Hayley Snow's life always revolved around food. But when she applies to be a food critic for a Key West style magazine, she discovers that her new boss would be Kristen Faulkner-the woman Hayley caught in bed with her boyfriend! Hayley thinks things are as bad as they can get-until the police pull her in as a suspect in Kristen's murder. Kristen was killed by a poisoned key lime pie. Now Hayley must find out who used meringue to murder before she takes all the blame.

Review

Hayley Snow moves from New Jersey to Key West to live with her new boyfriend Chad Lutz. Hayley has a good chance to land a job as a food critic for a local publication. Hayley thinks she has discovered paradise until she catches Chad in bed with her would-be future boss Kristen Faulkner.  Soon after that, Hayley finds herself at the top of the suspect list when Kristen is murdered. She decides to do some investigating at the same time she is checking out restaurants as part of her interview process. She seems to be making progress, but quickly finds herself in danger of alienating all of her friends and of being the real killer’s next victim.

Hayley is an impulsive, somewhat quirky character. She doesn’t know Chad very well, but agrees to follow him to Key West. This is made more believable by the fact that Hayley’s long-time friend and her college roommate both live in Key West. When Hayley is troubled or needs help making a decision, she goes to Lorenzo, a local tarot-card reader for advice. She is likeable for the most part, but I sometimes wish she would think before jumping into her next wild plan.

Hayley seems to find herself in one predicament after another due to impulsive decisions she makes. While many of her choices are poor, I can’t blame her for some of them, even when I know it’s not going to turn out well. Hayley’s roommate Connie runs a cleaning business and Chad happens to be one of her clients. When Chad repeatedly refuses to return some of Hayley’s things to her, including one-of-a-kind family recipes, I can see why she thought it would be a good idea to use the key Connie has to Chad’s apartment and do a little “cleaning” of her own. Many of Hayley’s actions are understandable, even if they aren’t the smartest, which helps keep the reader in her corner. However, for a large part of the book, she goes around town making her old friends angry and making new enemies at every turn.  This grows a bit old for me and I kept hoping Hayley would curb some of her impulsiveness.

My favorite part of the book is the food. As part of the application process for the food critic job, she has to write a few sample articles. We get to visit several Key West eateries with Hayley as she does research for her articles. The descriptions of the restaurants and the meals are interesting and might make even make you hungry! These outings also give the reader many authentic details about Key West and convey a true sense of this unique setting.

The author of this book also writes the advice column mysteries under the name of Roberta Isleib, so you if liked those books, you will enjoy “An Appetite For Murder.” Fans of Joanne Pence and Nancy Fairbanks will also want to sample this treat of a series by Lucy Burdette.

Reviewed by Kat

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