Dark Tort

I haven't enjoyed this series for a while, but this is an earlier entry that I had somehow missed and I hoped it might belong to the "still good" era. Alas, no. The opening sequence is a typical tired slapstick about caterer Goldy tripping over a dead body, which provides plenty of scene-setting without the subsequent throwing about of food all over a posh law firm's lobby. It's all just so over the top and ridiculous, and I swear this time I am really done with this series. I can't keep reading books where I'm rooting for the murderer to take out the main character, can I? At least not without knowing it actually happens at some point — that book, I would happily read.

It's been a few years since I last read a Goldy mystery. I thought maybe I'd grown so critical in my reading that I'd not like these books -- that I'd find them super cheesy and ridiculous (possibly why I'd stopped picking them up), but this one is a pleasant surprise. It's escape literature, for certain, but decent in that category. At least for this book, any time Davidson gets close to sappy or silly, she quickly backs away and moves the story forward. I appreciate that. This type of book is good for listening while I drive.

I was a bit exasperated that all the "action" in the book (that is, all the info Goldy was collecting in her investigation) came in the form of talking to people and hearing their stories -- a type of passive show more writing as opposed to active. However, perhaps this is just more realistic as far as murder investigating goes. The lady does come across a lot of murdered people in her otherwise friendly small town. How much action could she expect? So I forgive the book for that disappointment. show less

My goal is to re-read this series this year and I am getting close to the end. Because I was traveling I chose to listen to this book while driving. I loved the book; however, I did not like the audio version. It wasn't the book, but the reader. She did an adequate job; however, she made Marla's voice too harsh and Tom's voice too wimpy in places. I visualize Tom having a really sexy voice and this wasn't it. I realize that it is difficult to have voice changes in the dialogue but this was a huge distraction for me.

The plot itself kept me interested. Once again, Goldy finds a body, this time it is her young neighbor, Dusty, in a lawyer's office of all places. Once again there are lots of characters to keep track of, but luckily I got show more to listen to this in one day so keeping everyone straight wasn't a big deal this time. show less

This is the last Diane Mott Davidson book I read. I really cannot stand the main character, Goldy. She is very unrealistic, all over the map in her personality, and if I were Arch, I would be glum and withdrawn too. Goldy managed to make all of the evidence inadmissible in court in this book, and why her husband, a supposedly fine detective doesn't tell her this, I don't know. Even the cooking is frenetic. O.K., it's possible I'm being just a bit harsh, I do like Tom and reading about the recipes, but that's not enough to make me read any more of these books, the mysteries suck.

For someone who isn't a homicide detective, Goldy sure has a lot of contact with murders! This latest involves lawyers (automatic bad guys, right?), infidelity, theft, and jealousy. Goldie manages to put all the pieces together, but not before her own brush with death.

Almost didn't buy this because her last book sucked so much. This one wasn't nearly as bad, but still wasn't that good. The main problems with this one is that Goldy has no plausible reason to be involved with the investigation, that she goes about it in such a haphazard way, and she leaves the vital clue lying around for a week, only to discover it just as the killer comes to polish her off. Then there's the fact that she and her husband Tom have multiple conversations where they tell each other things they should already know, and the strained dialog (like when Goldy asks a young woman if the murdered girl had had any "romantic liaisons"). I really enjoyed this series more when Goldy had real obstacles to overcome and her involvement show more with the murders was more immediate and personal. show less

I listened to the audiobook version of this title. I think they changed readers for the audiobooks because it sounded like a different person than the last book in the series that I listened to as an audiobook. The narrator's raspy voice didn't do the audio version as much justice as the former narrator's did. I kept thinking I'd get used to it, but I never did.

I did catch the double meaning of tort/torte long before it came up in the book. It's a dessert and a legal term so it does double duty in this case since the murder takes place at a law firm where Goldy's been catering breakfasts and lunches--something that apparently started in between the events of the last book and this one as best I can tell.

Goldy's son Arch is learning to show more drive. Yet Goldy's the one who ends up taking the door off Julian's range rover then leaving trash bags in it for a week or so. Poor Julian!! Also, at the party, it sounded like she asked Julian to take additional trash bags out of the trash bins but when she goes to the repair shop to get the bags after the mechanic demands she come get them, it sounds like only one bag. So which is it? Especially since that trash is what tips off the murderer. Would most people miss one bag of trash from their trash bin? I don't know--maybe. show less