The charming coastal town of Bar Harbor, Maine, has a fancy new Italian restaurant—and a nasty new murder . . .
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As the food and cocktails columnist for the Island Times, it’s Hayley Powell’s job to stay on top of the latest eateries in town. Just in time for the summer tourist season, Chef Romeo, a successful restaurateur from New York City, has opened an establishment called—naturally—Romeo’s. But between his over-the-top temperament and his no-holds-barred diet, Chef Romeo may not live through the grand opening.
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When the chef actually does suffer a mild heart attack, he ends up sharing a hospital room with Hayley’s brother Randy, who’s there for gall bladder surgery. Chef Romeo has tasted Hayley’s cooking and asks her to take over his restaurant while he’s laid up. But this temporary gig may turn permanent, after the chef dies from complications. Only thing is, Randy tells a different story. He might have been sedated, but Hayley’s bro swears he saw someone come into their room and put Romeo out of his misery. Now it’s up to Hayley to find the person who had no reservations about killing the chef . . .
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Includes delectable recipes from Hayley’s kitchen!
Release Date:Â Jun 29, 2021
Series:Â Hayley Powell Mystery
Book: 14
Publisher:Â Kensington
Price: $6.99
When murder is on the menu, things can get a little dicey in the kitchen. This is the fourteenth book in the Hayley Powell Mystery series by Lee Hollis.Â
Haley’s life was in a bit of a professional rut, lately. Writing her column at the Island times was great, but it just didn’t feel like enough. Still, she was wonderfully happy with her husband Bruce, her best friends, Liddy and Mona and her life in her small town.  But when an opportunity comes up for Haley to completely shift gears unto another direction, she hesitantly jumps at the chance. This chance is the one she’s been dreaming about her whole life, where she finally gets to cook as a professional cook. But things come to halt, when suddenly the owner of the restaurant has a heart attack and then mysteriously dies at the hospital. Haley has no choice but to get involved and she’s hoping murder is not on the menu.Â
I had a hard time connecting with this story. To me, the story lacked interest and intrigue. Still, I liked that this story was excellently written and edited, and the flow of the story was good, and the characters had smart dialogue. This book was an easy read and one that I read in one day.Â
I found the characters in this book to be a bit bland. The main character, Haley, was good and dedicated during her investigating, but my thoughts are that there was nothing particularly witty and enthusiastic about her characterization. Most of the time when the main character lacks interest in the story, the supporting characters pick up the slack, unfortunately the supporting characters did not make up for the lack of qualities in the main character, Haley.   There was also a lot of shady characters posing as good citizens and some of their transgressions were a bit much and for me it was hard to still consider them good characters. I couldn’t get passed this and the story bombed for me.Â
The story was good and there certainly was charm, but it just lacked some umph. There is, however, lots of delicious Italian recipes and cocktail recipes scattered through out the book. I am very much looking forward to trying some of those out.
~ Patricia
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