Death by Chocolate-what a way to go (Death by Chocolate - G.A. McKevett)

Member Name: blackviolets

Product:	Death by Chocolate - G.A. McKevett
Date:	01/07/09 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good storyline and characters.

Disadvantages: not enough mentioning of chocolate.

It appears that even the word chocolate on the front of a book cover can draw my attention. Sadly this novel doesn't feature it as much as I'd of liked it to.

Not much is known about G A McKevett as this isn't her real name. Appareantly she is already a well known author. I won't deny that this has confused me a bit. Surely if she is well known a pseudonym (think that's right!) isn't needed.

Death by Chocolate is a classic murder mystery. I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that there is a murder. This is pretty obvious thanks to the title, the blurb on the back cover and that it happens fairly early on.

Private investigator Savannah Reid has been called upon to protect Lady Eleanor - The Queen of Chocolate, who has been receiving threatening letters.

Disappointed as how different Eleanor if from her TV cook personality Savannah begins to understand why anybody would want her dead. And what with her younger sister who she isn't all that close to staying with her, it makes things all the more difficult.

The great thing about this story is that there are quite a few characters who would have had a good enough reason to be rid of the drunk, vile spoken old woman.

Louise, her daughter, who clearly hates her and is more concerned about her inheritance. Marie, the maid, poorly paid and poorly treated just like Sydney, the butler. Then there's Kaitlin and her partner-Eleanors ex husband and Martin her accountant.

The only problem with this book was the way in which Eleanor Maxwell was murdered. Maybe it's just my grizzly nature but I was expecting somethinkg like being pushed into a massive cauldron of boiling chocolate.

The actual way she dies is a bit of a let down.

The book was easy to read and I did struggle to put it down. I got my copy from my library but I believe that a few shops still sell the Savannah Reid Collection. You can still get it from Amazon for under £2 but this is from the marketplace section.

The way in which Lady Eleanor acts towards the people around her makes it very easy to dislike her and not uphold too much sympathy towards her. In fact the only decent thing about her is how well she treats her Grandaughter Gilly.

It's also very easy to like Savannah, clearly a larger than life lady.

I would recommend you read this book. It combines a mixture of murder and intrigue, along with jealousy and family rivalries.

Summary: .