Death on the Menu by Lucy Burdette is the eighth book in the “Key West Food Critic” mystery series. Publisher: Crooked Lane Books, coming August 7, 2018

When a killer strikes just before flan time, beloved food critic Hayley Snow is forced to sniff out the killer before someone else bites the dust.

Hayley Snow, fiery food critic for Key Zest magazine, has just landed a ticket to one of the most prestigious events in Key West: a high-brow three-day conference at the Harry Truman Little White House. Even though she’ll be working the event helping her mother’s fledgling catering business, there’s plenty of spicy gossip to go around. But just before her mother’s decadent flan is put to the test, Key West’s most prized possession, Hemingway’s Nobel prize gold medal for The Old Man and the Sea, is discovered stolen from its case.

Unsavory suspicions point to Gabriel, a family friend and one of the new busboys working the event, who mysteriously goes missing moments later. Anxious to clear his name, Gabriel’s family enlists Hayley to help find him, but right as they begin their search, his body is found stabbed to death in the storeroom.

Hayley has no shortage of suspects to interrogate and very little time before the killer adds another victim to the menu in national bestselling author Lucy Burdette’s delectable eighth Key West Food Critic mystery, Death on the Menu.

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When one of the workers Janet hires is first accused of theft and then murdered, his family implores Hayley to look into this and of course Hayley gets involved in yet another murder investigation where she has to trend lightly so as to keep her relationship with Nathan on the up and up, with him being a homicide detective.

I love the comfortable tone and the pacing which is on par with how well this story is being told. The mystery was staged to give all the main characters a chance to strut their stuff in their interactions with one another and the crime at hand. From Janet to Hayley to Miss Gloria, all played pivotal roles that brings it all together in a tightly woven and well executed drama that illustrates the depth and character development in this delightfully charming series. The author did a great job with the list of suspects, clues that were tossed around for the reader to see and a few red herrings to keep us on our toes. The narrative was visually descriptive with dialogue that was both engaging and entertaining and scenery that catered to the small town of Key West. It was fun watching Hayley take control and proving once again, she has the chops for sleuthing and being a food critic where delicious recipes were interspersed throughout the telling of this multi-plot whodunit. This was a fun book and I’m so happy the series is back and look forward to spending more time with Hayley and her friends.

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FTC Full Disclosure – I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher.