Topped Chef by Lucy Burdette review

 

( Key West Food Critic Series Book 3)

 

I have been counting down the days until this book arrived (I had it pre-ordered) . Yesterday it arrived and there was much excitement in my household. First the cover !!!..... Sigh...... It's so dreamy...the ocean ,sandy beach, cocktails .. Sigh....... This is the perfect book to chill out with.. I think my blood pressure actually dropped a few notches just looking at the cover.
This series is based in the scenic Key West and the first book is called" An Appetite for murder", the second book is called " Death in Four Courses" and" Topped Chef" is the third and most recent book in this series.
In book 3 we see our main character Hayley Snow struggling a little with her work, she has decisions to make that she is not that comfortable with when she is asked to be a judge on a TV show being filmed in Key West called Topped Chef.  You kind of get more of a feel for Hayley and what she stands for in this book. Hayley is  brave in life and very honourable in her work and you do have to admire her for that.. Not everyone in Key West is....
With the competition being to a high standard,, temper levels have also risen as well as any souffles that maybe cooking, and it is not long before there is a dead body showing up.. There is a few red herrings in here and I tried to figure out who the bad guy was before the end of the story but no luck... The ending was really great.
My favourite characters are back when we meet  Miss Gloria and Hayley's mum Janet( sort of). For those of you not familiar with the series Hayley lives with Miss Gloria on a house boat with both of their cats Evinrude and Sparky.  I love Miss Gloria, she is comical with some real get up and go in her and she is a great  mother figure for Hayley .It is a really sweet relationship.
It's not all work though for Hayley in book 3 when she goes on her first date with the handsome detective Nate... My lips are sealed as to what happens , you will have to read  and see how it goes.
This was another one of Lucy's books that I was sad to say goodbye to , I flew through it and could not wait to find out how it was going to end.. The story keeps a steady pace with not a boring page in sight. if you enjoy a cozy mystery or just a great read in general then def pick this book up.
The next book in the series is out at some point at the beginning of 2014 it will give me just enough time to re-read the entire series again.

P.s If you enjoy cooking then there are some delicious sounding recipes at the back of the book as well as a glimpse at book four in this series.

I loved this sooo much xxxxxxxxx

You can find this book on Goodreads below
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15808610-topped-chef

You can find Lucy here:
http://lucyburdette.com/