Another installment in the Goldy Schultz catering series, “Chopping Spree” takes place two years after Goldy’s marriage to Tom. Life is going well, with the exception of teenage son Arch, who is shortly to turn fifteen and believes that he’s somehow entitled to all the cool gadgets his rich friends have. The catering business has really taken off, and Goldy is getting more jobs than before, which leave her worn out and starting to lose her health, but after so many years of just barely scraping by, she’s excited to finally be making some headway with her career. She’s also feeling guilt for those lean years when it was just her and Arch, and subconsciously trying to make up to him for all they’ve been through.
When the shopping mall in town hires Goldy to cater a glitzy jewelry event, she goes all out, even making her specialty truffles (of course, the recipe is included). But everything seems destined to go wrong from the start. While talking with Barry, old friend and mall manager, out in the parking lot, a runaway truck veers right toward them, injuring both Barry and Goldy and ruining an entire box of food. They manage to pull the meal off anyway, and Goldy is thanking her lucky stars that everything turned out when she’s given a note to meet Barry at the shoe store, and he’ll give her the final check for the event. Upon arriving at the sale, she finds Barry moaning on the floor, and then she’s hit from behind and all goes black.
When she comes to, she learns that Barry is now dead and her trusted assistant, Julian, has been arrested for the murder. She was a suspect at first, but Julian submitted to a lie detector, and he’d had several cups of coffee that day. Caffeine messes up the results of a lie detector test, and he failed it, miserably.
Goldy is absolutely convinced that Julian is innocent. She’s known him for years and he’s like a son to her. She and Tom are determined to do whatever it takes to get Julian freed.
I always enjoy books by Diane Mott Davidson. I have to say, though, in this one I rather wanted to slap Arch silly for being such a spoiled brat and then shake Goldy for giving in to it. Other than that, I liked the story quite a bit.
(This book was published in 2002 by Bantam Books.)
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