Reviews for "The Chef Who Died Sautéing"

by Lois Armes Lawrence (Texas)

Some time ago a friend asked me, “Do you believe in ghosts?” Wanting to give an honest answer yet expecting her to laugh at me, I compromised by saying, “Let’s say I don’t disbelieve!” So, if you want to experience a fascinating read, suspend your disbelief and take a journey through The Chef Who Died Sautéing! This intriguing, educational, exciting, and fun-packed book will keep you laughing but also wondering “who done it”!

The co-authors, Honora Finkelstein and Susan Smily, concoct a knowledgeable amount of Jungian psychology, Kabbalistic philosophy, and psychic experiences in a delicious ragout adventure sprinkled with a liberal amount of spice and wit.

While teaching English literature, writing, and poetry at George Mason University, Ariel Quigley suffers the loss of her young fiancé from a bizarre accident. She decides to move into Bernice Wise’s eighteenth-century, Colonial-style home in Alexandria, Virginia. Wise, a practicing Jungian psychotherapist, encourages her friend Ariel to pursue her psychic experiences to combat the loss of her loved one.

Written in the first person, this story carries the message that Ariel Quigley is on this earth to tell a good story and to teach what it feels like to be psychic.

When a police officer asks her, “How does this psychic stuff work?” she responds, “That’s a good question . . . I think it may be different for every psychic. I get hits in a lot of different ways. Like for instance, I have precognitive dreams sometimes, and . . . I’m given some information to follow up on, even though I often can’t interpret the clues right away. So what the dreams really do is put me on guard. Then if a situation comes up that seems to fit the warning, I’m more able to deal with it rationally.”

Ariel fails to tell him about another experience in the pantry at Bernice’s house: “I saw a large container of ground cinnamon just at eye level and moved toward it, but as I did so, I felt the same filmy thickness to the air that I’d felt out by the garden shed. I stepped back and carefully reached a hand into the “thick” place. It was a little bit cool and felt similar to the impression I’d had out in the shed. And I remembered the hand on my shoulder from yesterday afternoon.”

Bernice takes Ariel to an up-scale restaurant, The Riviera Café, where she meets a motley group of characters: John, the six-foot-tall, handsome Chinese head waiter, part owner, who entertains the customers with imitations of everyone from Bogart to John Cleese; Reggie and Penny, the other two owners; Mike, the dishwasher, also Bernice’s son; Peter, the sous-chef, newly promoted from dishwasher; and the world-famous Chef Daniel Lafayette.

More is simmering in the kitchen of this restaurant than the scrumptious-sounding bouillabaisse that would be insulted were it called “fish stew”! Someone is cooking up a murder!

Like the sprite in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Ariel balances the action of rational, down-to-earth detection with her psychic sixth-sense that brings a new dimension to solving a murder.

Who is the ghost or spirit that tries to contact Ariel? Will this entity help her to solve the mystery of the murder? These questions and others will keep any reader awake turning pages. Too afraid to go to sleep? Well, maybe, but remember it’s only a story!

by Lois Armes Lawrence, co-author under the name Virginia Lee of The Aunt Louise Mysteries,
Quenchless Fire, Déjà Vu, and Nantucket Ghost Writer

Caroline Craig (Virginia) On Amazon: May 14, 2006

Outstanding New Series,

Having just finished reading "The Chef Who Died Sauteing," I can wholeheartedly recommend what promises to be an outstanding new series - the Ariel Quigley mysteries! Two talented authors (Honora Finkelstein and Susan Smily) have combined forces to create characters that are truly human - with determination, courage, compassion, intelligence, humor and sorrow. These are people I would love to meet in person and would be proud to call my friends (except for the murderer, of course!).

The plot is entertaining and complex but neither too complicated to follow nor too simple to bore. Adding to the entertainment factor is the mix of metaphysical overtones, such as the Tarot cards and a parallel plot in the past, concerning the ghost of another murder victim. It is as believable in this story as I have ever considered it to be and has stimulated an interest in reading and learning more about the metaphysical world.

A bonus for me is that the setting of the story is in Alexandria, Virginia (which is local) so I can actually visualize in my mind the locations they reference which adds to my involvement in and enjoyment of the story. (Heck, I can even visualize the restaurant - which doesn't REALLY exist!) I am eagerly awaiting the next installment in this series and anticipate getting to know the characters better as they grow and learn more about themselves and their abilities. This is a "must read" for readers of mysteries in general and cozies in particular. Great work, ladies! [The web site is fabulous, as well! I love it!] Brava! Encore!

by Christine Knight (Illinois) on Amazon.com
May 26, 2006

Superb! Our compliments to the Chefs! *Burp!*

The Chef Who Died Sautéing is a full course mystery of flavorful characters, police procedurals, human psychology, and psychic phenomenon. The precise placement of clues are all honed as a place setting at a fine eatery, and the subject matter blends a variety of tastes perfectly balanced to keep the diner entertained in exquisite anticipation of the "just desserts". Finkelstein and Smily are your chefs of the evening, and this is one menu that won't have you leaving feeling empty!

I and my family eagerly await the next installments in what surely will prove to be the next must reads on our list the moment they are released! Ariel Quigley and Bernice Wise are characters who have captured the imaginations of my whole family. We are eager to curl up together and explore our love of mystery, ghost stories, and the intricacies of the lives of these two budding detectives.

Rae Stabosz on Amazon.com
June 16, 2006

Like a foreign flavor - strange on the palate at first but surprisingly satisfying.,

     I met the authors of The Chef Who Died Sauteing at the 2006 Malice Domestic convention in D.C. They were outgoing, delightful, and drew attention to their offering in a most creative way -- they dressed in chef's whites both days I attended the conference, and they introduced themselves easily. As a writer myself, I like to reward any author who exhibits a get-up-and-go attitude towards getting her book known. In today's business, a single published book can fall into the pool of novels like a drop of water, to be swallowed whole. I bought the book because I really appreciated how the authors had gone that extra mile to promote it.

    All that said, I had a hard time getting into it. Ariel Quigley, the detective, is a college level English teacher who has a strong psychic streak and a penchant for attracting manifestations of ghostly spirits. This threw me off at first, as did her embrace of Tarot card readings and "dowsing", because Ariel's (and the book's) point of view was that these things, admittedly looked at askance in much of society, are very real. I have a great resistance towards characters who are "endearingly flakey" or "new agey".

     Also I had a hard time keeping the stories of the characters straight, because so many are introduced in the first chapters, before the murder occurs.

     Then I noticed something. I noticed that these characters were not brittle, not sarcastic, they all presented a face to the world that was what I call realistic. The authors seem to understand that the face we present to the world, if different from the face we present to ourselves, is not a matter of hypocrisy but a matter of negotiating the waters of social intercourse, never easy for anyone. The characters is this book ring true, although occasionally their mundane nature makes me want more cookie-cutter good and evil. But that is my loss. I am now savoring the book as I near the end. It has been a long time since I've read a murder mystery where the other characters care about the victim. Ariel only met the victim once, she saw his the light side and his dark side, yet she cares about him as for any fellow human and gets involved in not just solving the mystery but helping the other characters integrate this man's death into their own lives.

     Also the psychic phenomena is not overdone, and has its own rewards. Jungian psychology and the power of symbols and dreams, for which I have a definite passion, go very well with the inner workings of the psychic detective.

     I recommend this if you want a non-snarky, people-affirming murder mystery with a good plot and a core of humanity to it. And the descriptions of the meals in The Riviera, an upscale French restaurant which is the setting for much of the book, will have you reaching for a glass of fine wine and perhaps a freshly washed strawberry or two.

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Reviews of The Chef Who Died Sautéing