Rating: 
Summary: She lost me with this one....
Review: I'm reading Mott-Davidson's books in the order they were published. I like Goldy and her quirky son Arch -- and I like Schultz and Julian and Marla, but I felt this story line was weak and not too carefully thought out. And, frankly, I got a bit weary of those Aspen Meadow pushy, pretentious, preppy parents. They made me nauseous. I've started the next one and hope it will satisfy as much as one of Goldy's fabulous catered affairs.
Rating: 
Summary: ANOTHER GREAT READ FROM THE QUEEN OF CULINARY MYSTERIES
Review: With this book and the others in this series, Diane Mott Davidson shares her intelligence and sense of humor with the reader. "The Cereal Murders" romps through the world of private education with witty insight. As seniors at Elk Park Preparatory gear up for college admission, they and their parents need more than guidance counseling when a star student turns up murdered after an school event catered by Goldy Bear (owner of Goldilocks' Catering, Where Everything Is Just Right). Goldy and her sometimes-boyfriend, Homicide Detective Tom Schulz, become embroiled in the case, discovering many clues and a few red herrings along the way. The recipes alone are worth reading--be careful not to drool on the page! Check out Diane Mott Davidson's other books as well--all are equally delicious! For other, non-culinary, humorous mysteries, try any of Dorothy Cannell's offerings. She is another author with a tongue-in-cheek, sometimes irreverent style of writing.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER GREAT READ FROM THE QUEEN OF CULINARY MYSTERIES
Review: With this book and the others in this series, Diane Mott Davidson shares her intelligence and sense of humor with the reader. "The Cereal Murders" romps through the world of private education with witty insight. As seniors at Elk Park Preparatory gear up for college admission, they and their parents need more than guidance counseling when a star student turns up murdered after an school event catered by Goldy Bear (owner of Goldilocks' Catering, Where Everything Is Just Right). Goldy and her sometimes-boyfriend, Homicide Detective Tom Schulz, become embroiled in the case, discovering many clues and a few red herrings along the way. The recipes alone are worth reading--be careful not to drool on the page!
Check out Diane Mott Davidson's other books as well--all are equally delicious!
For other, non-culinary, humorous mysteries, try any of Dorothy Cannell's offerings. She is another author with a tongue-in-cheek, sometimes irreverent style of writing.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!
Review: Along with being interesting, this is a very suspensful book. My stepmom actually purchased this book for me at a store because she thought I might find it interesting. I'm glad I started reading this book because I found it to be one of those books I am unable to put down. One of my favorite parts of the book are the recipes, which all look delicious. This book kept me guessing until the very end and is one fo those books that constantly make the reader have to keep searching different angles in order to find the identity of the killer! It was an excellent book and I suggest it for any person that likes murder mysteries. I give this a 5 star!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!
Review: Along with being interesting, this is a very suspensful book. My stepmom actually purchased this book for me at a store because she thought I might find it interesting. I'm glad I started reading this book because I found it to be one of those books I am unable to put down. One of my favorite parts of the book are the recipes, which all look delicious. This book kept me guessing until the very end and is one fo those books that constantly make the reader have to keep searching different angles in order to find the identity of the killer! It was an excellent book and I suggest it for any person that likes murder mysteries. I give this a 5 star!
Rating:
Summary: Cooking Up More Delicious Mysteries
Review: As Always, Diane Mott Davidson has written another delightful mystery about her heroine caterer, Goldy Bear. This time, a scandal is evolving at Elk Park Prep School where her son Arch and live in 'son-like' Julian attend. It's up to her as always to somehow figure out who killed the school's present valedictorian. All of the Cullinary novels by Diane Mott Davidson are excellent. I especially enjoyed the "Cereal Murders".
Rating: 
Summary: Add a start if you enjoy cookbooks!
Review: Diane Mott Davidson writes a fast moving book and the addition of recipes and descriptions of her preparations as a caterer are fascinating for an aspiring gormet. However, the prep school parents vying to get their kids into Ivy League schools portrayed in the book were not only annoying but completely unrealistic. The dialogue was often absurb and Goldy the caterer would have lost many a job by her smart alleck comments that she made to her clients. The ending was unconvincing and I found the frequent references to her physically abusive physician ex-husband ("the jerk") annoying. His character had nothing to do with the story line - why did she include him? I found the book frustrating because it could have been so much better. Mott maintains the suspense, featuring a caterer as a main character is interesting and the recipes are good! (I tried some.)
Rating:
Summary: Okay, but ...
Review: First, where I'm coming from: I'm a woman, I'm a busy professional, I'm an Ivy League graduate. [Why is this person telling me this, you ask yourself?] Well, it means that I relish my down-time, I love novels and mysteries and fantasies, I love to escape into the pages of a well-written, intelligent, funny, engaging book, and okay, a bit of romance is just fine too, thank you. Having heard about the Goldy series from a firend as light diversion with yummy recipes, I took this book out of the library (a great source to check out books before I may want to purchase them and make them part of my personal library), and started with number 3 (which I ordinarily disdain) since numbers 1 and 2 were out. I did go into this with an open mind, and although I plowed through, wondering who the murderer was and where Goldy's relationship with Tom was headed, and would the kids be okay, I was generally disappointed in the prose and, finally, the mystery. The latter was a bit of a stretch, and the former just felt rather pedestrian. There were some good lines and evocative moments, and some of the culinary passages were tasty indeed, but perhaps my disaffection comes from having just whipped through the 4 truly erudite, hilarious mysteries by the late Sarah Caudwell, which kept me stimulated and entertained (AND I found that I had to consult my dictionary several times as well!). I am also a huge fan of Elizabeth Peters and the Amelia Peabody series----witty, clever, funny, romantic, and educational (I know a lot more about Egyptology, archeology, and turrn-of-the-century history than I did before reading those books). So, although there's NOTHING wrong with ligher, less challenging offerings, I found the Cereal Murders overall less satisfying (for me) as a mystery and as a novel than the books by Caudwell & Peters. If your tastes run more to the latter, Davidson may not be a writer you want to spend oodles of time with. Not bad, but not great. Me, I'm passing on any more Davidson books and opening up the new Kinky Friedman book...
Rating:
Summary: Smartness can get you killed!
Review: Goldy finds herself in a war in Arch's school. The struggle between parents is over whose senior is the smartest, the most talented and the most well rounded. Many of Goldy's catering assignments in this book end in disaster! Goldy never knows what she is going to find this time around. Will it be a fight, will she be scolded or will there be a dead body? In "The Cereal Murders" Diane Mott Davidson serves up a hearty meal of murder, jealousy, petty thievery, angst and pranks (which end up getting a few people hurt)! You will be entertained with the activity of many twists and turns in this mystery. As always, Goldy herself is sassy and stubborn. There are treats involved. A side dish consists of some romance and a marriage proposal that is repeated again and again. How sweet! D. M. Davidson provides us with 11 very delicious looking recipes in this book. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A must read for any family involved in applying to college.
Review: Having spent 10 years as a college admissions director, this book was an absolute hoot for me. While it is on the edge of a farce, it has plenty to say about the frenzy involved in the college application process these days.
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