I wasn't intending to read 'The Big Chili' (2015) by Julia Buckley. But I had free time and books like this don't take more than 45 minutes to go through. This title is the first in a series by the same author, collectively named 'Undercover Dish Mystery'.
The foods featured are typically American, and the author is a good cook who is looking to cook professionally. The author obviously loves writing mysteries and has a few other series under her belt.
The series is similar to Vivien Chien's many titles collectively known as 'Noodle Shop Mystery', although it's set differently with the protagonist Lana Lee not being able to cook but her family runs an Asian restaurant, and all the murders features Asian cuisine. Vivien Chien's first book in this series was published in 2018.
Narrator and intrepid genius cook Lilah Drake lives in Pine Haven with her black Labrador Mick and works rather hard at her Covered Dish business. Alice Dixon dropped dead at the church's bingo night after tasting a spoonful of Perpetua Grandy's, otherwise known as Pet, famous chili. Alice was poisoned. It was cyanide. The catch, Pet didn't cook it. Lilah did. That was kept a huge secret all the way through.
It's a slow start, but tedious. Then it moved a little faster, albeit predictably. Lilah also wanted to know who the murderer is, especially after another townsfolk was killed and at the end of it all, the mystery was solved. Alice Dixon wasn't a well-liked figure in town. Everyone had a motive to kill her. But the one who truly did so, was way passionate about animal rights, and held a grudge against Alice for years, and with a declining mental state, didn't take kindly to her insulting her sisters either.
Of course there's the mention of romance and all with the investigating detective, a certain Jacob 'Jay' Parker. He never got back to dating Lilah after one kiss because she never came clean about her part in cooking the chili that killed Alice.
Now I walked with Mick down a November-gray street, wet with recent rain. There's something lovely about November, despite its bare trees and sad gray skies. It is reminder of the solemnities of life, and its starkness is as satisfying as stripped-down wood, as honest as a haiku. This weather, this season, made me want to be honest, as well. I faced the fact that I was twenty-seven and unlucky in love, but blessed with a good family, some solid talents, and a healthy enough constitution that I would probably live for many more decades. It was time for me to take control. I told Mick this as we walked, and he seemed to approve.
By the time we returned to Dickens Street and our beloved home, we were in a good place.
For fun, I read the three other books in the series. I have to say that the plots are nothing very intellectual or even interesting. It reads like small town gossip. But okay. Whatever. Heh.
You'll have to read the entire series to find out if Jay and Lilah eventually get together. They reconciled by the second book 'Pudding Up with Murder' (2017), but are still somewhat stuck at dating and nothing too serious since "their schedules were surprisingly incompatible." They do eventually get serious— by the fourth book in the series 'A Fatal Fettucine' (2021).
It's rather cute that at the end of each book, the author included rather detailed recipes of the dishes mentioned — say Book 1 has Pet's Chili, Lilah's "Company's Coming" Scones, Lilah's French Toast Casserole, Fiesta Bake, and Angelo's Eggplant Parmigiana.
Book 2 has 'Pudding Up with Murder' (2017) has Lilah's Rice Pudding Casserole, Lilah's Raspberry-Almond Deep-Dish Coffee Cake, Lilah's Egg and Dill Delight, Cameraon Drake's Mushroom Collezione. Obviously I'm not attempting any of these recipes. I'm not keen on cooking or baking, and these don't quite appeal to me. Not even fettucine.
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