'The Cookbook Nook' is the name of the shop and the series, and in this fifth installment we once again combine food and cosy crime in a way that is not going to ruin your appetite. GRILLING THE SUBJECT features Jenna Hart who has left a job as an advertising executive in San Francisco and returned to Crystal Cove, near Santa Cruz, to help her aunt Vera with a cookbook store. If you have not read any earlier books, this may be all you need to know before jumping in to a menu of intrigue.

Jenna doesn't claim to be a wonderful cook, but she's learning, and her love of books makes her perfect for this job. Her boyfriend Rhett works in his family's fishing store but previously has been a chef. A rodeo is coming to town, and this is a kind-to-animals show. All the shop windows will be themed. Since it's summer, customers also want barbecue, or grill, recipe books. The scene-setting is accomplished and convivial; we feel we are right there in the back yard with the friendly characters. Sadly some of the gossip is about a problem; Sylvia Gump the jewellery store owner wants to buy up all the vacant homes in town. Neighborly disputes arise anywhere, but they don't usually trigger murder. This time they do.

The running theme of the rodeo, with eager performers staging Western scenes for the tourists, and children twirling ropes, enlivens the story. Jenna has a shocking distraction as a family member resurfaces and traces her. How can she explain this to Rhett? I sympathized with her dilemma. As all the diners in town start serving from books like The Texas Cowboy Kitchen, or Tex-Mex menus, the mouth- watering meals just keep getting better. Aunt Vera is keeping an eye on all the suspects, while Jenna is preoccupied. Just as well somebody is.

The recipes deserve special mention. Beef and pinto beans chili sounds like a really hearty meal. Note; this one includes brewed espresso. If your local store doesn't stock xanthan gum, and I don't think mine does, you might have to search for a substitute to make the muffins. Gluten free options are provided by Daryl Wood Gerber. And there's a scrumptious turkey meatloaf and a few barbecue sauces. I understand that good meat makes a good barbecue meal, but after that the sauce is all-important when GRILLING THE SUBJECT. Bon appetit, mystery fans!

Book Summary

Things heat up for bookstore owner Jenna Hart in the latest Cookbook Nook mystery from the Agatha Award- winning author of Fudging the Books.

As the Wild West Extravaganza rides into Crystal Cove, California, Cookbook Nook store owner Jenna Hart is ready to indulge her appetite for grilled and barbecued treats and maybe even try the Texas skip. But when the body of one of her father’s neighbors is found the next morning smoldering in a bonfire, the rodeo revelry is extinguished.
 
Sylvia Gump had acquired plenty of enemies with her practice of illegally encroaching on her neighbors’ properties—including Jenna’s dad, who was off fishing by himself and has no alibi for the murder. Now it’s up to Cary Hart’s dutiful daughter to clear his name before the real killer turns up the heat and rakes someone else over the coals...

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