Mystery With Recipes Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Mystery With Recipes Books
A Catered Murder | (2003) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Wedding | (2004) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Christmas | (2005) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Valentine's Day | (2007) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Halloween | (2008) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Birthday Party | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Thanksgiving | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered St. Patrick's Day | (2012) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Christmas Cookie Exchange | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Fourth of July | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Mother's Day | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Tea Party | (2016) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Costume Party | (2017) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Cat Wedding | (2018) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered New Year's Eve | (2019) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Book Club Murder | (2020) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Doggie Wedding | (2022) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Catered Quilting Bee | (2024) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Many readers love books about mystery and solving strange incidents mainly because of suspense and a streamlined story theme. When it comes to such novels, names like Isis Crawford, popularly known by the pseudonym Barbara Block, cannot be oversight. She has written many books over her career and is one of the best in USA. Mystery with recipes (series by Isis Crawford) is one of the most renowned novels and consists of eleven different books. Crawford was born in Egypt and later moved back to USA with her parents when she was 5 years old. Her mum established a restaurant in Westchester and the family was heavily involved in the catering business where she also derives most of her creativity. Her dad was a university professor and also took his family on many tours.
Books
Isis has authored many books including single story novels and series. While most of her creations have received remarkable reception, Mystery with Recipes became the most popular of all. This series is basically about several mysteries that happen following an eating celebration. Most of the titles include the name of particular celebration taking place and each novel contains a different story-line. However, there are a couple of protagonist characters whose development overlap through the entire series. The first book in Mystery of Recipes (series by Isis Crawford) was A Catered Murderer which was published back in 2003. It was later followed by A Catered wedding in 2004, Catered Christmas in 2005, Catered Halloween in 2006 and Catered Valentine’s Day in 2007. Other books in the series include Catered Birthday Party, Catered Thanksgiving, Catered Mother’s Day, Catered St. Patrick’s Day and Catered Fourth of July. Isis focuses the entire book series on catering events and celebrations which feature various mysteries that involve death, investigation and controversies. Aside the Mystery with Recipes series, Isis has authored books such as Chutes and Adders, Twisters, In Plain Sight, The Scent of Murder and Vanishing Act among many others. She began her writing career in the early 1990s and her first book was released in 1994.
Characters and plotting
Mystery with recipes includes various characters although the protagonists include sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons. In the first book of the series A Catered Murderer, Bernadette (Bernie) Simmons has just moved to New York from LA to stay with her sister Libby. She is both emotionally broken from her cheating boyfriend and also broke with no stable job. Libby decides to hire her into the catering business which she is currently running comfortably in the large city. After only settling in for a few days, Bernie is already cutting canapés and making gaining popularity with the dinners although something strange happens almost immediately. The sisters are contracted to serve a high school reunion dinner which is also attended by a public icon book bestseller Laid Wrenn. Laid is a New York bestseller in her category of Vampire novels and when the two sisters see him, it becomes clear to them that the event will be different from all others. Eventually it turns out just as expected although more devastating. After delivering his speech, Laid takes a long sip of water from his glass and drops down dead just as soon as he drank it. The two sisters are now in the forefront of murder and work together to figure out what has happened as the mysteries unfold bit by bit.
The second book reveals even better development of characters as more people are introduced. In Catered Wedding, the two sisters continue to show their indifference, with one always groomed to perfection while the other remains crumbed and soiled with cooking ingredients. They meet their father who is an ex police chief to help in the investigation of yet another murder. Leeza Sharp has just been killed with a crossbow on her wedding day which she had been dreaming of in a long time. The story features careful flow of events and heightened suspense as the mysteries begin to unfold of how the murder was perpetrated.
In Catered Christmas, the Simmons sisters have made it to participate in a televised cooking show. Random ingredients are provided to all participants to prepare a meal and each group dress differently. However, the party and fun is cut short when a member of catering group known as Hortense is killed by exploding oven. It is later discovered that the killing was in no way accidental and other contestants had their run in with Hortense including blackmails, illicit affairs and rumors. The sisters assist in investigation as all focus on identifying which chef murdered Hortense.
Mystery with Recipes is quite interesting to read and each book features its own unique set of mysteries and investigations. Isis uses various writing skills and the language used is quite simple to read. The format and structure allows characters to build and readers get more information as the story continues. All the books involve a huge party or event that includes eating accompanied by a series of murders and kidnappings.
Awards and other production
Isis Crawford is a reputable author who has written many books for over two decades. Her books have received various awards and nominations. She was nominated for the Edgar Awards back in 2008 and MOBO awards. She was also named the most improved mystery writer in 2013. While none of Crawford’s work has been made into a TV production or movie film, the content is quite interesting. The author wrote her books over a decade and most readers will be expecting a TV series done on the famous Mystery with Recipes. The content depicts depth and intense imagination. This series has developed from the first production in 2003 and books released later are much more fun to read.
Conclusion
Isis has been writing novels for quite some time and her creativity has progressively improved. She has a list of over 20 books to her name with all enjoying commendable reception from fans and mystery lovers. Mystery with recipes is a continuing series that features different episodes of mysterious killings during a famous holiday or big event in New York. Most readers and reviewers have rated the series highly and it has also attracted good sales.
Book Series In Order » Characters »