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HOLY GUACAMOLE!
by Nancy Fairbanks
Berkley Prime Crime, November 2004
288 pages
$5.99
ISBN: 0425199223


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Vladislav Gubenko is an odious man. He is lecherous, as Brandon Collins discovers. Brandon is a geology professor at the college and his wife, Melanie, is having an affair with Vladislav. Adela Mariscal is also aware of this, because Vladislav offered her a plum part in his production of Macbeth in exchange for sexual favors.

Gubenko has also managed to irritate most members of the Executive Board of Opera at the Pass with his current production of Verdi's tragic opera, Macbeth: "The Scots have metamorphosed into contemporary drug dealers competing for control of the cocaine market, and the witches chorus was whittled down to three sopranos." While this conception of Verdi's opera has ticked off the purists, it has brought many new patrons and their much-needed dollars into the coffers of Opera at the Pass. For some reason, this has irritated the Executive Board almost as much as has the opera itself.

Mr Gubenko has brought two young women over from Russia with promises of careers in opera. He has given them parts (as two of the three witches) in his notorious production, plus housing, and paid their tuition and expenses. He has also informed them that they will be working at a strip club in order to pay him back for all these expenses. His attempt to coerce them into all-out prostitution has failed, but the two women are basically bond servants in a strip joint.

Vladislav is also a greedy man; he hogged the whole bowl of Adela's wonderful guacamole at the unusually volatile post-opening party, which was very rude of him and contributed indirectly to his death. When he goes home, he becomes violently ill, aspirates his vomit, and dies.

Carolyn Blue, food writer and spouse to a member of the Executive Board, becomes involved because she believes (and rightly so) that the police are ignoring evidence which points to foul play: not just the fact that the guacamole was doctored, but also that someone held a pillow over Gubenko's face while he was vomiting.

In the process of investigating all the possibilities, Carolyn teams up with a retired cop, Luz Vallejo, who confirms Carolyn's belief that Gubenko was murdered; Vallejo saw someone entering Gubenko's house the evening that Gubenko died. Sergeant Guevara and Vallejo have history, and he refuses to admit that she may be right.

HOLY GUACAMOLE! is an enjoyable mystery, with some great recipes. The recipes are included at the ends of chapters, so they are easily skimmed over should one so desire. For those who like to solve the puzzle, the clues are all there, along with enough red herrings to keep the mystery from being too easy. Carolyn's naivete, coupled with Vallejo's cynicism, makes for an interesting and somewhat unlikely team -- but it works. Their perceptions of each other are on the money, and quite humorous.

While the setting is very much a part of the book, the plot could easily be transported to any medium-sized city with a decent art/culture community; El Paso does make for nice reading when it's snowing outside. Sometimes the history of El Paso, which Carolyn introduces at the drop of anything resembling a hat, gets to be a little irritating; one can skim over it without losing anything relevant to the story, if one is so inclined.

If you like culinary mysteries, if you like amateur sleuths with a connection to the local police, if you like cozies -- Nancy Fairbanks' Carolyn Blue series is for you.

Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, November 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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