A Cook in Time

Angie Amalfi #7

by Joanne Pence

Hired by a group of UFO investigators and government conspiracy fanatics to host a "Fantasy Dinner," culinary detective Angie Amalfi sets out to create an outlandish feast, only to discover that the Prometheus Group may be tied to a series of bizarre murders that her cop boyfriend, Paavo, is investigating. Original.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Cozy

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

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

[Gwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angie is starting a new business, creating fantasy events. She isn't telling her family or her boyfriend about it in case it fails. So far the only event that she has is for a group of people who believe in ufo's and aliens. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, Paavo, is investigating a string of strange homicides. Some clues lead to the group Angle is working with.
An interesting book with some strange characters. I enjoyed reading it .

[Marjorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit more bizarre than the previous books in the series. It would be nice if the theme of the constant failure of her attempts at starting a career would end. It's a bit depressing, really.

[Marty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a disappointment. Published in 1999, it was themed to be “in” with all the fuss over the millennium and Y2K. It also was a bit more gruesome that the other two books of this series I have read. Basically it revolves around the idea that there was a UFO landing at Roswell, NM, that the government was keeping secret. There at the super-secret Area 51 in the desert, a group of people got involved in the idea that there were extra-terrestrials among us. This group, called Prometheus was now centered in San Francisco, but had split into two warring groups. --- Angie, now trying to start a business creating “Fantasy Dinners” where she would create a dinner according to whatever theme you wanted. Her first (only) client was a wealthy supporter of Prometheus and wanted a dinner to introduce a book author who wrote about UFOs. So…. Angie had to quickly learn about UFOs and found herself right in the middle of a murder case.

Maybe this was interesting in 1999, but in 2016 it seemed trite and old-fashioned. Almost no one recognizes the relevance of Roswell anymore … although there are still people who believe that something happened there in May of 1947.

[Yi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly engaging, my favorite Angie Amalfi mystery so far. Not that I don't like others, mind. This time, Joanne Pence has outdone herself. An absolute page-turner, I simply could not put the book down. Angie, our sassy amateur sleuth, has managed to get herself right in the thick of UFOs, alien abductions and mutilation murders. UFO fanatics are rampant due to Y2K, and our Angie, with her new business, got involved with one of the groups and grotesque murders. Probably most intriguing of all the Angie Amalfi series and it certainly would keep every reader on the edge. Applause for Angie and Paavo!

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite book in the series. There was way too much ufology in it for my taste (me being a skeptic like Paavo and Angie) and it just seemed kind of weird. I did enjoy getting to hang out with all the characters again.

[Margaret]

This is the 2nd book in this series that I've read and they're ok. I did like the alien twist in the story line since a lot of things in the plot were not believeable anyway but overall fun and easy reading!

[Felicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I started reading it and realized I had read this before - oh well, it was the right amount of entertainment that I was looking for. I like that the series is set in San Francisco.

[Deb Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun book to read.

[Polly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light reading but interesting.

[Nancy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good entry in the Angie Amalfi mystery series.

[Pat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea.
Covers are cool, strange story.
Cozy character development with gruesome crimes.
Don't recommend.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange sci-fi theme, but still a good mystery.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 - Good