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Do Or Diner A Comfort Food Mystery Christine Wenger Books

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Do Or Diner A Comfort Food Mystery Christine Wenger Books

Oh dear. I like “cozy” mysteries and I read a lot of them. Yes, they tend to be formulaic and require that you be willing to suspend disbelief, but they often have wonderful characterization and a charming sense of place. Unfortunately “Do or Diner” served up a heapin’ helpin’ of the former and a stingy serving of the latter; it was the literary equivalent of the infamous “Dieter’s Plate”: A scoop of cottage cheese and some canned fruit.

Trixie Matkowski is freshly divorced and using her generous divorce settlement to purchase her Aunt’s diner in upstate New York. She’s barely taken over the diner when the health inspector meets an untimely end (face first into a plate of pork and scalloped potatoes). Trixie becomes an instant (but not really) suspect and decides she needs to clear her name and save the Silver Bullet Diner by finding the real killer (but you already knew that, right?).

The premise was fine – I like “starting over” stories, and the location had potential. Tiny Sandy Harbor, NY, located on the shore of Lake Ontario, seemed like it might have been a charming small town, but the author didn’t do a great job of bringing the location to life. Most of the action (such as it was) takes place at the diner itself or Trixie’s home, and I never got a feel for the town or its residents. The mystery itself didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but that’s forgivable since “cozy” mysteries tend to be serviceable at best. But the characters…Oh, the characters – I don’t even know where to start.

Trixie is described as sort of a rumpled mess, but inexplicably the local heartthrob, Dep. Ty Brisco seems to be smitten by her. Ty is a Texas transplant who wears a white Stetson and belt buckle the size of Rhode Island (of course he does, otherwise we wouldn’t know he was from Texas, would we?). He’s such a smarmy caricature of a Texan, winking at every female and calling her “darlin’”, that I cringed every time he entered a scene. There’s another character saddled with the name “Antoinette Chloe” that walks around in a turban and muumuu (and flip flops. In the snow.) The only visual I could summon up was of Elizabeth Taylor playing Helena Cassadine in General Hospital circa 1978! The rest of the cast was either just as ridiculous or so underdeveloped that they were utterly forgettable.

We’ve reached the point where my review is dangerously close to becoming longer than the book itself, so I’ll wrap things up. The story is told in the first person with lots of clunky exposition and stilted dialog. I don’t recall much in the way of swearing/strong language and there is no sexual content. Obviously I’m not recommending this one, but it’s worth mentioning that it’s the first installment in the series, and they can be tricky. Perhaps the series gets better as it goes, but I’m passing on seconds – I’ve had enough, thank-you-very-much!


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Do Or Diner A Comfort Food Mystery Christine Wenger Books Reviews

19. Do or Diner (Comfort Food Mysteries Book 1) Christine Wenger (02-16)

Trixie Matkowski moves to upstate New York to run the family diner, Silver Bullet, and recover from a disastrous marriage. The diner’s first health inspection goes south in a big way and Trixie has to fight a murder rap as well as her growing attraction to the small town’s hot-cop-from-Texas, Deputy Ty Brisco.

This is the sweet start to an entertaining series. I accidentally read Book 2 first, so was thrown a little when I started this one (“What? I thought she and Brisco already – oh, wait, this is Book 1 in the series.”). The “dinerese” is annoying, but I did like seeing what’s involved in running a diner. The characters are interesting, including the thoroughly detestable dead guy, the settings well described, and the dialogue well-written. It skews a little more romance than mystery for me, but I didn’t care because of all of the above reasons. I will read more in this series.
Great book - I've found a new author & cannot wait to read more of this series! The characters are believable and the way they interact is refreshing.

Trixie was betrayed by her deputy husband whose "new girlfriend" gave her enough money for a down payment on her aunt's diner with the promise she would never go back. Who does Trixie meet when she gets to her new town but the irresistible new deputy, Ty, who she wants no part of but she can't stay away. Matters turn worse when the health inspector dies after eating a meal at her diner. Someone added an extra ingredient to the old family recipe and Trixie is bound & determined to help figure out who it was. The entire story was entertaining and I was surprised at the end by who killed the inspector. I really enjoyed the interaction between Trixie & Ty along with the others that work in the diner. Give this book a chance; you won't be sorry you did.

I originally checked the book out from my library but ended up buying the e-book version so I can read it again whenever I want.
I'm always looking for good cozy mystery series and this one had good reviews but I was disappointed in this first of a series. Trixie buys her aunt's diner, house and associated guest cottages. She is recently divorced from her deputy husband of 10 years. Almost as soon as she arrives, someone is murdered in the diner kitchen. The murder causes customers to stay away in droves. Finally, Trixie solves the murder and customers come back. There is an attractive new deputy that Trixie interacts with. The book moves along at a brisk pace but none of it makes much sense. Trixie seems to handle the diner issues (cooking, ordering, staff, etc) unreasonably well even though she apparently helped out as a kid when she vacationed there..The motive for the crime seems farfetched and the crime planning seems very haphazard. Actually, the criminal(s) seem inept. The townspeople abandon the diner awfully fast given the aunt and uncle's and Trixie's connection with the town and the lack of evidence pointing to a killer. Finally, the reader doesnt get any real sense of Trixie herself other than she is unbelievably nice and helpful.
Oh dear. I like “cozy” mysteries and I read a lot of them. Yes, they tend to be formulaic and require that you be willing to suspend disbelief, but they often have wonderful characterization and a charming sense of place. Unfortunately “Do or Diner” served up a heapin’ helpin’ of the former and a stingy serving of the latter; it was the literary equivalent of the infamous “Dieter’s Plate” A scoop of cottage cheese and some canned fruit.

Trixie Matkowski is freshly divorced and using her generous divorce settlement to purchase her Aunt’s diner in upstate New York. She’s barely taken over the diner when the health inspector meets an untimely end (face first into a plate of pork and scalloped potatoes). Trixie becomes an instant (but not really) suspect and decides she needs to clear her name and save the Silver Bullet Diner by finding the real killer (but you already knew that, right?).

The premise was fine – I like “starting over” stories, and the location had potential. Tiny Sandy Harbor, NY, located on the shore of Lake Ontario, seemed like it might have been a charming small town, but the author didn’t do a great job of bringing the location to life. Most of the action (such as it was) takes place at the diner itself or Trixie’s home, and I never got a feel for the town or its residents. The mystery itself didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but that’s forgivable since “cozy” mysteries tend to be serviceable at best. But the characters…Oh, the characters – I don’t even know where to start.

Trixie is described as sort of a rumpled mess, but inexplicably the local heartthrob, Dep. Ty Brisco seems to be smitten by her. Ty is a Texas transplant who wears a white Stetson and belt buckle the size of Rhode Island (of course he does, otherwise we wouldn’t know he was from Texas, would we?). He’s such a smarmy caricature of a Texan, winking at every female and calling her “darlin’”, that I cringed every time he entered a scene. There’s another character saddled with the name “Antoinette Chloe” that walks around in a turban and muumuu (and flip flops. In the snow.) The only visual I could summon up was of Elizabeth Taylor playing Helena Cassadine in General Hospital circa 1978! The rest of the cast was either just as ridiculous or so underdeveloped that they were utterly forgettable.

We’ve reached the point where my review is dangerously close to becoming longer than the book itself, so I’ll wrap things up. The story is told in the first person with lots of clunky exposition and stilted dialog. I don’t recall much in the way of swearing/strong language and there is no sexual content. Obviously I’m not recommending this one, but it’s worth mentioning that it’s the first installment in the series, and they can be tricky. Perhaps the series gets better as it goes, but I’m passing on seconds – I’ve had enough, thank-you-very-much!