A Souffle of Suspicion by Daryl Wood Gerber

Author Daryl Wood Gerber has been on my TBR list for ages, but I hadn't gotten to reading from her collection in the past. When the second book, "A Soufflé of Suspicion", in the French Bistro cozy mystery series was listed in a giveaway contest, I jumped on the opportunity. I was selected as a reader (yay!) and lined up the book for my late June reading list. I normally read series mystery books in order but I'm all out of time lately, so I just dove in to this cooking and killing edition. I'm now a fan and look forward to reading more from the author, especially given she has a few other series under different pseudonyms. In this book, Mimi has just recovered from solving a crime in the last few weeks, and then another one happens. Renee, the sister of Mimi's current chef, Camille, is found clobbered with a mixer in the kitchen. As details about Renee's life unfold, there's a possibility she was blackmailing someone, having an affair, or stealing information. Was she a good or bad person? We just don't know... and at times, it seems like Camille had a few reasons to off her own sister, too. As a backdrop setting, it's set in the delectable Napa Valley and it's dessert week... so I was in love with the ambiance and the food/drink in this book. I like the characters and see some long-term potential as they begin to settle into their roles as friends, enemies and in-between. Mimi as a lead is interesting, but it's her connections to the rest of the town that provide all the great opportunities to be a sleuth. People just talk to her, yet she's also constantly doing new things in the restaurant or meeting people to help re-build the town or her mom's winery, so she has lots of relationships that can offer clues and secrets. For me, this falls into the right spot for a cozy mystery. I like that the recipes are all listed at the end and not interspersed throughout the story, as I don't enjoy having to flip tons of pages to find the next chapter. I really enjoyed learning about the restaurant business. Many of the names of places and some chefs are authentic, as I've been to the places when I visited Napa Valley in the past. I kinda wanna go back now and see exactly where some of these conversations and stores are in comparison to streets I've visited before. Kudos to the author for making it real. She's undoubtedly been there, and I wonder if we've been to the same winery at the same time. Ha! As for the mystery plot, it was in the middle in terms of obvious versus complex. There was more to it than I expected, but I pegged the killer from the beginning. There were a few strong red herrings and misleading side stories, but ultimately, it's a classic story that works well in this background. I will definitely read more from the author and look forward to catching up on the first book in the series.