Hard Evidence: A CAT MARSALA MYSTERY

Cat Marsala Mystery #8

by Barbara D'Amato

Chicago freelance journalist Cat Marsala, relaxing at home after a long week's work reporting on the city's best restaurants, looks forward to a quiet evening with her semi-significant other, Dr. Sam Davidian; her parrot, Long John Silver; and her temporary houseguest, a Dalmatian named Dapper. As a special treat, Cat buys Dapper his very own soup bone at Chicago's most elegant and exotic food emporium, Spenser and Angelotti. The Dalmatian is delighted with his bone, but his euphoria is short-lived when Sam, a trauma surgeon, snatches the bone away. The bone is human, probably part of a large male's leg, which suggests two immediate problems: a murder may have occurred at the Spenser and Angelotti store and a potential health hazard may exist in the store's butcher shop and meat cases. Cat gets on the phone to her longtime friend, Chicago's chief of detectives, Harold McCoo, who with the mayor, the medical examiner, and other officials, agrees to a deal. The store will do a five-times-your-money-back recall on its meat, and Cat and the cops will have twenty-four hours to find a killer before the story goes public and Spenser and Angelotti's reputation is trashed. Co-owner Bruno Angelotti, desperate to preserve his beloved store's reputation, brings in Cat to work undercover in catering. If she has a good reason to be in the store, she can ask questions more easily and observe the employees in unguarded moments. Is one of them a killer?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Aka Malacai Black

Barbara D'Amato has had a checkered career, working in the distant past as an assistant surgical orderly, carpenter for stage magic illusions, assistant tiger handler, stage manager, researcher for attorneys in criminal cases, and recently sometimes teaching mystery writing to Chicago police officers.

"Writing is the greatest job of all," D'Amato says. "I get to hang around with cops, go ask people questions about their jobs that I would be too chicken to ask without a reason, and walk around Chicago looking for good murder locales. Best of all, I get to read mystery and suspense novels and call it keeping up with the field."

She was the 1999-2000 president of Mystery Writers of America. D'Amato is also a past president of Sisters in Crime International.

D'Amato is a playwright, novelist, and crime researcher. Her research on the Dr. John Branion murder case formed the basis for a segment on "Unsolved Mysteries," and she appeared on the program. Her musical comedies, The Magic Man and children's musical The Magic of Young Houdini, written with husband Anthony D'Amato, played in Chicago and London. Their Prohibition-era musical comedy RSVP Broadway, which played in Chicago in 1980, was named an "event of particular interest" by Chicago magazine. A native of Michigan, she has been a resident of Chicago for many years.

Reviews

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Cat Marsala, investigative journalist
SETTING: Chicago
SERIES: #8 of 9
RATING: 3.00
WHY: Journalist Cat Marsala buys a bone to feet the dog she is sitting, when her significant other informs her that it is a human bone. The grocery store was an elite shopping destination. Cat joins the staff to see if she can find inside information to help the investigation. I found the details around the evidence testing to be tedious. In addition, there were several strange side journeys that were puzzling--e.g., facts about Egyptian burials, several long pieces about the uses of olive oil. However, the setting was quite fascinating--can you imagine trying to find traces of human remains in the butcher department of a supermarket? I've been a fan of this series, but this book didn't really cut it for me - Cat Marsala sharing recipes???

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguingly gruesome! And...yet enjoyable! The denouement was a classic setting and had as gruesome potential as the murder. As always, the reader learns something as Kat investigates the crime. We learned a bit about the behind-the-scenes of an European-style market and the catering business. Did you know that caterers had to be as silent about their clients as doctors about their patients?

[Edie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Innovative. Creative. Funny.

[Kat Lebo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard Evidence
by Barbara D'Amato

"Hard Evidence" is the 8th book in D'Amato's 9-book Cat Marsala series. I've enjoyed reading (and in a few cases, re reading) this series about a female freelance reporter in Chicago. I'm sure part of the charm for me came from places that are mentioned in the stories that are familiar to me, but I like the main character's personality, too. Cat is very independent (both a blessing and a curse in fiction as in real life), spunky, principled, and adventurous. She doesn't sugar coat her facts to curry favor, and if you're her friend, you've got a strong and loyal ally.

In this next to the last adventure, Cat is caught up in a situation involving a gourmet grocery store and its owners. She became acquainted with the store and the owners when she did an article on them some time before. She's visited the grocery several times, and this time, she purchased the makings for a nice lasagna meal with her ER physician S.O., Sam Davidson. She's dog sitting a friend's Dalmation pup, and she buys him a soup bone as a treat. While supper is cooking, she gives the dog his treat, but Sam suddenly grabs it away from him, when he recognizes it as a human bone.

Cat is undercover and on the hunt for a) who is it that got killed, who did it, and how did the bone end up packaged for sale in the Spenser & Angelotti meat case? And, if this one bone got there, did other parts of the victim wind up there, too?

Once again, D'Amato does a great job of researching the grocery business, but especially the butcher shop portion of stores that prepare their own meats. Besides the research information, she includes a great amount of action, and more than one mystery to be solved. Two people are known missing; one has obviously met a ignominious shocking end. Is the other missing person the killer? If not, was it a store employee? This story has so many twist and turns, that your head will spin! Just when you think you probably know who done it, you have to rethink not only who but what was done. Very clever plotting, carries the reader right along to the surprising, but very satisfying end.

Wish there were more books in this fun series.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#8 in the Cat Marsala series.

Cat Marsala mystery - Cat buys a knuckle bone for a dog at her favorite gourmet market; her surgeon boyfriend recognizes it as a human femur. Cat arranges with one of the store's owners to work undercover to identify the killer and victim.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series no longer active, I believe.

[Toesnorth's mom]

not nearly as good

[Pam Bales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cat Marsala, journalist, is a great cozy read. Interesting, well developed characters and intriguing plots draw the reader in to the story.