Red Beans and Vice (A Heaven Lee Culinary Mystery)

Rating:
Summary: 2nd Best In The Series
Review: Although not as good as "A Stiff Risotto." This is much better than the other's in the series.

Heaven Lee, 45ish, once widowed, 4 times divorced, disbarred lawyer, ex-stripper and current restaurant owner, has gone to New Orleans to visit her friend Mary Whitten and to cook up some dishes for the Sisters Of The Holy Trinity annual benefit dinner.

Things aren't going well for the sisters. Someone has stolen their prized crucifix, which the original sisters had brought with them from France hundreds of years before, put thousands of termites on their antique wooden staircase and are generally trying to mess up their celebration.

Things can't get worse when at the celebration dinner, Mary's husband Truely is murdered, stabbed with one of Heaven's knives.

Is this just one more thing to ruin the sister's celebration or is there something else? Do the nasty letters, Heaven had received at her restaurant have anything to do with it? Whatever it is, Heaven is determined to find out who killed her friends husband.

What I liked about this book is that there are not the dozens of characters that she has in many of her books. That sometimes made it difficult to follow the storyline. This one only had a few additional characters and made for a very easy read.

The mystery was good, although I did figure out the killer, but it was close to the end of the book so it didn't matter.

Heaven is very funny in this book. The image of her walking into the police station with a dead bird to have them do a match on the bullet that killed it really had me laughing.

The only downside to this story is that she doesn't use her reoccuring characters enough. Except for Murray - who takes over running her restaurant when she's gone, and Hank, her twenty years younger boyfriend, the other characters are hardly heard from at all.

And you don't get a clear description of any of the characters. I'm still not really clear on what Heaven looks like.

The amount of profanity in the book has decreased. I still wouldn't consider this a cozy mystery.

Rating:
Summary: A delicious mystery
Review: Heaven Lee having been backed out of the legal profession for doing something wrong opened up a Café Heavens Restaurant in Kansas City. To her amazement, Heaven learns she likes to cook and prepare food and soon her restaurant is a success. She has a full house almost every night with many repeat customers. When a nasty letter about her restaurant is sent to Heaven, City Hall and the local newspapers, she is afraid her restaurant's precious reputation will be tarnished.

Thanks to good friends, Heaven is able to keep the note out of the public eye and go to New Orleans with an easy mind. She is part of an outdoor sit down diner to raise funds for the Sisters of the Holy Trinity, one of the oldest convents of the United States. Towards the end of the event one of her closest friend's husband is murdered and Heaven will not rest until she finds the killer.

Lou Jane Temple has created a zany, eccentric and lovable heroine who will go that extra mile for anyone she cares about. The mystery is well drawn out and it is doubtful anyone will guess the identity of the perpetrators although when they are finally revealed it makes sense. RED BEANS AND VICE is a colorful culinary who-done-it that is a feast to read.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Mystery, murder, and food, yum!
Review: Heaven Lee is asked by her old friend Mary to be a participant in a fundraising dinner for the Ursiline nuns of New Orleans. All does not go well. First an African American newswoman protests that the fundraiser is for a white order, when her ancestor helped found an order of African American nuns who were instrumental in educating their community. Suddenly there is a commotion and graffiti is found all over the courtyard and an eighteenth century cross that the nuns brought with them from France. Other incidents follow. Heaven is determined to find out who is sabotaging the event.

I always enjoy the books from this series and this on is no exception. I love the setting, and can't wait to try the recipes.

Rating:
Summary: Murder can sure "Gumbo" up a trip to New Orleans!
Review: Heaven Lee is invited to New Orleans to be a guest chef at a swank fund raising dinner for the Sisters of the Holy Trinity. Before she can even get packed, Heaven receives a vicious crank letter that could ruin the reputation of her Kansas City restaurant if it gets into the wrong hands. But going to New Orleans could be great publicity for her restaurant, so it's off the Big Easy. Almost as soon as she hits town, problems crop up. The planning meeting is disrupted by a loud mouthed local celebrity with a grudge. Mysterious and menacing people are lurking around her friends, Mary (an old law school chum of Heaven's) and Truely Whitten (successful owner of the largest coffee importing company in Louisiana). And to top it off, the Sister's lovely Convent building is vandalized and a priceless crucifix is stolen!

Heaven smells disaster for the future success of the fundraiser and reluctantly steps in to try and make sense of these seemingly unrelated incidents before it's too late.

She meets and befriends a former Madame, Nancy Blair, who knows a lot about the hidden skeletons of the society elite in town. She is squired to all the best night spots by handsome, smooth talking, Southern gentleman T. Wilson Tibbetts, who is Truely's best friend.

But murder, conspiracy and plain old greed complicate Heaven's life even further. On the way to solving the mysteries, the reader is treated to some of the most mouthwatering descriptions of delicious sounding Southern food. Many of the actual recipes are included, a trademark of author Lou Jane Temple's scrumptious series featuring Heaven Lee. By all means, read this book. It's a fun, fast paced book and a great addition to the series.

.

Rating:
Summary: 2nd Best In The Series
Review: Mondays were open mike nights at Cafe Heaven. The writing is good and the recipes are too. Heaven Lee is a former lawyer. She runs a cafe in Kansas City. Heaven visits New Orleans for the purpose of planning a benefit banquet in honor of the oldest convent in America. She learns that someone has sent anonymous notes that the waiters in her cafe are diseased. She collects the notes from the Kansas City Star and city hall on the advice of a hate crimes expert. Later Heaven feels better when she learns all of the chefs involved in the banquet received such notes. A friend's husband, Truely, is found stabbed at the benefit event with a stolen cross placed on his body. Heaven assigns herself the task of sorting it all out to find Truely's murderer. The scenes are lively and the plotting is clever.

Rating:
Summary: When friends are not really friends
Review: Mondays were open mike nights at Cafe Heaven. The writing is good and the recipes are too. Heaven Lee is a former lawyer. She runs a cafe in Kansas City. Heaven visits New Orleans for the purpose of planning a benefit banquet in honor of the oldest convent in America. She learns that someone has sent anonymous notes that the waiters in her cafe are diseased. She collects the notes from the Kansas City Star and city hall on the advice of a hate crimes expert. Later Heaven feels better when she learns all of the chefs involved in the banquet received such notes. A friend's husband, Truely, is found stabbed at the benefit event with a stolen cross placed on his body. Heaven assigns herself the task of sorting it all out to find Truely's murderer. The scenes are lively and the plotting is clever.

Rating:
Summary: A light read but, for the most part, worth it.
Review: There are three or four places in this book where it is plainly hard to follow the author's intended action sequence. Other than that this is a very good light read and well worth the price of admission. Even if you check it out of the local library as opposed to buying a copy (either in hardback or paperback) the book will keep you entertained.