Book Review of FATALLY FLAKY by Diane Mott Davidson

As some of you know, I keep one foot in the mystery writing world and I love to read anything that has to do with weddings. I especially love checking out other mysteries involving weddings to see if the author got it right. I have read plenty of novels featuring mysteries that miss the mark completely and make me spend most of the book thinking "that would never happen at a real wedding." So I was excited to see how one of my favorite mystery authors, Diane Mott Davidson, would handle brides. She has dealt with weddings in previous books but this one features a wedding cake on the cover so it seemed to up the stakes.

One of the things I love about Davidson's books are the rich characters and the relationships she has developed between them. The book centers around caterer Goldy Schultz and the antics she gets into catering various parties in a small town in Colorado. This is her fifteenth book so I have come to love Goldy's vegetarian assistant chef, Julian; her wacky best friend, Marla; her son, Arch; and her lovable cop husband, Tom. The mysteries are always fun but it is the characters that readers come back for.

FATALLY FLAKY centers around a wedding for a true bridezilla named Billie. Her name should say it all, of course. This bridezilla gives any one I've seen a run for her money. She is awful! But Goldy manages to handle everything bridezilla throws her way (including changing the wedding venue two days out!) along with a couple of dead bodies and solves the mystery without spilling a single drop of champagne.

If you like mysteries and reading about wedding craziness, this book will keep you turning the pages. FATALLY FLAKY is as delectable as it is deadly. Plus, you get recipes in the back of the book for the dishes that Goldy whips up. Fatally Flaky cookies, anyone? I could use about a dozen of them to get me through my wedding this weekend!

Laura