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Ariel Quigley Mystery #1
The Chef Who Died Sautéing
Young English professor, Army veteran, poet, and psychic detective Ariel Quiqley moves into a large house in Alexandria, Virginia, where she experiences ghostly apparitions and investigates a murder at a famous restaurant nearby.
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 2, 2008
This book is a perfect example of why people who have never written fiction need to sell their book to a house that reviews/edits their fiction. The package is lovely, they did a good job with layout, they are sharp and lovely people, they do great promo stuff for their book, the story was sound, the characters appealing, etc., etc.. It doesn't looked self-published.
I'm giving it 3 stars for all those reasons. My professional opinion (not asked for, but offered) is that this book basically needed the first three chapters cut, and several important pieces of info taken from them and seeded into the fourth and fifth chapters. Things like this are really hard to do to your own book, especially a labor of love. So I wished they'd tried a bit longer with NYC publishers, and a good editor had gotten hold of it.
See it used? Desperate for new material with psychics in it? Read it. Just remember the plot and writing pick up considerably in the (if I'm remembering correctly) fourth chapter.
I'm giving it 3 stars for all those reasons. My professional opinion (not asked for, but offered) is that this book basically needed the first three chapters cut, and several important pieces of info taken from them and seeded into the fourth and fifth chapters. Things like this are really hard to do to your own book, especially a labor of love. So I wished they'd tried a bit longer with NYC publishers, and a good editor had gotten hold of it.
See it used? Desperate for new material with psychics in it? Read it. Just remember the plot and writing pick up considerably in the (if I'm remembering correctly) fourth chapter.
December 10, 2012
The chef Who Died Sautéing falls primarily into the “cozy” classification. Its main character is Ariel Quigley, is an English instructor and Army veteran who counts among her many talents the ability to read tarot cards, talk to ghosts, compose poetry as well experiencing psychic dreams and fugues which she utilizes to sort out a tangle of clues to identify the culprit. She has four sisters, assorted nieces and nephews and a psychotherapist friend named Bernice, all of whom are similarly talented. Makes one wonder just how an average, normal Joe could survive among this metaphysical group.
The books cast of characters and their verbal exchanges and quips are reminiscent of the patter in an old Marx Brothers movie: “I once shot an elephant in my pajamas….how did an elephant get into your pajamas”? - - - well, you get the idea.
While this book is engaging in its way, it does take the reader down a long and winding road, with plenty of unnecessary detours, before we arrive at the answers. I, personally, didn’t see what the ephemeral Dennis and Annie Grace characters had to do with the story line or its ultimate conclusion other than interrupting the flow of the primary storyline. Their presence in the book equates to someone beginning to tell you a joke, stopping in the middle to relate the blow by blow surgical procedure performed on their Aunt Tilly, then continuing to the punch line.
This is book one in the Ariel Quigley series and, by and large, not a bad opening salvo. Hopefully future forays into her psychic adventures will be better edited and a bit more focused in their approach – in keeping with the culinary motif of the tale – by serving the reader a choice filet Oscar rather than a Mulligan stew.
The books cast of characters and their verbal exchanges and quips are reminiscent of the patter in an old Marx Brothers movie: “I once shot an elephant in my pajamas….how did an elephant get into your pajamas”? - - - well, you get the idea.
While this book is engaging in its way, it does take the reader down a long and winding road, with plenty of unnecessary detours, before we arrive at the answers. I, personally, didn’t see what the ephemeral Dennis and Annie Grace characters had to do with the story line or its ultimate conclusion other than interrupting the flow of the primary storyline. Their presence in the book equates to someone beginning to tell you a joke, stopping in the middle to relate the blow by blow surgical procedure performed on their Aunt Tilly, then continuing to the punch line.
This is book one in the Ariel Quigley series and, by and large, not a bad opening salvo. Hopefully future forays into her psychic adventures will be better edited and a bit more focused in their approach – in keeping with the culinary motif of the tale – by serving the reader a choice filet Oscar rather than a Mulligan stew.
December 15, 2022
Why murder the chef? I forget!
I realize now that I am writing this review a month after reading the story that I can’t encapsulate the story, it just had too much going on and I lost the plot. I am amazed at how much extraneous information was included such as discussions of Shakespeare's characters; the history of Alexandria, Virginia; and various philosophical, religious and scientific explanations of ghosts, all which should have added to the story.
I wanted to give this more than an okay rating but the banter between characters, at first disarming, for me became over-the-top, I lost the story in banter which was too much stage art. It detracted from the character development and inhibited my ability to connect with the various characters.
I am planning to read more from this series and hope that the "banter" is connected primarily to this story as part of setting the background "the restaurant schtick".
I realize now that I am writing this review a month after reading the story that I can’t encapsulate the story, it just had too much going on and I lost the plot. I am amazed at how much extraneous information was included such as discussions of Shakespeare's characters; the history of Alexandria, Virginia; and various philosophical, religious and scientific explanations of ghosts, all which should have added to the story.
I wanted to give this more than an okay rating but the banter between characters, at first disarming, for me became over-the-top, I lost the story in banter which was too much stage art. It detracted from the character development and inhibited my ability to connect with the various characters.
I am planning to read more from this series and hope that the "banter" is connected primarily to this story as part of setting the background "the restaurant schtick".
September 4, 2013
This was a very entertaining book. Some of the writing is a little stilted but the story and mystery were excellent. I definately recommend this series:)
September 18, 2013
Just not my cup of tea. Too much new age, ghost, tarot card reading for my Christian sensibilities.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews