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Summary: Burnt toast is better!
Review: Diane, Goldie has become such a boring chef. Is this what women can expect in mid life? You need to go back to your original recipes for a better plot and characters. A totally stale book.
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Summary: Great Story
Review: Except for the whining son. Archie, the whining son, takes a lot out of this book. He needs to move out of the home. His whining overshadows much of the book. The plot is fast paced though and it is an enjoyable read. Tom, Julian and Marla add to the book and help detract from Arch.Goldy Schulz is a caterer and while doing her job she stumbles across dead bodies and mysteries. In this one, the person who hired her is found dead with her knife in him. When he fails a polygraph, Goldy is forced to detect again the true cause of the murder and the true murderer. As always the recipes are delicious and the menus she whips up for various catering jobs sound wonderful. It is an enjoyable book. I'm sure those with teens can better relate to the whining boy in the book. However, it is still an enjoyable book.
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Summary: This recipe needs Dr. Spock
Review: Goldie the Colorado caterer is back - this time investigating strange shenanigans in the land of Shopoholics: the upscale local mall. Diane Mott Davidson's recipes and regular cast are back too - which is both good news and bad news for her devoted fans. Tom, Julian and Marla are great fun. Son Arch needs to go off to college - or the military would be even better! (See the reviewers' consensus here and from the previous installment of this series, "Sticks and Scones.") His whiney attitude and sense of absolute entitlement due to over-indulgent parenting are getting in the way of the stories - enough to make some of us reluctant to revisit this series. Davidson is so busy trying to deal with this brat that there are loose ends at the end! Dr. Spock - No not Leonard Nimoy's character on Star Trek- the OTHER Spock -Dr. Benjamin Spock -the one who told Boomer's parents how to raise us, would not be amused. ;-)
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Summary: My first Goldy book
Review: Goldy Schulz, owner and operator of her Goldilocks Catering, is hired by her old coffee drinking friend Barry Dean to cater a party at the high-scale shopping mall he's the manager of. Barry is murdered at the mall after the party and the whodunit begins. Goldy is on the case at once and not only because it was her friend that was murdered, but also because her family friend is the prime suspect!! Goldy puts the clues together in between cups of espresso and solves the mystery. Chopping Spree was the first Diane Mott Davidson book I have read. I wasn't sure if I would like the book but must admit it was a very easy to read book. The plot was good and moved along at a fast pace. The characters were all interesting, even though they may not all be likable. I believe this book would have been more enjoyable had I read the previous books by this author. Even though this is a free standing book it seems as if the characters had a history that was revealed in earlier books. The reader might better understand the relationship between Goldy and Arch and Tom had they read the earlier books in order. But once you get going in this book it doesn't really matter because everyone and everything gets sorted out and becomes understood. This book is a light mystery also which was very pleasing. There isn't a lot of yucky blood and gore scenes. This was a definite plus in reading this book. I wasn't really fond of the recipes right in the middle of the chapters. I found I was reading along at a good pace and then would have to spend extra seconds turning through recipes. I agree with earlier reviewers that the recipes should have been at the end of the chapters or the back of the book. All in all this was a very satisfying book to read. There is enough coffee drank and food ate to make you gain five pounds while reading, but it's all worth it. I am now trying to decide which Goldy book I want to read next!
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Summary: Riveting Riddle and Recipes
Review: He who has a rapaciious appetite for the extraordinary in the culinary arts and in a mystery publication will be well satisfied after having read this book.
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Summary: Always love the books but Arch is too annoying
Review: I always love the Goldy mysteries and the family dynamic - and I do understand how teenagers can be - but Arch is old enough now not to act as he does since he knows what type of people his Mom and Tom are and he should be able to see his Dad a little bit more clearly - I hope in her next book Goldy takes Arch in the woodshed for some one on one time, he is showing so many of his father's tendencies as he grows up that in the next book I expect him to slap Goldy or something. -- other than that great mystery as usual -- Also more Marla more Marla please - I love her personality. I also agree with the other reader about the narration of Joyce Bean - she seems to have a New York accent that keeps peeping through and it breaks the mood of the story. I also read the hard back and then listen to the tape on the drive to work.
Rating: 
Summary: Sub-standard Goldy
Review: I have always been a loyal and devoted fan of Goldy and her cast of close knit friends and relatives, but "Chopping Spree," was a book I had to stop reading after the first 50 pages. I found it lacking considerably from her other books. Arch turns into a demon of sorts, while his mother is trying to get hold of her caffeine/chocolate habit and .....where is poor Tom? I expected him to ask for a divorce in this book, because he always seems there for Goldy, but she is never there for him in any way, except as people who share the same house. I found Marla ...who I had dearly loved in the other books,....to be an annoying snob,...not in character for her. Mott-Davidson focuses too much on her ex-husband in her books. I am beginning to think she might do with some psychiatric help that she should have gotten in the beginning. Enough is enough. The "Jerk" is in jail. Her relationship with her present husband Tom needs to be more fine tuned. Sometimes you forget she is even married, but then someone has to nurse her back to health when she gets hit in the head, etc. Poor Tom. I don't think I will read anymore of her books until I can see some positive reviews....more 5 stars. I just looked at the reviews on her latest book and they were worse than this one. Maybe there is a time a writer should stop for a while and step back and re-evaluate her story character. Diane??
Rating:
Summary: One of her best!
Review: I have enjoyed all of Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear books. With Arch getting older, Goldy getting busier than ever, and Tom being his usual supportive self, Goldy is finding herself in still another mess and murder. The twists and turns can be surprising. Really enjoyed this one.
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Summary: Going Down
Review: I have read all of Diane Mott Davidson's books starting with " Catering To Nobody" and have really seen her grow as a novelist and mystery writer. However, the last few books have shown a definate decline and have been a real disappointment. She seems to be making up for a lack of plot by trying to make us drool over rich, expensive food. (Why doesn't Goldy weigh 300 lbs?)
The characters in this book are also poorly drawn---Tom is spineless and does little but cook while allowing Goldy to solve the crime by breaking numerous laws, Ash has turned into a completely self-centered, materialistic, spoiled brat, and Goldy herself seems to live to indulge the brat while enjoying the abuse he heaps upon her. She also solves crimes by going where no caterer has gone before. I think I have had enough of these senseless stories.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable but flawed
Review: I have read all of this author's mysteries and find them enjoyable and entertaining, but with one big flaw: Arch. Or perhaps I should say Goldie's responses to Arch. This relationship mars the enjoyment of the books. On the other hand, what can one expect from a teen-ager whose father is a pathological liar who is in jail for assault, and whose mother has absolutely no respect for the laws against breaking and entering, forgery, concealing evidence (and that's just in this book - in previous books her lawbreaking would certainly have landed her in prison. Not even Tom would be able to protect her.) And why doesn't she trust Tom with the evidence she uncovers? I guess the best way to read these books is to consider the characters caricatures of real people. I have never tried any of the recipes in these books, but one or two in Chopping Spree actually look eatable. At least they are not all diet foods. I get very tired of the menus that are fish, pasta, and more fish.
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