Recipe for Murder (Patrick & Grace #2)

By Janet Elaine Smith

Patrick O?Malley, retired New York City cop, and Grace Johnson, Jill-of-all-trades at the homeless shelter where she escaped in the first Patrick and Grace Mystery, take flight to Nebraska when they... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 193025248X
• ISBN13: 9781930252486
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Pagefree Pub Inc
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A sweet, cozy mystery

Patrick O'Malley is a retired New York City cop. Grace Johnson, a recent widow, does volunteer work as a cook at a homeless shelter. Though they have a bit of difficulty admitting it to anyone, the two are an item. In this second of three (so far) Patrick and Grace mysteries, the duo, no longer young but as inquisitive and determined as ever, are perplexed by a letter from their gentle friend Walter, who has unaccountably disappeared from the homeless shelter's kitchen days earlier. Walter writes them he has returned to his childhood home in Albany, Nebraska because of the death of his father. He adds that he needs a favor. He has found a "recipe for success," but someone doesn't want him to have it, and in case anything happens to him, he is enclosing the key to his safety deposit box, the contents of which could make them millionaires. Worried about their friend, they call his mother only to learn that Walter has died and his death was ruled a suicide. His mother, however, believes that cannot have been the case. Patrick and Grace decide to travel to Albany and investigate the matter. What you have there, obviously, is a recipe for a murder mystery, one with detectives who call to mind the television show "Murder She Wrote," which is in fact referred to in the story, since the characters themselves realize the parallel. Once in Albany, they encounter a number of citizens of the tiny town, leery of outsiders, and many of whom are worthy of suspicion. A gratifying number of complexities and reversals ensue before the guilty party is nabbed. Books are indeed food for the mind. Some amount to roast beef and mashed potatoes. Others might recall a hamburger and fries. An exotic, international volume might bring to mind General Tso's chicken, or even spigola arrosto alla ligure. Not a cosy, however. A cosy, to me, would be a dessert: a strawberry tart, pistachio gelato...or, specifically in this case, applesauce and oatmeal cookies. How can I be so certain? It's easy: not only do applesauce and oatmeal cookies figure in the plot, the recipe is included at the back of the book. It's a fitting finish to a sweet mystery. Al Past is the author of the four popular Distant Cousin books, reviewer for PODBRAM, and member of the Independent Authors Guild. He lives in south Texas. More about his books can be found at [...].

"Good enough to die for"

Retired New York City cop Patrick O'Mally and his new love Grace Johnson, recently widowed cook at a homeless shelter, leave the Big Apple behind (something Grace never did before in her life!) after they get an unexpected letter. Walter, a drifter who helped Grace in the shelter's kitchen when she was new there, has returned to his home town in far-off Nebraska. Patrick and Grace find his letter worrisome, so they decide to phone and ask if he is all right.Walter is dead. Sometime after he wrote and mailed the letter, his mother found him hanging in a shed on their property - located in a town so small that people drive through it without knowing they've arrived, until the road takes them beyond its limits again. His mother is convinced that Walter didn't kill himself, despite the way she discovered his body. Patrick and Grace agree with her. But why would anyone want to kill such a harmless soul? That's almost harder to imagine than why a man as happy as Walter seemed recently would want to take his own life.The tiny town's other residents, never happy to have outsiders in their midst, swiftly close ranks against Patrick, Grace, and Walter's grieving but determined mother. Who knows a secret that may have everything to do with her son's murder - or does it, after all?I can't speak to this book's merits as a mystery. I seldom read anything in that genre, and therefore have no basis for comparison. But if you're looking for intriguing, sympathetic, and very real characters, you should treat yourself to the most recently released Patrick and Grace tale. Even the supposed "bad guys" (whose identities I'm not about to reveal) will tug at your heartstrings, because Janet Elaine Smith gives each of her creations believable motivation and a genuinely human face.Now I must try baking "Walter's Oatmeal Cookies"! Since I've heard from a reliable authority that they are "good enough to die for," and the recipe is printed at the end of the book. But I hope they won't cause similar havoc in my somewhat larger town.

A cosy mystery

The second adventure for the intrepid crime fighting duo, retired cop Patrick O'Malley and Grace Johnson, now employed at a homeless shelter, begins when they get a letter from former resident of the shelter, Walter Schmidt. Along with the cryptic letter, there is a key for a safety deposit box, and the letter hints that it contains something that will make them rich and if anything happens to him, they will know what to do with it.Worried by the letter, they call his mother in Nebraska only to discover that Walter has died. It's being called a suicide but his mother is convinced that he was murdered. He was found hanging from the rafters in the apple shed. Patrick and Grace head out to the small town of Albany, Nebraska to discover the truth.What they find there is a place unfriendly to strangers, and secrets long buried coming to the surface. For such a small town, there are quite a few suspects in the investigation and it will be difficult to guess the culprit before the end, I was convinced twice I had it figured out, only to be thwarted again!In Walter's safety deposit box is a recipe for applesauce and oatmeal cookies, it seems that he may have been murdered for the recipe, but who would have the most to gain?Although a murder mystery, there is no blood and gore here. It's a book that leaves you thinking, very fast moving and with a wealth of characters that seem to jump out at you from the page, as if they were in the room with you.A lovely touch at the end is Walter's recipe for the cookies (and you don't even have to kill anyone to get it!) There is also a sneak preview for the next book in the Patrick and Grace series. Obviously, Janet Elaine Smith has taken the adage "always leave them wanting more" to heart, because it certainly does that. A very enjoyable book.Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Silent Screams