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Blue Plate Café Mystery #3
Murder at Peacock Mansion
Arson, a bad beating, and a recluse who claims someone is trying to kill her all collide in this third Blue Plate Café Mystery with Kate Chambers. Torn between trying to save David Clinkscales, her old boss and new lover, and curiosity about Edith Aldridge’s story of an attempt on her life, Kate has to remind herself she has a café to run. She nurses a morose David, whose spirit has been hurt as badly as his body, and tries to placate Mrs. Aldridge, who was once accused of murdering her husband but acquitted. One by one, Mrs. Aldridge’s stepchildren enter the picture. Is it coincidence that David is Edith Aldridge’s lawyer? Or that she seems to rely heavily on the private investigator David hires? First the peacocks die…and then the people. Everyone is in danger, and no one knows who to suspect.
- GenresMysteryCozy Mystery
259 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 11, 2015
9 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Judy Alter
147 books133 followersAfter an established career writing historical fiction for adults and young adults about women of the nineteenth-century American West, Texas author Judy Alter turned her attention to contemporary cozy mysteries and wrote three series: Kelly O’Connell Mysteries, Blue Plate Café Mysteries, and Oak Grove Mysteries. She has most recently published two titles in her Irene in Chicago Culinary Mysteries--Saving Irene and Irene in Danger.
Her most recent historical books are The Most Land, the Best Cattle: The Waggoners of Texas and The Second Battle of the Alamo, a study in both Texas and women’s history. Judy’s western fiction has been recognized with awards from the Western Writers of America, the Texas Institute of Letters, and the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame. She has been honored with the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement by WWA and inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame at the Fort Worth Public Library. She was named One of 100 Women, Living and Dead, Who Have Left Their Mark on Texas by the Dallas Morning News, and named an Outstanding Woman of Fort Worth in the Arts, 1988, by the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women
Judy is a member Sisters in Crime and Guppies, Women Writing the West, Story Circle Network, a past president of Western Writers of America, and an active member of the Texas Institute of Letters.
Retired after almost thirty years with TCU Press, twenty of them as director, Judy lives in a small cottage—just right for one and a dog—in Fort Worth, Texas with her Bordoodle Sophie. She is the mother of four and the grandmother of seven. Her hobby is cooking, and she’s learning how to cook in a postage-stamp kitchen without a stove. In fact, she wrote a cookbook about it: Gourmet on a Hot Plate.
Her most recent historical books are The Most Land, the Best Cattle: The Waggoners of Texas and The Second Battle of the Alamo, a study in both Texas and women’s history. Judy’s western fiction has been recognized with awards from the Western Writers of America, the Texas Institute of Letters, and the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame. She has been honored with the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement by WWA and inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame at the Fort Worth Public Library. She was named One of 100 Women, Living and Dead, Who Have Left Their Mark on Texas by the Dallas Morning News, and named an Outstanding Woman of Fort Worth in the Arts, 1988, by the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women
Judy is a member Sisters in Crime and Guppies, Women Writing the West, Story Circle Network, a past president of Western Writers of America, and an active member of the Texas Institute of Letters.
Retired after almost thirty years with TCU Press, twenty of them as director, Judy lives in a small cottage—just right for one and a dog—in Fort Worth, Texas with her Bordoodle Sophie. She is the mother of four and the grandmother of seven. Her hobby is cooking, and she’s learning how to cook in a postage-stamp kitchen without a stove. In fact, she wrote a cookbook about it: Gourmet on a Hot Plate.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 27, 2016
I invite you to come with me to visit Kate Chambers' small-town Blue Plate Cafe, where customers always have much to talk about as they nibble on Kate's fresh-each-morning pecan sticky buns. This past week, especially, conversation overflowed with non-stop mysterious happenings. Everyone was buzzing about the fire that burned down a cabin that belonged to Kate's significant other, attorney David Clinkscales. David nearly died but managed to crawl out of the cabin in time.
Soon Kate discovers that David is doing some legal work for Edith Aldridge, a recluse who lives at Peacock Mansion and who, decades ago, was found not guilty of murdering her husband. One Cafe conversation notes that they'd had a Henry Higgins/Eliza Doolittle romance. When the widow's step-children suddenly return to town, Cafe speculation hints that they might be seeking to claim their father's inheritance prematurely. New mysteries and questions surface. When Edith finds a wire stretched across her stairway, she tells Kate someone is trying to kill her and asks Kate to look into it. Then a beautiful peacock that lived on the property is slain. Who could do such a terrible thing, the townspeople wonder?
Soon conversation at the Blue Plate Cafe centers around a newly-discovered body that quickly vanishes. When it reappears the next morning outside of the gate to Kate's house, the corpse is identified as the prime suspect. Then the investigation and conversations shift as things become more and more tangled.
You will, I hope, enjoy this third Blue Plate mystery as much as I have. Mysteries with recipes and lots of plot twists in a puzzle that challenges the finest sleuths among us always have strong appeal for me.
After finishing the satisfying conclusion, I decided to try one of Kate's daily tasks: make her sticky buns. As I kneaded the dough, the soft silkiness of it told me it would be delicious. And it was. The rolls filled two 9x13 pans and added the final satisfying ending to my Blue Plate experience.
by Mary Jo Doig
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Soon Kate discovers that David is doing some legal work for Edith Aldridge, a recluse who lives at Peacock Mansion and who, decades ago, was found not guilty of murdering her husband. One Cafe conversation notes that they'd had a Henry Higgins/Eliza Doolittle romance. When the widow's step-children suddenly return to town, Cafe speculation hints that they might be seeking to claim their father's inheritance prematurely. New mysteries and questions surface. When Edith finds a wire stretched across her stairway, she tells Kate someone is trying to kill her and asks Kate to look into it. Then a beautiful peacock that lived on the property is slain. Who could do such a terrible thing, the townspeople wonder?
Soon conversation at the Blue Plate Cafe centers around a newly-discovered body that quickly vanishes. When it reappears the next morning outside of the gate to Kate's house, the corpse is identified as the prime suspect. Then the investigation and conversations shift as things become more and more tangled.
You will, I hope, enjoy this third Blue Plate mystery as much as I have. Mysteries with recipes and lots of plot twists in a puzzle that challenges the finest sleuths among us always have strong appeal for me.
After finishing the satisfying conclusion, I decided to try one of Kate's daily tasks: make her sticky buns. As I kneaded the dough, the soft silkiness of it told me it would be delicious. And it was. The rolls filled two 9x13 pans and added the final satisfying ending to my Blue Plate experience.
by Mary Jo Doig
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
February 15, 2016
A well written mystery that pulled me in.
MURDER AT PEACOCK MANSION is my first book by author Judy Alter, but certainly won’t be my last.
I immediately liked Ms. Alter’s style of writing. As I mentioned above, her story pulled me in and I found myself so focused on the book, day had turned to night before I even looked up from the book.
Author Alter has created wonderfully layered characters, and placed them in a town I could easily envision. From chapter one until the last page, there was mystery and action in abundance in this fantastic story. With my mind racing and my heart pounding, I read the last sentence and wished there was more.
I’ll be going back and reading the first two books in the Blue Plate Café Mysteries, and I urge you to check this series out for yourself.
And, you’ll want to take a look at the back of the book for some yummy recipes.
MURDER AT PEACOCK MANSION is my first book by author Judy Alter, but certainly won’t be my last.
I immediately liked Ms. Alter’s style of writing. As I mentioned above, her story pulled me in and I found myself so focused on the book, day had turned to night before I even looked up from the book.
Author Alter has created wonderfully layered characters, and placed them in a town I could easily envision. From chapter one until the last page, there was mystery and action in abundance in this fantastic story. With my mind racing and my heart pounding, I read the last sentence and wished there was more.
I’ll be going back and reading the first two books in the Blue Plate Café Mysteries, and I urge you to check this series out for yourself.
And, you’ll want to take a look at the back of the book for some yummy recipes.
April 20, 2019
I enjoyed this third book in the Blue Plate Cafe series. However, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two. The story is well written, the plot and mystery are engaging and all my favourite characters have roles. This book just seemed more negative and the character responses seemed off. David behaves in a very self-centered way and doesn't seem as likable as he was previously. Both Sheriffs also behave in unexpected ways. One is always angry and the other is meeker than I expected. Kate also seems to have a lessor role in the mystery solving. In spite of my unsatisfied expectations, I enjoyed the book, the mystery and the ending.
February 18, 2017
I enjoyed reading this mystery. The writer pulls you into it with her easy writing style. Her characters are believable. The plot is well thought out. Kate, the protagonist, is likable, even though she often comes across as somewhat of a doormat, because she’s always doing favors for demanding and ungrateful people, including her sister, Donna. But there appears to be some guilt there from the way the author weaves backstory into Kate’s thoughts about Donna. Obviously, unfortunate things had happened to her in a previous novel in this series.
The Blue Plate Cafe is your typical small town eating place and the author’s description of the cafe, the town and Peacock Mansion, puts the reader right into the settings. This is a well-paced, easily read cozy with an interesting plot, several twists and an unexpected ending. There’s even a bonus with some delicious down-home recipes.
The Blue Plate Cafe is your typical small town eating place and the author’s description of the cafe, the town and Peacock Mansion, puts the reader right into the settings. This is a well-paced, easily read cozy with an interesting plot, several twists and an unexpected ending. There’s even a bonus with some delicious down-home recipes.
September 6, 2017
Kindle
I love this series.
I love this series.
December 8, 2015
Murder at Peacock Mansion is a clean, cozy mystery that engages readers immediately with the setting and interesting characters. Despite being the third book in the Blue Plate Café Mysteries, Murder at Peacock Mansion works great as a stand alone book. There are references to the prior books' events and characters, which will entice readers who haven't read the prior stories to take a look.
The life of main character Kate Chambers -- and really, the whole book -- circulates around one stability, Kate's small town café and the three squares a day that are served there. Food is a big part of the story, and by the end of the story, readers will be ready to find some of that yummy home cooking for themselves. Fortunately, author Judy Alter is kind enough to include some of the recipes at the end of the book.
In and out and around the café, readers meet both the usual and unusual suspects, and the author offers plenty of twists and turns and foils so that readers can't easily figure out whodunit. The writing flows very naturally, as does the dialogue, but there are some typos that need correction -- which may or may not bother readers.
Judy Alter has found the right formula and created characters that readers will enjoy visiting again. Thank you to the author and Lone Star Literary Life for providing me an eBook in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give.
Full review and promo on Hall Ways blog http://kristinehallways.blogspot.com/...
The life of main character Kate Chambers -- and really, the whole book -- circulates around one stability, Kate's small town café and the three squares a day that are served there. Food is a big part of the story, and by the end of the story, readers will be ready to find some of that yummy home cooking for themselves. Fortunately, author Judy Alter is kind enough to include some of the recipes at the end of the book.
In and out and around the café, readers meet both the usual and unusual suspects, and the author offers plenty of twists and turns and foils so that readers can't easily figure out whodunit. The writing flows very naturally, as does the dialogue, but there are some typos that need correction -- which may or may not bother readers.
Judy Alter has found the right formula and created characters that readers will enjoy visiting again. Thank you to the author and Lone Star Literary Life for providing me an eBook in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give.
Full review and promo on Hall Ways blog http://kristinehallways.blogspot.com/...
February 18, 2017
Great murder mystery...
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March 18, 2016
I was given this e-book in return for a fair review.
I’m not a big mystery reader but I’ve always been that person who saw the ending a mile away. This was not the case this time. Alter’s characters are interesting and her writing is so fluid and natural that you can’t help but be sucked into the story. I hadn’t realized that this was Book 3 of the Blue Plate Cafe Mysteries, but I had an idea the way that she brushes briefly about previous events and relationships. And like any good series writer, Alter doesn’t confuse you with the past you hadn’t seen but stokes your interest in reading them when you’re done with the one you’re working on. While some of the characters were certainly eccentric, all of them felt real. And every suspect could be seen from the guilty or innocent perspective as well. I highly suggest this book and series for readers who want to bring out their inner sleuth.
I’m not a big mystery reader but I’ve always been that person who saw the ending a mile away. This was not the case this time. Alter’s characters are interesting and her writing is so fluid and natural that you can’t help but be sucked into the story. I hadn’t realized that this was Book 3 of the Blue Plate Cafe Mysteries, but I had an idea the way that she brushes briefly about previous events and relationships. And like any good series writer, Alter doesn’t confuse you with the past you hadn’t seen but stokes your interest in reading them when you’re done with the one you’re working on. While some of the characters were certainly eccentric, all of them felt real. And every suspect could be seen from the guilty or innocent perspective as well. I highly suggest this book and series for readers who want to bring out their inner sleuth.
June 10, 2016
a favorite cozy mystery series
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews