A Catered Thanksgiving

A Mystery with Recipes #7

by Isis Crawford

When the beautiful Thanksgiving turkey they prepared blows up in their client's face, sending Monty Field to the great dining room in the sky, sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons must convince the Field family that they are not responsible and whip up the real killer.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Thanksgiving, Fiction, Cozy, Holiday, Adult Fiction

307 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2010

About the author

Isis Crawford was born in Egypt to parents who were in the diplomatic corps. When she was five, her family returned to the States, where her mother opened a restaurant in Upper Westchester County and her father became a university professor. Since then Isis has combined her parents’ love of food and travel by running a catering service as well as penning numerous travel-related articles about places ranging from Omsk to Paraguay. Married, with twin boys, she presently resides in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where she is working on the next Bernie and Libby culinary mystery.

A pseudonym used by Barbara Block

Reviews

[Jennelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun! Hey Hallmark,look Isis up.

Start to finish it was a very entertaining read.
Characters were intriguing.
There is even one you'll love to hate.
This would make a great Hallmark Mystery.

[Faith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read Isis Crawford's first book years ago and remembered liking it, but was sorely disappointed in this poor imitation of the fun foodie/mysteries by the likes of Diane Mott Davidson and Joanne Fluke. The plot was beyond cliche (a bunch of suspects plus sleuth-sister-heroines stuck in a rundown old mansion during an epic snowstorm which the police cannot even seem to navigate through to investigate a murder), the conversation (especially between the sisters after discovering dead bodies) is completely inane, and the details of the storyline are both bizarre and inconsistent (a guy's head is half blown off by an exploding turkey, but the sisters on the other side of the room are unharmed, and despite the description of his brains being splattered across the room, the family continues to pop in and out of the kitchen to snack on leftovers for the remainder of the book). The mystery is dumb and the recipes weren't even interesting enough for me to read through them at the end of the book. No way I'll waste my time on any more of this author's books.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Oldie but a Goodie

Libby and Bernie are the main sleuths in this book and have to depend on each other because a blizzard has stranded them with the weirdest family possible.
There is no help from their father or boyfriends and I enjoyed the story because it was focused on the murder and not on their personal lives.

Good twists throughout and recipes at the end. Good holiday read.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was in the vein of a locked room mystery with everyone snowed in at Thanksgiving. Bernie and Libby were on the case and I was kept guessing. Fun mystery.

[Marcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars rounded up. I almost dnf'ed this one, but kept reading in hopes it would get better as I went along. It didn't. Most of the storyline involved a drawn out dialog of family members incessant arguing. There was also lengthy internal monologue where the guilty party refers to themselves as "El Huron" without any personal pronouns. The lack of emotion by most of the characters felt flat. I felt zero connection to the protagonists and just wanted the book to end. This was my first time reading a book in this series. Perhaps it felt a bit weak because I had not yet gotten to know the characters in the author's previous works.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Catered Thanksgiving is book seven in A Mystery with Recipes series by Isis Crawford. Libby and Bernie Simmons were catering Thanksgiving dinner for the Fields family when an explosion happens wished killed Monty Fields the head of the family. At first, Libby and Bernie were prime suspects in Monty's killing, and so they decided to investigate themselves to clear their name. The readers of A Catered Thanksgiving will continue to follow Libby and Bernie investigation to find out who killed Monty.

A Catered Thanksgiving is another enjoyable book by Isis Crawford. I love Isis Crawford portrayal of her characters and the way they intertwine with each other throughout A Catered Thanksgiving. Isis Crawford as in all her books does an excellent job in describing her settings that makes her readers feeling part of the plot. While reading A Catered Thanksgiving, I had to laugh with the antics of characters. A Catered Thanksgiving is well written and researched by Isis Crawford.

The readers of A Catered Thanksgiving will gain some lovely recipes that they can use on their family and friends. Also, the readers will understand the consequences of greed, mental illness and revenge and how they can affect a family.

I recommend this book.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I love to read books with holiday themes at the time of the respective holiday. So when I was at the library the week before Thanksgiving, and saw this book, I decided it was meant to be.

I had not read any of the previous books in this series, so this was my initial acquaintance with Libby and Bernie Simmons, sisters who own a catering business. As the book opens they are preparing to go to the Field Mansion to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for the Field family, a wealthy group who are blood relatives but otherwise have little affection for one another. The patriarch is getting up in years, and clearly people are trying to stay on his good side in order to be kept in his will. The family's fortune was made in the fireworks business, and though they have a ton of money, the non-public areas of the mansion are furnished with shabby,thrift-store items, since Montgomery Field (the aforementioned patriarch) is famously cheap.

In addition to all of this, there is a blizzard starting up on the afternoon the sisters head to the mansion to start their cooking for the Thanksgiving meal.

It is during this meal prep that Montgomery Field comes into the kitchen to check on the turkey, and it explodes, killing him! (I will admit this part made me laugh.) So Libby and Bernie are faced with a murder, a ruined meal, a group of unpleasant family members who are accusing them of murder, and weather that forces them to spend the night.

The sisters decide that since they have to be there anyway, they might as well try to figure out who is the actual killer. This is where the story develops, as we learn more about each family member and what motives they might have for wishing the patriarch dead.

I enjoyed this book and found Libby and Bernie to be fun characters. Not great literature, but a fun, quick read with writing that kept the story moving.

[Nathalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

During the holidays, I like to read at least one book which matches the current holiday. This one was a doozy but one which was hard to put down! I'm looking forward to sample Thanksgiving fare now!

[Nancy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I liked the previous books in this series, this one, in my opinion, fell short of the high quality of the earlier ones. The story just didn't exactly seem to hang together well in certain ways. The two sisters are hired to cater the Thanksgiving dinner for a mean, cheap owner of a fireworks business. When they arrive in the midst of a blizzard, they find a whole family of horrible people, all of whom hate each other. When the man is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Because of the blizzard, they are stranded in the house with the group of possible murderers. The aspect of the story that didn't work for me was that the sisters were just too flippant in their comments and attitudes, and their attitudes, constant irrelevant asides, and overall lack of worry in a dangerous situation didn't seem real for someone in that circumstance. I will continue to read this series, however, and hope that the next entries are better than this one.

[Angustia⋆Cósmica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably the weakest book in the series so far. Only pushed myself to finish it because I like these so much!
It was bad since the getgo, binding the girls to the main spot where the crime happens made it lack the whole fun side of investigating around and what not.

And not to mention that the main villain, which happens to throw some Spanish words around, was so dorky. I swear it was physically painful to read.
This clearly was dated. Not in a BAD way, mind you, it was just so stupid it broke my suspension of disbelief all the time.

I couldn't even enjoy the food, the season this book was set was definitely a no-no for me.

A trainwreck of a book, to be honest. But at least we got a bit of insight behind Sean's backstory. So it wasn't that much of a wreckage.

[☆☆Hannah☆☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another good book in the series. Yes the family that they were catering for was weird. However, rich people tend to be that way. Nobody should have been surprised. I was surprised by who did it and why. The author really made me believe it was someone else and for a completely different reason. So props to her. I have tow more in the series to get caught up on. I hope they are good like the rest.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel bad about not liking this book. This is only the second book in this series that I didn't like. Both stories were weird. Libby and Bernie was as funny as ever, but Sean wasn't in the story much, and Brandon and Marvin only made a brief appearance. The Field family members were weird and unlikable. I didn't like reading about them. They ruined this story for me.

[Sheri Vasconcellos Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great mystery book. loved the plot. characters were interesting. stiryl8ne had great twists

[Rachel Henley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to finish this book. I didn’t connect to the characters; I was so excited to complete it because I just wanted to be done with it. This was the first book I’ve read in the series & I don’t know if I’ll return. I love a cheesy, holiday mystery but this one just came up short.

[Drebbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

When their father decides to visit his long estranged sister in Florida for Thanksgiving, Bernie and Libby Simmons decide to earn some extra money by catering a Thanksgiving meal for Monty Field and his family. It won't be easy - Monty is notoriously stingy and his family doesn't exactly get along, but things turn out much worse than expected when Monty is murdered and the Field family accuses Bernie and Libby of doing the killing. To add to the problem, all are trapped at the mansion because of a major snow storm. Bernie and Libby have no choice - they must solve the murder and clear their names before the killer strikes again.

For the most part, “A Catered Thanksgiving” is a nicely done cozy mystery. While there are plenty of mysteries dealing with caterers, author Isis Crawford puts a fresh spin on it by having the mystery focus around two sisters. In many ways Bernie and Libby are complete opposites and this aspect not only adds depth to the book and their characters but helps them solve mysteries. The plot is Agatha Christie-like with the group being stranded by the snow and the Field family - all of whom care more about money than they do Monty - could easily fit into a Christie novel. I have to say the murder weapon was one of the more unique ones I've come across in a cozy mystery. There are plenty of red herrings in the novel (some of which cheat a bit) that that will keep readers guessing who the killer is. My one complaint about the book is that because this is the seventh book in the series, Crawford seems to assume that readers know the backgrounds of the characters. As a newcomer to the series I felt a bit lost at times and would have liked more information on how Libby and Bernie's mother died; what exactly is wrong with Sean; why he feuded with his sister (his reunion with her seems to be merely a plot device to get him out of the way); who Isis is; and so much more.

“A Catered Thanksgiving” has a few flaws but for the most part is a nicely done cozy mystery.

[Cozy Reader Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Catered Thanksgiving (A Mystery With Recipes #7)" by Isis Crawford is your classic mystery where there are death at fancy party during bad weather so the cops can't get there and everyone is a suspect. Plus a hint of Thanksgiving's thrown in.

As far as the mystery goes, I was sooooooo set on a suspect the whole time once a couple of clues in that direction were dropped and we got a bit of narration from the killer's perspective. Well, plot twist in the end, I was completely wrong.

This was one of the better ones from this series that I have read so far. I have also read them a bit out of order, with this one not really missing anything for that. Good Thanksgiving cozy mystery, might even make you a bit grateful for your own family dynamics.

[Me · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good but totally improbable cozy mystery. It does however, make one leery of the Thanksgiving turkey. I'll now always have visions of it exploding!

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libby is becoming a real stick in the mud! All characters in this book are stereotypical caricatures and become down right annoying.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading holiday books in season, and I enjoyed hearing about all the food prep for Thanksgiving in this book - until the meal was ruined, of course. There weren't many thoughts of gratitude, either, but there were a few.

I had to disagree with the sisters. I like sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. In fact, we have some at our home now.

I missed my favorite character from this series, though - Sean - the more reasonable character. He spent most of the book on vacation out of town.

I thought, I really thought, I'd guessed whodunit, but I didn't.

Like the in other books that I've read in this series, the characters didn't really care about each other very much, or people in general. There's continuous arguing, belittling, sniping. So much so, that one character had to explain "I agree," whenever actually agreeing rather than arguing, because others automatically assumed they'd disagree, and at other times, other characters had to explain that they "don't disagree," because more naturally, in this book, everyone disagreed with everyone else. I understand that in a mystery, it's more confusing, more of a challenge to solve, if the victim was a character whom nobody liked, so everyone had a motive. But still, all the negativity and sniping got to me. Not just the victim with all the other characters, but all the other characters with each other, too.

The turkey exploded and blew off half of the victim's head. And yet, people still ate portions of the Thanksgiving dinner. I got that they were snowed in and stuck with the dead body in that creepy old home for days, and that food became a necessity, but still... I couldn't imagine that they were eating just food, but possibly (probably?) also splatter from the body. That goes beyond disgusting, even if they did have a second turkey. I couldn't get over that.

I had to cringe a the lack of an attempt to preserve a crime scene for investigation, too.

Favorite quotes:

"Libby had come to realize that in a funny way cooking and baking were all about problem solving. You had the ideal, which was the recipe, and then you had reality... The trick was to bring about some sort of amalgamation between the two and get a good result."

"Pie is always a good thing."
"Yes, it is. Especially for breakfast."
"I wonder if Alma ever made pies."
"I doubt it."
"If she had, it might have been a happier household."
"Much as I like pie, I think that might be crediting it with too much power."

[Berni Phillips · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes the cheap Kindle specials are really good and sometimes they're not. This is definitely a "not." I can't believe this is #7 in a series. I have never before read a mystery novel where there is a dead body and the characters spend pages discussing everything but calling 911. And this happens twice in this book. Add to that the incredibly clunky sections where the mystery killer refers to themself constantly as El Huron.

"The figure lurking behind the column that divided the living room and the hallway watched Bernie and Libby leave. El Huron had listened to Libby and Bernie talking among themselves as they made their preparations for their exit. Their conversation had amused El Huron. The sisters were resourceful, El Huron though. El Huron, as the figure had come to name itself, would give them that.
"But they were careless, careless the way people who had been protected and coddled all their lives tended to be, careless in the way that people to whom nothing truly bad had happened were. They should be more careful. They should check to see who was around before talking about their plans in a voice that could be heard by strangers. Their father had probably wanted them about this sort of foolishness, but they hadn't listened, and now they would pay the penalty."

To steal from Dorothy Parker, Constant Weader wanted to fwoh up. Save your money, folks. This one is a definite turkey.

[Tom N]

A CATERED THANKSGIVING, by Isis Crawford, is about two sisters who own a catering business. During one of their catering events, a Thanksgiving dinner, things go awry thanks to a killer who's hiding a cornucopia of secrets.

The Field family annual Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings can be stressful. Everything has to be perfect or someone risks getting cut out of patriarch Monty's extremely profitable will. Enter Bernie and Libby Simmons and their catering business, A Little Taste of Heaven. With their lump-free mashed potatoes and to-die-for gravy, even the Field family should be able to pretend to get along for one meal. However, everything goes topsy turvy when the immaculately made turkey explodes right in Monty's sour face. With each member of the Field family harboring their own secrets, figuring out who killed Monty won't be easy. And to make things worse, the mansion is draped in snow after a freak November snowstorm, making any hope of escaping or getting help from the outside next to impossible. Trapped with a murderer determined to get their share of Monty's wealth, Bernie and Libby are going to have to convince the members of the Field family that they aren't the killers, while trying to find out who really is, and quick, before anyone else meets a similar fate as Monty.

We would recommend this page-turning novel that will keep you guessing until the very end, to those who like cozy mysteries and thrillers, complete with recipes at the end.

[K. M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never read a foodie cozy mystery before and thought, 'what the heck, its Thanksgiving', and so picked up this title. OMG so much worthless dialogue. They talk a lot about nothing. No revealing characterization or theme, just talkin' 'bout nothin'. I think this would have been better as a novella, as to quicken the pace. After chapter 7 I began to skim it, which is a pity because it has a cute premise .

Baker sisters, Libby and Bernie, have been hired to cater a miserly millionaire Monty Field's Thanksgiving. He hates his family and they hate him, so this is going to be fun for the sisters, as they have to listen to the family bicker. Monty loves to check on and smell the turkey cooking, unfortunately for him, the bird didn't want to be bothered because someone replaced the sisters oyster stuffing with an explosive prize. Monty says the permanent goodbye and the sisters are blamed. No one is going anywhere because a storm is let loose, so might has well figure out who ruined their dinner. Truths and secrets are revealed and the family wishes they sought therapy because girly is a nut.

This wasn't the greatest introduction to the genre, but I do enjoy the idea behind it and I love seasonal themed reads, so I might give the author another try. If she doesn't work out, I know there are others, such as Joanna Funke, that I can turn to.

[Jennifer Robb · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mom got this book from her library's book exchange area and passed it on to me to read. The Field family is not very likable, though I think that is by design. They are all in it for themselves and what they can get out of it. I didn't really enjoy the sister sleuth characters, Bernie and Libby, much either. Though they work together, I often felt like Bernie was forcing Libby to go along. This might be a good thing since Libby is so timid seeming that she might not ever do anything out of her comfort zone without some prodding, but over the course of a series, I think it would grind on me. It did even in this one book.

To be fair, the author did create a realistic reason why the sisters would need to do their sleuthing rather than having the police there and have the amateur sleuths interfering in an investigation. The police contacted after Monty dies though don't seem too concerned with preserving evidence in a suspicious death case.

The recipes included (which are at the end of the book rather than interspersed as some culinary cozies do) were not ones I would be interested in making, though they do have a Thanksgiving theme as befits the book.

[Hannah L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Catered Thanksgiving by Isis Crawford is about Bernie and Libby Simmons, two sisters who have been hired to cater for a family that seems to fight more about the inheritance. The Fields seem fine until the head of the family gets his face blown off by the turkey. Not to mention that they already have plenty of fireworks to use in the empty bunker next door. With the dead body in plastic wrap and snow keeping them in with the same house as the murder, can they survive? Or will they be the main course for this thanksgiving? This book wasn't as appetizing as I thought it be. I was hoping that there would be more oomph to the story as it progressed but it seemed more like a poor drama. Everyone else had a beef with somebody else and there were secrets galore. The point of views would skip occasionally and would show the murder's point of view sometimes but didn't give very much satisfaction for me at all.

[Linda C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libby and Bernie Simmons, owners of A Little Taste of Heaven bakery and catering, are hired by Monty Field to provide Thanksgiving dinner. They arrive at the mansion in a blizzard and find pretty pathetic cooking facilities. When Monty dies in the kitchen the sisters decide to investigate since they are stuck there with the nine guests, one of whom is the murderer. All of the guests are unlikable. I did not enjoy this book. Usually when picking up a middle volume in a series the back story of the main characters and the setting are covered in enough detail to stand alone. One sister was described by another character as being thinner and having dark hair, but not named and it is almost halfway through the book before Libby mentions her sister's dark hair and you got that much of a description. It was all babbling dialog between the sisters, even half the night. Will not pick up more of these.

[Lydia L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!! I chose this book for our book club for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Everyone has enjoyed this book. This made you laugh right from the start. It made you think about the family dynamics. They enjoy the way MS Crawford characters a communicated with each other. It seemed very realistic. We all have family members similar to a few of these. During the holidays family secrets great and small always seem to come out. They enjoyed the way the person was killed it was so unusual. Best of all they couldn’t guess the killer until the end. Several of our members couldn’t wait to try out the pecan pie recipe. They said that it seems very easy. Everyone enjoyed the sisters and can’t wait to read the other books in the series. Oh their 12 people in our book club. 12 more people add to Ms Crawford fan club 🥰😊☺️

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drawing from the setting of a Clue board game, sisters Bernie and Libby visit various rooms like the kitchen, dining, parlor, conservatory and study, as well as the attic and garage of a drafty, musty, antiquated mansion, to determine from among the many family suspects of who killed skin-flint patriarch who is likened to Lizzie Borden's father Andrew Borden in his notoriously frugal ways. This book transitions well from chapter to chapter; however, it is difficult to believe that two professional caterers would cook in an unknown kitchen during a snowstorm on Thanksgiving Day. Instead of an ax it's a disturbed ferret that killed Monty Fields in the kitchen oven with a stuffed turkey and all is well for those who live in Longely, New York and work in A Little Taste of Heaven.

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished this one on Thanksgiving morning. I had never read the series before, but that wasn't a problem. The only issue was not knowing who Inez was, and that was just an incidental detail mentioned 3 times.

I loved the premise - killed by an exploding turkey and the catering detectives and the suspects are all isolated by a blizzard, with the police unable to reach them. The mystery kept me guessing. I chuckled a couple times, but also noticed a mistake (writing Lexus instead of Libby), and found it a bit unrealistic that they waited soooo long to call 911 and soooo long before getting hungry.

But I liked this toast: "Love, health, and the time to enjoy them." That is my wish for everyone today!

[Debby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not the best book I've read in my Thanksgiving readathon. I just didn't like the author's writing style.
The book does mention some places in our area (Sandy Pond, Syracuse, Turning Stone) and that helped a little. This is going to sound weird for a book but their is too much dialogue between too many people.
The characters weren't developed enough The story line really stretches it. I like my murder to be a little plausible.
I feel bad about not liking a book but this one just wasn't my cup of tea. When I start a book, I finish it to give it a fair shake. The good news is it can go back to the library.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled to get thru this one. Between the disagreeable family of the murdered victims and the sometimes patronizing bakery sisters, I found it annoying. I could not wait for someone to be murdered in this book. Very creative murder, I will say that. (no spoiler). The blizzard details were frustrating. I live in snow country and I can tell you that you do not stand outside chatting in a blizzard, you will die! You do not go walking in a blinding blizzard from one bldg to another, especially when you can't see in the blizzard, you will die! I felt this story dragged out way too long. So glad to come to the end.