Genre:

It's a dream for a "Vampire Chef"-cater the high-profile wedding of a 200-year-old vampire and a wealthy witch. So why did celebrity chef Oscar Simmons walk away from this gig? Charlotte agrees to take his place, even though she knows this event, thrown by power-hungry vampires and witches, could make (or break) her career, her restaurant, and her life.

But when Simmons turns up dead, the groom's family starts vanishing, and the police start asking pointed questions, Charlotte fears she may have picked the wrong wedding to stake her reputation on...

Review

For fans of:  Jerrilyn Farmer, Charlaine Harris

When Felicity Garnett bursts into the busy kitchen at Nightlife (one of the few high-end restaurants in NYC with a vampire-friendly menu), Chef Charlotte Caine is less than pleased; her crew is smack in the middle of dinner prep and the presence of a hysterical event planner is hardly a welcome distraction. Felicity’s not there for sympathy, though; it seems Oscar Simmons, the celebrity chef she hired to cater the extremely controversial wedding of a high-society witch to a 200-year-old vampire, just up and quit, and Felicity wants Charlotte to take his place. The wedding is right around the corner, and vampires and witches don’t tend to get along (bride and groom excepted), so to call the assignment challenging would be an understatement. Nightlife is drowning in debt, however, and Felicity’s offering to pay her a handsome sum, so Charlotte reluctantly signs on.

At first, the gig doesn’t seem so bad; then, however, Oscar Simmons turns up dead, the bride’s home is burgled, and members of the groom’s “family” start going missing, and it becomes clear to Charlotte that more is going on with this wedding than meets the eye.  The question is, does she keep her head down and hope the event stays on track long enough for her to collect a paycheck, or does she channel her inner Nancy Drew and hope she and her restaurant are strong enough to survive the fallout?

Let Them Eat Stake is the second in Sarah Zettel's Vampire Chef Mystery series, and it's one of the best books I've read this year.  Zettel's a marvelous storyteller – the kind who leaves you torn between savoring the sharp, stylish prose and plowing through the rich, action-packed plot as quickly as your eyes and brain will carry you.  The book’s setup is intriguing, and is simply and elegantly conveyed by Zettel with a glorious economy of prose.  The mystery is clever and complex and will keep you guessing until the (very satisfying) end.  The dialogue is witty and snappy and has a fantastic rhythm to it. The pacing’s rapid-fire. And the descriptions are so lush and vivid that people, places, and things practically pop off the page fully rendered.

Charlotte’s a smart, strong heroine, full of snark and fire, and she makes for an engaging narrator, to boot.  Warlock (and cousin of the bride) Brendan Maddox is dark, dangerous, and wonderfully mysterious, and is a fantastic potential love interest for Charlotte.  And powerful vampire (slash restaurant critic) Anatole Sevarin is the perfect third point to the trio’s love triangle and proves an incredibly compelling character in his own right.

The book’s more minor characters are beautifully developed, as well; from event planner Felicity Garnett, to venomous sister-of-the-bride Karina Alden, to Charlotte’s undead brother (and former business partner) Chet, every being who populates Zettel’s tale feels real and help bring her fictional world to life.

Let Them Eat Stake by Sarah Zettel's is quite simply a fabulous book. Read it now (right now!), and then get your butt in line for the sequel.

Reviewed by Kat

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