Warren Bradley, renowned as the local gadfly In the picture-perfect community of Sausalito, California, is esteemed by his admirers and despised by his detractors. But for love of his caramel chicken and cherry fudge brownies, everyone has a story to share regarding their fellow citizens—
Stories that too often find their way into his weekly gossip-filled newspaper column, "Heard About Town."
When the great chef and his admirers, the Sausalito Ladies of Liberty, take offense to a newly arrived Manhattan power couple, their insular world of tasty sauces and stinging insults leads to deadly results.
Everyone has their own theory about who killed Warren. But it takes the combined efforts of Rob Timmons, the local newspaper publisher, and Eddie Austin, his childhood friend and Marin County’s top detective, to unravel this tale of delicious dishes and malicious deception.
Martin Brown is the author of the MURDER IN MARIN mysteries, including:
The Gossiping Gourmet (Book 1) The Wicked Wife (Book 2) The Phantom Photographer (Book 3) The Terrifying Teacher (Book 4) The Horrible Husband (Book 5 / 2019)
As a journalist, Martin's articles on health and relationships have appeared in Redbook, Playboy, and Complete Woman magazines, as well as SingleMindedWomen.com.
Martin, a native of New York City, is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He began his career as a community affairs writer with WCBS Radio. He also worked as the public affairs officer for the New York City police association; and later in the same capacity for the Atlanta and Georgia police associations.
He began his work as a community news reporter in Atlanta with Creative Loafing. Later, in Marin County, he founded Signal Newspapers, which were published in Sausalito, Tiburon, and Belvedere, California.
He and his wife, novelist Josie Brown, live in the city of San Francisco, where their grown children also reside.
Although the mystery in this book was decent, the small minds and dry souls of the characters inhabiting the insular community of Sausalito,California were very unappealing. Unless the character of this town was actually accurately presented in the book, the author should be concerned that it's citizens might sue for damages to the town's reputation! Residents are so concerned about fitting in and "being one of us" that they fail to recognize the viper in their myst. Fortunately there are a few worthies not so blinded by adoration and food who see their way to solving a murder and unearthing the motive.
This book has good character development and an interesting plot. It was halfway through the book before I discovered who the main characters were and more good have been made of the location, one of the most beautiful places in the country. Overall a solid 3.5 stars.
Don't you hate, when you're in the middle of a really good book, that life gets in the way? That's how it was for this novel for me. I kept grabbing 5 minute peeks because I was enjoying the story so much and really wanted to see how it would progress. Silly, really, because it would be there when I had more time, but I could not wait.
In thinking it over, I can't point to one particular thing I really liked over any other thing. The characters were well fleshed-out, the plot was imaginative, the location was enticing. The book as a whole was GOOD and enthralling and, man, I wish I had had the time to sit down and devour the thing in one go!
Gossip is like a fire, it spreads and grows to something out of control and barely resembling it's origins. One can never really control gossip, but thinking you can leads to a God complex. Fortunately karma knows how to deal with that type of person... Good read and the twisting path to the murderer will keep you turning pages to the end!
Not too bad. Added fun because I am familiar with that area, so that enhanced my enjoyment. Plot weak, but liked some of the main (assuming continuing) characters.
First in in the Murder in Marin cozy mystery series and revolving around the inhabitants of Marin County in California. It's not until well into the story that we learn that Eddie Austin and Rob Timmons are the actual protagonists of the series. The focus in The Gossiping Gourmet is in Sausalito on Warren Bradley, gossip columnist and chef.
My Take I suspect I disliked The Gossiping Gourmet because of Warren Bradley and his "partners in gossip". He's a victim you'll love to hate — he's such a smarmy, mean git. The kind of person I can't stand. One who interprets every comment as being about himself. I also hate how he twists gossip to influence and hurt people.
Brown starts the story off with a prelude and then flashes back to provide the trail of events that lead to this critical conflict in this primarily character-driven tale. It's handy that Brown uses a third person global subjective point-of-view so we hear from many of the characters. It helps lay the groundwork for how incestuous this town is!
I have a hard time having empathy for Timmons. Brown laying out the hardships of running a small newspaper and the clever ideas The Standard incorporates to stay solvent are fantastic, but I find fault with Timmons letting Warren run amuck.
I did enjoy Brown's colorful assessment of Sausalito. I also liked Grant and Barbara. I must say their art gallery partnership sounds made in heaven with Grant cultivating the artists and Barbara cultivating the buyers.
The path that leads to the inciting incident is a long-building trail of miscommunication, an unfortunately frequent issue in most relationships. Dang it.
In the end, it's a core group of small town bullies egged on by the reprehensible Warren.
And we learn why Warren lost his hands...poetic justice in two many ways.
The Story It's a game of know-and-tell gone wrong when Warren's plans are put on the carpet by Alma Samuels. The brown-nosing Warren is stuck, if he wants to retain his influence in Sausalito!
The Characters The petty, mean-spirited Warren Bradley lives for gossip and sees himself as a fabulous gourmet chef who works hard to appear wealthy. Okay, fine...he is a good cook... He writes the "Heard About Column". Some believe he cheated Mrs Danvers out of her cottage.
Eddie Austin is a lead investigator at the county sheriff's department. He's also a longtime best friend of Rob Timmons. Sharon is his wife, and they have a son, Aaron.
The local paper is The Standard published... ...by Rob Timmons, the owner. Holly Cross is his full-time editorial assistant/production manager. Social events in Tiburon, Mill Valley and the towns in Ross Valley are covered by Sylvia Stokes, Ed Dondero, and Cassie Crenshaw, respectively.
When he was a child, Timmons had a Dalmatian named Smoke. Today, he's married to Karen Klein, the daughter of a local dentist, and they have a son and daughter.
Grant Randolph, a former very successful gallery owner of The Discerning Eye, is the new chair of the Sausalito Fine Arts Commission, newly arrived from Manhattan with his wife, Barbara, who gets a job with the Moss Gallery in San Francisco. Anna Ruth Moss is the founder. James Moss is Anna's attractive son.
Ray and Debbie Sirica, from Chicago, invite the Randolphs to Sausalito and become best friends.
The Sausalito Women's League, a.k.a., ...The League, started as support for the suffragette movement. Now it's the paramount social set with the heartless Alma Samuels, the widow of a San Francisco attorney Roger Samuels, in charge.
Louise Allen is Alma's caretaker these days, having evolved from maid to cook to caregiver.
The Ladies of Liberty... ...was started and continues to be led by Alma, also. Members include Bea Snyder, one of Warren's friends; Ethel Landau, who is on the art commission and is a granddaughter of The League founder, Dorothy Landau; Marilyn Williams, who is a charter member and one of Alma's lieutenants; and, Robin Mitchell, who dominates the city council.
Sausalito Fine Arts Commission is... ...one of the premier committees with Arthur Bingham as the chairperson. The membership of the Gate Six Artist's Cooperative incorporates promising young artists. Kitty will become one of Grant's prodigies.
Sausalito PD is... ...too often referred to as "the gang that couldn't shoot straight" is the happy recipient of Warren's attentions. Captain Hans Petersen and his officers include Chris Harding, the newest patrol officer, and Steven Hansen, who is Chris' partner.
Dave Nichols is an EMT officer. His partner is Hal Michaels. Max Brownstein is the Marin County medical examiner.
Smitty's and the No Name are two bars that the locals patronize. Alberto is a bartender at the No Name. Past artists of Sausalito included Jean Varda, Shel Silverstein, and Gordon Onslow. Oscar and Clarice Anderson are the Randolphs' neighbors. Bob Ivan is an attorney. Alex and Trevor were boyhood friends of Eddie's and Rob's. Robert Allan, recently elected to the city council, and Carrie Kahn had been some of Warren's victims. Mollie Stone's Grocery sounds tasty. Patricia Smith, a dot-com CEO, and her husband, Mario, move to Sausalito.
Flagstaff, Arizona William Benedict used to work at Northern Arizona University and lived with Elaine Hayden. Hayden had a son, James, and a foster son, Topher, who got chewed up by the defense lawyer.
The Cover and Title The cover is a glorious summer day looking back from the Bay at the house-studded hills of Sausalito with a blue sky above and the muddy green waters below. The title is at the top in a white-outlined red with the series information below it in black. Brown's numbering for the series, included between the icon of the Golden Gate Bridge towers following the series title, is a clever device.
The title is all about The Gossiping Gourmet who simply can't resist his Machiavellian embellishments.
Because of the COVID-19 my husband and I have been determined to continue our passion of reading, but convert to ebooks. This is one of the free books I’ve been building my e-library. I won’t give all of the ebooks a review, only the most memorable.
It’s probably the first time I’d heard the term “cozy mystery”. It is a lovely term for such an enjoyable read.
Martin Brown has the county of Marin dialed in! It was a hilarious book of a small community of arrogantly nutty old guard. There is a wily local journalist who plies the town folk with delicious meals and desserts for scraps of salacious gossip. What’s a little reputation ruining gossip between friends who share good food?
It’s all fun and games until someone gets murdered. Put the tea to boil and pass the cookies! Tongues really get to flapping in the Marin Headlands when someone gets bumped off!
When you think money buys everything and you run your community, beware.
This is book one in the Marin series. I am looking forward to reading more of these fast paced, witty small community books.
Set in Marin County. A gourmet food writer is killed and suspicion falls on newcomers as the victim had written a nasty article about them and spread rumors about them. Some twists and turns, some of it seemed to jump around some and give too much detail about the area and people. The women's club seems to be made up of snobs who think Warren is wonderful, which made me question their intelligence. He seemed to have 1/2 the people on his side and half disliking him. With all the nasty columns he wrote, I think his editor was crazy to not have fired him a long time ago. I was surprised at who the murderer was, although he definitely had a good reason to go after Warren. I read the whole book, but didn't like it well enough to read more in the series.
This is the first in the series . The main characters are Rob , who owns a newspaper, Eddie who is a detective and Holly who works with Rob. Bradley is who is murdered, is also called the gossiping gourmet. He writes for the paper and it is always about gossip he has heard and loved to spread. He is found dead and no one know who did it. The police can't even see where he came from 25 years earlier. It is a great book and figuring out who he was and who knew it and killed him is a challenge.
This type of book frustrates me. The author is clearly intelligent and knows how to craft a well-written story. There are dozens of instances of someone with acute observation skills - people, places, social standing and so on - but the result was a book that was dull and which lacked urgency. With the talent at his disposal I would expect something that sizzled and leapt off the page to grab me by the throat. All that got lost on the way I'm afraid.
Cute cozy mystery of the murder of a nasty man who writes a column for the local papers in Marin County. He barters gourmet food and recipes with the locals for tidbits of gossip he inserts into his weekly column. The locals are shaken when Warren turns up dead with his hands chopped off. Solving this mystery takes the efforts of the community.
If your not interested in the minute details of a small-minded California town, this is not a book you would enjoy. The author spends pages describing everything. But if you stick with it, the story is great. I loved the characters and felt the victim deserved what he got!
As much as I know - from the book's disclaimer - that mentioned places were a part of the author's imagination, I would like to visit some of the mentioned places, just to see if there's any form of reality. Certainly the Golden Gate Bridge would be in the right place. Brian (GBR) provided a positive narrative (text to speech).
What a twisted mix of characters - half you love, half you hate. Surprises and cringing around a few corners with another twist at the end. This is a great book. (I also appreciate the great editing job - one of the few books I've read with no typos, grammar, or content errors.) I also appreciate the feeling of justice served at the end.
The murder does not happen until almost half way through the book. For me the beginning was too slow. It was hard to keep on reading. But the last 25% of the book was great.
Though "The Gossiping Gourmet" starts off slowly it's worth reading. The characters are varied from likeable to revolting. The plot may be a bit muddled; but I didn't solve the mystery of why Warren Bradley was murdered nor which character was the murderer.
Pretty decent. I always love these kinds of mysteries. The only issue I had was that one character was identified by either his first name or last name; I prefer them to go by either or throughout the book.
Cozy mystery, takes place in the cloistered Saucilito bay area. Weekly column writer who is the local gourmet is found dead, his hands missing. Some deep sleuthing uncovers the murderer.nice characters
Enjoyable view of small town elitists who mistakenly believe they are the bestowers of norms to be followed by all. It can come back to bite you. An interesting tale.
I must admit, I almost put the book down because the beginning took a while to get to the story. It was a bit boring, but I don’t stop what I’ve started. So once the story really began it gripped me, and I had to read to the end. Worth it.
Well written murder mystery set in a town full of mostly unlikeable characters. Warren Bradley is not killed off until halfway through the book, at which three characters step forward to take on the mantle of protagonists. The end is a surprise.
Once I'd read a few chapters, I found it hard to put this book down. Lots of twists and an ending that I didn't expect. If you like murder mysteries, please read this book.
This one was hard to get into. Too wordy, slow to start. I did, however, enjoy this murder investigation after the story started perking. But, while there was way too much description in the beginning, toward the end it seemed that Mr. Brown ran out of words.