Sweet Poison

by William Relling Jr.

In the second Jack Donne mystery set in the wine country of Southern California, private eye Donne is hired to protect an overbearing food critic who is sure someone is out to kill him. Reprint.

Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 2000

About the author

William Edward Relling Jr. (March 15, 1954 – January 22, 2004) was a St. Louis-born horror/mystery writer. He graduated from Lutheran High School North in 1971. He was a member of the Colin Sphinctor Band and in 1978 moved to Los Angeles with the band. When the band broke up, Relling chose to stay in Los Angeles, where he continued writing. Fellow writer Gary A. Braunbeck wrote of Relling's death by suicide in his 2010 book To Each Their Darkness.

Reviews

[Mindi Skjordal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read. Random buy at a used bookstore while traveling. Kept my interest for travel downtime. Easy to pick up and put down. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but it's a decent small book to kill some time.

[Ryan Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great sequel and second book in this mystery series. Picked up both this and the first one, Deadly Vintage, a thift store. It had an interesting story with a great mystery and protagonist.

[Karin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It just made me want to read Nero Wolfe.

[Dlora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of fun elements that intrigued me and kept me reading, but not a lot of action or twisty plotting. It's more of a comedy of manners, in a way. it is set in the wine-making region of California, and I enjoyed the details about chefs, restaurant owners, and winemakers. But what tickled me the most was the obvious spoof of the Nero Wolfe mysteries. In fact, the book is dedicated "To the memory of Rex Stout," which should have set your mind thinking along those lines if you read the title pages. The story is told from the sarcastic viewpoint of Jack Donne who, like Archie Goodwin, is the legman for Augustus Poole, the Nero Wolfe type. Poole shares numerous eccentricities with Nero Wolfe: he doesn't like to shake hands or be touched, he doesn't invite people to use his first name, he is fastidious about his personal clothing and hygiene, he solves the mystery by considering the facts brought to him by his henchman Donne, he is a gourmand and a gourmet, and, perhaps of most notable parallel, he is extremely obese. While I didn't find the mystery or the characters all that engrossing, I became more and more tickled by the parallels with Rex Stout mysteries. If you a fan of Nero Wolfe, you'll enjoy comparing.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It had earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shades of Nero Wolfe and Archie! But not as well done.