Davidson's amateur sleuth, Colorado caterer Goldie Baer, combines culinary prowess (complete with delicious recipes) with being mom to a teenager and part-time crime solver. That she's married to a local sheriff's deputy insures that she's always in the middle of local mayhem.
Dark Tort, the 13th in the Goldy Bear series, refers to both a legal wrong (a tort) and a sinful chocolate dessert (a torte). Goldy gets involved when she trips over a young friend's body while carrying supplies to a catering gig at a local law firm, where the dead girl worked. That the girl, Dusty Routt, comes from a struggling family that sometimes has had to accept charity and that the managing partner in the law office is one of the tony suburb's leading benefactors - and snobs -- helps to bring out the smoldering class division in Goldy's Aspen Meadows community.
Dark Tort's plot revolves around a recently deceased, prominent local painter, and friend of Goldy's - Charlie Baker. Baker's paintings, which depict culinary delights with a list of ingredients in stylish calligraphy, have increased dramatically in value in recent years... and Dusty was involved in cataloging the paintings for his estate. As Goldy pokes around the circumstances surrounding the murder, at Dusty's distraught and mistrusting mother's request, Goldy finds danger enveloping her and the people closest to her.
Past Goldy mystery readers will find lots of familiar characters and a couple of new ones. New readers will enjoy Davidson's friendly well-developed characters and fluid writing style. Dark Tort is delicious indeed.
Related Links
- Shop for your own copy of Dark Tort.
- A Catered Valentine's Day, another culinary cozy
