Nobody's best effort.....

Diane Mott Davidson's "Goldy Bear" series is the most uneven of any of the contemporary cozy detective series. A few are absolutely excellent, a couple are perfectly dreadful, and the majority are spread throughout the middle somewhere, neither remarkably good or bad. Except for the recipes. Those are ALWAYS good.

This one's in the middle, tending toward the 'not so good' side. For one thing, there's very little catering going on, which is the key element for me, anyway, the part I most enjoy. Not only that, there's not even much murder going on. What we have, instead, is Goldy holding forth, for dozens of minutes at a time, all about the evils of her former husband, "the Jerk". That's half the book. The other half is Goldy obsessing about her annoying son again, "Arch", certainly the most spoiled child in all of literature. There are times I swear she's just watching the kid -- who must be in his early teens -- minute by minute, to make sure he draws another breath. Enough, already! Goldy and 'the Jerk' have been divorced for several years, Goldy herself is remarried. At times I felt like taking her by the shoulders, shaking her, and saying, 'Get on with it!' Forget him! He's gone!" There's a real pathology there, her hanging unto all the hurts from that past relationship, ready to repeat them all, again and again, at the drop of a hat to anyone who will listen. And in an auciobook, that would be us.

I won't get started on "Arch" the son again. Suffice it to say that she's convinced both herself and Arch that the world revolves around him, and that whatever else is going on in the world -- or in their own lives -- her first obligation (which she actually says, believe it of not) is to make sure that he's happy. I can't wait to see what prison he'll be sent to when he grows up. That mother-son relationship is sick, just sick.

Even Barbara Rosenblat doesn't make this one come alive. She's my favorite female reader, and in other series (Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon books especially) she just shines and makes each book much better than it would have been, had someone else been narrating. But even she falls short this time -- not her best, either. Goldy is just annoying in this book and there isn't much the narrator can do about it.

On the upside, there is SOME catering, and that's always fun. The recipes are good -- in fact, at one point Goldy was making a cheese sandwich for someone -- fresh baked brioche, chevre, fresh tomatoes and pesto -- that sounded so good I had to run to the grocery store so I could make one of my own. Delish!

If you haven't read any of the "Goldy Bear" books before, don't start with this one. Others are much better -- actually the best of the lot is the very first, 'Dying for Chocolate', also available on Audible. This book just isn't anybody's best work.

5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

abuse

How dare the Goldie character makes it seem okay to get beat up by the kids father. She hides it from the kid and allows him to use emotional black mail. That child needs to know it is never okay! Very disappointed.

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And Life Goes On

If you consider that I fell asleep with ear buds in my ears a fact that I couldn't stop listening you'd be right.

I have always enjoyed Miss G's attitude toward life. I know when I listen more often I tend to mimic her bravery and "can do" fierceness.

Ms Davidson has captured this cast of characters and bootleg them up. She just takes the top off to let the aroma of suspense and mystery float around the room long enough to begin her next book. As inspiration wans the bottle opens.

I can't wait to read the next one. You can read out of order but only by one or two books. More than that and you could miss an entire character.

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The. only Goldie that was not good

I LOVE Goldie mysteries, but this one I could not finish. I tried. I had to go back to rehear sections just to stay on track, and finally gave up and let it go.

I think part of it was that this cosy mystery, for me, is about the characters, and and comes with a good story but this time there was not enough interplay that was juicy and fun between her husband and herself, nor her sidekick caterer, and then there was the whole abuse narrative...

Maybe it is me, but I don't think so. I'd skip this one.

Barbara Rosenblat may have even been a bit bored by this story. She is always great but she felt ho-hum in this one.

Grilling Indeed!

Always enjoy following Goldy's adventures. Rosenblatt narration is excellent making individual characters come to life.

pretty good

pretty good for fluff mystery but I have to say the character of her son is super annoying and tries my patience lol.

Solid storyline, but our heroine is a pushover

I love Diane Mott Davidson’s books, but the way she accepts the apparent kick me sign tattooed on her back is so frustrating. Also, when is she going to put her son in his proper place?

good book

I have this book with a different narrator, Barbara Rosenblat has done so many of these books, she real grows on you with her personality and depth. also, there is no music between chapters!!! the rest of the review is below...

the music was annoying. good storyline, and well thought out plot. the main character lucked into solving the crime, and again, spent too much time talking to the murderer to have a psychology degree.

Not One of Her Best

I was part way through this book when I realized that I had already read the abridged version a few years ago. What the heck, I thought, let's do it. However, I cannot relate to a character who, after all these years, cannot see her way past the abuse of her ex-husband. I also strongly resent letting her son talk to her that way just so he can still have a good opinion of his father. I will listen to the next one in the series with some trepidation.

Degrees of abuse

Enjoyable listen as the previous books. The story was a little thin but it came together in the end. My main complaint is how the son follows the father in abusing the mother. It may not be physical, but mental and verbal abuse is just as bad and someone should be teaching that lesson. Over all we enjoyed listening to Barbara Rosenblats narration. On to "Prime Cut".