JANE || Simmer Down by Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 // 12:04 AM
Gourmet Girl Chloe Carter’s boyfriend, Josh Driscoll, is prepping for the grand opening of Simmer, soon-to-be Boston’s hottest new restaurant. But at a fund-raiser featuring samples of Josh’s cuisine, a trendy club owner is found bludgeoned to death-by Josh’s state-of-the-art, professional-grade food processor. By opening night at Simmer, the list of suspects is almost longer than the line to get in and Chloe is struggling to solve the crime before someone else gets hurt.To start things off, I have to admit that I am not a fan of chick lit books. With that being said, I am proud to say that this book did not make me want to gag and toss it aside at first read (as I tend to do). Mother-daughter duo Conant and Conant-Park create humorous characters that make for an entertaining read. They do so while also spicing up the book with a little mystery and even a few recipes thrown in along the way.
Although the book was fun to read, I found that the way Chloe, the narrator, goes about solving the mystery was a little confusing and frustrating. Couldn’t she have taken a more logical approach and not let silly fantasies blur her vision of what really happened? Although that may in fact have been the authors’ intention, I think that having a more rational character working through the gears of the mystery would have made for a more interesting read and offered a better perspective into the case.
From what I can tell, chick lit, mystery, and cooking enthusiasts will adore this book. I do feel though, that this book had so much more potential, but overall, a good read.
- Jane.
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