Zanna Mackenzie

Many twists and turns.

Overall this was a good read, there were so many plot twists it started to get a bit over the top. There was one question left unanswered until almost the end of the book and it wasn't needed. The constant reference to it brought me out of the story since we were in the dark on it but the suspense built by not letting it known early in the story didnt live up to what it was for me. Also. The title says romantic comedy? This wasn't that. A cozy mystery yes, but not a comedy.… (more)

Lizzie Carter worked as a journalist in London and was going through a difficult time in her personal life when she became heir to her uncle’s farm in Cumbria. She decided to relocate. Running a farm was hard work and didn’t pay much so she took a job in a nearby restaurant, the only one in the area, helping with marketing as well as doing other tasks as needed..
The chef, Armand, had been the winner of a TV show culinary cookoff. He was “full of his own importance, pretentious, loud, obnoxious, and a bully.” She avoided him as much as she could especially since he was constantly making passes at all the women on staff. One night he asked her to stay late to help him with the marketing task. She refused his invitation to go up to his apartment with him afterwards and headed home.
When she got home she was greeted by two cows. It turned out they belonged to the farm next door. Jack, the brother of the owner of the farm, drove up, introduced himself, and collected the cows. He said he was on a sabbatical that was a Special Agent, specializing in celebrity crime. Lizzie was curious but not impressed.
When she arrived at the restaurant the next day, the parking lot was surrounded by crime scene tape. Armand had been killed and since she was the last one to have seen him alive, she became the number one suspect, especially when she said she didn’t have an alibi.
The rest of the book deals with the relationship between Lizzie and Jack and how they try to prove her innocence. It also involves her trying to find out exactly why he was on sabbatical.
Lizzie saying she did not have an alibi was a turnoff for me immediately. That was repeated frequently. She did have an alibi: Jack had seen her when she got home. He could vouch for the time, how she acted, and what she looked like. Later on she states “I was the last one to leave the restaurant the night he was…” She said that on the following day.
While she is being interviewed by the police and talking with other people, she repeats “Armand is gone and it seems disrespectful to drag up his mistakes and bad behavior” about nine times.
At one point, it sexistly describes “My girly squeal piercing the night air.”
MURDER ON THE MENU has some interesting characters and situations. It’s too bad it wasn’t written… (more)