A Side Dish of Death

An Urban Tails Pet Shop Mystery #5)

By T. C. LoTempio      

ISBN: 9781960511980

Website: tclotempio.net

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra                   

Summary:

When a celebrity chef is murdered, Shell McMillan has to cook up a plan to trap the killer of a man for all seasonings . . .

With adopt-a-cat month in full swing in Fox Hollow, pet shop owner Shell McMillan decides that hosting a night of murder mystery dinner theater will be a fun way to raise funds for the cause. But she didn’t realize that the celebrity chef she’d hired for the event would turn out to be a tyrannical snob, or that her scoundrel of an ex-fiancé would turn up with his own shady agenda. Still, the show must go on, and as the lighthearted plot on-stage unfolds, the scene off-stage turns decidedly darker when the chef is found murdered.

Rather than question an entire roomful of possible suspects, Shell determines that looking into the victim’s past will lead her to the culprit more quickly. What she finds is that the chef had left behind a disreputable past and a trail of disgruntled people, including a long string of women he’d wronged and a host of others who may have been out for revenge. But as Shell closes in on the killer, the killer is closing in on her. And she’s discovering that while too many cooks can spoil the broth, being a murderer’s next target can really ruin your appetite . . . (Goodreads)

Review:

I have followed ‘An Urban Tails Pet Shop Mystery’ series right from the start. I must say, this series definitely has me engaged with not only the mysteries surrounding each of the murders but more importantly – the involvement of the main cats in the story! How do these cats so stealthily direct Shell to uncover the ‘whodunit’ or even help Shell out of very tight situations?

The book begins with a fundraiser to assist with the adopt-a-cat month. Shell McMillan has decided to host a night of murder mystery dinner theater! Little does she anticipate a real murder (or two) to occur during the evenings festivities.  The event was able to garner the culinary skills of a celebrity chef (Reynaldo Venery), who has a checkered past and has not made many friends with his VERY unpleasant attitude (and that is an understatement). My question is – why do chef’s display diva attitudes? Very annoying Regardless – back to my review.

With amateur sleuth Shell and her trusty sidekick and good friend Gary Presser on the case (unofficially of course), this reader became entrenched in their thought process creating a suspect list and then narrowing it down. That was an experience which kept me engaged fully and reading long past bed time .

Right off the bat – we have a suspect in Louise Gates, the inn’s owner as a result of one of her initial meetings with Shell to discuss the event. When Shell asked Louise about the menu, their interaction goes as follows:

Shell inquires as to the state of the menu “You have finalized it, correct?”

“Yes, about that.” Louise nibbled at her lower lip and clasped and unclasped her hands in front of her…. She walked back to the desk and placed the folder in front of me. “This is the menu Venery gave me yesterday.”, she said…

She raised her gaze to meet mine, and her eyes glittered with barely supressed anger.

“To be honest…that man is impossible. I could just kill him!”

As the murder mystery dinner theatre continues, more potential suspects emerge. Patrick, Shell’s ex-husband to name another. Patrick was at the event trying to woo chef Venery into working with his network on a new cooking show…and surprisingly at the time of the murder and after, Patrick is no where to be found. That sparks Shell into engaging her sleuthing skills as she is certain the Patrick is innocent. But is he?  Time will tell. There are many suspects to sift through and along the way – a second body is discovered. This definitely muddies the waters. Are the two murders connected…and how? One thing is for certain – Venery was one complicated and messed up chef! But I have faith that Shell will discover the truth.

With bad weather requiring everyone to remain at the inn, and not telling the attendees about the murder, the race is on to find the killer. We have a very unpleasant victim with his secrets going back decades all coming together to provide crucial clues, Shell figures it out. There are many red herrings and some very plausible potential killers.

I truly enjoyed the cat aspect! Not only did we have Purrday (a one-eyed Persian) and Princess Fuzzypants, even Dahlia (one of the cats available for adoption) gets into the sleuthing. And it was wonderful to see that many of the felines were adopted during this event.

I was a bit disappointed in the progression (or should I say lack of) in the relationship between Shell and Josh. Okay – he was the lead detective on the case, but a bit more interaction would have been nice.

Of note, you can read this as a stand-alone as there is enough backstory presented early on in the book, but for full context and enjoyment – I suggest reading the series in order.

If you enjoy cozy mysteries with cats – then I suggest you pull up a comfy chair and a warm (or cold) beverage (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, wine??? Your choice) along with the latest installment (book #5 to be exact) of “An Urban Tails Pet Shop Mystery series” – A Side Dish of Death and get reading!!! You will have a thoroughly wonderful escape for a short while.