I read different mystery authors for different reasons. While I wouldn't recommend the Gourmet Girl series to those seeking meticulously constructed intricate plot puzzles (they're not that complicated, and the authors tend to telegraph their punches), if you're in the mood for some lighthearted reading based in a combination of chick-lit and foodie culture, definitely give this one a shot.

It's lighthearted, but with solid underpinnings. Chloe Carter's condo is practically around the corner from me, so I can say with authority that the authors know their setting. Jessica is married to a chef, so the foodie culture is solid too. That includes the recipes, which are real recipes for yummy food, rather than the somewhat perfunctory efforts behind the "recipes included" labels on some other mysteries. Jessica went to college locally, so Chloe's grad school / internship experiences also ring true.

Chloe's boyfriend, star chef Josh Driscoll, is competing to star in a local TV cooking series. The competition is based on each chef picking out a stranger at the grocery store, then on the fly buying the ingredients to go cook dinner for them at their house. Despite the world's most annoying director and a camera man with some weird ideas about his job, Josh is doing great right up until the wife says the food is horrible, completely inedible, then runs off to be sick and dies.

The ingredients were from an elite grocer specializing in organic produce and food poisoning symptoms don't appear that quickly, so it looks like regular poison. Josh was on camera the whole time, but there were a lot of people moving around in that kitchen and the more Chloe digs, the more suspicious everyone else looks.

Foodies will really enjoy the cooking, food chatter, restaurant visits (if there's a real life inspiration for Marlee, I want to know) and insider's view of the restaurant industry.  Chick-lit fans are provided with a nice array of subplots involving relationships and other complications of 20-something urban life. Chloe, for example, is simultaneously arranging her best friend's wedding while trying not to lust after the hot young carpenter she meets, while trying to sort out her relationship with an increasingly erratic Josh   (not that stable relationship and chef boyfriend fit in the same sentence to begin with).

A fun bit of escapism.