Cooking Up Trouble: An Angie Amalfi Mystery (Angie Amalfi Mysteries)

Book Description

Chef Angie Amalfi can't wait to take off from the city for a week to help devise a delicious vegetarian menu for a lovely new B&B in scenic northern California. The not-yet-open-for-business Hill Haven Inn will be the perfect place to take her budding romance with her homicide detective boyfriend Paavo to the next level! But the situation awaiting them turns out to be less than ideal—with battling investors, rumors of ghosts, cold drafts, a leaky roof . . . and an owner whose idea of haute cuisine might be acceptable for farm animals. And when a furious rainstorm traps everyone inside, it becomes painfully apparent that there's a murderer among them . . . and that the only recipe being concocted in the Hill Haven kitchen is one for disaster. But Angie's determined to solve the case and salvage her romantic getaway . . . or die trying!

Customer Reviews:

The Partridge Slurped a Pear; Veggies Beware!.......2005-09-13

"'I wouldn't feed this swill to my cat!' Martin Bayman announced... The lentil-soybean cutlets were not a hit." - Quote from Joanne Pence's pen poofing life into her newly green world.

This 3rd book-in-series started out with a (metaphoric) bang, highlighting the captivating dud of soybean cutlets saute-tested for the menu of an out-of-the-way Inn to die in. I'm hopeless when it comes to taste-bud-uptake-inhibitors (like serotonin-uptake-inhibitors for which Prozac did the Pandora's Box thingy?). If you abbreviate this title, CUT, you get a reference to "cutlets." Is synchronicity cooking here? Yeah, but the cutlet was meatless, until Angie waved her wooden-spoon-wand.

Angie's open-minded skepticism of metaphysical gurus was humorously warming, and the setting of the Inn in a Gothically remote, at-risk location was mysteriously inviting. As usual in Pence's repertoire, fictional residents were well-rooted into emotional complexity. I don't know how she does this repeatedly with new and old characters, but many of her plot people have enough comedic appeal to border on being cartoon-ish buffoons, and yet they're fleshed out enough to skip off the pages. As a collective of unique individuals, these guys based in the real world, beyond the edges of phony, overdone, underdone, or irritating.

Getting back to the guru thing, Pence gives us a peek into that metaphysical world, from an angle which would be realistic even from a skeptic's perspective. Yet the overview's warm enough and into the gestalt enough that readers should be able to feel the ease with which an intelligent adult could slip whole (bloodless) hog into the ethereal draw of the ozone world of fruits & veggies, a world which attempts to expose the gateway to wherever we all go when our hearts stop for good.

Does any one of us not have personal agendas? Of course the game is to work harder to hide them in the sweet worlds in which the thing is to be a selfless, spiritual-sensitive, and to have no agenda (though bannanas are usually allowed). Pence is no fool when it comes to human nature, and each of the new set of characters in this ghost & green setting exposed a different angle on those agendas within a gutsy-fleshy personality mix.

We have Greg, I mean Running Spirit, and his confused, waif of a wife, Patsy. We have Moira, a strong "wise" woman who, refreshingly, doesn't try too hard to hide her agenda in a pile of raw sugar. We have Chelsea who grows a few needed backbone links. Then, of course there's Reginald Vane. Now he's a tall, dark, and shy, but not too dim Original, as they say in London-based Historic Romance novels.

What I love about these characterizations of boney but off-beat personas is Pence's generous need to hand out realistic redemption on as many pages as possible, after and while spotlighting juicy dark sides with just enough balsamic dimming to prevent the comedy from bubbing the plot out of its heady, roiling stew.

Pence is good. And she's so graceful in balancing dark & light that few would take time to notice the precision of Angie Vs Paavo type nuances as they meld effervescence with caring, each giving the edge needed to avoid stagnation or singular-dimension.

I predict that Pence's Angie series will endure well beyond the limited runs of the variety of cultural bubbles of our times (New Age gurus speaking in all channels, X-files alien DNA conspiracies, traditional ethnic social doings, etc.).

This multifaceted author exposes these time-bound, cultural bubbles with style, class, drama, and lighthearted looks at our gardens of foibles. None of us, not even the titanium cynic, is immune to rooting into one type of pondering or pitfall and calling it sanctuary for a while. Pence opens the doors, windows, and sometimes the roofs of these sanctums, treads gently around the hyper-sensitive spots, and periodically chews on her toes while we laugh with her and at ourselves.

While I allow myself to freely enjoy whatever flavor calls to me at the moment, from beef to beets to borage, I can savor gourmet veggie, and Pence gave a good bite of this here, too.

In the conclusion, munching metaphorically, the savory-spiced Partridge had a pear stuffed stylishly in its mouth, and, while green, orange & gold ground-gems were ultimately elevated with class, no vegetables were spared.

See my Listmania on Pence's Amalfi series; all books in order, with blurbs. Burp.

Bon Appetite in the saucy sense of the word,

Linda G. Shelnutt

Romantic but Annoying.......2005-02-10

The mystery is intriguing here, even if the wrap-up left a little something to be desired. The backstory in this book also shows promise on Pence's part- it certainly adds a more romantic air to this romance/mystery. Unfortunatly, Angie seems contradictory here- sometimes thoughtful, other times jumping to outrageous petty conclusions in Pence's attempt to work some conflict between the lovers. Angie's character I think goes downhill from here- Cooking Most Deadly is the next book.

Love this series!!.......2000-08-10

This is the third book in the Angie Amalfi series and I have loved each of them. This is a wonderful cozy series where the combination of mystery and romance is well balanced. The mystery keeps me guessing to the end and the romance is just steamy enough to keep me coming back, but not so much that it overpowers the mystery. A good read which I highly recommend.

Humorous -- ghosts and homicidal vegetarians.......1999-03-23

Fun read. Good send-up of New Age charlatans. Humor and chills. Enjoyed "ghost" story.

Disappointing.......1999-03-14

If attention to details is what separates excellent mystery authors from good ones, Pence may be doomed to the latter category. I found at least two story line contradictions in this book that were quite distracting as I tried to figure out who done it. It is a fun read with some sensual scenes between our heroine (Angie Amalfi) and her boyfriend thrown in to move the across book love story line along. It wasn't what I was looking for, but others may enjoy it.

Cooking Up Trouble: An Angie Amalfi Mystery (Angie Amalfi Mysteries)

Average customer rating:

Cooking Up Trouble: An Angie Amalfi Mystery (Angie Amalfi Mysteries)
Joanne Pence
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEYA3A

The Shadow Warrior, Book 3: Darkness of God
Average customer rating:
The Shadow Warrior, Book 3: Darkness of God
Chris Bunch
Manufacturer: Wilder Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Bunch, Chris | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Shadow Warrior, Book 2: Hunt the Heavens

The Shadow Warrior, Book 1: The Wind After Time

The Ghost Brigades

ASIN: 1592240917

Book Description

Joshua Wolfe must save mankind from a mysterious alien virus. He has only one hope: to recover the lost crystal of Ur'Lumina, which may offer a cure. It won't be easy. A powerful cult, the Federation government, and an angry shipping baron looking for revenge lie in the way . . .

SHADOW WARRIOR - Book (1) One: The Wind After Time; Book (2) Two: Hunt the Heavens; Book (3) Three: The Darkness of God

Average customer rating:

SHADOW WARRIOR - Book (1) One: The Wind After Time; Book (2) Two: Hunt the Heavens; Book (3) Three: The Darkness of God
Chris Bunch
Manufacturer: Del Rey - Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NRX11K

Average customer rating:

Great info!

FANTASTIC READING! I'll gladly use this seller again.

Huntsville, AL doula review on birthing assistants

The Doula Book: How a trained labor companion can help you have a shorter, easier, and healthier birth

Good for research

The Doula Book: How a Trained Labor Companion Can Help You Have a Shorter, Easier, and Healthier Birth
Marshall H. Klaus , John H. Kennell , and Phyllis H. Klaus
Manufacturer: Perseus Books Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Pregnancy & Childbirth | Women's Health | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Obstetrics & Gynecology | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
Obstetrics & Gynecology | Surgery | Medicine | Medical | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Pregnancy Childbirth and the Newborn: The Complete Guide

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

Gentle Birth Choices

The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth (Revised)

ASIN: 0738206091
Release Date: 2002-11-05

Book Description

The complete and essential guide to birth with a doula by the "undisputed experts in the field."-- Los Angeles Times

More and more parents-to-be all over the world are choosing the comfort and reassuring support of birth with a trained labor companion called a "doula." This warm, authoritative, and irreplaceable guide completely updates the authors' earlier book, Mothering the Mother, and adds much new and important research. In addition to basic advice on finding and working with a doula, the authors show how a doula reduces the need for cesarean section, shortens the length of labor, decreases the pain medication required, and enhances bonding and breast feeding. The authors, world-renowned authorities on childbirth with combined experience of over 100 years working with laboring women, have made their book indispensable to every woman who wants the healthiest, safest, and most joyful possible birth experience.

A Merloyd Lawrence Book

Customer Reviews:

Great info!.......2007-09-27

I bought this book as part of my DONA certification and thoroughly enjoyed reading it! It easily defined my role as a Doula and by the end, I was even more convinced of the value of having a Doula at each birth!!
From the last few weeks of pregnancy to the first weeks at home, women and their families benefit from the care and knowledge a Doula provides, and this book lays that out beyond a doubt. Wonderful Book!
~Dawn Anderson, New Beginnings Labor & Delivery Support, Meridian, ID.

FANTASTIC READING! I'll gladly use this seller again........2007-03-10

"The Doula Book" is a fantastic choice for those who are considering having a professional labor assistant to be present, either at your birth, or after. This book is FULL of knowledge!!! I love it and often refer back to it.

(Since you are here, you may want to read the below if you are unsure what a "Doula" is. It is taken from the Doulas of North America International (DONA) website.)

Quote:

What is a Doula?

A Doula is a knowledgeable, experienced companion - who stays with you through labor, birth and beyond.

"Birth Doulas" offer emotional support, encouragement and wisdom throughout labor and birth.

"Postpartum Doulas" support women and families through the transformation that a new baby brings to a family.

End Quote

In my personal opinion, if you are in search of a Doula, or, if you are a Doula yourself, I wish you all the very best in your precious moments that you will experience. And, with that said, I leave you with the following empowering quote:

"You can do anything in life you set your mind to, provided it is powered by your heart."
-- Doug Firebaugh

Huntsville, AL doula review on birthing assistants.......2006-08-25

Considering that I am a doula myself, this book was on the top of my list for referencing. The title really does tell it all. This book gives an in depth look at doulas as birth partners & goes into detail on how one can help you have a better birth. In fact, if you choose not to hire a doula, this book can guide you or your partner in self-help comfort measures. More than likely after reading all the advantages of having a doula to assist you in labor, you'll want to seek one out near you. Buy this book to find out as much as you can about this new movement sweeping our nation! You may even want to be a doula yourself after reading what a difference you can make for other women. This is a required reading for some doula trainees & well worth the price for all of its insight as well as medical studies showing the value of doulas. Check it out!

The Doula Book: How a trained labor companion can help you have a shorter, easier, and healthier birth.......2006-07-27

This book is very easy to read. It is well-written, well laid out, very well researched. There is an excellent chapter concerning the role of the father in the labor room. A lot of their observations are based on what they observed in a hospital in Ireland. There are statistics but not too many, enough to be convincing: they haven't overstated the case for doulas: their claims of an easier, shorter, healthier birth are not outlandish but well presented and backed up by good solid research. Apart from all that it is an easy read.

Good for research.......2006-07-15

I was a bit bored with this book, only becasue I already knew all the stuff in it. With the exception of a few chapters the book goes way far into detail about things could care less about. If you are trying to research and learn about doulas, than this is your book. There are lots of studie on the benifits of doulas.

Chinese Cuisine: Szechwan Style
Average customer rating:

For Authentic Szechwan Cuisine

Highly Disappointed!

Must have for lovers of spicy food

not for vegetarians!

Brought the chef out of me!

Chinese Cuisine: Szechwan Style
Wei-Chuan Publishing , and Lee-Hwa Lin
Manufacturer: Wei-Chuan Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Chinese | Asian | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Chinese Cuisine: Cantonese Style

Chinese Cuisine: Beijing Style

Chinese Cuisine: Taiwanese Style

Chinese Cuisine: Shanghai Styles

Chinese Cuisine (Wei-Chuan's Cookbook)

ASIN: 0941676315

Customer Reviews:

For Authentic Szechwan Cuisine.......2007-07-20

This is not a book that will allow you to revisit dishes that are made at your typical Chinese restaurant. First of all this is Szechwan Cuisine - China has many different Cuisines - Mandarin, Hunan, Beijing, Cantonese, etc. This book is for someone that wants to make an authentic Szechwan dish, and not for making a bastardization that one has become accustomed to in the U.S. For authenticity, this is the book for you. For a novice, pick up a title that has the word "Beginner" in it. This is an excellent book!

Highly Disappointed!.......2006-07-14

We love Chinese foods and spicy foods. I bought this book thinking I'm going to cook up some spicy and delicious meals. However, when the book arrived... I was highly disappointed to discover the recipes - did not appeal to me, not not as impressive as I expected it to be. Not enough recipes for meat... and more like a vegetarian cookbook! I found more delicious and practical recipes from the book "Chinese Cuisine" which I also bought along with this book.

Must have for lovers of spicy food.......2002-12-29

The Wei Chuan series of cookbooks are must haves for anyone interested in cooking Chinese cuisine. I am particularly fond of SzeChwan style food so this cookbook was a natural choice for me. This book has descriptions for preparations of special food items that is very helpful. I especially recommend this book for anyone who loves spicy food (the kung pao recipes alone make the book worth buying). For anyone who wants vegetarian food Sze Chwan style won't be the right choice--I would recommend buying Wei Chuan's Indian cuisine cookbook or their Simply Vegetarian cookbook instead.

not for vegetarians!.......2002-10-08

I had hoped that there would be a fair amount of vegetarian recipes in this book but was very disappointed to find precious few.

Brought the chef out of me!.......2002-05-10

Wei Chuan's collection of cookbooks are fabulous. All the recipes are as authentic as it gets. Recipes are easy to follow and it actually TASTES good. I am planning to get the whole collection of Wei Chuan's cookbooks.

Customer Reviews:

The Super Simple Guide to Koi.......2007-03-14

I love my Koi and need information on
Koi's so this book was great to have.

Container Gardens for Florida
Average customer rating:
Container Gardens for Florida
Pamela Crawford
Manufacturer: Color Garden Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Container Gardening | Techniques | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Best Garden Color for Florida (Florida Gardening Series)

Easy Gardens for South Florida

Stormscaping (Florida Gardening Series, Vol. 3)

Florida Gardener's Guide, 2nd Edition

Gardening and Landscaping in Central Florida

ASIN: 0971222037

Product Description

When author Pamela Crawford first started writing her newest book, she expected it to be short, about 100 pages or so. After all, she pondered, how many different ways can you arrange plants in a pot? But, as she began her research, the book grew into a major 368-page reference book with a companion DVD movie! Obviously, there was a lot more to container gardening than she had originally thought! This project was begun to accomplish three goals. Ms. Crawfords first goal was to push the limits of container design - take it farther than she had ever seen it done in Florida. To accomplish this formidable task, she hit the road, traveling to areas where she knew container design was quite advanced. She ended up researching this project in Manhattan, the Hamptons, Long Island, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. Then, she searched Florida and spent time with experts who were doing great container work, like the staff at Universal Studios in Orlando and Sanchez and Maddux, landscape architects in Palm Beach. The designs shown in this book evolved from these experiences and illustrate a variety of styles of container gardening - from sleek, sophisticated interior containers (152-159) to country garden containers (pages 36-37). She spent time searching out the best suppliers for both plants and containers and brought many of their products to Florida to test them in the tough southern climate. Ms. Crawford and her assistants, Barbara Hadsell and Miguel Olivares, had fun testing over 10,000 plants and hundreds of containers in her gardens in Lake Worth. We let our imaginations run wild with all these design ideas, plants, and spectacular pots. We are fortunate to have enough space to allow each container arrangement to grow to its maturity. This made it possible for us to report on its performance to you, said Ms. Crawford. Her second goal was to develop a design system that is easy to understand for beginners. She shared that her first tries with gardening in containers produces a lot of problems as she learned how to design and plant containers from books. She bought book after book, and even after fallowing their instructions over and over again, most of the projects she attempted simply failed. It was at that point Ms. Crawford bought a video that taught her more in thirty minutes than she had learned in the previous ten years. At that moment, she knew that her book on container gardening had to have an accompanying DVD movie to make the learning process easy. She encourages her readers to watch the DVD movie (sold separately) for thirty minutes and skim chapters 1, 2, and 15 in this book (include chapter 4 if you are ready to try a hanging basket). You will be ready to design and plant container gardens like the pros in no time at all! The third goal of this book was to create a major reference work that people would keep for many years and refer to whenever they have a question about container gardening. So, Ms. Crawford made sure the book covered many different aspects of container gardening - like window boxes, wall pots, hanging baskets, diverse containers (for sun, salt, wind, shade, low water), planting and maintaining orchids, and how to use containers in the landscape. The book also covers many technical aspects of container gardening, like watering systems, soil, and fertilizer. The DVD movie is also a reference work. It covers container design basics plus three planting demos - a bowl, a hanging basket, and the planting and care of an orchid. Since the planting demos contain a lot of information, gardeners will benefit from re-watching them from time to time. The DVD movie is packaged in a box that fits right next to the book on a bookshelf. Researching this book opened up a whole new world to the author about the fun and satisfaction of container gardening. She comments that I am so happy to share this great hobby with all of my Florida friends.

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