Unjust Desserts

SISTERS IN CRIME REVIEW FOR

UNJUST DESSERTS (ISSN 4588 2003)

Goldie Alexander. Zeus Publications.

http://www.zeus-publications.com

Review by Carmel Shute.

Goldie Alexander's first crime novel has the distinction of being Australia's first full length culinary mystery. And Unjust Desserts fills that role with great aplomb.

The action centres around Olivia Beauman who has started a deli-catering business in the Victorian coastal town of Grevillea.

What starts as a sea-change for Olivia, fresh from a divorce, plunges into a murder mystery as first the wife and then the mistress of local developer and councillor, Harry Oldritch, die after eating her food.

Olivia's deli-foodstore, "Not Just Desserts", is already shaky. It's under threat by Harry Oldritch's new development BrodCom and it's under capitalised so Olivia fears the murder mean the end of her business and her fragile new life.

She's also worried about her daughter who could be mixed up with drugs, and whose boyfriend, a nasty little Yuppy who's balding with a ponytail, is also promoting the BrodCom development. Then there's Olivia's own non-existent love life. She's attracted to the hunky new school principal Eddie Wong, but he's a younger man.

UnJust Desserts is a delicious read with a sufficiently intricate plot and enough well-drawn characters to whet the appetite.

What gives the book strength is Goldie's trenchant insight into the lot of middle-aged women, and not just Olivia. There's Queenie, Harry Oldritch's wife, who's used layers of fat to insulate herself against Harry and the disappointments of the world, and the other women who inhabit Grevillea.

Goldie is not quite right about council planning processes, but my only real niggle is that Olivia doesn't solve the mystery herself, though she is ultimately involved in its denouement. But I'm looking forward to Goldie's next culinary mystery. She knows how to write a page-turner and has the recipe for crime down pat.

SISTERS IN CRIME REVIEW FOR

UNJUST DESSERTS (ISSN 4588 2003)

Goldie Alexander. Zeus Publications.

http://www.zeus-publications.com

Review by Sally Odgers.

Unjust Desserts is a crime story with a difference, set in the Australian coastal-village of Grevillia. Style and atmosphere are immediately and affectionately familiar to anyone who has ever lived in a small town. The characters are believable, from doughty heroine Olivia to sad Queenie and her repulsive husband Harry.

The story-line revolves around Olivia Beaumont's efforts to keep her cafe/deli, Not Just Desserts, afloat. Even before one of her clients dies after eating one of Olivia s curries, there is trouble in the air. Harry Oldrich is determined to become Olivia's sleeping partner and she's just as determined that he won't! A possible development has the townsfolk at loggerheads, and the arrival of an attractive young Australian Chinese teacher named Eddie Wong ruffles quite a few of the more hidebound feathers in the village. Add Detective Richard Brumby as the investigating officer, Olivia s dysfunctional family, a spot of middle aged sex and some cooking, and you have all the ingredients for a home grown puzzle to suit the most jaded palate.

Along the way, Goldie Alexander makes a few sly thrusts at attitudes and suppositions that are sure to have some readers nodding in rueful recognition of their own, or their neighbours, quirks.

The production values of this novel are excellent. The type is clear and easy to read, the editing and proofing well done, and the book is sturdy without any tendency to close while I was still reading!