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Josie Toadfern owns a laundromat in Paradise, Ohio. Paradise was founded by three families -- the Breitenstraters, the Schmidts, and the Foersthoefels -- back in the 1790s. Today, the Breitenstraters are the big-wigs in town, owning the major employer, the Breitenstrater Pie Company. Ipso facto, they pretty much control the social and historical events in Paradise, such as the annual historical play, the 4th of July celebration and parade, and the fireworks. This, even in the face of bad blood between the two brothers, Cletus and Alan, because Cletus's son Dinky survived the car accident that killed Alan's son Jason. At the annual pie-eating contest, Cletus usually (read always) is one of the two winners. This year, both Cletus and Alan have promised to make big announcements at the contest. Cletus doesn't show up for the contest, so his brother Alan takes his place and promptly has a heart attack in the lemon ginseng pie. Is this merely bad luck on Alan's part or was this part of a greater Breitenstrater problem involving ancient history, some not-so-ancient history, and/or the possible sale of the pie company to outsiders? For personal reasons, as well as her social conscience, Josie Toadfern feels compelled to find out the truth, because "secrets are a lot like stains . . . Truth is like that. No matter how ugly it is, it's better to deal with it right away. Or else you end up with a nasty secret that's going to be harder to deal with than the truth." Mixed in with all of this are Josie's troubles with her boyfriend Owen, who seems to have lied to her about a great many things; Josie can put up with an awful lot, but lying isn't on that list. Josie's Uncle Otis ends up in jail for poaching ginseng, which further distracts him from the theatre restoration job he was working on with his daughter Sally. Cletus's daughter Trudy has connections, some important and some not, with a great many of these people; she disappears about the same time Cletus does. Is this fortuitous, coincidence, or nefarious? Josie does ultimately uncover lots of secrets, brings out an equal number of truths, and everything (well, mostly everything) turns out OK. DEATH BY DEEP DISH PIE isn't a bad mystery. But it didn't sit well with me, for a number of reasons. I found myself annoyed by this book. Josie seems to wreak havoc everywhere she goes, which wore on me after a while. If I had luck like Josie's, nobody would come near me, frequent my place of business, lend me their vehicles -- the people of Paradise are not so wise. None of Josie's relatives even verge on the normal. She also second-guesses herself a lot, which I find irritating. The plot is good, the writing itself is good. After a while, say 75 or 100 pages into the book, I just didn't really care what went on in Paradise. If you read DEATH OF A DOMESTIC DIVA, the first in the Toadfern mystery series, and loved it, then DEATH BY DEEP DISH PIE will suit you just fine. For me, it is too cutesy, so sweet it made my teeth ache, and doesn't have enough substance to be truly satisfying.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, June 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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