Food Coincidences

Title: Death Dines In

Edited by: Claudia Bishop and Dean James

Genre: Mystery

Description: Sixteen short murder mysteries that all include lethal food/drink.

One of my favorite mysteries in this book was called Lethal Luncheon by Parnell Hall. I've never been a good mystery solver. I usually wait for the other, smarter detectives to lay it all out for me. Then I have a little 'Aha!' moment. But this mystery really taught me how to solve a mystery. The main character explains to an audience, after a murder occurs in their midst, how to find the culprit. The secret, ask your MOM. The murderer must have a Motive, the Opportunity, and the Means. M-O-M. At the end in the story, she asks the audience to point to the murderer. Before the answer was revealed, I went back and used the MOM method to make a guess. I turned out to be right, and was very happy with myself. Of course, I was still anxious the finish the story and didn't quite understand why the murderer was found out, but after a few rereads I was able to understand and pick up all the clues. But I was really impacted by this story when a funny thing happened when I went out to dinner at a restaurant called Sea Salt on a Thursday night. In the story, the main character brings a dish to the luncheon called Cioppino, a fish stew. After waiting in a long line at the restaurant, I finally was able to see the menu board. My eyes lingered on the choice of fish tacos until I saw the specials. There, a few rows down, was Cioppino!! I was instantly interested and ordered it for dinner. It was delicious. The broth was tomato-ey and a bit spicy. The mussels and fish went along with it splendidly. The calamari was interesting, though maybe not my favorite. And along with some ciabatta bread, it was a perfect meal. During the meal, I realized that I was only able to have this taste experience through reading Lethal Luncheon, and without reading it, I would never have paid attention to the Cioppino on the specials menu, and I would still have been ignorant to the texture and flavor of calamari. I also felt connected to the story. I had a literature and culinary experience, which, as I read in the introduction, was the point of this collection. I was so pleased that I came across that story and ordered that dish. It just goes to show how reading relally relates and influences my life.

There are recipes of food eaten in the story at the end of each tale, which is a nice touch and contributes to the literature/culinary experience. I can't wait to make my own tipsy pudding and Cioppino!!

Tangerine

Title: Tangerine

Author: Edward Bloor

Genre: Mystery, Adventure

Description: Moving to Tangerine, Florida, is not what it seems. This place used to be famous for it's Tangerine Groves. Now, as Paul Fisher finds out, there are more and more problems and danger resurfacing every day.

This book is definitely worth reading. It's very captivating, and the story holds onto you. You always want to read on, and you always are asking, "What's going to happen next?" The book has an air of suspense, although some parts are not really scary. Paul Fisher, the main character, becomes a soccer player on a great team. Being a soccer player, I find the games he plays as exciting as the suspicious crimes. You are astonished at how many things can go wrong in one place and in one lifetime, and you may think, "I am very lucky." How many times have you complained about a boring spot in a book? Never fear. In Tangerine, something is always happening. It may be drastic. It may be lightning. It may change your life. Okay, I'm exagerating, but you get the point. You won't be able to put this book down!

Lights, Camera--Action!!!!!

Title: Stormbreaker

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Genre: Mystery, High ADVENTURE!!

Description: A 14 year old boy becomes a spy.

WARNING: those of you who are weak of heart, be careful when reading this book. This is one of the most action-packed books I have ever read, and I was constantly kept on my toes as the character performed numerous highly dangerous acts. At the start of the book, it is actually fairly low key, but then the main character (Alex) starts learning lots of startling information very fast, and things really speed up. I mean really speed up. Alex gets into to one dangerous situation after another, and you can't put the book down for fear that next time you pick it up, Alex finally will have gone too far and he will be dead. Even at the very end, when you think, Oh, this is the happy ending, and then they hit you with one last gripping scene. One may say it is a little too much, and yes, that is probably true. There is a lot of tension and suspense and high adventure and mystery and all that, but there isn't a lot of character development or some rest time in between all of Alex's tight situations. And because there isn't a lot of time for you to get to know the character, I do admit I momentarily forgot his name while writing this review. I did enjoy most of this book, and I could hardly put it down. I haven't read a book like that in a while. So if you would like something chock full of adventure and mystery and suspense, go check out Stormbreaker from your local library!

Trial By Journal

Title: Trial by Journal

Author: Kate Klise

Genre: Juvenile fict., Mystery

Description: 12 year old Lily Watson has been selected as the first juvenile juror in the Tyleville Court, to decide the case of the murder of Perry Keet. She relates her experiences through a journal.

I really like the way this story is told, because we get many different points of view, and it gives a lot of clues for the reader to decode or go "Ohh, I see-" at the very end. First off, we have the view of the main character, who is a twelve-year-old girl. She knew the murdered boy (Perry) from school, so this gives her some extra knowledge on the subject. Then, included in her "journal", are some exerpts from an autobiography being written by one of the other jurors, Fawn Papillion, who is a retired actress. Even though these are supposed to be the beginnings of a book, Fawn writes in them like her own diary, so we get her view of things as well. Then, also included in the journal, are some newpaper clippings. This gives the view of the general public, and things that are happening outside the jurors' world. There are also some messages written from one juror to an overly popular and controlling zoo/amusement park owner, who seem to have some strange connection. Then there are notes written from the main character Lily, to the woman who comes in to clean her hotel room, Robin. So here we have a murder case unfolding, and a bunch of stuff going on, and it is really cool, because IT ALL FITS! I was one of the people who, when I finished the book, went "Ohh, I see!!" This is a pretty entertaining read, although simple, so if you are looking for something interesting but not too complicated or confusing, try reading this.

You may have noticed the interesting names some of these characters have...