Review & Giveaway: Pie à la Murder by Melinda Wells

Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages

published July 5th 2011 by Penguin Group (USA)

ISBN

0425242218 (ISBN13: 9780425242216)

primary language English

Della Carmichael hosts her own cooking show, In the Kitchen with Della, on cable tv. Along with this endeavor, she also runs a culinary business with Eileen O'Hara, her honorary daughter.

Nicholas D'Martino has been the main man in her life for the last year but it seems he has kept one big secret from Della. He springs the surprise of an 18 year old daughter,Celeste, on her only because Celeste is  coming to stay with him in his home in Santa Monica.

Celeste, quite the cosmoplitan young lady,has been living in high style, with her mother in London and Vienna. Now, she wants to be an actress and where better to go but California? Neither her mother nor Nick is thrilled with her career choice and after living among the Hollywood types for years, Nick has good reason.

So, when Alex Redding, photographer to the stars, takes a risqué photo of Celeste, Nick is furious.When he goes to confront Alex, he finds him with his head bashed in. Ooooh, not a pretty sight; obviously, someone else is not a fan of Alex either!

Even though Della is not too far behind Nick when he finds the body, the police insist he still had enough time to commit the crime and now he is their prime suspect. His credible motive is sufficient for them. Della is convinced Nick doesn't have it in him to be a killer despite any strong motive. There must be someone else in Alex's life with a murderous grudge; but with some conflicting alibis, it's confusing. Della needs to stir the suspect pot a little and see what shakes out. Will she be in time to save her man?

Although this is the 4th book in the Della Cooks series, I jumped right in and didn't feel like I was missing anything vital about the characters. Della and Nick are both credible and likeable. The setting is great and that always adds some nice ambiance to the plot. Their romance part of the book just enhanced the story and showed them as normal human beings. I did figure out the culprit but it took me until close to the end. Good job, Melinda! Lots of recipes included at the end. 4****

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Berkley in exchange for my honest opinion.

To celebrate this month's release of Pie a La Murder, Berkley is allowing me to host a giveaway for one copy of the book. Open to US only and deadline to enter is July 30th at 5 PM (est).  Please be sure to leave an e mail address in your comment. Bonus entries available for this contest are as follows:

+2 for being a follower old or new. Just remind me how you follow and under what name.
+3 for blogging or tweeting about the giveaway. Leave me a link, please.

Good luck!