Crime Brûlée

Carolyn Blue Culinary Mysteries #1

by Nancy Herndon

Forty-something homemaker Carolyn Blue is through with cooking and cleaning. She’s finally decided to throw in the dishtowel—and take on a dream job as food writer. Now her plate is filled with exotic locales, delectable foods, and even a dash of crime—to taste. She could very well get used to this.It was a perfect arrangement. Carolyn had already planned to accompany her husband to an academic conference in New Orleans—an event that meant visiting old college pals. So why not use the opportunity to write a story about Cajun cuisine? But just as she gets a taste of Creole, she gets a bite of crime…Her friend Julienne disappears at a dinner party. True, she had been fighting with her husband, but this only worries Carolyn more. Now, she has to put her taste-testing aside to search for answers—and the trail leads her right to an alligator swamp. Carolyn better act fast, because in these parts, it’s eat or be eaten…

Includes over a dozen delicious Southern recipes!

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Culinary, Mystery Thriller, Food

275 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

AKA Elizabeth Chadwick and Nancy Fairbanks.

Nancy Herndon lives in El Paso, Texas, with her husband, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Texas at El Paso. She travels with her husband throughout America and Europe, enjoying new places, interesting people, good food, opera, and scientific conferences.

Series:
* Elena Jarvis

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even finish this book. I ended up with big case of "who gives a fuck" and the like. I found her need to use grandiose words at all times tiring and her attempt at using dialect an insulting throw back to mammy waiting for massa to come home and deal with Miz Scarlet. I am not opposed to giving one the idea of a dialect but this was too much a minstrel show version for me. I felt at times that the main character was condescending to the reader and was treating said reader as if we were one of her children. I got as far as page 50 or so and just gave up. This style is simply not for me.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know, this wasn't a bad book, it just... wasn't. I didn't much care about the characters, couldn't figure out why the protagonist hung out with such a vile group of "friends" and really didn't give a rip if the mystery was solved.

It was very easy to just set the book down - nothing really held me. I think I got about 3/4 way through it (5 or 10 pages at a time) and finally decided to give up.

This is an airplane book. Entertaining, not taxing, and just something to point your eyes at to avoid the other people in your row.

[Bpriddy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was pretty bad. I didn’t have high expectations, but this didn’t even meet my low ones. The main character was obnoxious and unlikable, the mystery boring. The protagonist doesn’t like her “friends” who are equally as obnoxious as she is - you wonder why they’re “friends” at all. No happy ending, which is what I would have expected in this kind of novel. Just all around a disappointment.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't usually have trouble finishing these kind of books, but this one I only finished out of stubbornness. The main character was annoying and cold. One minute she would be thinking of why her best friend from youth would disappear or what could have happened to her, then the next minute she would be more interested in her hair. Won't read more of these.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why read: Looking for new-to-me culinary mystery series

What impressed me: I really enjoyed that Carolyn was a culinary writer. It was a great twist on the usual culinary mystery. I loved that the focus shifted away from cooking and was more on the taste and appearance of the food she wrote about.I liked traveling along with Carolyn and getting the touristy feel of New Orleans.

What disappointed me: I'm totally over the victim's jerk spouse. This comes up way too often in mysteries in every form of entertainment . Anyone who's every read a mystery or even seen an episode of Law & Order knows the spouse is always a suspect, so having this one be over the top nasty was unnecessary and slightly annoying.

Recommended: Yes. This book is definitely great for culinary mystery fans, especially foodies that aren't real interested in the actual cooking.

Continue series: If the series continues with Carolyn traveling and tasting her way around the world, I'll definitely enjoy this series for a l

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book was enjoyable but I have now read the series back to back to back and I can honestly say that Carolyn Blue does NOT grow on you. She is an uptight, prissy, self-righteous prig who exercises by jumping to conclusions.

The series had such hope--written at a higher vocabulary level than the average cozy, exotic locations, recipes, interesting premise and some unique supporting characters, but 9 books into Carolyn, all novelty has worn off and she's like the annoying, uptight moral auntie who just cannot cut loose and have fun and spoils everyone else's as well--no wonder her husband is always working late and going to conferences. She's as purse-lipped with him as she is with others who violate her ideas of behavior.

If you do decide to read these, do read them in order because the author drops in references to prior mysteries and by book 9 you need to know what she's referencing or the names/places make no sense.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this first book in the series we meet Carolyn Blue who is just embarking on a new career as a food critic. This book takes place in New Orleans where Carolyn and her husband are in town for his work conference and Carolyn is working on her book about eating out in New Orleans. They are reunited with several of their friends from their young university days. This book was a little different as there wasn't a murder to solve, just Carolyn looking for her missing friend and trying to figure out what happened, which she did. I loved all the local New Orleans color in this book. I've read other books in the series so it was fun to see how Carolyn started and how she's changed. There were lots of recipes included in the book and I agree with Carolyn that it would be easier to go to the restaurant than try to make it at home. #readforkimberly

[Trish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm, when I first started reading this book I was excited. Food. New Orleans. Tension amongst friends. Then for pages and pages and pages, or chapters and chapters and chapters, it seemed to be a mystery about a missing person. Nice change from the typical cozy mystery. Then is just is pages and pages and pages of nothing but drivel for a less than stellar leading role character. Too many things started to bug me, it was like a mystery about eating your way through a mystery. Then the ending, which was obvious to me, was a huge let down.

This book just wasn't that good and not even enough for me to give it a recommend to cozy mystery readers. It could've been/should've been ... but alas it wasn't.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just could not get into this book. A reunion of college friends whom I found to be obnoxious, coupled with the stereotype of college friends who go on to a career looking down on the one who chose the stay-at-home mom route, really turned me off. Didn't take me too long to decide to punt this one. Just didn't like the characters or the writing style.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book kept making me think of a saying, 'if one jackass tells you something, ignore it. But when a whole herd of jackasses tell you something.....'

The narrator (a very defensive stay-at-home-wife who is a little critical of her working mom friends/acquaintances) continuously makes people furious/storm off/etc. If everyone around you is constantly irritated - MAYBE YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.

I didn't even finish this one, which is a shame. I was hoping this long series would be an addition to my books.

[Nichole Rottinghaus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Consitently through the book I kept asking myself, "Why am I reading this?" None of the characters were very likable, except Carolyn's husband and I think I just liked him for putting up with her! Not recommended.

[Lukas Kawika · Rating 3 out of 5]

So! When I started this one I was a little shocked to see so many low reviews, and the average barely around 3 stars. I actually quite liked a lot of the style and the way this one was written, from casual point of view of Just A Regular Person, someone who's got specific knowledge in a few fields and is basically clueless in many others. It's definitely not like many of the other mysteries I've read, as a lot of the other reviews here say: it's kind of something that's happening on the sidelines, with information trickling in as Carolyn goes about her business. Up until that point I thought I'd give it 3.5 stars, since I was enjoying it well enough, but it wasn't anything special.

Aaaaand then it got to the reveal in the ending, and I came away from it just kind of disgusted. Spoilers ahead (in short, this book features very gross outdated views on mental illness): it's not directly, explicitly stated "Julienne's brother killed her because he's bipolar", but that's definitely how that entire section comes off. Referring to it as "the family curse", saying that they'll have to watch out for the daughter because her father had it, and his father had it, and it's only a matter of time until she loses it too... like, yeah, this book was written back in 2001 and we know so much more about that realm of mental health now, but it just has a really gross vibe to the way it's presented as basically the main motivation for the crime in the first place. (There's even a note in the narration where Carolyn remarks to the reader, paraphrased, "bipolar disorder - that's what they call it now, I guess in a politically correct attempt to mask the truth of what manic-depression is". Just... very nasty.

But also, yeah, there's plenty of casual racism from the narrator and general snobbishness; the current understanding of what a "Karen" is pretty well sums up Carolyn's thoughts and complaints about the cultures surrounding her (thinking of a few, also paraphrased, "oh I couldn't imagine ever doing anything like XYZ, as an upper middle class midwestern faculty wife") so... this book really is kind of a product of its time. The appreciation of the culinary culture is there, at least, and I'm planning on trying out some of the included recipes.

I bought this and the following two after seeing their titles and the whole culinary-mystery thing on the shelf at the local secondhand bookstore, and I'm still probably going to go on to the next, but I desperately hope it takes a different route for the conclusion.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Nancy Fairbanks's Crime Brulee, the first installment in the Carolyn Blue Culinary Cozy Mystery series, this debut would entice you with a compelling tale of betrayal. When Carolyn and her husband Jason had a dinner party with friends in the Big Easy, things got heated between Julienne Magnusson and her husband Nils. After that night, she never showed up and disappeared. For Carolyn, a 40-year-old mother of two and faculty wire, and now a food critic writer on the fine cuisine of New Orleans food, she's become a bit worried about her best friend. While she'd searched for sumptious food to try in New Orleans, she looked for clues everywhere her best friend Julienne could've went alone. Her husband thought she had an affair with another professor and ran off with him, while she had thought otherwise. She had a couple of mishaps along the way, she befriended a kind New Orleans police detective and reported her being accosted, mugged, pushed into the swamp, and then threatened by some unsavory characters. While she tried to track down her best friend's brother, she encouraged Nils to report her in, while she didn't give up to look for clues. Lo and behold, the tables have been turned against her, when she discovered who the true culprit was and how he managed to give her a rough time, while she had fought for her life, while she needed to get answers in this grim ending.

[Kat (Ginger Bibliophile on YouTube) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this, but 1/3 the likable main characters died in the first chapter. A snobby housewife that thinks women with jobs are angry old feminists is friends with a bunch of scientists, a stuck up mathematician, and a Calvinist professor at a religious university that think housewives are lazy idiots. Great group, huh? The hippie married to the overly religious prof that thinks basically everything is a traumatizing sin, the dead woman, and the main character's husband are the only ones I don't want to die grizzly deaths 50 pages in. The main character investigating her friend's disappearance since her husband won't admit that she's not just off banging some younger guy runs around being a snob and wondering why everyone hates her just because she's rude and acting like their idiots for not responding the way she wants to her obnoxious yelling. It's almost sad that she doesn't suffer more during her week in New Orleans where she attempts to write in people's dialect, but just shows her snobby contempt for anyone from somewhere besides her. Overall, if I had paid more than $.10 for it at a thrift store, I'd be asking for my money back.

[VICTORIA STEWART · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book. But I didn’t. It was a okay read but I didn’t find myself excited to continue on at my normal pace. The story seemed to drag on without many clues to the mystery, it seemed secondary to the adventure in New Orleans cuisine. The main character seemed to clumsily wander the big city without regard to her own safety, her husband didn’t even seem to mind her roaming the streets alone. Her group of good friends seemed more like a bunch of jerks who worried more about their conference then they did about a missing friend!
Since they were all well educated some of the language was beyond my common vocabulary. I can see the local dialect and why that was needed. But the rudeness of every local person was very off putting. Was it done on purpose to prevent anyone wanting to actually visit this city or was it done to try a show a dark mystery is taking place? Either way, it paints New Orleans in a very bad light.
I really wanted to like this book but found it very flawed. Maybe it’s the jitters of a new series and the next book is better written? I don’t know and I’m not sure I’m willing to find out.

[Mandy Burkhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't think of the last time I read a book where I disliked the main character this intensely. She was incredibly disagreeable and opinionated. In addition to that, the storyline was just not working. Throughout almost the entire book, I was able to disregard a large part of what bothered me about it (I checked the publication date, and it was pretty close to right when the internet/cell phone usage really took off, so I just put it in the back of my mind that that sort of communication wasn't even an option for the purposes of this story, but then, literally at the very end of the book, the main character asks a group she falls in with to borrow a cell phone, and literally every other character has one). The pacing was also really unsatisfactory. The main character really slogged through the first 3/4 of the book (intermittently searching for her missing best friend, and hitting up tourist spots and fancy eateries), and then the ending was just wrapped up awfully tidily and was devoid of emotion. Not a fan.

[Lisa]

Reading out of order, as is my wont, I suppose... I've read #2, and now I received #1, so I'll go back in time.
Carolyn Blue is given an advance to write a book on the New Orleans food scene, so she hits the Big Easy with her husband for his academic conference to start her research. They're meeting up with several old friends, some of whom they haven't seen since university. They meet up for dinner the first night, and after one guest, Julienne, leaves in a huff, Julienne disappears, though Carolyn seems to be the only one concerned.
Really a case where the protagonist should learn to leave it to the experts...she gets chased down, mugged, shot, shoved out a window, etc. Lots of food info for those interested in recipes and background info on classics.

[Cathie Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read two of her books, and this is the best of the three. Book is a little farfetched, but after all, it is fiction. The main character, as usual, is a nut bag, but the plot and the storyline were excellent. Characters were good, but I really did like the lieutenant much more than her husband. Her husband, Jason, is definitely an uninteresting academic. The lieutenant being sweet on the main character made the book. Lot of repetition, which is annoying. If the ending would have been different, I could have given this full marks. It would have been easy to have a more fulfilling ending. Recommend.

[Jenn]

"Oh well, such are the ironies of gender competition. (I have at least given in to the use of gender as the indication of a person's sex rather than the grammatical term sex having too many libidinous connotations these days.)"

/Sideeye

Seriously. And that would be why I'm DNFing this book after only 20 or so pages. It all sounds exactly like that. I want to throw the book across the room already, so for the sake of my home furnishings, I'm giving up on this one now, while everything is still intact.

[Kelly McCarty · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love books with recipes, but the main character definitely is the "Can I speak to the manager?" type, even though her name is Carolyn. I found myself wondering if we were supposed to hate her. I think I could have given this two stars if it wasn't for Carolyn's cringe-worthy racism. A book that was pusblished in 2001 shouldn't have a main character wondering if her Mexican maid is only pretending not to be able to understand English. The resolution to the murder mystery (eaten by alligators) was a little gruesome for a fluff book.

[Allison Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm having trouble thinking of a new series where I disliked the MC quite as much as I disliked Carolyn Blue from the very beginning. She's dumb, nosy, and oddly precious about way too many things. She repeats herself constantly, expects people to take her word as gospel, is oblivious to what's happening around her and did I mention she seems really dumb? It's too bad as the mystery was pretty good and the setting could have been great. I hope she improves by the next book, two strikes and you are out.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carolyn Blue has traveled to New Orleans with her husband for a conference. Her best friend is there along with her husband and some other friends. Carolyn's best friend disappears after a terrible argument with her husband and she leaves the restaurant never to be seen by them again.

I thought this was a cute first book in a series. I enjoyed the descriptions of the meals and the setting of New Orleans. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

To summarize the book as I read it: Karen visits New Orleans and complains about it. Her childhood friend goes missing and Karen somehow stumbles her way to solving the mystery. There is some talk of delicious food which was not bad. I would not recommend the read.
Found this looking for a cozy mystery that doesn't include a love triangle or a "will they won't they" love interest. If you have read a good cozy that meets these guidelines I would be thankful for your recommendation!

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amusing and engaging story. We are not sure, for quite a while, if a lady is missing, departed under her own steam, or deceased. Her best friend, with their husbands attending a chemistry conference, full of academics, is the only one to investigate.
Look out for New Orleans food at every meal with recipes galore. I would hold onto the book for the recipes.
The author is a pen-name for Elizabeth Chadwick.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

First in the series. Obviously lots of character development going on. I've read many in the series but not the first one. Nice to see how it all began.

In this one, while at a conference, a friend disappears. No one but Carolyn seems concerned. As Carolyn searches for her friend, she finds herself in a series of misadventures.

I have enjoyed the other books in the series and enjoyed this one as well. Nice crisp writing style with recipes to boot.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s an easy read. Half way through the book I thought it would have been a better short story. I breezed through some paragraphs and almost put it down. The ending, somewhat, saved it. Not realistic at all but I think most of these kind of books tend to be like that. I like reading books like this from time to time just to ‘cleanse my palate’,so to speak, for my next read. Does anyone else this?

[Sandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Second one of these I tried to read. I did not like any of the characters including the “heroine”. She is usually rude as were her circle of friends. Only made it to page 45 and that was 44 pages too many.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book although it is kind of quirky. I'm planning on continuing with the series. I enjoyed the New Orleans setting. This is a city that I hope to be able to visit some day....it's on my bucket list, so right now I will visit through the wonderful word of books.

[Cathryn Good · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was overall a bit exaggerated.
Just unbelievable. I did enjoy the location being in New Orleans, reminding me of many places I have visited. I also liked the recipes that were included in the book.
I will try another in the series at a later date to see if things get better

[Deborah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this story, but the heroine acted so hare-brained that I just could not. I did enjoy the descriptions of the various restaurants in New Orleans. I have been to the Palace Cafe and can heartily recommend their white chocolate bread pudding.