Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery Books In Order

Publication Order of Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery Books

Author Jerrilyn Farmer pens the “Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery” series of humorous cozy mystery novels. The series began publication in the year 1998, when “Sympathy For the Devil” was released.

It stars caterer to the stars in Los Angeles, named Madeline Bean. She was about to marry a man named Xavier Jones, before she was left at the alter.

Farmer has been nominated for three Agatha Awards for Best Novel for her novels “Immaculate Reception”, “Killer Wedding”, and “Mumbo Gumbo”. “Sympathy for the Devil” won a Macavity Award and was nominated for an Edgar Award. “Immaculate Reception” was also nominated for a Lefty award.

“Sympathy For the Devil” is the first novel in the “Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery” series, which was released in the year 1998. Madeline Bean is in the middle of her career’s biggest job. She and Wesley, her partner, have been able to pull off the most outrageous A-list Halloween party in all of Hollywood for Bruno Huntley, a notorious producer.

It was complete with a spooky fortune teller that is astonishingly accurate, and some exotic food that is just to die for. After not too long, Bruno winds up thrashing and writhing on the dance floor. There is a single problem: he is not standing, and pretty quickly, he is not even breathing.

It is certain that the newly deceased Mr. Huntley was poisoned. The number of suspects with a yearning to send Bruno off to the devil that would be able to fill an audition for some extras in Quentin Tarantino’s next movie. Wesley is arrested for the killing due to a long-standing dispute with this maniacal mogul, Madeline is certain that he cannot be guilty.

To prove it, she must wade through all of the muck from a mud rislinging family, dodge some well-aimed bullets, outrun a couple of crazed canines, and expose a series of secrets that would put a soap opera right to shame. Someone has cooked up this murder, and it is all up to Madeline to figure out who. All before she faces a fadeout all her own.

This book features some superb characters and some fun twists to its plot. Madeline Bean is a charming lady, the food is heavenly, and the Hollywood background is rather juicy in this mystery tale. Readers finish the book and wind up loving Madeline Bean quite a bit and feel like she is an old friend by the end. Some cannot wait to check out more books in the series after checking this one out.

“Immaculate Reception” is the second novel in the “Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery” series, which was released in the year 1999. The Pope will be coming to breakfast, and Madeline has frittatas on the skillet. It is a coup for gourmet caterer Mad Bean and her company as well as the event-planning wizards that are chosen to mastermind LA’s official welcoming extravaganza. Nailing the early morning meal for His Holiness, and two thousand high profile bigwigs all sounds like a ton of fun for the unflappable Ms. Bean.

Things go from serene to sinister quickly when a young priest winds up dead in an uninhibited Hollywood star’s bed. A yellowed page filled with Latin scrawl that was found tucked within an ancient book of some tasty Church recipes reveals the shocking past of a mysterious Jesuit Brother.

Even Madeline’s ragged love life gets a kick in the pants when charming Xavier Jones, the same guy that left her at the alter a decade ago, comes back and still refuses to explain why he ditched her. The Pope is set to show up at any time, it is up to Madeline to sort this unholy mess out. It includes tantalizing treasure, burnt brioche, homicidal caterers, pesky naked starlets. Or a party that should go down in history might just be history before it even starts.

Jerrilyn Farmer has a knack for writing these mystery novels in a fresh way. Maddie and Wes are characters that are easy to like. It is great fun to read all about their event planning and catering. The mystery in this is excellent and highly intriguing, too.

“Killer Wedding” is the third novel in the “Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery” series, which was released in the year 2000. Even though Madeline is not about to say “I do” anytime in the near future, she is no stranger to the phenomenon of the LA wedding: the good, the bad, as well as the kind where the party lasts for longer than the actual marriage. Maddie never expected to be the West Coast’s grand dame of wedding consultants, Vivian Duncan’s guest at a rather lavish affair held among the dramatically lit fossils in the Hall of Dinosaurs at the Nature Museum.

While checking the glittering event out, Maddie realizes, with her sharp event planner’s instinct, that something is not right. But what, exactly? The groom turns up on time. The bride is gorgeous. A corpse that wears a Cartier bracelet is dangling from the skeleton of a Triceratops. Well there is that.

With the bride in tears and people vanishing, Maddie could be the next species to face extinction. Unless, of course, she is able to reveal the killer pretty quick. Quicker than she is able to whip up a white chocolate wedding cake, Maddie follows the trail right into dark, deep jungles, urban as well as otherwise, amid some tantalizing stories of smuggled gems. All while she fends off a nervous groom, a half-naked ice-sculptor, his trusted chainsaw, and a crazed carjacker. On the way, she finds something new, something old, something deadly, as well as something that a wedding pro should never, ever do.

This book is a fun time that is made complete with a strong story and some great characters. It is an engaging story and readers cannot get enough of the series. Farmer does a great job of getting your appetite going as she deftly describes the different meals her characters are preparing. The book even teaches you a bit about emerald mining in Africa.