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14th out of 201 books
—
107 voters
The Cereal Murders (A Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery #3)
Thanks to her recent adventures in Dying for Chocolate, Goldy Bear, the premier caterer of Aspen Meadow, Colorado, is no stranger to violence--or sudden death.But when she agrees to cater the first College Advisory Dinner for Seniors and Parents at the exclusive Elk Park Preparatory School, the last thing she expects to find at the end of the evening is the battered body o...more
Paperback, 335 pages
Published
January 13th 2010
by Bantam
(first published 1993)
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Goldy Bear finds herself embroiled in turmoil once again when catering the Elk Park Preparatory School’s College Advisory Dinner she discovers the beaten body of the school valedictorian. Since Goldy’s 12-year-old son Arch and live in assistant Julian are also attending the Elk Park School, Goldy is quickly pulled into not only the drama around the death of a student, but the insane behavior of the students and their parents working to get into the best college possible. Despite the chaos Goldy...more
This is the first Diane Mott Davidson novel I ever read. It’s not a bad story, far from the worst I’ve read, nowhere near the best.
Since this is mid-pack in the series, some things mentioned in the book alluded to events in earlier entries although I didn’t have the disconnected feel I’ve had with other authors when reading a later book in their series before I’ve read the ones that have gone before.
There are quite a few characters who are so stereotypical, they are almost caricatures: High scho...more
Since this is mid-pack in the series, some things mentioned in the book alluded to events in earlier entries although I didn’t have the disconnected feel I’ve had with other authors when reading a later book in their series before I’ve read the ones that have gone before.
There are quite a few characters who are so stereotypical, they are almost caricatures: High scho...more
Nov 21, 2011
Cheryl Gatling
added it
I think it was the cover of the audiobook that attracted my attention: a skull made out of Cheerios. It was creepy, yet kind of cute. I think that was a good summary of the story. There are actual serious murders, and actual real danger, but the narration is almost funny. The story takes place at a private prep school. The valedictorian is found murdered on the night of the first college advisory meeting, which Goldy caters. It becomes clear that stress about getting into the right college is co...more
When Denver caterer Goldy Bear takes on a catering job at her son's school she has no idea whats in store for her. It comes as a surprise to discover how worried the Seniors at Elk Park Prep School are about their grade point averages. Its an even bigger surprise to discover the extremes some of the parents are going to in order to get their offspring into ivy league schools. The evening came to a disruptive end when several parents got into arguments with each other. Unfortunately the parental...more
Yay for cross-category. Davidson's book reads like a cross between a cookbook and a murder mystery, a ghastly combination at first glance, maybe, but somehow she made it work. Between mouthwatering descriptions of feasts and the discovery of corpse after corpse, Davidson's protagonist Goldy Bear, a caterer slash single parent divorced from abusive husband slash foster mum slash amateur detective managed, with aplomb and good humor, managed to finally surrender herself to the inevitability that i...more
This book had quite a few profanities. Outside of gritty police procedurals are rampant gang involvement...no book should have these unnecessary f-bombs. Ugh.
This story (minus profanity which was absent from the last book) is much better written than the previous installment. I'm actually going to read on in the series. Hopefully, the language will be much more professional in the rest of this series.
The whodunit was a unexpected, but not a surprise. I think the resolution was too quick and left...more
This story (minus profanity which was absent from the last book) is much better written than the previous installment. I'm actually going to read on in the series. Hopefully, the language will be much more professional in the rest of this series.
The whodunit was a unexpected, but not a surprise. I think the resolution was too quick and left...more
I'm really enjoying reading these books in order. Once again, Goldy is confronted with a multitude of catering orders and a murder at her son, Arch's, school, Elk Park Preparatory. This time, its the class valedictorian whom Goldy finds after catering an event at the school regarding SAT scores and college selection. Wow, what an underbelly of exposure! Goldy has been hired to cater several of these events and I always enjoy reading about the menus and food preparation and the wonderful recipes...more
I have read a lot of Diane Mott Davidson mysteries. I love the main character, Goldy Bear. She loves her son, her foster son Julian and sheriff detective, Tom Schultz. Arch and Julian both attend the private prep school, Elk Park Prep. Julian is about ready to graduate #2 in his class when the #1 student is murdered during a college night at the school. Of course, Goldy finds the body (how many bodies has she found over the years ??) This book certainly points out how frantic parents and childre...more
I liked this one a lot (third in the series of culinary mysteries by this author). I like Goldy, I like her policeman (Tom Schulz), I like the thought of the recipes included here (I'll have to make copies of a few of them before I return the book to the library)--and I really got into the plot, which this time centers around the frenzied parents of several soon-to-graduate Seniors at Elk Park Prep, competing with utter fierceness (teeth bared!) for their child to be the top ranked child who wil...more
I've read several of Goldy's murder-mystery books and though I always try to figure out who-did-it, the end is a surprise to me! I've been close in guessing, one day I might get it! Thanks to these books I know I would never be in catering, seems like way too much work.
1 like · like · see review
This book is part of a series but I had no trouble getting into the story and understanding the relationships of the characters. The heroine of the story is an independant woman who helps solve murders, mostly because they are thrown at her feet. That she is a caterer and not associated with the police but helps them anyway is the only strange element, otherwise it is a quite plausible an charming story. The main character is witty, a woman to be admired. There is a bit of romance and quite a bi...more
This is a series I enjoy and will continue to read/listen to. Goldy is pragmatic and tends to get straight to the point, and I appreciate that. I think that she is a realistic character — despite the fact that Keith Andrews isn’t the first dead body she happens across, it affects her very deeply. Add into the situation the fact that her son is being harassed, and Goldy has a lot to worry about.
Something that I thought was interesting about this book is that one of its central themes, the cutthro...more
Something that I thought was interesting about this book is that one of its central themes, the cutthro...more
# 3 in the Goldy Bear culinary mystery series. Set in a small town just outside of Denver, Goldy runs a catering business to support herself and son. This story has Goldy involved in solving two murders and a series of threats at a private school which her son attends. The school environment is highly competitive among students and parents to get children into the best colleges.
The mystery itself is good, however Goldy's son Arch is a character I could do without as well as Goldy's frequent stu...more
The mystery itself is good, however Goldy's son Arch is a character I could do without as well as Goldy's frequent stu...more
a little paragraph that just made me so happy!! from page 38
"He reached into the front pocket of his sweatshirt and pulled the rock out. So much for fingerprints. But the rock was tennis-ball-size and jagged. It probably wouldn't have held a print anyway."
As a real life CSI, it gets old when books/movies/tv shows all indicate that prints CAN and ARE pulled off everything from glass to oranges to rocks. In real life, it just doesn't happen. Nice to see it in a book :-)
Another win for the Goldy se...more
"He reached into the front pocket of his sweatshirt and pulled the rock out. So much for fingerprints. But the rock was tennis-ball-size and jagged. It probably wouldn't have held a print anyway."
As a real life CSI, it gets old when books/movies/tv shows all indicate that prints CAN and ARE pulled off everything from glass to oranges to rocks. In real life, it just doesn't happen. Nice to see it in a book :-)
Another win for the Goldy se...more
I really enjoyed this book from her series. I breezed right through it. I recommend it!
1 like · like · see review
Jan 05, 2012
Melissa
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Mystery Readers
I'm really loving this series - The Goldy Bear Culinary Mysteries. None of the stories are mind blowing, but all are very entertaining. This particular story was very entertaining. It made me think back to my high school years and of all the pressure the school, parents, and classmates put on you and themselves. I love Julian, Tom, and Goldy. By far these are my favorite characters in the series. I'm looking forward to more stories including Marla. Her character cracks me up and remind me of so...more
The Cereal Murders by Diane Mott Davidson is the third of the Goldy Bear Culinary mysteries. As with the other books in the series, I chose to listen to the audio, performed by Barbara Rosenblat.
Goldy's son Arch is still attending Elk Park Prep. As Goldy can't afford to give huge financial gifts to the school like other parents can, she is expected / coerced / guilt-tripped into catering school events. Her latest one: the College Advisory Dinner for seniors and parents. That's all well and good...more
Goldy's son Arch is still attending Elk Park Prep. As Goldy can't afford to give huge financial gifts to the school like other parents can, she is expected / coerced / guilt-tripped into catering school events. Her latest one: the College Advisory Dinner for seniors and parents. That's all well and good...more
This is book nº 3 in the Goldy bear series. I read it almost 2 weeks ago and now I'm sure what to write about anymore. Not a good sign!
Thanks to her recent adventures in Dying for Chocolate, Goldy Bear, the premier caterer of Aspen Meadow, Colorado, is no stranger to violence--or sudden death. But when she agrees to cater the first College Advisory Dinner for Seniors and Parents at the exclusive Elk Park Preparatory School, the last thing she expects to find at the end of the evening is the batt...more
Thanks to her recent adventures in Dying for Chocolate, Goldy Bear, the premier caterer of Aspen Meadow, Colorado, is no stranger to violence--or sudden death. But when she agrees to cater the first College Advisory Dinner for Seniors and Parents at the exclusive Elk Park Preparatory School, the last thing she expects to find at the end of the evening is the batt...more
Goldy caters a dinner for Elk Park Prep seniors, the school where her own son attends. She is shocked to find the dead body of the valedictorian when she is cleaning up from the event. Her son is targeted by mysterious pranks, her catering assistant-- another Elk Park Prep senior-- is targeted as a potential killer, and it is up to Goldy to protect the boys and solve the mystery. With lots of yummy recipes, this book packs a punch and shows an extreme circumstance of getting into the best colleg...more
One of the earlier ones in the series, which I had missed. The murders are set in a private school, which Goldy's son is attending. She is catering many meetings there. The hard part was believing that someone would kill a teenager so that his or her child would get a higher standing in the school. I was just wondering if this book was written after the news of a woman in Texas had killed people to increase the standing of her daughter in cheerleading came out.
Enjoyed it. Can't wait to try a few of the recipes.
Was horribly annoyed by most of the parents, but then that could be because I didn't experience them at all in my own final years of High School.
The character of Audrey Coopersmith was the most annoying character in the entire book. If she had been my parent, I would have disowned her.
Actually none of the secondary characters were likable in any regard. I felt no sympathy or empathy for any of them.
I do look forward to reading the next one.
Was horribly annoyed by most of the parents, but then that could be because I didn't experience them at all in my own final years of High School.
The character of Audrey Coopersmith was the most annoying character in the entire book. If she had been my parent, I would have disowned her.
Actually none of the secondary characters were likable in any regard. I felt no sympathy or empathy for any of them.
I do look forward to reading the next one.
This was a fun detective story set in Colorado with Goldie, the caterer as the heroine. Sprinkled with recipes, this was a fun read. No graphic violence, (OK, there is usually a murder in these books, but we are spared extensive gory details)no foul language to speak of, all in a beautiful setting makes for fun "escape" reading. Barbara Rosenblatt's narration in the audio version of this series is delightful.
I absolutely love this series of books. This is not the first time I have listened to this third book in the series! Goldie once again finds herself at the the scene of not one murder, but two. She not only worries about the safety of herself and son Arch, but also for Julian. And then there is Tom .... what will transpire with this wonderful man? Of course I know the answer, but you are going to have to read the book to find out. I strongly suggest reading the books in order ....
I don't remember what I've already said about Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy, but the mysteries have some humor to them, though I found I couldn't sympathize very much with Goldy when she complained about her ex-husband and when she let her son manipulate her guilt about being divorced. I liked reading the recipes included in each book and hearing about the catering as much as I did figuring out whodunit.
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I have enjoyed her mysteries. They are fast and fun although I get a little tired of all the description of fixing food and all the recipes. This was the first time that I saw a little bad language in her books and I've read around 5 of them. It was one of her early books to I'm glad she is leaving that out. It occurred late in the book and I was very surprised. It's always a downer for me.
Yay a cozy! She cooks, she's got a cute name. And a cute boyfriend. (Diane throws in just the right amount of romance!) The taking-in-of-the-foreign-exchange-student is a little weird. Where are his parents, really? But her son is adorable and the recipes, I want to make them all. The Colorado snow is perfect (I miss it!) This is a series made for mindless relaxation.
I enjoyed listening to this one on audio while I folded laundry, did dishes and swept the floor. I had never read or listened to Mott Davidson before, but thought I'd give it shot...murder mystery, right...why not? It also had about 20 recipes mentioned throughout the book with recipes that are apparantly in the back of the book. I really liked this one and this one won't be my last by her.
I love this series. This one is particularly good in that it shows the ridiculous lengths some parents will go to in order to make sure their children "succeed" and beat out competition. Of course this is a bit stretched; not too many people will actually kill to get their kids in a prestigious college, but all the same it makes a point. And at the end, Goldie, well, you'll have to read it to find out.
Goldy Bear mystery #3. Goldy's catering Julian's senior college advisory dinner when the valedictorian turns up dead. The "accidents" keep piling up, until boyfriend/detective Tom Schulz saves Julian and Goldy from an unlikely adversary. Great recipes, typically high body count for Davidson, improbable situations, but fun story.
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New York Times bestselling author Diane Mott Davidson wrote three novels before one was accepted for publication—when she was 41. She has since written 14 more mysteries, all featuring Goldy the caterer. In addition, she has written short stories and poetry for various publications. Davidson has won the Anthony Award from Bouchercon, and has been nominated for the Agatha, another Anthony, and the...more
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“Sometimes you have to fight fire with a blowtorch”
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Aug 28, 2012 11:52am