Let Them Eat Stake
Vampire Chef Mystery No 2
Sarah Zettel

Obsidian
April 2012/ 978-0-451-23645-6
Mystery/Paranormal
Amazon

Reviewed by Laura Hinds

Charlotte Caine, proprietor of Nightlife, a New York restaurant that serves both the living and the undead had some tough times recently. After a murder took place at Nightlife, she had doubts she could bring it back to life, but she did and business is good. Events coordinator Felicity Garnett shows up at Nightlife in a panic. She's freaking out because executive chef, Oscar Simmons has pulled out of the job of cooking for the wedding of the decade. The Alden-Renault wedding is to be an unusual paring of a vampire and a witch. Somewhat reluctantly, Charlotte agrees to take over the job, for a hefty fee, that is.

After Oscar suddenly dies, and things start to go awry even to the extent of the groom's family starting to disappear, Charlotte feels trouble headed her way once again. Chef Charlotte dons her amateur sleuth hat to save the wedding, her reputation, and her restaurant.

This is the second book in a truly unique series. I read and reviewed the first book, A Taste of the Nightlife and enjoyed it very much. I wondered if the sophomore entry would be as good. I am happy to report that it is! Let Them Eat Stake further develops Charlotte and gets her outside of Nightlife more. There are new characters and new multispecies challenges.

I did find this book to be a bit scarier, but that is fine. After all, the undead, no matter what the species, usually feel scary to us mere mortals. Zettel has a unique series going here, she draws a distinct picture of species interaction and then pushes the envelope with imaginative details.

A fun read for ages 18 and up, you will enjoy the book if you like humor mixed in with your paranormal murder mystery. There were more than a few laugh out loud moments for me, and I highly recommend this new series. You don't need to read A Taste of the Nightlife to enjoy this book, but it wouldn't hurt if you did.

Reviews of other titles in this series

Taste of Nightlife, No 1
Let Them Eat Stake, No 2