A Deadly Feast

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Hayley and Nathan have finally set the wedding date and it will be during the Thanksgiving weekend. In A Deadly Feast by Lucy Burdette, plans are never set in stone when you are marrying a police detective. (A Deadly Feast will be released by by Crooked Lanes Books on May 7.)

As for Hayley, she sets out on a seafood tasting tour with some visitors for an article she is writing, then one of the participants falls over dead. Because most of the stops on the tour are run by her friends, Hayley wants to prove it wasn't food poisoning that caused the woman to die. 

Especially hard hit is Chef Martha at Isle Cook Key West because, at first, it appears her key lime pie in mason jars might be the culprit. As like anywhere in the country, a restaurant's livelihood depends on customer satisfaction, Nothing ruins a reputation more than your food killing one of your customers. 

Hayley worries for her friend Analise who operates the tours, so

she decides to recreate the stops on the tour and ask questions. The secrets she finds leads Hayley into trouble of her own. She discovers a long ago connection between some of the tour participants and one of the restaurant owners that may have lead to the death. 

On the wedding planning side, Hayley's father and his new family will be meeting Nathan for the first time. Knowing her father, she is anxious about the first meeting with Nathan. Unfortunately Nathan doesn't show up for the rehearsal or for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. When constant texting, phoning and badgering his boss Steve Torrence brings no news of Nathan, Hayley's anxiety level skyrockets.

Where is Nathan? Why is Hayley so freaked over Lorenzo's reading? Will Hayley ever be able to eat key lime pie in a Mason jar? Who killed the tourist? For the answers to these and other questions, read A Deadly Feast. A delectable morsel. 

Key West Caper

Chef Edel Waugh leaves a successful restaurant in New York City to open Bistro on the Bight in Key West. There's much gossip about why she left. Is it because of her husband's unfaithfulness or was there more? In Death with All the Trimmings author Lucy Burdette sends her effervescent sleuth and style magazine writer Hayley Snow on a mission to interview the chef.

Once Chef Edel begins work on the restaurant in Key West, a series of small accidents plagues the restaurant before the opening. When the restaurant is set on fire and a body is found in the charred shell, Hayley jumps in to investigate. The biggest shock comes when the body is identified as Edel's ex-husband Juan Carlos Alfonso, co-owner of their restaurant in New York.

While Hayley is in the midst of her investigation she discovers the owners of Key West Zest, her magazine, are negotiating with potential investors, leaving the staff and Hayley unsure of their jobs. Complicating issues, as most mothers do, Hayley's mother announces she has rented a place in Key West for the winter and is bringing her new husband along.

I love the Key West vibe to these books. The ancillary characters are entertaining and colorfully drawn. I can just picture Hayley riding around the streets of Key West on her scooter.

The first book in the series is An Appetite for Murder.