Death al Fresco (Sally Solari Series #3)

by Leslie Karst

Overview

It’s up to Sally Solari to serve up a killer before their family restaurant’s reputation goes up in smoke.

It’s early autumn in Santa Cruz and restaurateur Sally Solari decides an open-air painting class is the perfect way for her to learn more about Paul Gauguin, the inspiration for the restaurant she has recently inherited. But the beauty of the Monterey Bay coastline is shattered when Sally’s dog Buster sniffs out a corpse tangled up in kelp.

The body is identified as Gino, a local fisherman and a regular at Solaris’ until he disappeared after dining there a few nights before. Witnesses claim he left reeling drunk, but his waitress swears the old man only had two beers with is meal. And then the fingers begin to point at Sally’s dad for negligently allowing an inebriated customer to walk home alone at night.

From a long menu of suspects, including a cast of colorful characters who frequent the historic Santa Cruz fisherman’s wharf, Sally must serve up the tall order of clearing her father’s name in Death al Fresco, Leslie Karst’s third delectable Sally Solari mystery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683315339
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	03/13/2018
Series:	A Sally Solari Mystery , #3
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	2 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 splits her time between Santa Cruz, CA, and Hilo, HI, passing the days cooking, gardening, cycling, singing alto in the local community chorus, and of course writing.

Editorial Reviews

01/29/2018
Karst’s routine third mystery featuring Santa Cruz, Calif., restaurateur Sally Solari (after 2017’s A Measure of Murder) opens with Sally taking part in a painting class on the beach. When her dog starts digging furiously in a pile of kelp, Sally investigates and discovers the body of 80-year-old bachelor Gino Barbieri, who was last seen patronizing Solari’s, the restaurant run by her father. Abrasions on Gino’s head suggest homicide. Sally—billed as the town’s Jessica Fletcher in the local newspaper—sets out to solve the case after she finds the dead man’s cap on her father’s boat. Meanwhile, she must deal with the chef at her own eatery, who’s threatening to quit; the arrival of a delegation from Santa’s Cruz’s Italian sister city for a festive meal at Solari’s; and protestors who object to the flyers used by her tone-deaf father to promote the event, because they’re adorned with the image of Christopher Columbus. Sally may not impress as a detective, but cozy fans should have fun watching her navigate her various crises. Agent: Erin Niumata, Folio Literary Management. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Death al Fresco:
"Cozy fans should have fun."
—Publishers Weekly

"A tasty combination of culinary tidbits, an unusual motive for murder, and appended recipes for ambitious cooks."
—Kirkus Reviews

“Leslie Karst continues to provide colorful characters in this beautiful location, and it is always fun to see what Sally Solari will get up to next.”
—Suspense Magazine

“This is a very well-crafted murder mystery story...I’ve read all three books in this series and find myself growing more attached to the characters with each book.”
—MyShelf

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 restaurateur Sally Solari has to juggle the hectic life of restaurant management and murder investigation in this savory sleuth-connoisseur’s delight!"
—Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

2018-01-23
Yet another murder adds to a restaurant owner's woes.Although Sally Solari is kept busy running Gauguin, her popular Santa Cruz restaurant, she still finds time to help her dad at Solari's, the family restaurant on the pier, and take painting classes together with Eric, the ex with whom she maintains a friendly relationship. When a painting session on a nearby beach leads her dog, Buster, to a body tangled in a pile of kelp, Sally recognizes the dead man as Gino, an older Italian fisherman who frequents Solari's. Despite her reluctance to get involved in another murder case (A Measure of Murder, 2018, etc.), Sally's drawn in when she realizes that some people think Gino was drunk after having had dinner with a much younger woman and blame Solari's for serving him even though his waitress insists he had only two beers and the medical exam indicates he was probably hit on the head and thrown in the water. On top of all that, Sally's chef, Javier, has announced his plans to start a restaurant of his own with his pastry chef girlfriend, and her father has agreed to serve a big dinner for a celebration of the town's sister city in Italy and roped Sally in to help, annoying Javier even more. Despite her packed schedule, Sally finds time to do enough snooping to discover that Gino had been acting strangely lately and antagonizing even his old friends. When she finds Gino's distinctive hat in her dad's boat, she hides the evidence, afraid that the cops will jump to the wrong conclusion. The hat turns out to help her prove a theory she has about the murder, but her sleuthing puts her in the killer's sights.A tasty combination of culinary tidbits, an unusual motive for murder, and appended recipes for ambitious cooks.

Kirkus Reviews