Cooking Most Deadly

Angie Amalfi #4

by Joanne Pence

Although food writer and dilettante chef Angie Amalfi is ready to start thinking about cutting a wedding cake with her delectable homicide detective boyfriend Paavo Smith, Paavo's got other things on his mind—mainly, the grisly murder of two San Francisco women. While he combs the city for clues to the brutal slayings, Angie begins a quest of her own: searching for a little gem of a restaurant for a magazine review. She discovers three grumpy old men who make a mean marinara, but seem to know nothing about how to run a business. At least not a culinary business. As Angie deals with the diamond-in-the-rough eatery and her sisters' unwelcome wedding advice, Paavo's inquiry points to Angie as next on the killer's hit list. The ever-game Ms. Amalfi takes off her oven mitts to join the investigation. But Angie's leaping head first into the stewpot for sure—because a murderer with a vendetta is more than willing to give one nosy chef her lethal just desserts.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Romance, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary, Food

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Joanne Pence is a USA Today best-selling and award winning author of two mystery series, contemporary and historical romance, fantasy and thrillers. She is the author of the Angie Amalfi culinary mystery series, which is still in print after twenty years, and now has 15 books (the latest, COOKING SPIRITS was an April 2013 release), and a novella (Cook's Christmas Capers, Dec. 2013). She has just begun a new series, the Rebecca Mayfield mysteries. ONE O'CLOCK HUSTLE is the first full-length novel, and THE THIRTEENTH SANTA is a novella which shows how the two main characters met.

Joanne's books have won many awards and honors, including RWA's Golden Heart and Rita Award nominations, the Independent Book Seller's Golden Quill, the Daphne du Maurier award, the Willa Cather Literary Award in Historical Fiction (for DANCE WITH A GUNFIGHTER), and the Idaho Top Fiction Award for ANCIENT ECHOES.

Joanne was born and raised in San Francisco and now makes her home in the foothills of Boise. She has been president of the Boise chapter of Sisters in Crime, a founder and board member of the Popular Fiction Association of Idaho, and founding member and current board member of the Idaho Writers Guild. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley with a master's degree in journalism, Joanne has written for magazines, worked for the federal government, and taught school in Japan.

Reviews

[Deb Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series just keeps getting better and better :)

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful, entertaining, as always!

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super.... No idea when I read this...

[Vicki Gooding · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent. It's the first I've read from this series & I really, really like it. I'll definitely be reading more of her books.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cooking Most Deadly, while still an entertaining book, is my least favorite of the series thus far. This stems mostly from the author deviating from the established blueprint that made the previous three books successful.

My biggest gripe is that the story isn’t really a mystery. We already know who the killer is. Sure, we don’t know why he is killing until the end, but there is no mystery. Trying to solve the mystery is part of the fun in books like this and we miss out on it here. As readers we could try to solve why he is doing the killings but there simply aren’t enough clues and hints to make this worthwhile.

A lot of time is also spent on subplots that end up being only marginally connected to the story. The restaurant that Angie stumbles upon does add a pleasant amount of humor to the story. But at the end of the day, it’s only relevant for one small section. The secondary case about the jewelry store robberies is completely pointless. The pages spent on that could have been completely removed without losing anything. And the short chapters where Angie is asking what marriage is like? Whatever, those are fine but there doesn’t seem to be much resolution to them by the end.

Which brings me to Angie herself. She lost some of her likability here. Between her galavanting around at night clubs, using her poor neighbor, or her character acting less confident and intelligent, she is desperately lacking here.

Overall, I still enjoyed the book. I read it in two short sittings, though it didn’t have the “can’t put it down” quality of the previous installments. But I hope the series returns to the style of the previous books.

[Watergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first of the series that made me laugh in public. Angie makes the weirdest decisions but was a good book. There would be more stars if we never saw the rapist’s thoughts. They were disturbing. Wish someone would tell us these things before we get the books.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

#4 in this funny,well plotted cozy mystery

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just found too many intertwined stories that made me less engaged in the main one. Maybe I shouldn't have started with book 4, but this is very much stand-alone. 2 stars=liked it/good.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angie Amalfi, a food columnist, is trying to decide if it's time to settle down with her detective boyfriend, Paavo. Paavo, in the meantime, is drawn into investigating the grisly death of two women. Angie finds herself in the mix of the investigation and right into harms way.

This was a pretty average read in the mystery world. I would say that there were a few different directions the book was going that muddled the story a bit. I have not read the previous 3 books in this series, so I am not sure how much contextually I missed around their relationships. But the book can be easily read as a stand-alone and be able to be understood and followed.

[Karissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone is stalking and killing women in San Francisco and Paavo is given the case. As he tracks the killer inch by excruciating inch, Angie finds herself in her own pursuit. She is in search of a hidden treasure restaurant to write about for a magazine article. Stumbling by happenstance into The Wings of an Angel she finds a delicious marinara and three recalcitrant men. Through perseverance and repeated visits, she befriends the men. So much so that, when she finds herself at the hunted end of Paavo’s case, she runs to their restaurant for help.

This was not one of my favorite books by Joanne Pence. It seemed to just plod along. It was partially saved by the grumpy old men as they were great comic relief. However, if I hadn't read other books by this author in the past that I thoroughly enjoyed...I'm not sure I'd pick up another one based on this book.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still enjoying this series, though there are twinges of concern cropping up. Angie seems almost clueless in this book. Yes, she is a pampered and bit spoiled daughter of her well-off parents; however, she has tried to find her own way in the world; find a job she can embrace and support herself and not rely on her parent's generosity.

She's shown better sense in the previous books (though it was close last time, as well) than she did in this one. Really!!! She didn't realize something shady was going on in the restaurant she stumbled upon, where all they served was spaghetti and meatballs (with a secret ingredient that will make you laugh, or at least smile, when you find out what it is).

I'm getting a bit tired too of the back and forth romance between Angie and the homicide detective, Paavo Smith. Both are scared to commit, but seem to love each other. In this book, Angie seems to be looking for some advice (from friends and family), that will help her confirm her feelings are right and she should commit to Paavo. Life doesn't work that way though. When it comes to feelings, such as love, there are no guarantees. Loving each other does not necessarily mean you will have a loving and long marriage. You just have to take chance, some times.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two stories in one that dovetail at the end. Angie is looking for new restaurant to talk about for a magazine interview. She finds a diamond in the rough, but there's more going on than cooking spaghetti and meatballs. There's a stalker and a murderer, and somehow Angie is on the list of to be victims. Can Paavo find the murderer in time to save Angie?

Pros and cons to this book. There were several things that were telegraphed and you knew what was going on. Perhaps you were meant to, maybe not. That sort of took the mystery out of things. But the last few chapters were very suspenseful and great writing (plus it brought the two storylines together).

This is the third of the Angie Amalfi books I have read, and the other two I also rated 3 stars. Seems to be around the right rating. They're enjoyable without being too complex.

[Kwoomac · Rating 2 out of 5]

silly, cute book about a chef who comes to the aid of her detective boyfriend to solve his cases. She does help, but only after getting in the way and almost getting killed. The best characters in the story were three crooks she befriended (not knowing they were hoodlums). angie, the chef/restaurant critic.she thought they were opening an italian restaurant which she wanted to review. in fact they were using the space to tunnel into the jewelry store next to their "restaurant". Of course,they are an intrigal part of her catching the creepy bad guy. And then they really do open a restaurant. And detective forgives angie for almost getting herself killed.Frothy easy read, nothing too annoying.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

COOKING MOST DEADLY (Ama Sleuth-Angie and Paavo-Cont) - G
Pence, Joanne - 4th in series)

Product Description: Trading in her chef's hat for a sleuthing cap, food columnist and talented cook Angie Amalfi helps her handsome detective boyfriend, Paavo Smith, set out to solve the gruesome homicides of two young women.

Good humor; not just a cozy. I liked it.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one had a really good sit on the edge of your seat ending.

[Fmorlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angie Almalfi gets involved in her boyfriends murders. But this book includes an interesting cast of chatacters. It made this fun to read