Crime Rib by Leslie Budewitz

Crime Rib by Leslie Budewitz ISBN-13: 9780425259559 Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: July 1, 2014

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Food Preneurs, a popular TV cooking show, has decided to feature Jewel Bay, Montana in an upcoming episode. But when the show's producer is killed in a hit-and-run accident, gourmet food market owner Erin Murphy has to step in to help organize the main feature--a steak-cooking competition between three of Jewel Bay’s hottest chefs.

Then one of the contending cooks is found dead. With all the drama going on behind the scenes, it’s hard to figure out who didn’t have a motive to off the contestant. To keep the town’s reputation from crashing and burning on national television, Erin will have to grill some suspects to smoke out the killer.


My Review:
Crime Rib is a cozy mystery. It's the second book in the series. You don't need to read the previous book to understand this one, and this book didn't spoil the previous whodunit.

The mystery was clue-based, and there were plenty of clues and several suspects. The reader isn't told the critical clue that narrows the suspect list down to whodunit until we get a cozy-plot based clue that pretty much does it instead. The heroine doesn't even realize the significance of this critical clue until after she's confronted by whodunit.

The heroine was generally a nice person, but I don't really like heroines who justify breaking and entering in order to gain clues. The other characters were interesting and varied. There were some nice details about locally-made foods.

There was a minor amount of bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this mystery novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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