“Tarte Tatin Murder” earns 5/5 Slices of Tarte Tatin and a Cafe Au Lait!
Ashley’s catering business is dong well along with her rekindled relationship with Ryan Brady. Her newest gig, providing a delightful array of French desserts including bite-size Tarte Tatin, is for the Seagrass Country Club Charity Golf Tournament raising funds for CURE, a cancer research foundation. While Ashley is setting up her dessert display, she meets Ryan’s Uncle Charlie. And despite Ryan’s warning to “Beware crazy Uncle Charlie,” she thinks he’s a fun guy in whom Ryan has confided, and she wants to know what Ryan has been saying about her and their new relationship. But, when he comes back from his round of golf drunk spewing threats against his irritating golf partner, the police have no choice but to arrest him. No, not for public drunkenness, but for murder. The head researcher for CURE has been found dead…blunt force trauma, and Charlie is the prime suspect. And even though the sheriff was willing to share details in respect of Ashley’s helpfulness on the last murder investigation, he is sure they have their man and there’s nothing to investigate. Well, Ashley would argue with that…of course.
I am a big fan of Sandi Scott’s Seagrass Sweets Cozy Mystery, and again I was greatly entertained: Self-proclaimed gift to women? Ethics in question? A drug trial? Again, Sandi weaves in several different motives for the crime: contemporary, realistic, and engaging including a few dead ends and an excellent “Wow!” solution. The ‘just for this story’ characters (co-researchers, family, and Uncle Charlie) are well developed and entertaining, and I continue to enjoy Ashley as the strong and clever woman still working on her vulnerabilities and confidence with her relationship with Ryan. Oh, BFF Patty is still here and so is Dizzy to round out the fun. Seagrass, Texas, nuances and its residents, ins and outs of the catering business, mouthwatering descriptions of Ashley’s delights, and the ongoing love interests play out in the background. And with apple season in Northern California soon in full bloom…a marvelous, easy to follow recipe for Apple Tarte Tatin is included…