Hayley Snow is a food writer for the magazine Key Zest. Her mother arrives in Key West, Florida and goes with her to the Key West Loves Literature seminar. Hayley is hoping to meet Jonah Barrows, a well-known food writer, but things don't exactly turn out the way she plans. She finds Jonah - but unfortunately it's in a fountain and he's dead.

When the police arrive they're surprised to find Hayley once again involved in a murder. But she's not going to be put into the hot seat again and is determined to find out who murdered the mouthy critic before she's accused of the crime...

Okay, I was hoping the second in this series would be better than the first. Why? Because - and I recap here a bit - in the first book Hayley was the main suspect in the murder of a woman she only met twice! Again, why? Because her ex-boyfriend told the police she must have done it. Never mind that said ex asked her to move in with him when he'd never asked anyone before; never mind that she had no reason to kill the woman aside from the fact that Hayley caught them in bed together; never mind that Hayley had no history of violence in her past; well, you get the idea...

Anyway...Hayley, of course, finds Jonah and asks for help getting him out of the pool. When the police arrive they begin questioning her - no, let me amend that: they begin accusing her of the murder. They ask very pointed questions about how well she knew the victim, etc. - pretty much treating her like she's a suspect in the murder. Basically it's the same book as the first one just with different names.

Also, since she's supposed to be dating the homicide detective, I was a little taken aback when he said he heard about the murder and wasn't surprised she was involved. Say what? He's dating her and he thinks she's capable of murder? What is it with the men of Key West? First her ex-boyfriend and now her current one? Neither one believes her innocent even though evidence (such as it is) is flimsy at best? Shouldn't they automatically be on her side? Not in this series, I guess.

Why on earth should I bother with this series? There are enough series out there where I'm not going to do so. Sorry, but this one just isn't a winner with me when the second book is too close to the first book to be almost a rehash. ( )

For whatever reason, this book was just o.k. for me. I didn't hate it or have overly strong feelings about it at all. It was just o.k. I like the characters, I think they are well written and interesting, but the story itself felt flat and I found myself skimming a lot. Not sure if I'll read the next one. ( )

This series of cozy mysteries set in Key West are delightfully silly. ( )

This deliciously entertaining book based in Florida, is a murder mystery taking place over the duration of a conference of food critics and cookbook authors. The attendee characters run a gamut of restless, snobbish, overzealous, and friendly, but all have secrets buried and the star speaker has just announced that there should be clarity and transparency in the writings of all, basing it particularly on transparency of who the original recipes come from. One might expect this to be a reasonable statement, but he goes on to naming names and explicitly states he will expose all their secrets over the next few days.

At first glance this seems like it will be a high-class conference, but once we get into the meat of the book, comfort meals are more readily embraced when the arrogant yet esteemed food critic, star of the conference, ends up dead. How many cooks cherish their grandmothers' recipes I wonder? It seems that not only traditional home cooking revolves around these treasured memories, but some of the cookbooks also feature original recipes from the past, but whose past?

This is a question that runs through the story and appears to be related to a further death. Was it murder or suicide?

Our plucky food critic reporter, Hayley Snow, on her first major assignment for "Key Zest" to the conference, befriends some of these authors and food critics, and of course, is the first to discover not one but two bodies. Accompanied by her mother with whom she has had a volatile relationship for years, these two play off each other beautifully. As their relationship changes during her mother's visit, the partnership becomes serious yet playful as they involve themselves in solving these murders, a matter that is causing some major stress for Hayley, particularly when her mother goes missing, and in her blooming relationship with the very handsome and very protective Detective Nate Bransford. But how can they leave this alone when one of their long-time friends is being investigated for murder?

I really enjoyed reading this book, the second in the Key West Food Critic mystery series. It is well-written with good solid characterizations, great descriptions of place, and as a bonus a few recipes are included which I'm sure I'm going to enjoy as well. I'm sure this series by Lucy Burdette will soon be on the menu for many readers. ( )