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Della Carmichael is thrilled. She is going to do the first live airing of her new cable cooking show called In The Kitchen With Della. Because she isn't known, the cable network is hoping for some extra publicity with her show by having it go out over the air live with an in-house audience. When Della sees a woman glaring at her from the seats she discovers that the woman is Mimi Bond, a hostess from another cooking show on the network who thinks that Della is trying to replace her. Della hears that she is going to try to ruin the show by being the one to taste one of the dishes on air. Della doesn't know what to do. When it's time to taste the dish Mimi pushes herself forward and grabs a bit of the chocolate mousse that was made, tastes it and declares it awful. Then she falls flat on her face – dead. Later it's found out that there had been peanuts in the food and that Mimi was allergic to peanuts. Della is horrified at it all. She soon discovers that some of the crew knew that Mimi was going to ruin the dish and make it taste awful, and still no one warned Della about her. Della is also horrified when the cops think she was the one who killed Mimi on purpose. When Della tells the cops that she never heard of Mimi or knew of her allergies and so she can't be guilty of the murder, they still put her high on their suspect list. That doesn't stop Della from doing her best to keep her show and her small cooking classes going. She also talks to all the people who are involved, not so much to find the guilty person, but to clear her good name, keep her show going and to stay out of jail. For a new cozy series, KILLER MOUSSE has a refreshing lead character in Della. Della never declares that she, someone who doesn't know a thing about investigating a murder, will find the killer better than the police can. All she really does is to keep her eyes and ears open as she goes about her business. Della is shown as a person who loves to cook. When she needs to relax, she cooks. When she's upset, she cooks. We even see how she puts a meal together off the cuff when a friend just shows up for dinner and there's not much in the pantry. The readers also get to see how her cooking show is put together. Della does a run through, telling us how the area is prepared and how it is timed as she tells funny stories about the dishes she is creating. The way the mystery is solved is also nicely done, especially with Della never insisting that she is better than anyone else in solving crimes! KILLER MOUSSE is a fine first book for a series. Della is a lovely, mature woman who is surrounded by good friends. Anyone who loves cooking shows and mysteries will want to read this series. It's perfect for an afternoon's read. Just make sure you also have time to try some of the recipes that are included at the back of the book, they look so good you won't be able to resist starting cooking. KILLER MOUSSE is a delicious read.
Reviewed by A. L. Katz, January 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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