Book 19, 2021
Eggs Benedict Arnold by Laura Childs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I actually managed to finish my "work" book at work today. Woo! It was Eggs Benedict Arnold, which is the second part of Laura Childs' "Cackleberry Club" mystery series. Story is told in third person pov, but it's primarily from the viewpoint of widowed Suzanne Dietz.
Suzanne and her two friends, Petra and Toni, have opened their own diner, called the Cackleberry Club, and business is booming. When Suzanne delivers a pie to local funeral director, Ozzie Driesden, she finds him dead on the embalming table. Before she can react, she is knocked out with chloroform. Sheriff Doogie now has a murder on his hands, but when his prime suspect also winds up dead, he's at a dead end. In the meantime, another of Suzanne's friends, Missy, begs her to look into the case, because Doogie is eyeballing her and her significant other. Suzanne reluctantly agrees, but her snooping may be her undoing.
I enjoyed this story, but... I'd like a chance to solve the mystery on my own. Suzanne's "investigation" was rather willy-nilly and consisted mostly of her ending up in some dicey situations that served only to earn Doogie's wrath. The killer caught both of us (Suzanne and me) off-guard in a rather implausible ending. You know what else was implausible? The fact that the killer *SPOILER* was a woman, yet she managed to both heave Ozzie up on an embalming table (and what was up with him being all hooked up to tubes and shit? That was never explained), and she was able to hoist the other victim up into a tree. Is she an Amazon? Le sigh. Two other things I took exception to:
1. Milk does NOT contain antibiotics. I grew up on a dairy farm, and I know for a fact that any milk from cows that were on meds was discarded. It has to be. Milk is rigorously, routinely tested, and if there were antibiotics in a truckload of milk, you can be sure that the source would be traced and dealt with.
2. There was no reason Suzanne could not conduct a search of the land records on her own. Instead, the author had her put in a request, only to be told it "might take a few days". No. Anything entered into the land records is public information, and Recorders' offices have public terminals where you can do your own research. I once did a short stint as a title searcher, so yes, I know what I'm talking about. And, come to think of it, we never did read any more about Suzanne's request. Huh.
At least we got to see Suzanne at work and even socializing; the entirety of the story wasn't taken up with her investigation. Characters were portrayed well, and the narrative was light and fun, for the most part.
Favorite lines:
♦ He was getting older, his muzzle going white, but he hadn't lost his spunk for shagging rodents. I beg your pardon?
♦ Who were all these little women? What planet did they come from? Did they disembark from a space ship or the death star Anorexia?
♦ "Lady, you just found a ray of sunshine in the middle of a shit storm."
Once again, I'd dearly love to award 3 1/2 stars. I did enjoy the story, and I would likely read more in the series. However, it annoys me when authors don't do their research and put incorrect information in their books. For that reason, this one is getting downgraded to a three instead of upgraded to a four.