Synopsis: Jordon, along with a celebrity chef and a confectioner, are tapped to judge a cook-off on a cruise. All the members of her 'family' end up on the cruise, as well; some are actually working while others are simply keeping their partners company. Murder begins with the death of one chef and continues through the head of security and the wife of the confectioner.
Review: Fun to read, this cozy mystery actually has an unexpected twist that makes it rather gritty. ( )

I had a hard time getting into this book and I'm going to blame it on the "remote location" nature of the plot. I'm not a fan of the 'away from home' stories and this one just didn't do it for me as well. The series has likeable interesting characters, and the plot of the murder mystery was clever and very well thought out. I'll admit I suspected who the murderer was early on, but never the reasoning behind it. There ended up being a lot of complexity to the plot by the end of the book.

I'll look for the next book in the series. ( )

Murder For The Halibut is the third book in the A Clueless Cook Mystery series.

Jordan McAllister may just be in over her head in this book. She has been volunteered, more or less, one of three judges for a week long cooking competition aboard the Carnation Queen. At the first nights competition, Chef Stefano Mancini is about to present his signature Halibut dish to the judges, when he falls face fist into it and dies. Shortly after this is learned from Chef Thomas that Mancini was allergic to nuts and it is learned that a small bottle of spices that he was using had ground nuts in it.

The prize going to the winner of this competition is substantial and Jordan wants to know who would go to such lengths to win the coveted prize. Two of the chefs, Marsha and Casey, seem willing to do whatever it takes to win, even giving favors to one of other two judges. Or Chef Thomas who knew of his allergy, but kept quiet until after he died.

The whole gang from Jordan apartment building is along on the cruise, too. They all, in one way or another, help Jordan to uncover just what who is killing who aboard ship,

As always there is a little humor included too. Can't be serious all the time. One of the funniest is read how Jordan will dispose of a bit of sweetbread once she learns what it is. And Alex comes in towards the end to help Jordan wrap things up.

As always, a very entertaining read. Looking forward to the next book.


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