If Cooks Could Kill

Angie Amalfi #10

by Joanne Pence

With another failed business behind her, dilettante chef Angie Amalfi is cooking up a new scheme: Pairing up her best friend Connie with a handsome professional football player who just happens to be related to the owner of her favorite Italian restaurant. Soon Connie takes more interest in a suspicious loner than Angie's "dream man" and her despondent friend decides to recreate herself as a restaurant consultant. But when police begin to suspect that Connie and her new love interest are connected with a brutal murder and robbery, Angie and her homicide detective fiance Paavo must try to track down the real killer. And when the trail of clues begins to lead back to Angie's favorite restaurant, it's up to Angie to set things right — or the only recipe on the menu may be one for disaster.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy

307 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 31, 2002

About the author

Joanne Pence is a USA Today best-selling and award winning author of two mystery series, contemporary and historical romance, fantasy and thrillers. She is the author of the Angie Amalfi culinary mystery series, which is still in print after twenty years, and now has 15 books (the latest, COOKING SPIRITS was an April 2013 release), and a novella (Cook's Christmas Capers, Dec. 2013). She has just begun a new series, the Rebecca Mayfield mysteries. ONE O'CLOCK HUSTLE is the first full-length novel, and THE THIRTEENTH SANTA is a novella which shows how the two main characters met.

Joanne's books have won many awards and honors, including RWA's Golden Heart and Rita Award nominations, the Independent Book Seller's Golden Quill, the Daphne du Maurier award, the Willa Cather Literary Award in Historical Fiction (for DANCE WITH A GUNFIGHTER), and the Idaho Top Fiction Award for ANCIENT ECHOES.

Joanne was born and raised in San Francisco and now makes her home in the foothills of Boise. She has been president of the Boise chapter of Sisters in Crime, a founder and board member of the Popular Fiction Association of Idaho, and founding member and current board member of the Idaho Writers Guild. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley with a master's degree in journalism, Joanne has written for magazines, worked for the federal government, and taught school in Japan.

Reviews

[Readaholic Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book. The best one in the series in my opinion. I couldn't put it down.

[Nancy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another good mystery where Angie combines her love of food and being a chef with her propensity for finding murders and then solving them.

[Cecelia Gardon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not bad.

This is an OK series. But Angie is annoying. However I finished it. But I have a question about one of the recipes. Is this a typo or is it an odd way to denote amounts? BUTTER CREAM AND CHOCOLATE FROSTING 1 cup sugar 6 egg yolks 3/ 2 cup hot milk 12 oz. (3 cubes) unsalted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 tablespoons kirsch (or dark rum or strong coffee) 2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted ½ cup almond praline (from recipe above) In heavy saucepan, beat sugar and egg yolks until

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one but not as much as I have liked earlier books in the series.
Angie seems to be a tad harsher, not as nice as previously. And for most of the books I read, I want the main character to be likable. She was much more snippy in this one.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 - Didn't Like It

[Susan Moxley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Connie goes on a blind date and gets stood up. Little does she know that this was just the beginning of what was going to happen to her.

[Watergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laugh out loud funny. Love the 3 criminals.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is #10 in the Angie Amalfi series. I have a feeling that Angie has tried to pair people up before but has only succeeded in becoming engaged herself. None of her suggestions have borne fruit but each of her friends has met someone of interest during the process. Do you get the feeling that the murder is not the chief thing in this book? Given Angie's new habit of sending food gifts to the homicide department it's a wonder even the police are able to concentrate on their work, but they do and Angie's friend Connie finds some joy at the end. I like the reason behind calling the ex-cons' restaurant Wings of an Angel, but the characters are over the top in a way that is so common in these mysteries - it's not enough that someone has a strong ego, they have to be blind to the rest of the world and the person is not swift on the uptake has to be slow about everything to the extent that you wonder why there isn't a placement in a sheltered workshop for them.
This was okay but not enthralling.

[T.L. Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

In If Cooks Could Kill, Joanne Pence continues the story of Angie Amalfi and her love interest, Inspector Paavo Smith. Angie is so enthralled with her engagement, she's pushing all her friends into love connections and embarrassing Paavo with romantic gift after gift at his work. Angie's behavior seems a little sophomoric, but then again Angie tends to not think things through. When Angie's best friend, Connie, is framed for murder, Angie jumps into the investigation determined to clear Connie. Angie and Connie find themselves running from dangerous situation to dangerous situation all the while Paavo is busy solving the murder and a series of crimes related to it. Coincidences in his investigation lead Paavo to Angie's rescue more than once. Fans of cozy mysteries will enjoy the fun and humor Pence dispenses in If Cooks Could Kill.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little series that I am thoroughly enjoying, even the heroine, Angie Amalfi, does such stupid stuff. She really is TSTL sometimes, but I still like her. I guess I maybe caught up in her romance with Homicide Detective, Paavo Smith. I think they may be a bit mismatched, but the seem to work very well together and certainly are a cute couple.

The mysteries are interesting enough, but I think its the characters that have me coming back for more. Angie's friend, Connie, is certainly featured in this book and seems to be developing some backbone and becoming more interesting. Instead of always going along blindly with Angie's schemes, she finally seems to have a sense of self and gets irritated with Angie now. Good for her. She needs to assert herself more with Angie.

Nice,comfortable,easy and enjoyable read today.

[Marti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently, the author likes cutesy titles, as cooking has very little to do with this. It is a mishmash of characters, crime, and absurd situations. This is number 10 in the Angie Amalfi Mystery series, and I don't think that I need to check out 1-9, or 11-? I could tel by the title that it would be frothy and lightweight. Angie, newly engaged to a homicide inspector, embarasses him in front of his unit, while girl friend Connie goes along with harebrained ideas. If you don't want to think too much, this is the book for you!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this better than the previous book, but I can not say I like the main character any better. She is just difficult to appreciate and the antics she pulls make you want to smack her.

The story itself was interesting, with clues trying to mislead the reader into not figuring it out too quickly. However I knew who the killer was early on.

I will say the very ending, after the case was solved, did tug at my heartstrings. I wonder if that will play a role in future books.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good entry in the Angie Amalfi series with all of her usual hijinks. The mystery was good and kept me guessing until the end.

[Deb Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the art work on the covers of this wonderful series :)

[Marianthi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over 50% of the book was just in needless set-up. Angie's character was ridiculous in this one. The author has done better. Not a favorite.

[Diana Thacker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good main character

[Kimberly]

Eh. Not very memorable & not good enough for me to read anything else by this author.