3/30/12

The Diva Runs out of Thyme by Krista Davis


★★★★
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Subject: Cooking professionals
Sertting: Alexandria, VA
Main Characters: Sophie Winston, Mars Winston, Natasha Smith, Wolf Fleishman
Series: yes, #1 Domestic Diva
Dates Read: March 21 - March 29
Number of pages: 304
Off the Shelf (pre-2012)? Source?: yes
Category for 12 in 12 challenge: Home Ec, Homework


Sophie Winston and Natasha Smith grew up as rivals and little has changed in the present. Not only are these two divas dueling as to advice columns, Natasha is dating Sophie's ex and Sophie is trying to win the Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown. Here starts Sophie's problems. While at the grocery store trying to get her ingredients for the contest as well as Thanksgiving dinner, Sophie stumbles across a corpse. The police think she's involved so haul her down to police headquarters. Released and at home, Sophie prepares for the bakeoff but before they can start their cooking the next day, Sophie does it again and finds a second body.

It's startling how Sophie not only can prepare a marvelous Thanksgiving meal scheduled for 5, ballooned to 14 with no notice, with 4 unexpected houseguests with 4 other relatives visiting and still find time for the Stuffing contest and solve the mystery, but Sophie is terribly organized, so she managed brilliantly.

This book was so much fun! Each chapter started off with a question, alternating between Natasha and Sophie, that seemed to be straight from Heloise and I laughed frequently at the answers. In fact, one of the answers figures prominently in the story. But that isn't all that made this so much fun. The main characters (Sophie, Nina, June, Hannah) are so endearing, they make you just smile. Don't get me wrong, we know in our hearts this can't be real, but I certainly hope that they continue in the same fashion in the future anyway!

No comments: