Death on Eat Street

 

I was given this book as a gift for my birthday this summer. My mother-in-law knows how much I love to cook and this book does have some recipes strewn in with all the fictional murder mayhem going on. The title didn't really stoke my curiosity, so the book sat on my shelf for a few months before I finally cracked the cover.

 

Some of the things that I enjoyed about the book was the strong leading lady that J.J. Cook created. I am a sucker for a book with a strong female character and Zoe certainly is that. She is determined to make it on her own without the help of her wealthy family in the food truck and restaurant business. The fact that she had a cat named Crème Brulee and that he was an incredibly fat opinioned cat, was hilarious. Although I have to say I am more of a dog lover. Sometimes the character did seem a little cliché, but I did enjoy her growth over the course of the book none the less. It probably had something to do with the fact that I connected with her on some level. If I wasn't in the position that I was at right now and had a little more courage, I would definitely be in the food business.

 

In fact, I thought that most of the characters were well written. My only complaint is that sometimes the actions of some of the characters were a little hard to believe. I am a parent and I know that at some point I am going to want my kids to do what I want with their lives and not what they are attempting to do. However, I would never resort to kidnapping my own child, which is what Zoe's parents did. I also would not suggest that they need to marry someone that they do not love just for appearances sake.

 

Other than that, they only other thing I can say is that the book on the whole felt a little too cozy I guess. There wasn't a certain 'je ne sais quoi' and it felt a little flat at times. I wish that there was just a little more spice within the pages to help the story along. With all the wonderful in the South and with all the amazing techniques on how to cook, I felt that the authors of the book missed a few wonderful opportunities to be creative. It could have been something simple like how the victim is killed that would have given it a little more flare than it ended up having.

 

I think that anyone who likes cozy mysteries and loves food, then they would enjoy this book. If you are someone who doesn't like to cook and only likes take out, then I would probably skip this book.

 

Rating: 3 out of 5

 

I was given this book as a gift and was not asked to give this review.