The Grilling Season

By: Diane Mott Davidson

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat

A chilly reception. …

Caterer Goldy Schulz has been hired to host a hockey party. But the proceedings won’t be all fun and games. Unfortunately, her client won’t be satisfied until Goldy adds a hefty serving of revenge.

An ex-husband from hell. …

Patricia McCracken is certain that her obstetrician and her penny-pinching HMO are responsible for the loss of her baby. Now she is suing both, and she wants Goldy’s advice on coming out on top. For Dr. John Richard Korman, aka the Jerk, is none other than Goldy’s abusive ex-husband.

Goldy knows all about John Richard’s secret life—but even she is shocked when he’s arrested for the murder of his latest girlfriend.

A dish best served cold. …

As much as Goldy would like to see her ex get his just desserts, could he really be a killer? Soon she will find herself sifting through a spicy mix of sizzling gossip for clues to a mystery that threatens her catering deadline, her relationship with her son and new husband … and even her life.

©1997 Diane Mott Davidson (P)1998 Recorded Books

Solid storyline, but our heroine is a pushover

I love Diane Mott Davidson’s books, but the way she accepts the apparent kick me sign tattooed on her back is so frustrating. Also, when is she going to put her son in his proper place?

Grilling Indeed!

Always enjoy following Goldy's adventures. Rosenblatt narration is excellent making individual characters come to life.

Arch needs to go live with the dad

Not really. But Goldy lets him be a jerk, a future adult jerk, like his dad maybe. Grow a backbone and ffs use your damn security system.

A strong entry in the well-crafted saga

These books do exactly what the author meant: take you away into a detailed mystery, with fully developed characters, in an attractive setting...very well-written and an excellent way to escape. Yes, it is true more happens to Goldy than your average bear (pun intended) and she is reckless with her safety...but she is endearing and it is part of the mystery style. Real life issues are very much part of it, but the reader is given a reassurance that hope for better times exists. This must be my third or fourth reading. The narration by Barbara Rosenblat is superb.

And Life Goes On

If you consider that I fell asleep with ear buds in my ears a fact that I couldn't stop listening you'd be right.

I have always enjoyed Miss G's attitude toward life. I know when I listen more often I tend to mimic her bravery and "can do" fierceness.

Ms Davidson has captured this cast of characters and bootleg them up. She just takes the top off to let the aroma of suspense and mystery float around the room long enough to begin her next book. As inspiration wans the bottle opens.

I can't wait to read the next one. You can read out of order but only by one or two books. More than that and you could miss an entire character.

Slightly more graphic than the others

Storyline is great. The abusive ex-husband, lovingly known as “The Jerk”, plays a dominant role in this one. The abuse is slightly more graphic in this installment than in the others. Made me cringe some. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Degrees of abuse

Enjoyable listen as the previous books. The story was a little thin but it came together in the end. My main complaint is how the son follows the father in abusing the mother. It may not be physical, but mental and verbal abuse is just as bad and someone should be teaching that lesson. Over all we enjoyed listening to Barbara Rosenblats narration. On to "Prime Cut".

good book

I have this book with a different narrator, Barbara Rosenblat has done so many of these books, she real grows on you with her personality and depth. also, there is no music between chapters!!! the rest of the review is below...

the music was annoying. good storyline, and well thought out plot. the main character lucked into solving the crime, and again, spent too much time talking to the murderer to have a psychology degree.

pretty good

pretty good for fluff mystery but I have to say the character of her son is super annoying and tries my patience lol.

Nobody's best effort.....

Diane Mott Davidson's "Goldy Bear" series is the most uneven of any of the contemporary cozy detective series. A few are absolutely excellent, a couple are perfectly dreadful, and the majority are spread throughout the middle somewhere, neither remarkably good or bad. Except for the recipes. Those are ALWAYS good.

This one's in the middle, tending toward the 'not so good' side. For one thing, there's very little catering going on, which is the key element for me, anyway, the part I most enjoy. Not only that, there's not even much murder going on. What we have, instead, is Goldy holding forth, for dozens of minutes at a time, all about the evils of her former husband, "the Jerk". That's half the book. The other half is Goldy obsessing about her annoying son again, "Arch", certainly the most spoiled child in all of literature. There are times I swear she's just watching the kid -- who must be in his early teens -- minute by minute, to make sure he draws another breath. Enough, already! Goldy and 'the Jerk' have been divorced for several years, Goldy herself is remarried. At times I felt like taking her by the shoulders, shaking her, and saying, 'Get on with it!' Forget him! He's gone!" There's a real pathology there, her hanging unto all the hurts from that past relationship, ready to repeat them all, again and again, at the drop of a hat to anyone who will listen. And in an auciobook, that would be us.

I won't get started on "Arch" the son again. Suffice it to say that she's convinced both herself and Arch that the world revolves around him, and that whatever else is going on in the world -- or in their own lives -- her first obligation (which she actually says, believe it of not) is to make sure that he's happy. I can't wait to see what prison he'll be sent to when he grows up. That mother-son relationship is sick, just sick.

Even Barbara Rosenblat doesn't make this one come alive. She's my favorite female reader, and in other series (Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon books especially) she just shines and makes each book much better than it would have been, had someone else been narrating. But even she falls short this time -- not her best, either. Goldy is just annoying in this book and there isn't much the narrator can do about it.

On the upside, there is SOME catering, and that's always fun. The recipes are good -- in fact, at one point Goldy was making a cheese sandwich for someone -- fresh baked brioche, chevre, fresh tomatoes and pesto -- that sounded so good I had to run to the grocery store so I could make one of my own. Delish!

If you haven't read any of the "Goldy Bear" books before, don't start with this one. Others are much better -- actually the best of the lot is the very first, 'Dying for Chocolate', also available on Audible. This book just isn't anybody's best work.