Review of "Murder By Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery" by Rachel Ekstrom Courage

 

 

Though any devotee of cozy mysteries might enjoy this book, it's really for fans of 'The Golden Girls' (1985 - 1992) - a sitcom about four older women who share a house in Miami Beach, Florida. The show stars Bea Arthur as Dorothy, Betty White as Rose, Estelle Getty as Sophia, and Rue McClanahan as Blanche. To fully appreciate the comic aspects of the novel, readers should be familiar with each character's personality and quirks.


From left to right: Sophia, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose

In this debut novel in the 'Golden Girls' mystery series, the ladies investigate a murder.

*****

As the story opens, Rose Nyland's cousin Nettie from St. Olaf, Minnesota is planning to elope with her fiancé Jason. Rose convinces the couple to come to Miami Beach to have a REAL wedding, and promises to make all the arrangements.



Rose's cousin Nettie is a direct descendant of wealthy Heinrich von Anderdonnen, and the wedding must uphold ALL the St. Olaf traditions for Nettie to get her inheritance. The customs include things like the Welcome Tuna Tea, the Bridal Ribbon Ballet, the Sharing of the Soup, the In-Law Triangle Dance, a clown at the bachelorette party, a live donkey at the wedding ceremony, and more. Rose has to hustle, because the nuptials are one week away.



Dorothy would like to have a plus one for the wedding, so she uses a video dating service to meet a man.



Henry Pattinson - a handsome, educated, well-spoken fellow - seems like a good match.....



.....so Dorothy arranges to meet Henry at Wolfie's for lunch.



Henry seems very nervous and sneaks off mid-date, which hurt's Dorothy's feelings.



Jump ahead a couple of days, and arrangements are in full swing for tomorrow's Welcome Tuna Tea, which will take place at the Cabana Sun Hotel owned by the groom's family.



Rose makes enough cheesecakes to feed an army and platters of tuna sandwiches, and stores them in the hotel's food freezer for the party. This will be an ice breaker where the guests from St. Olaf will meet Jason's relatives.





On the following morning, the ladies open the hotel freezer to retrieve the goodies.....and there's a dead man in the freezer with his face in a cheesecake.



The festivities proceed as the police investigate, and it turns out the murder victim is Henry Pattinson, Dorothy's bad date. Dorothy becomes a prime suspect, and - to keep her out of prison - the golden girls are determined to prove Dorothy is innocent.



The remainder of the story involves the ladies searching for the real killer while simultaneously helping Rose with the wedding plans. So there's a LOT going on, and it's all very entertaining as the women disguise themselves; go to a disco club; cavort with a stripper clown; run into danger; etc. It's like a heightened episode of the TV show.



For fun, I'll include some of the book's 'Golden Girls' humor.

♥ Rose is very anxious to pull the wedding off perfectly, because "it would make up for the Butter Queen upset, losing the chicken singing competition, and all the other injustices she'd faced growing up."





♥ The girls arrive at the Cabana Sun Hotel for the Welcome Tuna Tea, and see a woman holding a dog. Dorothy says, "I'm surprised they allow dogs in here", and Sophia quips, "Don't worry Dorothy I called ahead to get permission for you." Sophia is always very quick with a sarcastic remark or put-down, but she's just being funny.





♥ To prepare for the wedding activities, Rose dispatches Jason to get a goat horn, fifteen tubs of grass-fed butter, twelve yards of ribbon, at least sixteen white towels, loofahs, shower caps, suits for the groomsmen, a tin whistle, extra tubes of concentrated herring paste, a few willow branches, and twenty ounces of canned or jarred lingonberries. Jason has to do this to make up for his "rather tepid throwing of the hay during the last annual Hay Day - that really disappointed the elders."





♥ The gals are discussing what talents they have to solve a murder, and Blanche speculates about investigating with Jorgen - a handsome young Norwegian man in the wedding party. "Like maybe if we're spying on someone, Jorgen could lift me up to peek in a window with his big strong hands around my waist. Maybe a stakeout on a secluded beach at sunset, huddled together for warmth as the sun dips below the horizon. Or if there's trouble, he could fight off some bad guys and catch me in his arms when I faint at the sight of blood...."





♥ When Sophia is in disguise to go undercover for the investigation, she decides on a cover story inspired by her great-aunt Neeta. "Picture it. A woman on the run from a ring of corrupt priests trying to take over the convent. She takes one donkey, a bottle of Communion wine, and the finger bone of St. Agatha and disappears into the the hills. She has seventeen children, becomes widowed, and is now on spring break from her job as a notary public. Look - I even brought the finger!" Sophia pulls out a small, dried out bone from her purse. "Don't worry, it's really a chicken bone."



There's much more like this, which people familiar with the TV show will really appreciate.

This isn't a deep dark mystery, and the gals kind of stumble onto a solution, but I enjoyed the story. If nothing else, the book is worth reading for the wedding ceremony, where Rose arranges for the minister to ring a bell, yodel, and wave his hands over two pairs of folded striped pajamas and say, "May these pajamas keep your marital bed as warm as your hearts." 😊





The book contains a recipe for St. Olaf's Kiss Cheesecake



If you like 'The Golden Girls' show, you'll enjoy this book.

Thanks to Netgalley, Rachel Ekstrom Courage, and Hyperion for a copy of the book.

 Rating: 3.5 stars 

Review of "The Whisper Man: A Suspense Novel" by Alex North

Rebecca Kennedy died suddenly ten months ago, and her novelist husband Tom and 7-year-old son Jake are reeling from the terrible loss. Rebecca was the parent most in tune with sensitive Jake, and Tom is trying hard to be a good single parent. One time after a tiff, Jake found a note on his bed that his daddy had written: "I'm sorry. I want you to remember that even when we argue we still love each other very much. XXX."

It was little Jake who found Rebecca's body in the family home, and he's been anxious there ever since.



So Tom decides to move for a change of scenery, and when Tom and Jake peruse the internet, Jake falls in love with an old house in the town of Featherbank. The two-story home has an odd ramshackle aura and - unknown to Tom and Jake - the kids in Featherbank are afraid of the place. As it turns out, the youngsters are prescient.



In any case, Tom buys the house and he and Jake move to Featherbank. If Tom had done his homework better, he would know that 20 years ago, a serial killer kidnapped and murdered five children in town. The convicted killer, named Frank Carter, was known as 'The Whisper Man' because he befriended his victims - vulnerable and neglected children - by speaking to them outside their windows at night.



Carter's abductions led to a children's rhyme that kids still chant:

If you leave a door half open, you'll soon hear the whispers spoken.
If you play outside alone, soon you won't be going home.
If your window's left unlatched, you'll hear him tapping at the glass.
If you're lonely, sad, and blue, the Whisper Man will come for you.

Two decades ago, Frank Carter was arrested when the bodies of four little boys were found in his basement; the fifth victim, Tony Smith, wasn't there.



The investigator in charge at the time, Detective Inspector Pete Willis, never stopped looking for Tony's body. Over the years, Pete even visited Frank in prison many times to ask about Tony, but the killer just taunted him....which was very hard on recovering alcoholic Pete.



Soon after Tom and Jake move to Featherbank, it seems like history might be repeating itself. A neglected schoolboy called Neil Spencer goes missing when he's walking outside alone. Detective Inspector Amanda Beck is in charge of the case, and she thinks the perp might be a copycat or Carter's (previously unknown) accomplice.



DI Pete Willis, who's still on the police force, is dispatched to visit Carter in prison, and the murderer goads him and seems to provide indecipherable hints.

All this bodes ill for Tom and Jake, because little Jake is jittery in the new environment. Jake has a packet of special things he carries everywhere, and he speaks to an invisible little girl, all of which leads to bullying by other children. And one night Tom catches Jake whispering to someone outside their front door.



Tom is very alarmed by this, and doesn't quite know what to do. Then Tom makes some alarming discoveries.....and you'll need to read the book to see what happens next.



The book has several major surprises (I made one guess, but was totally wrong), and there's an exciting denouement.

The novel has some unlikely coincidences, and Tom is more careless than he should be when an attractive woman befriends him. Still, this is a compelling suspense novel, recommended to fans of the genre.

 Rating: 3.5 stars