Key West Food Critic Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of Key West Food Critic Mystery Books

The Key West Food Critic Mystery series is a series of cozy mystery novels written by the well known American author named Lucy Burdette. There is a total of 7 novels in the series published between the years 2012 and 2015. The latest novel of the series is about to be published very soon in the coming days of the year 2016. All the novels of the series are set in Key West, Florida, United States and revolve around the happenings of the central character named Hayley Snow. She is described as working as a food critic for a food and style magazine in Key West. In the first novel of the series titled ‘An Appetite for Murder’, Hayley’s life is depicted as always revolving around the food different restaurants in Key West. After applying for a vacant post of a food critic in a popular Key West magazine named Key Zest, Hayley Snow goes from being a food lover to becoming a food critic. But, she discovers that she is going to be working under her new boss named Kristen Faulkner. Kristen is the same woman who Hayley had caught red handed along with her boyfriend in bed. Soon, Kristen Faulkner is found dead and Hayley realizes that the things in her life are going to get worse from bad. Just as she thought, the police take her into custody as the prime suspect in the murder of Kristen Faulkner. The investigation by the police suggest that Kristen was killed by getting poisoned from a lime pie. Now, it is up to Hayley Snow to carry out the investigation on her own and find out the real person who poisoned Kristen’s pie, if she wishes to clear her name of the crime that she believes she has not committed.

One of the initial novels of the Key West Food Critic Mystery series written by author Lucy Burdette was published under the title ‘Murder With Ganache’. It was released by the NAL publishing house in the year 2014. The plot of this novel is also set in Key West, Florida, United States and continues to depict the main character of Hayley Snow as a food critic, working for a Key West style magazine called Key Zest. Being one of the popular food critics, she often has her plate full with numerous reviews of restaurants all over Key West. Hayley is even required to taste a lot of buns and doughnuts. Other than this, she also keeps herself busy with writing an article based on the cats of Hemingway. To add to her important list of things to do, Hayley is required to be the person in charge of the wedding of her best friend.

And just like always, she gets indulged in a murder case that involves her family members. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Hayley Snow is depicted as agreeing to bake more than 200 cupcakes in order to serve them in the wedding of her best friend named Connie. She has agreed to do so despite finding it difficult to meet the deadlines of her writing assignments. This way, the last thing that she wants to happen in her busy life is a family drama, which takes place anyway. The parents of Hayley Snow along with her stepbrother named Roby, come down visiting her house located on the island. On the first day of their visit, Roby disappears while partying during the spring break in Key West. Soon, Hayley Snow comes to know that a couple of teenagers have robbed a jet ski and so she sets everything else aside and goes out in search of Roby. She finds her stepbrother in an unconscious state, being under the influence of alcohol. However, his female partner is found dead. Now, Hayley is required to keep her cupcake business aside and search for the clues so that she can help her brother to clear his name from the murder of his female partner. More importantly, Hayley needs to act quickly enough so as to prevent the murderer from taking someone else’s life.

One of the other initial novels of the Key West Food Critic Mystery series written by author Lucy Burdette was published under the title ‘Death With All the Trimmings’. It was released by the NAL publishing house in the year 2014. The plot of this novel is once again set in Key West, Florida, United States, and also features the primary character in the form of Hayley Snow. She is once depicted as working as a dedicated food critic for the Key Zest magazine and hardly gets any time to rest. On top of that, the murder cases happening around her make her life extremely difficult. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, it is shown that the people of Key West are busy with the preparations for the arrival of Christmas holidays. But, it seems that the good will towards the people of Key West and the peace on the earth do not suit the ones related to the restaurant business.

Shortly after, Hayley Snow gets assigned to carry out the interview of Edel Waugh, who is the head chef and the owner of the hottest new restaurant in Key West. She seems to be quite happy with the success of her new restaurant and answers all the questions during the interview quite cheerfully. But while off the record, Edel Waugh tells Hayley that someone is trying to sabotage her kitchen and asks her to investigate the matter. Before Hayley could think of doing anything, things get heated up as the restaurant catches fire. The fire brigade is called which discovers a dead body in a completely burned state from the restaurant. It becomes absolutely clear that someone is either trying to destroy the flourishing restaurant business of chef Edel Waugh or to kill her in the process. Amid her busy schedule of attending holiday festivals such as the boat parade lighted with candles and visiting her relatives who show mixed emotions in her presence, Hayley Snow is required to catch a killer and arsonist, who seems to target her as his next victim.