Death Dines at 8:30

by Claudia Bishop (Editor), Nick DiChario (Editor), Tamar Myers (Contributor)

Sixteen acclaimed mystery writers--including Diane Mott Davidson, Tamar Myers, Edward Hoch, Mike Resnick, Valerie Wolzien, Claudia Bishop, and Bill and Judy Crider--serve up a taste-tempting array of suspenseful whodunits, in an anthology that comes complete with a variety of original recipes. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Culinary, Cookbooks

286 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Claudia Bishop is the nom de plume of mystery & fantasy author Mary Stanton.

Reviews

[Candi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of ok short mysteries. It was a good book for not distracting me for too long at a time.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly competent but uninspired stories. My favorites are "Chocolate Moose" by Bill and Judy Crider, "The Fixer" by Camilla T. Crespi, and "Cold Turkey" by Diane Mott Davidson. I love the first sentence of "Cold Turkey":

I did not expect to find Edith Blanton's body in my walk-in refrigerator.

Well, after all, it really isn't something you would expect, is it?

[Jo Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since it's anthology, some of the pieces were great and some were just good ... but none of them were completely horrid. I will be looking for other books by some of the authors (the ones who wrote great pieces.) I do love a mystery.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my most favorite mystery anthology books! Authors were invited to submit a culinary short story with a recipe. The book’s premise is “a death occurs during dinner at 8:30”. The 16 stories are a testament to the wonderful imaginations of the writers. There is great variety in the settings, methods of murder, and even a story set in the 12th century! Two best selling authors included are Tamar Myers and Diane Mott Davidson. “Chocolate Moose“ is an award winning story written by the late Bill Crider and his wife Judy that is set in a typical friendly calorie laden Texas restaurant. It features a victim that every one in town wished dead at one time or another. The unusual aspect is how he was killed - it involves a slice of chocolate pie and a moose head! The book has 15 recipes along with tips on making NY style bagels. Don’t let the first recipe for Steak Tartare, in the wicked story of the same name by Barbara D’Amato, put you off the other delicious recipes. The authors of this book donated royalties to Second Harvest to feed the hungry.

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of culinary murder mystery short stories. 4 of the 16 stories I found to be very good and I would read more by those authors, namely Tamar Myers, Camilla Crespi, Sharan Newman, Edward D. Hoch. It's difficult to craft a compelling mystery in a short story as well as within the requirementsof this collection, these 4 authors rose to the challenge.
The rest were either just 'okay', or in the case of 3 or 4, simply awful.
The recipes were not intrusive, basically an add-on to the story, and a few actually look tasty.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were quite good and others, not so much. The recipes did not interest me for the most part, either, but they did not detract from the book. Short stories are difficult, and some of these were very abrupt in their endings.

[Jan Sjostrand · Rating 5 out of 5]

great collection of mysteries

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short mystery story collection. All with a food theme, recipes included

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of short stories by different authors. I read over time while reading other books.

[Khanson919 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book of short story mysteries centered around food and each story comes with a recipe at the end.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection. A couple of the stories felt like they needed a bit more editing -- there was some wandering about in the plot, but over all it was a fun, easy to read collection. I loved the idea that 8:30 had to feature in each story, and it was really interesting to see how that was worked into each story.

I read it straight through, but I really like collections like this for when you only have a bit of time to read. Each story took me about 15 minutes to read and that's great for times when you have to dip in and out of books due to things going on around you.

I will have to check into other collections.

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Death Dines at 8:30" is a short story anthology of culinary cozy mysteries. All stories contain a death, a meal and 8:30 (in most it's the time of death), and are followed by a recipe. A combination of well-known and lesser-known authors contributed to the anthology. A few of the 16 stories are interesting.

[Kelly Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories make an easy read - that's why I love anthologies. This was a pretty good collection, very few "misses" as far as quality (IMHO) and only one story that I'd say was a real streeeeetch from the theme. Some of the stories are within the authors' series of novels, and may not make complete sense if you aren't familiar with the background.

[Barbara Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of short stories all centered on a character dying or being killed at 8:30 while at dinner. It was interesting to see all the different takes on the same premise. Some of the included recipes even looked good, something I did not expect.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology of short stories with the theme of murder during an 8:30 p.m. dinner. Sixteen authors of note have taken up this challenge and come out with some very good contributions and others not so good but I think that's true of all anthologies. None were awful. And that's not usual!

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book of short mystery stories, all with accompanying recipes. Some of the stories are better than others.

[Joanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't realize this was a compendium of short stories...

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short mystery stories in which a person is murdered at 8:30 during a dinner. An uneven collection with some of the stories much better than others, but over all an enjoyable read.

[Tribefan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed all of these stories....

[Gheeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories, interesting recipes.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story culinary mysteries, with recipes included. One story written by Diane Mott Davidson.

[Sasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried reading a couple of stories, couldn't get through them. Painful prose, mechanical dialog, not even the promise of solving the mystery could make me drag myself through to the end.

[Sandy Voegtlen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice little anthology. Most of the stories were quite good, and some were quite imaginative.

[Kathy Sebesta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mediocre stories by some good authors. Follows the current fad of including recipes with each story - about a third of a slim volume is actually recipes.

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

This anthology left a bad taste in my mouth, (pun intended). Not only were these stories not well written, they were not even interesting. I didn't really even like the recipes.