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Carolyn Blue Culinary Mysteries #5
The Perils of Paella
Arriving in Barcelona to employ her keen sense of taste for her column, food writer Carolyn Blue finds herself embroiled in mystery when she visits a modern art museum where a performance art piece about death results in murder. Original.
290 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 6, 2004
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About the author
Nancy Fairbanks
15 books55 followersA pseudonym used by Nancy Herndon.
Series:
* A Culinary Mystery with Recipes
Series:
* A Culinary Mystery with Recipes
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 22, 2024
I enjoyed this mystery once I was able to get into it. I received this book as a gift and I've given it a 4* rating. This story would have benefited a character list at the beginning. Once I could get the characters straight, it moved along better but parts of it still moved a little slow. There was a lot of action and strange things happening. Things started to straighten out towards the end and more questions were answered toward the end. A lot of interesting things were talked about in Barcelona, Spain in 2003.
May 20, 2020
The best thing I can say about this book is that I finished it! It could be that the author meant this to be a humorous account of a trip to Barcelona, Spain but I did not find it funny. The book was full of liars, cheaters and your garden variety of spoiled people. I enjoyed the first three books in this series but this one is a dud. I will continue to read the rest of the series hoping there aren't any more books like this!
November 10, 2017
Least favorite book in the series by far:/
May 15, 2008
This is the fourth Carolyn Blue culinary mystery. This time, Carolyn is sunny Barcelona hoping to sample more delicious Catalan food (Carolyn's been to Barcelona before), as well as enjoy the historic sights of the magnificent city, but finding herself entangled in yet another murder investigation instead. Unfortunately for me, I didn't find this particualr installment to be as enjoyable as the previous one, "Chocolate Quake."
When Carolyn's scientist husband, Jason, is invited to give a few lectures in Salamanca and Barcelona, Carolyn naturally decides to tag along. This will give her a chance to sample the excellent Catalan fare to be had in Barcelona, and write a few articles about the food and history of the city. And when Carolyn learns that her good friend, Roberta Hecht is in Barcelona, having accepted a 3 month stint at the Espirit de Gaudi i Miro, Carolyn decides to go ahead to Barcelona in order to spend some time with her friend before Jason joins her. The last thing that Carolyn expected when she turns up at the museum feeling extremely jet-lagged and rumpled, is to make the unsettling discovery that there is a dead body in the performance art piece being performed at the museum. And not just any dead body, but that of a young woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to her friend, Roberta. Is someone after Roberta? But why would anyone want to murder Roberta? Carolyn soon learns, however, that in the small and stifling world of the Espirit de Gaudi i Miro, where absurd jealousies and pettiness seems part of the course, everyone seems to believe that Roberta is guilty of the crime. Knowing full well that Roberta is incapable of murdering anyone, Carolyn is determined to help her friend prove her innocence even if it means getting entangled in a murder investigation once again...
When Carolyn's scientist husband, Jason, is invited to give a few lectures in Salamanca and Barcelona, Carolyn naturally decides to tag along. This will give her a chance to sample the excellent Catalan fare to be had in Barcelona, and write a few articles about the food and history of the city. And when Carolyn learns that her good friend, Roberta Hecht is in Barcelona, having accepted a 3 month stint at the Espirit de Gaudi i Miro, Carolyn decides to go ahead to Barcelona in order to spend some time with her friend before Jason joins her. The last thing that Carolyn expected when she turns up at the museum feeling extremely jet-lagged and rumpled, is to make the unsettling discovery that there is a dead body in the performance art piece being performed at the museum. And not just any dead body, but that of a young woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to her friend, Roberta. Is someone after Roberta? But why would anyone want to murder Roberta? Carolyn soon learns, however, that in the small and stifling world of the Espirit de Gaudi i Miro, where absurd jealousies and pettiness seems part of the course, everyone seems to believe that Roberta is guilty of the crime. Knowing full well that Roberta is incapable of murdering anyone, Carolyn is determined to help her friend prove her innocence even if it means getting entangled in a murder investigation once again...
February 4, 2016
Carolyn Blue comes to Barcelona to meet up with her friend Roberta and enjoy the tastes of Spanish cuisine. She also finds a the discovery of a dead body in a performance art piece also on her menu. The fact that it bears a striking resemblance to her friend is just more spice on the dish.
The style of the book is a narrative between Carolyn and the Inspector Pujol, the policeman in charge of the investigation. Told in chapters titled by the character who is narrating at that point. Carolyn telling of the dive/dangerous areas of the town she winds up in and what is happening from her side. Inspector Pujol tells of what he has to deal with in the upper echelons of the politicos he has to deal with, along with dealing with the American lady and her talkativeness. Carolyn moves at a quicker pace than Pujol but both with the same goal...solve the murder.
One glitch is dealing with the names. An example is Inspector Pujol's name is formally Inspector Ildefons Pujol i Serra. It seems that i Serra denotes 'of Serra'. A number of characters are so names in the text. Also being in California I am used to a different type of Spanish that what is found in Spain. I know there is a difference. Once I settled into this all was fine.
I have read Nancy Fairbanks' books before and do enjoy them. They are light read with enough clues and red herrings to keep you guessing along the way. Also the characters aren't weighted down with too much personal baggage. What I call a fun quick read or ... a Goodread.
The style of the book is a narrative between Carolyn and the Inspector Pujol, the policeman in charge of the investigation. Told in chapters titled by the character who is narrating at that point. Carolyn telling of the dive/dangerous areas of the town she winds up in and what is happening from her side. Inspector Pujol tells of what he has to deal with in the upper echelons of the politicos he has to deal with, along with dealing with the American lady and her talkativeness. Carolyn moves at a quicker pace than Pujol but both with the same goal...solve the murder.
One glitch is dealing with the names. An example is Inspector Pujol's name is formally Inspector Ildefons Pujol i Serra. It seems that i Serra denotes 'of Serra'. A number of characters are so names in the text. Also being in California I am used to a different type of Spanish that what is found in Spain. I know there is a difference. Once I settled into this all was fine.
I have read Nancy Fairbanks' books before and do enjoy them. They are light read with enough clues and red herrings to keep you guessing along the way. Also the characters aren't weighted down with too much personal baggage. What I call a fun quick read or ... a Goodread.
March 15, 2014
#5 in the Culinary Food Writer series. This 2004 entry has food columnist Carolyn Blue in Barcelona. Local color was enjoyable but this 'foodie' cozy is has bit too much of the material of prior series entries.
Culinary Food Writer series - Food writer Carolyn gets to challenge her taste-testing skills once again-this time, in Barcelona. Her first feast is for the eyes - at a modern art museum where her friend Roberta is the resident scholar. There, she catches a performance art piece about death, planted a little too firmly in reality. One of the actors is not acting - she's dead.
Culinary Food Writer series - Food writer Carolyn gets to challenge her taste-testing skills once again-this time, in Barcelona. Her first feast is for the eyes - at a modern art museum where her friend Roberta is the resident scholar. There, she catches a performance art piece about death, planted a little too firmly in reality. One of the actors is not acting - she's dead.
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July 30, 2011Better than I thought it would be! I did like the changing narrative by Inspector Pujol and Carolyn - a nice device to show two differing viewpoints and interpretations of the same events. The ending was rather anti-climatic. Liked the food tie-in.
April 18, 2014
Eh, I kind of felt like she was being "the typical American" in thinking that a foregin country was super scary and sketchy. I also wasn't totally appreciative of how she wrote the language to seem so wrong.
April 29, 2010
Definitely entertaining. I'll read more of her books.
June 9, 2011
Could not get into it-like the Goldie Bear Series much more
July 17, 2011
This was actually a rather interesting book. I can't wait to read the next one.
May 12, 2012
I liked the book
February 10, 2013
Hard to believe that one woman can get into that much trouble!! Not as funny as her last one, but definintely enjoyable
January 3, 2014
OK mystery set in Barcelona.
March 3, 2014
Another interesting murder mystery. This one is set in Spain.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews