A Measure of Murder (Sally Solari Series #2)

by Leslie Karst

Overview

Sally Solari is busy juggling work at her family's Italian restaurant, Solari's, and helping Javier plan the autumn menu for the restaurant she's just inherited, Gauguin. Complicating this already hectic schedule, Sally joins her ex-boyfriend Eric's chorus, which is performing a newly discovered version of her favorite composition: the Mozart Requiem. But then, at the first rehearsal, a tenor falls to his death on the church courtyard—and his soprano girlfriend is sure it wasn't an accident.

Now Sally's back on another murder case mixed in with a dash of revenge, a pinch of peril, and a suspicious stack of sheet music. And while tensions in the chorus heat up, so does the kitchen at Gauguin—set aflame right as Sally starts getting too close to the truth. Can Sally catch the killer before she's burnt to a crisp, or will the case grow as cold as yesterday's leftovers?

In a stew of suspects and restaurateurs, trouble boils over in the second in Leslie Karst's tasty and tantalizing Sally Solari mystery series, A Measure of Murder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683310198
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	02/07/2017
Series:	Sally Solari Series , #2
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,154,860
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Leslie Karst has degrees in English literature, law, and culinary arts. After graduating from Stanford Law School, she worked for twenty years as a research and appellate attorney before retiring. Karst now spends her time cooking, gardening, cycling, singing alto in the local community chorus, and of course writing. She and her wife, Robin, and their Jack Russell mix, Ziggy, split their time between Santa Cruz, CA and Hilo, HI.

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/05/2016
Engaging characters, terrific writing, and a savory blend of musical and culinary erudition build on the promise of Karst’s series opener, 2016’s Dying for a Taste. As if Santa Cruz, Calif., former lawyer Sally Solari didn’t have enough on her plate—helping manage her father’s red-sauce Italian restaurant while overseeing the nouveau California Gaugin inherited from Aunt Letta—her DA ex-beau, Eric Byrne, talks her into auditioning for his chorus’s summer performance of Mozart’s Requiem. Halfway through the first rehearsal, the talented but snarky tenor Kyle Copman takes a fatal plunge through a window. The cops say accident. Sally eyeballs the angle of the body and says murder. Whether extolling 00 flour, considering Mozart’s unsung collaborators, describing the thrill of biking with a possible murderer, or explaining the fine points of will-writing, polymath Karst sauces her plot without masking its flavor. And she’s a dab hand with the red herrings. Agent: Erin Niumata, Folio Literary Management. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for A Measure of Murder:
"Engaging characters, terrific writing, and a savory blend of musical and culinary erudition...polymath Karst sauces her plot without masking its flavor. And she’s a dab hand with the red herrings."
—Publishers Weekly starred review

“A mystery that rings true and features several unexpected twists along with the appended recipes that are de rigueur for culinary cozies.”
—Kirkus Reviews

"Addicting and brilliantly plotted...truly a fun experience."
—Night Owl Reviews Top Pick

"A tasty, food-oriented mystery, enriched with a handful of recipes. Amateur detective and restauranteur Sally Solari has to juggle the hectic life of restaurant management and murder investigation in this savory sleuth-connoisseur’s delight!"
—Midwest Book Review

Praise for Dying for a Taste:
"Karst’s smart, engaging characters steal the show in this razor-sharp new food series. Recipes add to an intelligent story that will leave readers hungry for more."
—Booklist

"Fans of Joanne Fluke, Edith Maxwell, and Lucy Burdette will savor this food-oriented debut."
—Library Journal

"[A] winning debut...An intelligent sleuth, an unusual murder, and a few recipes add to the appeal."
—Publishers Weekly

"Karst’s series debut features a spunky heroine, a mystery loaded with red herrings, [and] oodles of food lore."
—Kirkus Reviews

“The story blends the best of the cozy genre with food and great characters...This is the perfect book to chew on while eating lunch in the break room or before cooking that perfect dinner.”
—Jeff Ayers, RT Book Reviews, four-star review

"A terrifically entertaining and deftly written mystery...Dying for a Taste is very highly recommended."
—Midwest Book Review

"Dying for a Taste is a successful blend of mystery and foodie novels...This amuse-bouche will leave readers salivating for the next Sally Solari mystery."
—Foreword Reviews

"The best mysteries, to my mind, have a deep and sympathetic understanding of human nature as well as a rock solid ethical foundation, and Leslie Karst’s Dying for a Taste satisfies on both counts. With a smart sleuth, captivating seaside setting and strong family relationships, this delicious culinary mystery left me hungry for second helpings."
—Leslie Meier, author of the Lucy Stone mystery series

“Leslie’s Karst’s DYING FOR A TASTE is a mouthwatering meal of intricate plotting and complex characterization in a sparkling setting on the coast of California. The plot moves swiftly through twists and turns led by former legal eagle, Sally Solari, a smart, savvy heroine who will not quit until she gets the answers she seeks in the mystery of who murdered her restauranteur aunt. At turns poignant and precarious, this story captivates all the way to the very last page. A terrific whodunit!”
—Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author of the Cupcake Bakery mysteries

"A spicy new mystery series with a smart sleuth, layers of secrets, and delectable food descriptions! Dying for a Taste takes the reader from the farm to the table in this intriguing peek at the California food scene."
—Krista Davis, New York Times bestselling author of the Domestic Diva mysteries

From the Publisher

2016-12-07
A restaurant owner with a reputation as a sleuth reluctantly adds murder to her plate. Sally Solari is still helping her dad at Solari's, the family's Italian restaurant, even as she takes on more duties at Gauguin, the restaurant she inherited from her murdered aunt. Despite all these responsibilities, she's found time for an old love she's been away from for years: singing with a chorus. Encouraged by her former boyfriend Eric and her old friend Allison, both members of the chorus, she auditions for Marta, a tough but fair choral director a lot more popular than sarcastic tenor Kyle, who ends up dead when he apparently falls from an upper-story window at the practice venue. Sally thinks his death is suspicious and finds it hard to say no when Kyle's girlfriend, Jill, begs her to investigate. The piece they're preparing is the Mozart "Requiem" in a previously unknown version that Marta discovered in a Prague bookshop and sold for quite a lot of money. The police write the death off as an accident, but more sinister motives emerge when Kyle's will, which leaves bequests to Jill, his brother, and his son from a former marriage, turns out not to be legal, entitling his son to the whole estate. Identifying other suspects who might have reason to kill Kyle, Sally struggles to choose which one may have done the deed while juggling duties at two restaurants and perfecting her unexpected solo. Karst (Dying for a Taste, 2016), who's done many of the things she gives her heroine to do, provides a mystery that rings true and features several unexpected twists along with the appended recipes that are de rigueur for culinary cozies.

Kirkus Reviews

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