Cooking Up Murder

Nothing disturbs a romantic dinner for two than a dead body. In On the Chopping Block by Jenny Kales, Calliope Costas discovers the body of her boyfriend in his kitchen with a large chef's knife sticking out of his chest. She is the owner and chef of Callie's Kitchen, a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant in Crystal Bay, Wisconsin, and suspicion falls on Callie.

To complicate matters, Drew was the winner of a $10,000 prize from the local Chamber and Callie was the runner up. This leads Detective Sands to consider her the number one suspect.

Business drops off at her restaurant because of the suspicion and desserts such as loukoumades, koulourakia, kouranbiethes and Greek chicken stew are left uneaten. Naturally Callie's Greek father George has an opinion. He wants her to let the police solve the case, but Callie is worried about being the Number One suspect and searches for the real killer.

Of course there are plenty of suspects and Callie needs to solve the case before she is a casualty of the murder and is another one of the businesses to close in Crystal Bay. She wades through all of the business connections to Drew especially after learning he was a womanizer. This leads her to the Chamber president Jane Willoughby and several others before she figures out who the murderer is. I enjoyed this book for many reason, especially as I am Greek-American and I love all the items she bakes and cooks.

The next book in the series is called Spiced and Iced.You can find Jenny Kales books by clicking here

After three years in Greek school, the only thing I can say in Greek (besides the names of desserts and a few curse words) is "Can I Sharpen My Pencil." But I can cook Greek food as you can see. At left is tiropita (cheese pies) and below is pastitsio