For fans of Diane Mott Davidson’s unique blend of sumptuous fare and first-class suspense, The Grilling Season, her seventh in the cordon bleu series, is truly a mystery to savor.

Hired to cater a hockey party, Goldy comes up with a winning menu featuring zesty South of the Border Appetizers, succulent Goalies’ Grilled Tuna and iced Stanley Cupcakes.  Yet Patricia McCracken, her client and long-suffering friend, won’t be satisfied until Goldy adds a hefty side order of revenge. . .

Patricia is convinced obstetrician and her Health Maintenance Organization–penny-pinching ACHMO–are to blame for the recent loss of her baby.  And the doctor in question is none other that John Richard Korman, Aspen Meadow’s leading ob/gyn and Goldy’s ex-husband, whose clean-cut good looks hide his dirty habit of battering women.  Now, Patricia is suing the doctor and ACHMO for malpractice, but that’s not enough.  She wants Goldy’s advice on getting even–and coming out on top.

At first, Goldy relishes the fact that her ex-husband is finally going to pay.  Even so, it’s a horrid shock when John Richard is arrested for the murder of his current girlfriend, glamorous Suz Craig. . .especially when it’s Goldy who makes the gruesome discovery.

Shaken by the thought that she could easily have been the victim, Goldy feverishly throws herself into her work.  But with her new husband, homicide cop Tom Schulz, delegated to the background of the case, and her fourteen-year-old son begging to prove his father innocent, Goldy has no choice but to sift through Aspen Meadow’s premium mix of sizzling gossip and reheated rumor for clues.

Will Goldy’s fresh-baked Chocolate Comfort Cookies give her the strength to disentangle a baffling mystery that threatens her catering deadline, her relationship with her son, and even her life?  The Grilling Season, replete with tantalizing recipes, is Diane Mott Davidson’s tastiest mystery yet.Caterer and amateur detective Goldy Schulz is at it again in this tasty treat of a novel. Although catering two events more different than a hockey party (complete with the guests chasing pucks on blades) and a decorous breakfast for a doll collectors’ convention would be hard to imagine, Goldy manages each with aplomb, Goalies Grilled Tuna and Babsie’s Tarts included. While this would be plenty for anyone’s plate, Goldy is also trying to decide whether she wants her abusive ex-husband arrested for his current girlfriend’s murder. Certainly Goldy is perfectly willing to believe that the Jerk (as Davidson’s fans know she has dubbed her former spouse, John Richard Korman) could have done the loathsome deed in one of his violent moments, but she is torn by the desire both to see him brought to justice and for their son not to have a convicted killer for a father. So, between letting the pizza dough rise and baking treasures such as Chocolate Comfort Cookies, Goldy sets out to make sure the police have indeed got the right man.

Davidson’s fans will recognize the pattern while new readers will relish her witty, recipe-filled, searing plot. Old friends (all of whom suitably appreciate good food) make their reappearance, including Korman’s other ex, Marla, and Goldy’s shrimp-peeling husband Tom. While apprentice Julian Teller has left for his restaurant management degree at Cornell, his place in the plot is filled with the more lethargic–if equally good-natured–Maguire Perkins. New characters revolve around the murder itself: Korman’s predictably shapely assistant Ree Ann and the very serious doll collectors play a role, as do the administrators of the health maintenance organization Korman has joined. A pleasure to read, even if Goldy’s imaginative concoctions make you hungry long before mealtime. –K.A. Crouch

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