The Cereal Murders

These books are a hoot and I love that Goldy is not perfect and has the typical bad luck with life many of us seem to. Tom is still weird to me but he's more bearable this book.

When the theme is college and parents fighting with schools or any type of competition, it can interest me on that alone. This time it's toxic parents with Elk Prep school. Honestly the villain could have been anyone, that part was just okay, but everything else kept me glued, although I did think Goldy was a little too unconcerned with certain dangers

And, Goldy goes to the gym and gets an instructor who is merciless!

Blaster's beady blue eyes had a bone-chilling God-surveying-Sodom-and-Gormorrah look. "You're not done." His voice echoed off the dripping show more walls.

Come on, with lines like this... show less

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, show more 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. show less

this is described as a culinary mystery with Goldy Bear as a caterer in Aspen Meadows. She is divorced and lives with her son, Arch, and an older boy, Julian, both of whom attend Elk Park Prep with a good reputation for placing students in college. Julian has shown talent for cooking and would like to pursue that dream. After catering a meal for the College Advisory Dinner for seniors and parents, Goldy finds the body of the class valedictorian. Then her son, Arch, finds a dead snake in his locker and he seems the target of other not so funny jokes. Goldy's stress level is sky high even as her relationship with Investigator Tom Schulz moves forward. There are other deaths before Goldy ends up in a life or death chasee with the killer.

The Cereal Murders by Diane Mott Davidson is the third of the Goldy Bear Culinary mysteries. As with the other books in the series, I chose to listen to the audio, performed by Barbara Rosenblat.

Goldy's son Arch is still attending Elk Park Prep. As Goldy can't afford to give huge financial gifts to the school like other parents can, she is expected / coerced / guilt-tripped into catering school events. Her latest one: the College Advisory Dinner for seniors and parents. That's all well and good until the school's valedictorian is found beaten to death and buried in the snow.

He is but the first body in this book as tension mounts over college applications and acceptance letters. This is a school that prides itself on getting its students show more into the very best and the pressure placed on students, parents and teachers results in a collective insanity.

As I have family members who are teachers, I hear the horror stories. Thankfully for my relatives, nothing they've experienced comes close to violence Goldy faces: poisonous spiders in kitchen drawers, a stopped up chimney and a near strangulation. show less

This is a series I enjoy and will continue to read/listen to. Goldy is pragmatic and tends to get straight to the point, and I appreciate that. I think that she is a realistic character — despite the fact that Keith Andrews isn’t the first dead body she happens across, it affects her very deeply. Add into the situation the fact that her son is being harassed, and Goldy has a lot to worry about.

Something that I thought was interesting about this book is that one of its central themes, the cutthroat Ivy League college admissions process, is even more relevant today, almost 20 years after the book was first published.

I also like the little taste of romance. Schultz is a patient man.

After reading more simplistic mysteries, it is refreshing to read a mystery where there are lots of clues, lots of factors, and no simple resolution. The recipes make this story fun, and I was pleased to see the progression of Goldy's relationship with Tom Schultz. My only difficulty with this storyline is that I had a hard time believing that parents could be so obsessive about their childrens' college aspirations - but maybe I'm just not hanging out in the right circles!!

Goldy can not seem to stay out of trouble. Rich people who think they can run over the little people, parents who will do anything so their precious child can get ahead , throw in two murdered people (which Goldy finds) and one has the recipe for an outstanding book.
. This time the location is the prep school that Julian (her boarder) and son attend. I am so glad that Julian played a important role in this book. I love the camaraderie between Arch and Julian