A Dash of Death by Michelle Hillen Klump is the debut of A Cocktails and Catering Mysteries. I thought the cozy mystery contained good writing and it has an interesting concept. An investigative reporter who switches gears after being dumped by her fiancé. Samantha created homemade bitters as wedding favors. In order to get rid of her stash, her friends come up with a great solution. Samantha creates cocktails using her bitters for one of the homes on the Highlands Historic Home Tour plus she is selling her cherry-vanilla bitters. The evening goes swimmingly until one of the guests dies after drinking one of Samantha’s cocktails. The man’s glass is found with an oleander blossom in it. Oleanders may be beautiful, but they are deadly. To make matters worse, the victim’s wife is suing Samantha for $8 million dollars. Samantha needs to use her reporting skills to investigate the murder and clear her name. I like the concept of a reporter turning mixologist who also makes her own bitters. We get to meet Samantha’s besties, Beth and Marisa. Of course, Samantha’s ex-fiancé, Greg keeps popping up. We also get to meet David Dwyer, an attorney, who helps Samantha with her legal problems. There seem to be some sparks between lawyer and client. The characters lacked development. They were also dull (and flat). There was no quirkiness or humor. The whodunit had a unique form of murder. When I first arrived in Florida when I was twelve, my aunt informed me of two things: avoid the red fire ants (their bite is painful) and the second was not to pick the oleander flowers. There were a couple of suspects in the victim’s death. Misdirection tries to keep readers from identifying the guilty party. There is a dramatic reveal that takes care of any lingering questions. I kept hoping for a good twist. The mystery was predictable, and it was a snap to solve. I wish Samantha had not been so wishy washy. As an investigative reporter, I thought Samantha would dive into the case. I expected her to be eager to clear her name and find the guilty party. I also did not understand why Samantha would help Gabby. The woman is suing her, and Samantha does not know her. It was illogical to me. There are recipes at the end for Beth’s gingersnaps, her from the garden lasagna, a cherry simple syrup, and Samantha’s Cherry Gin Fizz. I wanted more information about bitters in the story. It would have been nice to learn more about the history of bitters and how they are made. At the closing of the story, we get to see Samantha decide what she wants to do with her future. It will provide a way for her to get involved in cases all over Houston. I liked seeing Samantha moving forward. A Dash of Death shakes things up for Samantha with an overabundance of bitters, a fatal flower, a toxic cocktail, a bothersome ex-beau, a fatal flower, a troublesome lawsuit, and a resolute reporter. ( )

A Dash Of Death is the first book in the A Cocktails And Catering Mystery series.

Samantha Warren lost her job as a newspaper reporter in a short period and had her fiance, Greg, call off their wedding three weeks prior. Her best friends, Marisa and Beth, convince Samantha to participate in the Highland Historic Commission's benefit when a local brewery cancels. Samantha has been experimenting with making various flavors of bitters. She has three hundred bottles that she had planned to put in gift bags for her wedding guests. Now, she will be preparing drinks and selling the bitters bottles at the benefit, hoping this will be the start of a successful business for her.

Sales are going better than Samantha expected. But that could change when a member of the Historic Commission, Mark, becomes ill shortly after consuming a drink that Samantha had prepared. Mark is rushed to the hospital, where he will be pronounced dead. An autopsy will show that he was poisoned by oleander added to his drink.

Samantha quickly becomes the prime suspect, even though she doesn’t know any of the attendees at the function. Soon, Mark’s ex-wife, Gabby, files a suit charging Samantha and Commission with wrongful death. Samantha realizes that she needs to use her investigative skills to clear her name as a reporter. She will soon find that there are plenty of other suspects. Through her investigation, she feels that Gabby is probably not the killer and will start to work together to learn the identity of the murderer.

The book is well-written and plotted. The author used enough red herrings that I kept guessing until the end as to the killer's identity. The book also contains an exciting cast of believable and interesting characters.

The book reads at a good pace. The one thing that I got a little tired of was Samantha’s frequent thoughts to Greg, who left her standing at the altar.

Recipes are also included in the book.

I will be watching for the next book in this new series. ( )

Being an herbalist who makes her own bitters (they are not just for cocktails, but help with digestion if taken before meals!) and who loves cozy mysteries, I was really looking forward to A Dash of Death by Michelle Hillen Klump, the first book in A Cocktails and Catering Mystery, but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it that much.

There just wasn’t much to the story as far as the characters went. I felt Samantha, who had been a reporter, should have been more analytical and less wishy-washy when it came to investigating and trusting people one minute and then doing a complete about face the next. And while she was very briefly a suspect, I don’t understand why she wanted to help Gabby out so much, a woman she didn’t know at all and was suing her.

Then there’s the Scooby gang, while I like that her friends are a lesbian couple (we need more diversity of every kind in cozies!) they were kind of unforgettable. No quirkiness or anything else to make them stand out to me and want to read more about them in future books.

And as far as the whodunnit, while I didn’t know the why right away, I did know the who due to there not being enough suspects for the reader to choose from. There are two people that you know didn’t do it due to how cozies are written, so you’re left with only a couple of others to pick from and I thought it was pretty obvious if you stopped to think for a second.

Just a small thing, but while the recipes at the end all look delicious, I was disappointed there weren’t any bitter recipes or bitter history/interesting facts spread out in the book. That’s one of the reasons I read cozies, to learn more about new hobbies and culinary arts.

While I do give Klump kudos for finishing a book (that is a huge feat!) and finding a publisher, I won’t be rushing to read the next book in the Cocktails and Catering Mysteries. ( )

reporter, Texas, murder, murder-investigation, amateur-sleuth, lawyers, cozy-mystery, friendship, family****

Interesting characters. Samantha is a reporter who gets dumped just before the wedding and is a mess, but her friends help her out with a new financial plan. Unfortunately that meant tending bar at a charity event where a man was poisoned. The guy's wife was in the middle of a nasty divorce but chooses to file a civil suit against Samantha even before the police have named a chief suspect or arrested anyone. Things get even crazier from then on! Interesting plot and well defined characters. A good read.
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. ( )