Today, The Poisoned Martini‘s is reading Christine Wenger’s Comfort Food Mystery, Macaroni and Freeze. This 4th book in the series released in July 2015 from Penguin books and their Obsidian Mystery imprint.
A famous TV chef and former Sandy Harbor resident returns to her hometown to judge a mac-and-cheese cook-off fundraiser. When the chef turns up frozen in a snowbank, all eyes turn to Trixie as suspect number one.
Following along as I review the novel LIVE!
This post will be updated (with time stamps) as I progress through the story and share my thoughts firsthand.
7:30pm – Start Time
Welcome back to Sandy Harbor and the Silver Bullet diner!
“I loved how the cold weather brought people together and was glad that they came to my diner for good food and to warm their bodies,” says Trixie is while working a shift at the diner on a winter Sunday.
The start is a truly cozy opening to a cozy mystery…
7:35pm
“Sandy Harbor was such a small village, most everyone knew one another.” And a discussion of weather, an inevitable occurrence in CNY especially in winter months. Ha! A meteorologist nicknamed “Flip a Coin!”
“Lake-effect polar vortex” is definitely a term that brings back memories of last winter!
7:40pm
Trixie enjoys “working the graveyard stint because [she] always found that the customers who came in to eat then were an interesting group.” “They all wanted something to eat–something warm and comforting–and that was my specialty.”
Mentions four different kinds of soup. I wonder which ones have recipes included…
7:45pm
“The people here like to look out for their own and help out wherever and whenever they can.” A mantra, I’m sure, dear to Trixie when she’s sleuthing on a case.
Uh, oh. “Ty was getting too stuffy lately anyway.” But then Trixie says, “I was was still busy building and cementing a brick wall around myself and my heart.” When are these two going to get together…?!
7:50pm
Only Texas-transplant Ty’s third winter. It does take awhile to get used to CNY winters.
Some Dinerese… “Two cowboys on a raft, wheat. One deadeye with sausage, sourdough…”
Oh, yes, the mysterious Bob, the missing Silver Bullet chef…
And now hail and lightning in winter as the chapter ends.
7:55pm
The library roof has collapsed. Everyone’s hoping the “Tidy Trio” are okay. They’re okay, but “Everything’s either completely ruined or damaged.” Horrors! A librarian’s worst nightmare: The books are gone.
8:00pm
Ah, a mention of a fund-raiser to support the library. A macaroni-and-cheese cook-off.
“I nominate Trixie Matkowski to be the chairperson of the library fund-raiser.” She walked into that one. And she still has flashbacks of the Miss Salmon Contest from book three!
8:05pm
TV chef personality Priscilla Finch-Smythe is expected in town. Wait, Mabel Cronk, who…? Oh, Priscilla’s a pseudonym. That should have been obvious.
8:10pm
Chapter Three, a week later… When will all the snow stop? “In about August,” someone says. “That joke never got old in Sandy Harbor.
Megan Hunter confirms that her mother convinced “the Countess of Comforting Comfort Food, Priscilla Finch-Smythe, to agree to come and judge and to host the winner on an episode of her show!”
The high school had a sorority? The Tri-Gams. Surprise, surprise. Antoinette Chloe Brown, aka ACB, was the first president of it.
8:15pm
The sorority is to have a tea at Trixie’s house because Priscilla used to work for Trixie’s Aunt Stella at the diner. Priscilla wanted to buy the diner at one point. Priscilla also has a few “demands” and wants to park her fancy motor home into Trixie’s “Big House,” the old Victorian with its numerous rooms.
The contest will be held at the county fairgrounds. And they should all wear Downton Abbey style costumes to the tea!
8:20pm
“A parade in the dead of winter?”
Fast forward to Friday the Thirteenth of February, the day of the parade and the tea. The town plows lead the parade and to clear the route!
Priscilla appears as if she were the Queen of England.
***
What’s a Live Read?
A Live Read is where I review the book as I read it. It’s kind of like writing notes in the margin of a book as you go. After the initial post describing the selected book, I’ll update periodically during the Live Read until the final pages. I intend to avoid any spoilers and certainly won’t give away the ending. Once finished, I’ll give a summation of my overall thoughts. I encourage participation either during the Live Read and beyond. Even if you’ve read the chosen book or not, feel free to chime in with your thoughts about the book, author, or mysteries in general.
