Death of a Kitchen Diva cover art

Death of a Kitchen Diva

Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery Series, Book 1

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Death of a Kitchen Diva

By: Lee Hollis
Narrated by: Tara Ochs
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £14.63

Buy Now for £14.63

About this listen

Welcome to Bar Harbor, Maine, one of New England's most idyllic coastal towns. But as new food writer Hayley Powell is about to find out, the occasional murder can take a bite out of seaside bliss....

Single mom Hayley Powell is barely keeping her leaking roof over her head in Bar Harbor, Maine, when her boss at the Island Times gives her a new assignment - taking over the paper's food column. Hayley's not sure she has the chops - she's an office manager, not a writer, even if her friends clamor for her mouth-watering potluck dishes. But the extra income is tempting, and Hayley's chatty first column is suddenly on everyone's menu - with one exception.

When rival food writer Karen Appelbaum is found dead facedown in a bowl of Hayley's creamy clam chowder, all signs point to Hayley. To clear her name, she'll have to enlist some help, including her BFFs, a perpetually pregnant lobster woman, and a glamorous real estate agent. As she whips up a list of suspects, Hayley discovers a juicy secret about the victim - and finds herself in a dangerous mix with a cold-blooded killer.

©2012 Rick Copp and Holly Simason (P)2021 Tantor Amateur Sleuths Cosy Culinary Adventures Detective Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction Maine
All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed this book. The only thing I found annoying was the recipes. They were written as an article in the news paper, so had an anecdotal little story (or a mini story) of why she chose that recipe to publish before going on to tell you how to make the dish. Luckily it happened at the end of each chapter, so it was easy to skip, especially as there were seven recipes. The story was written unusually too, it starts with the cops turning up at Hayley's door to arrest her, then it goes back in time to explain why, so you had some idea of what was going on but it took a while to catch up. The mystery it's self was good but I had worked out who the killer was, despite there being a number of possible suspects. I did like the characters, especially the sidekicks and with a number of humorous situations it's a series I would join again.
Hayley as a single mother needs a raise to pay for ever increasing expenses. With two newspapers in town her boss is struggling to keep the paper running and instead of a raise offers to promote her from office manager to reporter of the food column. Writing an article for the first time is scary but sharing recipes is easy for somebody who likes to cook. That is until the reporter from the rival newspaper declares war, literally. Things get even worse when Hayley discovers her dead body and becomes the prime suspect. Everybody in town thinks she's guilty so it up to her and her two best friends to find the real killer.
I liked the narrator, she gave each character there own unique voice.

Cooking up a mystery

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Charming escapism fun, likeable characters, delish food, cosy small town setting, looking forward to seconds instalment already.

Great fun

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.