A Catered Tea Party

July 18, 2016
Murder’s surely on the menu when Bernie and Libby Simmons agree to make pierogies for abusive director Ludvoc Zalinsky in Crawford’s hectic 12th mystery featuring the catering sisters (after 2015’s A Catered Mother’s Day). Zalinsky pours money into his Alice in Wonderland production at the Blue House arts center in Longely, N.Y., but buys only resentment. On opening night, someone steals the $2 million Chinese teapot he insisted be a prop. And the thief—or another miscreant—hotwires an electric kettle, fatally shocking Zalinsky. Daughters of retired police chief Sean Simmons, the intrepid sisters must outsmart his bumbling successor, Lucas “Lucy” Broadbent, to exculpate their play director pal, Caspar Cumberbatch. When not sleuthing or cooking, they tangle with Sean’s 50ish girlfriend, Michele. The family scenes resonate, but the murder thread quickly frays. Crawford’s recipes, usually plot-related, include semolina gnocchi and a coffee-filter clotted cream. Some testers may find that the cream comes together more sweetly than the story. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency.