Tuesday, May 6, 2014

A Gourmet Demise: Murder in South Tampa / L. A. Lewandowski


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Mystery

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: YES  Paper: YES
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Author:

A New Jersey native, Lewandowski now makes her home in Tampa, Florida. She has two other novels, Born to Die: The Montauk Murders and My Gentleman Vampire: The Undead Have Style.

A regular contributor at Indies Unlimited, Lewandowski also has a blog, largely, but not entirely, focused on food, called Culture and Cuisine Club.

Description:

“After escaping the brutal murders in Montauk, Katherine Montgomery breathes a sigh of relief and settles into her sophisticated mansion on Tampa Bay. In this sultry paradise her world is filled with tennis, growing her art gallery business, and nights spent with dear friends at the Gaspar Gourmets dinner club. Her life seems ideal until a close friend dies suddenly. But the accident may not be what it seems, and Detective Frank Olson is assigned to investigate. Katherine is immediately attracted to the smart, handsome detective. She can’t help but wonder, however, if his interest in her is as a woman or a suspect.”

Appraisal:

“The rich are different from you and me.” F. Scott Fitzgerald

Whether this quote is usually true, I don’t know, but I was reminded of it when considering the characters in The Gourmet Murders, most of whom are rich and not at all like me. While that might make some of the characters harder to relate to, it also meant the underlying murder mystery was tougher to get a handle on. Were there obvious motives I was overlooking? Was a certain attitude or action that made me suspect a person really within the norms for this environment? These questions nagging at the back of my mind kept me guessing about whodunit and led me astray the entire way.

Set among the members of a gourmet dinner club (a group of well-to-do Tampa residents who rotate giving dinner parties for each other), this murder mystery follows the characters as they flit from dinner party, to art show opening, to the privacy of their bedrooms, with a periodic dead body popping up to keep everyone on edge. A fun and different read.

FYI:

Some adult language and sexual situations.

Although technically a sequel to Lewandowski’s The Montauk Murders, I had no problem reading and understanding this book as a standalone.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues


Rating: **** Four Stars

1 comment:

Barbara Silkstone said...

Thank you for this post. I might not have been aware of this book. I'm intrigued and will buy a copy. Having lived in that general area for many years, I'd love to see it through the character's eyes. I'm tempted to second guess the motives and the locations. Nice review.