Hummus and Homicide

Kebab Kitchen Mystery Series, Book 1

By: Tina Kashian

Narrated by: Rachel Dulude

Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

When Lucy Berberian quits her Philadelphia law firm and heads home to Ocean Crest, she knows what she's getting - the scent of funnel cake, the sight of the wooden roller coaster, and the tastes of her family's Mediterranean restaurant. But murder wasn't on the menu....

Things are slow in the off-season in this Jersey Shore town, but Lucy doesn't mind. She doesn't even mind waitressing at the Kebab Kitchen. Her parents have put in a new hummus bar, with every flavor from lemon to roasted red pepper. It's fun to see their calico cat again, and to catch up with her old BFF, who's married to a cop now.

She could do without Heather Banks, though. The Gucci-toting ex-cheerleader is still as nasty as she was back in high school...and unfortunately, she's just taken over as the local health inspector. Just minutes after eating at the Kebab Kitchen - where she's tallied up a whole list of bogus violations - she falls down dead in the street. Word on the grapevine is it's homicide, and Lucy's the number one suspect....

©2018 Tina Sickler (P)2018 Tantor

A nice, light mystery

This was a great read for something light, however, the narrator was terrible. Her connotations were just plain awful, which is a surprise because I’ve loved her narrations in other listens. It wasn’t bad enough to make me turn off the book, but it was extremely annoying.

Really good

Good cozy mysteries are hit and miss. This one is a hit. The characters are engaging and realistic. The story is well developed and believable with twists and turns. The budding romantic triangle stays in the background of the story, which, is a good thing. Lucy and Katie are a great team and work well together. Rachel Dulude does a very good job giving the characters different voices and bringing the story to life. I look forward to seeing how the characters grow and develop in future books.

Excellent read!!

I loved everything about this book. I hope their is more!! Narrator is excellent love her voice.

Pretty Good

This is a well plotted mystery with engaging characters and a believable storyline. The mystery isn't easily solved and I enjoyed the way Lucy interacted with Katie and everyone else in town. The story touches on a romance but that aspect of the story stayed in the background. The only thing I didn't like was the developing love triangle. I hope it's resolved quickly and stays in the background.

I hate hummus, but I did enjoy this light mystery!

I mostly like the cozy mysteries anyway, but I really did enjoy this one. It kept my interest without me guessing the ending ahead of time! I can safely say I can recommend this one to my friends!

A unique culinary mystery

In <strong>Hummus and Homicide</strong> by Tina Kashian, Lucy Berberian has just returned to her hometown of Ocean Crest on the Jersey Shore after quitting her job as a patent lawyer in Philadelphia. Immediately, Lucy gets dragged into waitressing for the Kebab Kitchen, her parents' Mediterranean restaurant. On her first day home, Lucy goes to a bar with her longtime best friend, Katie Watson, with whom she is staying while in town. At the bar, they encounter a former high school bully, Heather Banks, there with her boyfriend, the best selling thriller novelist Paul Evans. Heather throws insults at Lucy, creating a scene between the two women that comes back to cause trouble for Lucy and her family when Lucy discovers that Heather is the new health inspector who uses her position to settle vendettas and possibly get bribes.

Heather then shows up at the Kebab Kitchen after lunch and finds ridiculous and expensive things she expects the restaurant to fix within five days or be shut down. Lucy has learned that her parents are hoping to sell the restaurant because it is getting difficult to handle. If the Kebab Kitchen gets shut down, this could jeopardize the Berberians' ability to sell it. As Lucy stresses over the inspection, she is astonished to see Heather walk in and announce she plans to eat dinner there. All she wants, however, is pita bread and the all-you-can-eat hummus bar. That night, Lucy goes to take out the trash, only to stumble over the body of Heather. The medical examiner thinks she died of cyanide. Worse, the detective on the case, a former high school boyfriend of Lucy's sister, Emma, who holds a grudge against Emma for cheating on him, won't look past Lucy as his only suspect. Thus, Lucy realizes she has to investigate the case herself to find the truth in order to clear her name and save the Kebab Kitchen.

I really enjoyed listening to <strong>Hummus and Homicide</strong>, with its unique twists and turns. We are kept wondering about the identity of the murderer, but even more how the cyanide got administered to Heather. The book is filled with the aromas and tastes of Mediterranean food and made me crave hummus and baklava and other Mediterranean food.

The characters are drawn very effectively, with the family's having realistic family dynamics. The parents seem like traditional parents who try to map out their children's lives. Their desire for Lucy to get married and give them more grandchildren came off as very typical of many parents.

Rachel Dulude performs the audio edition of this book. Using strong expression, Dulude does a good job of making this book enjoyable. The voices she uses for each character suit the characters well. I was pleased to notice that she made each one realistic without making the women's voices high pitched or the men's voices unnatural.

I thoroughly appreciated getting to listen to <strong>Hummus and Homicide</strong>. I liked the setting of the Mediterranean restaurant, a different take on the traditional culinary mystery, which usually seems to happen in a bakery. The characters especially made the book fun, in particular Lucy's mother. This was a strong book all around, and I give it five stars!

Formulaic

I thought I was watching a H*llmark movie for a while. Successful, educated professional woman goes home to small town and decides to stay. It was no fun in the big city, but the small town fulfills her needs. I just can’t see a patent attorney enjoying working in a restaurant. How will she pay off those monumental student loans, now? From her waitressing tip
money? No one that smart who doesn’t like to cook would want to run a restaurant. Ugh. I liked the middle eastern theme, and the cat.