not sure who she can trust, Ally hires a private detective who also is murdered. One thing is for certain...someone is willing to go to great lengths to prevent Ally from recovering her memory. The author provides the twists and shocks that any reader of domestic thrillers expects, but she also manages to use some of our expectations to create clever dead ends. Ally’s need for self-discovery has an immediacy, of course, but also a larger resonance, as she begins to realize that she hasn’t always made choices that are completely authentic or independent. Perhaps recovering her memory will be the first step in a larger quest to find herself. Overall, this is an engaging, cleverly written novel that will engage and entertain most, if not all, mystery lovers. show less

Kate White, the Vogue editor who also pens the superb Bailey Weggins novels has assemble some delicious recipes from some killer mystery novelists, including Gillian Flynn, Sue Grafton, Mary Higgins Clark, Scott Turow, Louise Penny, Lisa Scottaline, Charlaine Harris, Lee Child, Carolyn Hart, Max Allen Collins, Diane Mott Davidson, Harlen Coben, Brad Meltzer, Rhys Bowen and many, many more. If you’ve read them, they can probably feed your stomach as well as your mind, thanks to this show more cookbook.

Do not miss Brad Meltzer’s Italian Chicken. Finding that recipe online led me to this cookbook in the first place! Linda Stasi provides the recipe to the Original New York Cheesecake, created at Ratner’s Kosher restaurant in 1905. Alafair Burke provides Ellie Hatcher’s Rum-Soaked Nutella French Toast. (Although Burke’s character NYPD Detective isn’t much of a cook, this simple recipe is mighty fine.) Allison Leotta’s recipe, The World’s Best Red Sauce (a.k.a. Leotta Sauce) — that’s actually the recipe’s name — starts with canned tomatoes and is simmered only 10 minutes and is still pretty good (although I wouldn’t go as far as Leotta herself does. And John Lutz’s Gooey Butter Cake recipe from St. Louis might give you diabetes (it takes a full pound of confectioner’s sugar), but it’s exquisite. It would be a crime not to read this cookbook. show less

This wonderful cookbook gets full marks at every level.

The book, itself, is lovely. A hardcover book with a textured front, gold spine, gold and white lettering and decoration on the front, and a gold ribbon to use as a bookmark. The photographs of the dishes are top notch. There is a a real art to photographing food and these pictures and their presentation is excellent.

This is probably the first cookbook that I have read cover to cover. You can't help doing so as the authors have penned show more short commentaries about their cooking and their recipes. Lee Child's instructions on how to make coffee, and the quips before each section had me in stitches. Kate White, the editor, has also penned interesting, short sidebars of information on food, poisons and murder.

Each of these delights is amazingly easy to make. Harlan Coben's Myron's Crabmeat Dip directions, for example, is one line long: "Mix ingredients together while heating on stove. Serve warm." It can't get any easier! After all, if you are busy writing you don't want to spend the entire day in the kitchen. These are easy, tasty repasts.

I was delighted to find Kinsey Millhone's Peanut Butter & Pickle Sandwich in here, as I have been enjoying this crazy sounding concoction for years. Frankie Y. Bailey's muffins and Brad Meltzer's chicken will be the first ones we'll try.

Perhaps what is most enjoyable is that these short entries make the writers very human. Their personalities shine through. This book is for people who enjoy mysteries, beautiful, readable books and wonderful yummy food. show less