Review

Erin Murphy is continuing with her plans to improve the family store, Murphy’s Mercantile, affectionately known by the people of Jewel Bay, Montana as “The Merc”. Erin and other entrepreneurs of the town are excited when a popular cooking show comes to Jewel Bay and will be featuring a cooking contest between three local chefs. The excitement turns to horror when one of the contestants is found dead. Erin steps into help with the investigation to prevent the untimely death from reflecting badly on the town of Jewel Bay. Erin finds more suspects than she thought possible, but won’t give up on the investigation until she learns the truth.

Crime Rib is the second book in the Food Lovers’ Village Mystery series, and this follow-up to Death Al Dente is even more enjoyable. It’s a bit faster paced overall which help kept my interest, although there are some slow parts in the book, especially in the beginning when the stage is being set for the murder. Erin was a likeable character in the first book and remains so in this sequel. Erin is loyal to her family and to her town and makes a great main character. She’s easy to relate to and I like reading about her adventures.  I’m glad to also see that Erin’s mother Fresca is much more pleasant in this book. She seemed very reserved and standoffish in the first book, but shows more warmth this time around, which helps the reader connect better with her and ultimately enjoy the book more.
I like a little romance when reading a mystery. However, I don’t care for the love triangle with Erin and two potential boyfriends. Without spoiling anything that happens in the book, it seems too obvious who the right guy for her is, but what’s good is that it seems Erin sees this, too. Hopefully, things will turn out well for her in future books.

I like the cooking show aspect of the story. Cooking competitions are all the rage on television and weaving the steak-cooking competition into the plot of the book makes the book relatable and relevant. The build-up to the murder and the subsequent investigation unfortunately take a bit too long to get to. I started losing interest waiting for something of more substance to occur in the story. Luckily, things started to pick up and I became very interested to find out how things would turn out and who was responsible for the murder.

Crime Rib is fun once the story gets going and could be even better with a little more action throughout the book and not just at the end. Budewitz is a skilled writer and the book has many strong points. In addition to the interesting plot and likeable main character, there are a few other extra I enjoyed. I grew up reading Agatha Christie so I love the Cast of Characters at the beginning of the book. As expected in a culinary mystery, several recipes round out the book at the end. Readers who enjoy Hannah Reed or Daryl Wood Gerber will enjoy this culinary mystery by Leslie Budewitz.

Reviewed by Christine