Review and Giveaway: Do or Diner

Do or Diner (Comfort Food Mystery - Book 1) by Christine Wenger

Publication Date: 08/06/2013
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Obsidian Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 304
ISBN-10: 0451415086
ISBN-13: 978-0451415080

(Received for an honest review from Obsidian Mystery)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, IndieBound

Christine Wenger on the WEB: Website, Facebook, Goodreads

Excerpt from Do or Diner, courtesy of Google Books

Synopsis:

When Trixie Matkowski agrees to take over her aunt’s diner, she pictures lakeside views and delicious comfort food in the small town where she spent summers as a child. But the sweet scene turns sour when someone puts murder on the menu…
 
Trixie is in need of a fresh start away from her cheating ex-husband, but she may be biting off more than she can chew when she moves to upstate New York to run her family’s famed Silver Bullet Diner. Not only is she caught off guard by the small town’s resident heartthrob, Deputy Ty Brisco, but her first health inspection turns into a nightmare…when the inspector keels over in his Blue Plate Special.
 
It seems someone made a deadly addition to an old family recipe, and Trixie is determined to find out whodunit. But between serving up orders and sniffing out clues, she’d better watch her back—or her next meal might be her last.

Thoughts:

Christine Wenger's first cozy mystery is an experiment in one of the languages of love... comfort food. Readers who enjoy a good diner meal will love this book, with it's characteristic "dinerese" language and some hearty characters. Wenger uses a dash of humor and a heaping helping of diner research to give readers a great first book in a new series. The town of Sandy Harbor, New York and the Silver Bullet Diner will quickly find new fans in the cozy genre. If you like a good mystery and a good meal this one should be right up your alley!

Christine Wenger is no light-weight when it comes to writing. She's had several romances to her credit before she tried her hand at writing her first cozy. Do or Diner is the first book in her new Comfort Food Mystery series and I'll have to say, she did a fantastic job with it. Her characters are realistic but fun. The diner setting is somewhat unique in the genre and full of possibilities. Wenger uses a deft hand in writing the mystery aspects of this book, making them not only hard to decipher but very problematic for heroine Trixie Matowski. 

Sandy Harbor in upstate New York was a perfect setting for a mystery set in a diner. Diner's have always been a passion of mine. I love to find them when traveling and getting that perfect plate of ooey-gooey comfort food. The kind that reminds you of grandma's kitchen, full bellies and relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. It's obvious that Wenger has done her homework with the Silver Bullet. She even goes so far as to use a language that's all it's own... dinerese. I love all of the quirky references and ways the waitresses let the cooks know what they needed. A "cowboy on a raft" was a western omelet for instance. It gave a real authenticity to the book and added to the readers overall feeling of comfort and enjoyment.

Wenger's characters were also a real selling point of this book. I loved the heroine, Trixie and her messed up love life. She came home after a botched relationship with a deputy. Her families diner is on the verge of collapse and now she has a murder to deal with. I thought she was pretty calm under pressure and just as curious as you would expect from any good amateur sleuth. I loved her interactions with other characters and the way she plunged into to learning the diner business as well as finding the killer. Ty Brisco and the other characters in the book were all written with the same easy and pleasure Wenger uses throughout the book.

The mystery was no unexpected but it was definitely written with a flourish. I liked the health inspector angle and the fact that others in the town might want to see the Silver Bullet fail. The victim was not a saint to be sure and it took me a while to catch on to who the killer might be. I like the kind of book that keeps me guessing until the end and this one was definitely that kind of book. Lots of suspects and motives and just the right amount of wrong turns before the big reveal.

An excellent first book in the series. Wenger doesn't spend too much time on background nor does she leave too much out. A good balance of the present and the future of the series, make this one a must read!

Do or Diner is available TODAY at your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

Christine Wenger has worked in the criminal justice field and written romances for Harlequin. She’s always loved to read cozy mysteries, and is thrilled to bring the beauty of upstate New York to life in this series.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Do or Diner by Christine Wenger.

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US Addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, August 20th.

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