Of Mushrooms and Matrimony (A Tish Tarragon Mystery)
by Amy Patricia Meade
About Of Mushrooms and Matrimony
Of Mushrooms and Matrimony (A Tish Tarragon Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Setting – Virginia
Severn House; Main edition (January 3, 2023)
Hardcover : 224 pages
ISBN-10 : 144830654X
ISBN-13 : 978-1448306541
Digital ASIN : B0B8ZMBLCL
Tish Tarragon is catering for a wedding, but the weekend goes from sweet to sour when a guest at the venue is poisoned.
Literary caterer and owner of Cookin’ the Books cafe Tish Tarragon is pushing thoughts of her impending eviction aside to prepare an appetizing welcome buffet for a wedding weekend at Abbingdon Green Bed and Breakfast. While there, Tish witnesses one of the guests, controversial TV chef, and restaurant critic, Gunner Randall, threatening staff after missing breakfast and making do with a mushroom omelet.
When Randall is found dead the following day, it soon becomes clear that poisoned mushrooms were behind his demise. With no shortage of potential suspects and motives, can Tish and her new beau, Sheriff Clemson Reade, uncover who was enraged enough with the unsavory star to silence him for good?
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Literary caterer and owner of Cookin’ the Books cafe Tish Tarragon has lost her lease on her home and her business but she has one last catering job. A wedding weekend Abbingdon Green Bed and Breakfast. While setting up a fabulous welcome buffet she sees one of the guests complaining that the B&B’s breakfast hours end too early and demanding to be served. With him being a tv chef and restaurant critic the last thing she needs is a bad review so the owner quickly whips up a mushroom omelet to placate the man.
The next day the controversial critic is found dead. It appears he ingested some poisonous mushrooms, so the owner of the B&B finds herself high on the suspect list, but others could have fed him the deadly mushrooms too. Sheriff Clemson Reade and Tish are on the case but she still needs to be sure her catering gig goes off without a hitch.
This is the first book in the series that I have read but the author did an excellent job of making me feel right at home. I really like that Tish is a consultant for the police and that after spending so much time with Sheriff Clemson Reade a romance between them has blossomed. They do seem like a perfect match. Her friend Jules is a real treasure. I loved him! Her other friend Mary Jo appears to have gone through her own drama but has come through it strong with the help of her friends. Celestine works with Tish and has opened her home to Mary Jo and her daughter. There is a very strong bond between Tish, Jules, Mary Jo, and Celestine that I am sure was built over the course of the series. All the characters felt true to life and I enjoyed meeting them.
A strong subplot throughout the story is about Tish being evicted from her home and business which included a cafe due to breaking up with her landlord. I don’t know a lot about Schuyler but he appears to not excel at being a boyfriend, landlord, or mayor. Tish is better off without him but he has put her in a terrible position. So in addition to hunting down a killer, she is trying to find a place to live and a new home for her businesses.
The mystery is very complicated because Chef Gunner Randall ate a heck of a lot of mushrooms within the right timeframe. Tish and Reade visit every place the deceased critic visited but were unable to eliminate anyone. It was quite entertaining to ferret through the clues right along with them. I was not totally surprised though when the killer was revealed. I had a little inkling during the story that this person needed a closer look.
The final chapter was fantastic and filled with feel-good moments. I really enjoy it when an author leaves their characters in a good place with a notion of exciting things to come.
Of Mushrooms and Matrimony
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About Amy Patricia Meade
Author of the critically acclaimed Marjorie McClelland Mysteries, Vermont Country Living Mysteries, and Tish Tarragon Mysteries, Amy Patricia Meade is a native of Long Island, NY, where she cut her teeth on classic films and books featuring Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown.
After stints as an Operations Manager for a document imaging company and as a freelance technical writer, Amy left the bright lights of New York City and headed north to pursue her creative writing career amidst the idyllic beauty of Vermont’s Green Mountains.
After five years living in Bristol, England, Amy now resides in upstate New York.
When not writing, Amy spends her time working for her musician husband, watching classic films, testing new recipes, belly dancing, and cleaning cat hair from her lap.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Sounds like a great cozy.