Series Debut
Daryl Wood Gerber is the author the fantastic cozy series, The Fairy Garden Mysteries, and now she’s branching out with a new series, the Literary Dining mysteries. The debut is Murder on the Page, and follows English teacher turned caterer, Allie Catt. Appropriately, she also has a cat, who is not an alley cat and has the very dignified name of Darcy. Allie and her catering company, known as Dream Cuisine, are in Bramblewood, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Now for the coolest part about Dream Cuisine: it specializes in parties based on their client’s favorite books – combining love of food and love of books in a creative and fun way that has business booming.
Allie’s best and oldest friend Tegan runs the local book shop, Feast for the Eyes, with her Aunt Marigold. As we’re introduced to Allie’s world, the biggest danger in Bramblewood seems to be an infestation of ants. Well, other than Tegan’s sister, who also runs a catering company and is certain that Allie has picked her career for no other reason than to steal her clients and ruin her business. Luckily, Allie is uninterested in drama, she has a business to run all by herself and honestly does not have the time to dedicate to histrionics, except when the drama is something real. When Tegan’s aunt gets murdered, leaving her as the primary suspect, both Tegan and Allie decide to put their extensive literary detective insights to real world practice in order to clear Tegan’s name. Detective Zach Armstrong isn’t happy they are poking around the case, but he is also not going to ignore any real information they bring. Allie finds she has a natural instinct for poking around, asking just the right questions at the right time, leading the person as they’re talking to give information they might not have otherwise. On the other side, Tegan just kind of bulldozes ahead and, more often than not, has Allie worrying for her. After all, they’re trying to find a murderer. There isn’t any guarantee who ever it is won’t kill again to stop a couple of well-meaning amateur detectives.
One of the things that drew me into Daryl Wood Gerber’s work is her writing style. The worlds she creates are easy for readers to immerse in. One of my favorite things that Daryl Wood Gerber does in her other series, as well as this one, is including a “Cast of Characters” index at the start of the book. I always find these immensely helpful if I’m enjoying a book and then get pulled away for a while before being able to return, or if it’s been a while between book releases. I enjoyed reading how Allie applied the detective tactics of such literary heroes as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and others. Her naturally curious mind and social gifts make her ideal for nosing around the case. Readers who enjoy cozies that focus on food and bookstores will enjoy Murder on the Page, and readers will also enjoy following Allie as she tries to keep her business afloat, solve a murder, and possibly pursue a romance, all in the short span of one book. For those who enjoyed Daryl Wood Gerber’s other work, this is a must read, as it shows her range of being able to write both a fantasy based cozy and a much more realistic food/literary cozy. The book comes to a satisfactory conclusion and new readers will be hungry for the next instalment. – Carla Schantz