Slice and Dice

Sophie Greenway #5

by Ellen Hart

MURDER A LA CARTE

If all goes according to plan, Connie Buckridge's culinary empire will soon boast a state-of-the-art cooking academy and restaurant in her home town of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Unfortunately, just when the kitchen queen and her bickering entourage hit town on a publicity tour, so does a bestselling investigative writer who is hot on her scandalous trail.

Primed by an anonymous e-mail informer, Marie Damontraville is preparing to cook Connie's goose with a major expose of her strategies for success. The one missing ingredient in this unsavory stew is murder, and when food critic Sophie Greenway finds a cooking colleague stabbed with his own kitchen knife, a fire that has been smoldering for forty years suddenly bursts into flame. . . .


SPECIAL AUTHOR INTERVIEW INSIDE

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Ellen Hart is the author of twenty-eight crime novels in two different series. She is a five-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, a three-time winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award in several categories, a recipient of the Alice B Medal, and was made an official GLBT Literary Saint at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in 2005. In 2010, Ellen received the GCLS Trailblazer Award for lifetime achievement in the field of lesbian literature. For the past fourteen years, Ellen has taught "An Introduction to Writing the Modern Mystery" through the The Loft Literary Center, the largest independent writing community in the nation. Ellen's latest Sophie Greenway mystery is No Reservations Required (Ballantine). Rest for the Wicked, the twentieth Jane Lawless mystery, will be released by St. Martin's/Minotaur in October 2012. Bella Books has recently revived the out-of-print books by publishing them in both trade paperback and E-book. Ellen lives in the Minneapolis area with her partner of over 35 years.

Reviews

[Marjorie Snider · Rating 2 out of 5]

Soso

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a couple of the books in this series thinking I'd like it but it's just not clicking for me. The back stories are hard to follow and I've lost track several times and had to flip back and forth to the cheat sheet in the front. That is cumbersome. As someone else mentioned I do not like the storyline between the married couples and past relationships. I won't read any more in the series.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this one a little disappointing. I think this was in the middle of the series, and I felt a little confused about the back stories of the characters. Also, I was uncomfortable with the romance angle between the married characters and people who weren't their partners. The ending was a little unbelievable.

All in all, not a series I'd really want to read again.

CMB