Gone with a Handsomer Man

March 7, 2011
West's diverting debut plays nice variations on several mystery subgenres—Southern, romantic, screwball, culinary. Teeny Templeton, aspiring Charleston, S.C., pastry chef, is looking forward to her marriage to Bing Jackson, until she catches him playing nude badminton with a pair of lovely ladies. Teeny's throwing unripe peaches at the three results in an assault charge, probation, and a restraining order—problems that pale after Teeny finds Bing dead a few days later and she becomes the prime murder suspect. Distinctive characters include hunky lawyer Cooper O'Malley, who's attracted to Teeny; Bing's eccentric stepmother, Dora Jackson, who befriends Teeny; schemer Natalie Lockhart, one of Bing's badminton partners; and crass private detective Red Butler Hill. One of the book's best touches is the "Templeton tradition" of concocting delicious recipes with lethal ingredients—a tradition that Teeny carries on with creations like "You'll Get Yours Peach Icing." Readers will look forward to more helpings of Teeny Templeton. Author tour.

March 1, 2011

In West's culinary mystery debut, an amateur pastry chef is the prime suspect in her fiancé's murder.

After a hardscrabble childhood, Teeny Templeton has a bright future ahead. Engaged to Charleston real-estate mogul Bing Jackson, she's determined to bake her own wedding cake. But when her cake-making class is cancelled, she returns home to Bing's McMansion to spot him playing nude badminton with two gorgeous models. After pelting the participants with unripe peaches, Teeny winds up in jail. Miss Dora, Bing's embittered stepmother, posts her bail and takes her under her wing. Apparently, Bing inherited his late father's penchant for philandering. Dora, a society interior designer with a passion for pink, installs Teeny in the historic Spencer-Jackson House, which Dora and Bing have been wrangling over since his father's death. Bing doesn't show for an attempted make-up date at a local tavern, but while imbibing peach-tinis, Teeny encounters high-school sweetheart Coop O'Malley, who broke her heart when he unexpectedly dumped her for his ex-girlfriend. Coop, a lawyer, undertakes to solve Teeny's legal problems and, perhaps, her romantic ones. Bing is found dead of gunshot wounds at his home. Teeny was at the scene—someone tased her from behind, and the murder weapon disappeared. Now she's under suspicion and 24-hour surveillance by police as well as by Bing's eccentric sister, who has shown up in the motor home she shares with multiple cats to contest Bing's will, which left everything to Teeny. Money means nothing to Teeny—she wants only to recapture the man who got away, that is if his estranged English aristocrat archeologist wife will let her. Threats, forged documents, a crusty private detective, adorable pooches and the Templeton book of poison-optional desserts are just for starters. The plot is of the "Just when things couldn't get any worse" variety, but the zaniness seems forced, as does the comedy.

All the food mystery staples are duly trotted out, but the soufflé is DOA.

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May 1, 2011
Wests sixth novel and first mystery bears the southern sensibility, feisty humor, and culinary focus of her previous work. When pastry chef Teeny Templeton comes home to find her rich, naked fianc' playing badminton with two equally naked skanks, she goes a little bit nuts and ends up lobbing peaches at the miscreants, which results in her being charged with assault and hit with a restraining order. Needless to say, the wedding is off, but before Teeny can even process the bad news, her fianc' turns up dead, and she becomes the prime suspect in his murder. With the help of a charming lawyer, an eccentric relative, a gruff PI, and an elegant Brit, Teeny manages to mount a surprisingly robust defense, but that doesnt stop her from dreaming of baking some lethal treats (e.g., Youll Get Yours Peach Icing) for the folks who have it in for her. Aimed at the same audience that enjoys Joanne Flukes Hannah Swensen mysteries, Wests lighthearted, entertaining novel has all the flair of a screwball comedy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)