Susannah Hardy

Georgiana "Georgie" Nikolopatos runs the restaurant Bonaparte House owned by her husband, Spiro, and his mother, Sophie. But Georgie's isn't a traditional marriage: Spiro is gay, yet they've stayed together for the sake of their now-grown daughter, Cal. Still, Georgie is afraid that her life is all going to disappear one day: that Spiro will leave her, and she'll be out of what she loves: her home, her restaurant, and even Sophie. Spiro, on the other hand, has done disappearing acts of his own, much as the one now -- he's been gone for days, and no one seems to know where he is.

But Georgie has other problems, too: the television show Ghost Squad is going to be filming at the restaurant tonight (because Spiro called them about the place being haunted) and Georgie and Sophie, who live on the second story in the old Victorian-turned-restaurant, need to leave. So Sophie heads to her cousin's home, and Georgie gets a ride with a friend, Keith Morgan, on his boat to take her across the bay to her friend's home. Before she can get there, however, she and Keith come across a body floating in the river -- Big Dom, the owner of a rival restaurant and Sophie's would-be suitor.

To make things worse, Spiro hasn't shown up yet, Georgie is receiving threatening emails asking her to deliver a ransom to get him back, the police are looking at her as a suspect, Spiro's new boyfriend -- a tattoo artist -- hasn't heard from him either, and she's definitely attracted to the man who claims to be a Coast Guard captain but might be something more sinister instead. So what's a girl to do? Try to find what it is the captor wants, get her husband back, and not let Sophie in on what she's doing. What could go wrong?...

This book grabbed me from the first sentence, and I was intrigued. Yet reading on, it began a bit slowly, but picked up soon enough and kept me reading. The dialogue was clever, the descriptions plentiful, and the characters endearing. I loved Georgie, because even though she was doing her darnedest to keep Sophie out of the loop, she seemed befuddled what to do at times, which actually worked without making her seem ditzy.

The entire plot works around Georgie and her machinations to get her husband back and keep everyone in the dark as to him being kidnapped. There is actually a very funny scene between Georgie and Spiro's boyfriend, Inky, the hulking tattoo artist, that takes place at a hippie commune and then being chased by a highway patrolman. It could have been campy, but it wasn't, which is a testament to the decent writing in this book.

Unfortunately, this series is one of those that received the axe from Berkley in their house-cleaning of cozy mysteries; and I would love to have seen it continue on. It has an unusual premise of a beginning cozy, there's no 'evil nemesis' to drag the novel down, and the writing, as I've stated above, is delightful. So while there are only two more books in this series, I will relish reading them both and hope I'm not disappointed. Recommended.… (more)

Georgie married into this Greek family and restaurant life in upstate New York. I really enjoyed the historical tidbits about Bonaparte House (yep, those Bonapartes), and the interesting architectural information about it being an octagonal house. She is managing the family restaurant under the eagle eye of her mother in law Sophie. While I thought it was refreshing to find that Georgie could be so wrong about so may things, I found the story foundered a bit when trying to explain her willingness to stay married to Spiro. I can't imagine they couldn't have worked out a better arrangement for the Bonaparte House and still allow Georgie access to the family business. I will be curious where this group heads next.… (more)

Last year I read Yarned and Dangerous by Sadie Hartwell. I enjoyed it so much that when I learned that she wrote this Greek to Me cozy series as Susannah Hardy, I knew I had to give it a try. Unfortunately this series and I are not meant to be.

I did like the interesting local history that was used in Feta Attraction, and the old octagon-shaped house made a good restaurant. The setting I liked; it was the main character and the mystery that I had problems with.

I never warmed up to the main character. For years Georgie has been stuck in a stagnant marriage where her husband thinks nothing of taking off for days to conduct his little affairs. Yes, she did stay in the marriage for the sake of her child, but letting her husband and mother-in-law take advantage of her day in and day out? I just can't become enthusiastic over a character who has DOORMAT tattooed on her forehead. (And with a life like this, is she really a proper role model for that child?)

There's also a bit too much going on plotwise: missing husband, murdered man, hidden treasure, missing money, illegal contraband, weird noises, secret spaces, and a "ghostbusting" team that really wasn't necessary at all. No, Feta Attraction just was not my cup of tea, but your mileage could certainly vary!… (more)

Even though I haven’t read the first book in this series, that didn’t stop me from enjoying this book. The author sprinkled bits of previous events throughout so I quickly got clued in.

Georgie has so many eggs in her basket. She lives with her soon to be ex-mother-in-law, Sophie. What will happen after the divorce is final? Will she have to move?

And her romance with sexy Captain Jack Conway is taking off. What will happen if her mother-in-law finds out?

A sticky situation, as Sophie took her in when her mother took off and Georgie wants to buy the restaurant.

Then the humdinger. Famous soap opera star Melanie Ashley visits the restaurant. It doesn’t take long for Georgie to figure out Melanie is her mother, last seen riding away on a motorcycle over 20 years ago.

Things get crazy when a body is found outside Spiro’s restaurant. His partner, Inky, is suspect number one. Georgie and Spiro may be getting a divorce, but they’re still friends, and she’ll do what it takes to prove Inky innocent.

I thought it was funny that Georgie’s mother was a star on a soap opera. This book felt like one. So much going on. So many people connected to each other by blood or friendship.

Plenty of secrets, suspicions, and misdirection keep you guessing who killed Georgie’s cousin and why.

And a lot of food is mentioned in this book. Georgie manages Bonaparte House, a Greek restaurant. I had to look up some of the dishes and they sound delicious. There are several recipes at the end of the book. I especially want to try Glady’s Banana Bread. I didn’t know you could freeze bananas.

I did it again, started a series somewhere besides the beginning. I’ll be grabbing Feta Attraction now. As I mentioned earlier, you can read this without having read the first book, but why miss all the fun. I need to know how this all began.… (more)