The 27-Ingredient Chili Con Carne Murders

Eugenia Potter #4

by Nancy Pickard, Virginia Rich

Some like it hot

“Delightful . . . Ms. Pickard has given the protagonist a new least on life!”— The New York Times

When Eugenia Potter receives an urgent phone call from the manager of her ranch near Tucson, she's only too happy to drop everything and fly home. Something inside of her is calling her back to the desert. Why else would be preparing spicy Mexican meatball soup at her cottage in Maine when the menu clearly calls for clam chowder?

But once she arrives home, Mrs. Potter discovers that her ranch manager and his granddaughter are missing from her ranch, Las Palomas, and feared dead. When a guest at a dinner gathering thrown by Mrs. Potter is food poisoned—apparently from eating her famous 27-ingredient chili—she knows she must act quickly before the murderer strikes again. And it doesn't hurt to have the help of a long-lost beau to spice up the danger with romance . . .

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Cookbooks, Mystery Thriller, Food

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Nancy Pickard is an American crime novelist. She received a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri and began writing at age 35.

She has won five Macavity Awards, four Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award, and a Shamus Award. She is the only author to win all four awards. Her novel The Virgin of Small Plains, published in 2007, won an Agatha Award. She also served on the board of directors of the Mystery Writers of America.

Reviews

[Jarakelian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this 4 because it was one of my Grandma's books that I took after she passed away. It has her initials in it and the whole time I was reading it, I pictured her reading it. Couldn't help but feel somehow connected to her.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mystery set in Arizona. Great recipes included.

[April Hochstrasser · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author is up and down. There are some books I really like and others, such as this one, where I kept skipping over descriptions and fluff to get to the real story. It was really a much shorter story, stretched to be a novel. I wanted to get to the "who dunnit?" part and she added less interesting details that did not add to the forward action of the book. If there had been a sub plot it would have been better. In the end, she didn't even answer the only very thin sub plot question about who were the people in the guarded ranch? Very dissatisfying.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this Eugenia Potter Mystery, Eugenia has been called back to her Arizona ranch. The foreman has been murdered and his granddaughter is missing. The book has nice descriptions of desert landscape, but not very convincing plot/murderer, and includes stereotypical characters.

[Rebecca I · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little mystery is fun and a quick read. It was started by one author and finished by another so you can be left wondering if that was the direction the creator of Eugenia Potter was going. Nevertheless, it is entertaining and follows the direction of a few of Agatha Christie's mysteries where the murderer has to be one of a small number of suspects who all know each other, but only slightly. The recipes add a little interest. I was able to figure out the who dun it, but not the how or why. Sprinkled in for a little spice is a little love interest.

[Susan Moxley · Rating 5 out of 5]

when Mrs. Potter gets a call from the head of her ranch, she must fly back two weeks early. When she arrives she finds him and his granddaughter and must figure out what is going on before it is too late.

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story just moved at a snail's pace for me. Instead of using the main character's first name, Mrs. Potter was repetitiously used on every page and through the entire book. Sadly, this all detracted from the mystery for me.

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eugenia Potter loves food! She loves to cook it, research it, and eat it. She dreams of recipes, ponders recipes as she moves throughout her day, and puts her recipes into action every chance she gets. Luckily Mrs. Potter's second love is solving puzzles, because when her ranch foreman and his granddaughter go missing, she realizes that she may be their best chance at being found again.

It's a fun mystery. All of the food talk is ok, though honestly I was more interested in all the gossip about the townsfolk. Mrs. Potter is a bit on the wordy side, even in her thoughts, but she certainly knows how to go about an investigation. I'm also impressed at how much caution she uses to avoid being in sticky situations, or at least to be able to get back out of them. No dumb stereotyped heroine here, Eugenia Potter is a very capable woman on a mission. All of the elderly characters in this book were much more than just caricatures of their younger selves; they were thriving members of their community. That was refreshing, even if Mrs. Potter did shy away from riding a horse (assumedly excused by the description of her injuries in the first chapter).

[Barry Fulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific writing! Nancy Pickard writes in many voices, this a continuation of a series begun by her friend Virginia Rich who died when the book was still in incubation. Eugenia Potter is summoned from her year-round home in Maine by her ranch manager Ricardo Ortega, to return immediacy to her Arizona ranch, Las Palomas. By the time she arrives the following day there is a death, which engages neighbors, the sheriff, ranch hands, and inevitably Eugenia herself. Many Southwest recipes and more bodies later, the novel moves gracefully and unexpectedly to reveal the murderer. If you like mysteries and enjoy cooking, this is a book for you.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it was recommended in a facebook group so I checked it out of the library before I realized it was the 4th book in a series. It read really well as a standalone book and after the somewhat slow beginning it picked up nicely. I agree with a few other reviews that said it reads like a short story stretched out into a novel and so we of the descriptions seemed to go on and on. I'm a little disappointed the title didn't have much to do with the plot and that the sub plot of what the McHenry's have going on on their ranch is never cleared up. But overall very enjoyable.

[Kayleen Reusser · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first book by this author-- and it won't be my last. The author was talented at describing the setting of the Southwest, even incorporating favorite recipes into the plot in a believable manner. I'm testing the recipe for the chili which is printed in the book to see if 27 ingredients make a fabulous chili -- I'm betting they do.

I somehow guessed the killer, but not due to any fault of the author. It kept me reading each night and liking the main character enough to want to continue with the series. Great book!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it because I needed a book with recipes for a local book challenge. This was written in the early 1990s and I found it amusing the author thought people were scared of Mexican food. It’s a cozy mystery set in Arizona and an older lady (60s, widowed) solves the murder of two of her employees. Trigger warning: some offensive terms are used for undocumented citizens. Novel just goes to show you that our immigration policies and border issues have not changed in decades. You also might find the make your own tostado bar offensive to your appetite.

[Gina Pickering Hutchison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute murder mystery with several good recipes thrown in. It wasn't totally predictable, so it kept my interest. I think it is neat that Nancy Pickard wrote this after Virginia died from notes that she left. I loved the descriptions of the Arizona ranch land.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This read more like a cookbook than a murder mystery to me.

[Jan Norton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice quick read. I was disappointed that the author chose to have the owner of the ranch turn her back to someone breaking federal law.

[Sharyl Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! Has a twist or two, kept me guessing almost to the end. Will read another in the series.

[EuroHackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the first one (at least the whodunit made sense!) but still pretty "meh," all in all.

[Barbra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stayed up to finish this and Nancy Pickard did a great job of continuing on with the Eugenia Potter series that Virginia Rich was not able to finish.

[John Iringan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars. Lost interest in the story.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read, and recipes at the end. What more could you want?

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars? doesn't age well

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Arizona ranch, delicious Mexican food, a missing girl, and several murdered men combine into an interesting cozy mystery.

[Crystal Karre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed is the cover to cover.

[Margie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable mystery book with recipes included.

[Lee Hethcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this. Nancy Pickard does a fine job taking over for Virginia Rich as author!

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read and interesting conclusion (along with some delicious sounding recipes).

[Gene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful and makes me want to cook some chili!

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This makes me want to go find the original three written by Virginia Rich and have a re-read. I know I read all of them in the 80’s and liked them. Just wish I had kept them!

[Alannah Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I had read and liked Nancy Pickard's "No Body", and I chose this e-book based on my remembering that author. I didn't realize until the end that she had been chosen to write this book based on the late Virginia Rich's notes. I feel that Nancy did a wonderful job. I'm not familiar with Virginia Rich's work (although I suspect I read The Cooking School Murders some years ago. I really must re-acquaint myself with it). All I can say for sure is that I felt so connected with the characters that I couldn't wait to pick this book up again and continue reading. And I was reluctant to leave their world once I got to the last page.

Good reading!

[Gwenette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good cozy mystery. It held my interest until the end, and the storyline was pretty good. I read a review that said it seemed like a short story that had been expanded, and I can understand that comment. There were long sections of description, and I sort of skipped over some of that. I would read other books in this series.