Cooking Up Trouble

"Cooking Up Trouble" by Joanne Pence features Angie Amalfie, cook and part-time journalist hired, in this book, to develop a menu for an inn slated to open in northern California. The menu is heavy on soy and light to non-existent on flavor but the protagonist is not discouraged mainly since her gorgeous, police officer boyfriend, Paavo, has agreed to spend the week with her at the inn.
From day one, people start dying or disappearing, weather strands the chef, her boyfriend, and an assorted assemblage of prospective owners on top of a mountain. Add to that secret passages, mysterious people, ghosts, unbelievable love interests, occasional menus, and of course, hostile neighbors and romance mystery emerges.
The resemblance to "And Then There Were Non" a movie based on Agatha Christie's novel, "10 Little Indians" becomes obvious at the beginning with even Angie mentioning it by the middle of the book. Some characters were very well drawn, interestingly not the main ones. There was more than one mystery happening and all were resolved by the end. Some situations portrayed were pretty unbelievable (not just the ghosts).
This was an easy read. This is the third book in this series so although the series did not grab my interest it has undoubtedly been possible with other readers. The series itself has received the independent Booksellers Golden Scroll Award while individual books have received a variety of awards. All these accolades make me think that I will try another of these books. Joanne Pence, according to her website, is NOT a gourmet cook, but she is a former journalist and employee of the federal government. The series continues to grow every year. I found my copy in paperback at the Thompson Public Library so it is available through bibliomation as well as from Amazon.com.