"Engaging morsel for cozy and culinary mystery readers"
Patsy Avery asks her friend caterer Faith Fairchild
to teach a cooking course for idiots at the all male high
school, Mansfield Academy in Aleford, Massachusetts. Patsy
actually wants Faith to use the cooking course as a cover
to ferret out who is committing hate crimes against African-
American scholarship student Daryl Martin. The amateur
sleuth agrees though she loathes teaching male teenagers. As Faith teaches her class, she beings to
investigate the students who most likely sent the hateful e-
mail, nasty newspaper clippings, and the noose to Daryl.
However, her inquiries take a twist when someone murders
Faith's prime suspect Sloane Buxton with Daryl as the prime
suspect. Now Faith feels obligated to prove the Roxbury
resident is not only innocent but also the victim of a
heinous crime. When THE BODY IN THE BONFIRE stays focused on the
hate crime, readers receive a tremendous regional cozy.
When the plot spins into a murder mystery, the story line
remains solid and well written, but much of the excitement
is lost as if the air was let out of the balloon.
Katherine Hall Paige cooks an engaging morsel that cozy and
culinary mystery readers will take pleasure in especially
when the delightful lead character teaches her students how
to cook. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted February 5, 2002
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