A Catered Wedding

A Mystery with Recipes #2

by Isis Crawford

Leeza Sharp's dream wedding turns deadly when she is murdered just hours before her trip down the aisle, and it is up to her caterers Libby and Bernadette Simmons to solve the case of the nightmarish nuptials.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Food, Crime, Ebooks

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Isis Crawford was born in Egypt to parents who were in the diplomatic corps. When she was five, her family returned to the States, where her mother opened a restaurant in Upper Westchester County and her father became a university professor. Since then Isis has combined her parents’ love of food and travel by running a catering service as well as penning numerous travel-related articles about places ranging from Omsk to Paraguay. Married, with twin boys, she presently resides in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where she is working on the next Bernie and Libby culinary mystery.

A pseudonym used by Barbara Block

Reviews

[LORI CASWELL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Bernadette and Libby Simmons are given the chance to cater a huge reception for a bride getting the wedding of her dreams. Sadly, the event is tanked when the bride is killed before she can walk down the aisle. With a big assist from their retired police chief dad, the sisters try to find who shot down the bride with a crossbow on her wedding day.

______

This story is high on humor, low on facts, and sleuthing. The girls take their time calling the police and tamper with the crime scene all to find a killer that I was focused on pretty early on.

Sisters Libby and Bernadette are trying to grow their business but they keep finding dead bodies which makes their wheelchair-bound father worry so much he finally leaves his house to help them out. Their investigation was a little frustrating at times, they seemed to be going in circles and finding nothing. The ending falls together and my original theory was proven but I was surprised the sisters didn’t pick up what I was following the whole time.

I did enjoy getting to know these characters better than we did in the first book. There is plenty of room for growth and knowing there are 13 more books in the series I am sure the author capitalized on this. I also learned something when reading the book and that is always a plus.

This was a quick read for a weekend afternoon. It also includes some yummy recipes. A Catered Wedding has some issues but the characters are growing on me. I will give A Catered Christmas a try near the holidays.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was weak, and the editing was horrible! I could've taken a red pen to this thing and done the next reader a favor. It was full of run-on sentences and missing commas all over the place. I decided to read the first two books in the series to see if I'd like them; no need to read the rest!

[Crystal Hart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did anyone proofread this?? This was an already bad and disjointed story made worse with irritating characters, and then made worse when you have to reread every paragraph to try to get past all the mistakes and figure out what the author is trying to say.

[Mary Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is going to be the wedding of the year and the sisters are hired to do the cake and catering. The set up is difficult at best because of how far from the kitchen the tent is and also, how close to the river and a hill between. As they are setting up, they find the bride with an arrow in her.

This is a series of books and I have moments where I just don't enjoy the storyline. Mostly, I don't like the sister dynamics.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* This was an entertaining, easy read with a good mystery. It could have used several more commas, though; some of the run-on sentences kept throwing me off. Will give the next one a shot, however, and already have it on the TBR mountain.

[Angustia⋆Cósmica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another utterly delightful read. There's just something about these books that has me gaga over them.

Libby and Bernie are in charge of facing yet another murder; bridezilla or not, finding justice for a murder victim just adds good karma to your list, doesn't it?
Plus the vintage goodness of it all is both a relief and a punch to the gut. It had been a WHILE since I read about the yellow pages lmao...

As a lil side bonus lots of cookies were featured, so I was extra happy this time 🍪

Another cozy hit for my list.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, light mystery. I enjoyed this as much as the previous book.

[Emily Degnitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story, in spite of several proofreading errors by the publisher (e.g. missing words, missing commas).

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars rounded up to 3 Stars. This series so far has horrendous editing or should I say lack of editing. Poor sentence structure with missing words and grammatical errors are just some of the editing errors. The author needs a good proofreader. Otherwise the story is light and enjoyable except for the character Libby who can be irritating with her weight concerns and constantly shoving cookies in her mouth.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. I thought the story was good, I liked getting to know the characters and it made me want to read more books in the series. The part I didn't like was all the mistakes I found (such as missing words or a wrong word used - the editor was totally asleep when editing this book).

[Lora · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the storyline was light and entertaining, I cannot give this book more stars. The number misspellings, grammatical problems, and punctuation errors were so distracting. Whoever proofread/edited this book did an absolutely horrible job.

[Cece · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would have given it 2 1/2 if possible. Still has moments of cleverness, but I wonder if this series has legs. Already, in book 2, there are some stretches and tired cliches.

[Catherine]

I really enjoyed this book. It was light hearted and a lot of fun. That being said, I felt like the conclusion was a little bit weak. It could have been developed much better.

[Molly LaBelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Best Quote:
Libby and Bernie’s dad is a former detective. He explains the investigative process as “doing a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. First you made the frame and then started fitting the pieces until eventually you came to the center.”

Review of a recipe from this novel here Literary Baker.
One of my favorite reality shows is Say Yes to the Dress. After the bride has selected a dress, I love to imagine what the wedding will be like. Of course, the more money the bride has to spend on the dress, the more elaborate their weddings must be. In this novel, the bride, or should I say bridezilla, is marrying into a very wealthy family. The Raid family made their money by importing caviar. This factor forces my imagination to go into high gear. The only time I had caviar was at a high school event. Needless to say, this caviar was probably not the fancy variety. This cheap caviar tasted only of salt and fish and I haven’t sought out caviar since.

In the novel, the Raid family imports the best caviar in the world. Bridzilla Leeza was the CEOs secretary, but somehow convinced him she loves him and at the beginning of the novel it is their wedding day. As the gossip about their relationship flies, so does an arrow from a crossbow. Sisters Libby and Bernie had been catering the wedding and then went on to investigate the murder.

Highlights of the book include Libby and Bernie’s relationship. If you have a sister then I am positive you will see at least part of your relationship represented in them. Libby is a stay at home practical, people pleaser, while Bernie is a fashionista and able to talk to any suspect.

[Nicole Wrightson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An over demanding bride, a groom that is entering a loveless marriage and a family with a few too many secrets, sounds like the perfect recipe for a disaster. The day of the wedding the girls arrive to set up for and discover the bride with an arrow through the heart. Cupid or a message to the groom?

The cops are wrapping up the case and saying it was poor luck on the bride. But was it really?

This one I will admit had me guessing. Too many suspects with too many different reasons to want the bride dead. But isn't these the best cases? When everyone almost has a reason. But the ending was perfect. I can't wait to get my hands on another one of these books. I would have finished this one sooner but I got sick and all I wanted to do was play cards on the computer or watch shows.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This will be my last read for this series. I like the variety in POV, but both sisters ended up being very annoying. Also, neither really had any sleuthing skills besides being competent when the police weren't. Their father does about a third of the "leg" work and ends up leading them towards different factors of the investigation so it almost seems like he's the real brains in the team. He isn't affiliated really with the catering, so it just feels off that he's the lead "detective" of the bunch. It's also a little patronizing; like the girls can't do it on their own.

[Peggy Gould · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit unhappy with this book, compared to the 1st book in the series (A Catered Murder). When the sisters come upon the murder, they spent far too long discussing things before calling the authorities. Just a little too unbelievable for me. Then, I felt like there were too many paragraphs describing what everyone was thinking, it slowed things down a great deal. I even began skipping paragraphs such as these, and didn't really miss them.

This series has such potential - and I like most of the characters. Hoping the next book in the series improves.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second in the series. Bernie and her sister are catering a huge society wedding (the bride's dress cost $25,000!). Too bad someone murdered the bride before the ceremony got started. It's a fun series, but the author has some annoying (well, to me) habits. Sometomes the same phrase gets repeated three or four times on one page. As if the characters can't think of anything else to say. Still willing to read more.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Simmons sisters have been working twelve hour days in their shop when they are asked to cater a wedding to end all weddings When Leez a Sharp wants a wedding she doesn't hold back with demands or money. While the Simmons sisters are setting up for the reception they come across Leeza's body she was murdered. Now the question is who wanted her dead. This is a quick easy fast read.

[Chris L Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book from Isis

I liked that their Dad joined in the detective work in this book. The growth of Libby, Sean, and Marvin in this book by facing their fears and going out of their comfort zones had me routing harder for them. I look forward to getting to know them all better in the next book

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the story; just wish it had been better edited. So many instances of improper punctuation, missing and/or extra words. Those kinds of errors really inhibit my enjoyment of a book. Always makes me feel like it was rushed to print.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bernie and Libby, two sisters who run a bakery and live over the shop with their retired cop dad, Sean, have to solve the murder of a bride on her wedding day. The sisters were supposed to cater it, but they found the bride dead. So many suspects and motives. B

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was quite original. Cross bows, caviar sellers, and Estonian elite living in a high class suburb of Bernie n Libbys town. Another murder connected to their catering company. Lots of new players, crazy aunts n a nice mortician's son.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

An editor would've greatly improved my opinion of this book. The sisters are also getting dangerously close to falling into the TSTL category, so I think I'll be skipping around the series a bit to see if that changes.

[Christel Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice 👍🏻 I liked the characters better than those in the chocolate 🍫 mystery series. I’m starting another one ☝️ now;)

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the interaction between the 2 sisters and their dad as they bake, cater, and solve murders.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 - Good

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Soc Page]

roasted potatoes, chicken and rosemary
shrimp and corn soup
zucchini stuffed with herbed goat cheese
frosted pumpkin bars
triple citrus cheesecake
grilled marinated quail

[Jessica Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't wait to see what Bernie and Libby get into next.