Sticks \u0026 Scones (A Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery, #10) by Diane Mott Davidson

Sticks \u0026 Scones (A Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery, #10) Reviews

• 
  James

  Book Review
  4 out of 5 stars to
  Sticks & Scones, the 10th book in the "Goldy Bear Schultz Culinary" cozy mystery series, written in 2001 by
  Diane Mott Davidson. When the book is about scones (which I absolutely love), Shakespeare (which is a favorite), and a castle that's been torn down in England and re-built in Colorado (how cool is that), the book had a very small chance of going wrong. And it didn't! It was a good mystery, eccentric but fun characters and very tasty-sounding recipes. I never make any of them for two reasons: (1) too many cookbooks to choose from already on my shelves and (2) I rarely use a recipe to cook. I kinda skim it, get the basics and then do whatever I want to do. It's worked in all but two occasions. Both were in baking. Sometimes the ingredients only work together a certain way. I digress... this was a good one in the series. I enjoyed the whole premise of Hyde Castle and would love to build a place like that myself!
  
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• 
  Susabelle Kelmer

  I thought this would be more entertaining than it was. The adolescent son was a complete jerk (as a mom I'd have thrashed him a good one the first time he mouthed off to me). The caterer appeared ditzy and disorganized and relied on too many others to do her job - the young friend Julian, the supplier, etc. And way too many red herrings and wild goose chases in the "mystery" part of it. I like books that include cooking/food, and especially when there are recipes, but I rather struggled through this story, unfortunately.
• 
  Chris

  This was an enjoyable diversion. Its been quite some time since I visited Goldy & her catering business. There were almost too many threads in this story and wasn't sure how it will all come together. In one AM somewhat shot out the window in Goldy's house, she discovered a body near the venue she was to cater & her husband is shot by a sniper, all before 9AM!! More to come as things unfold. There were plenty of potential suspects, so many dislikable people.
• 
  Heather Zuber-Harshman

  Creative and fun. That's what I thought this book would entail when I read the title and scanned through the pages - recipes were inserted throughout. Unique, huh?
  
  It definitely was creative. The main character is a caterer so food was a big theme. A little too big, though. The lengthy descriptions of preparing dishes, menus, and planning events detracted from the main part of the story - who is the killer? who stole the rare stamps? who shot a bullet through the main character's front window?
  
  The fun part was also a distraction. The main character had comical views of most situations, which would be great for a non-mystery novel because it's entertaining. But when I read a mystery novel I want to be drawn in by the suspense. I want to feel the fear of the characters, to sense the tension in the air. I didn't feel any of that when I read this book. I just kept thinking, is it going to get intense sometime soon? And it did, in the last 10 pages. That was about 250 pages too late for me.
  
  
• 
  Debbie

  Goldy the caterer is out solving crime, risking life and limb and saving her family again. I swear she gets knocked on the head in every novel. How does this woman not have brain damage?
  
  Alas no good recipes in this one.... Not one for scones and plum tarts
• 
  Carol Jones-Campbell

  Goldy the caterer is at it again: trouble (and bodies) seeks her out, this time while catering at an authentic English castle reassembled in her home town of Aspen Meadows, CO. Her homicide detective husband, Tom, is out of town when their window is shot out so teenaged-son Arch and Goldy move into the castle. I enjoy hearing Goldy's discussions of why she chooses particular foods for an event and her thoughts on preparation and presentation. The wacky characters of Aspen Meadows, set into the ski country of Colorado, continue to entertain. The mystery -- well, not so much. On this title, I tended to enter in and exit out.
  
  Celebrated for her unique blend of first-class suspense and five-star fare, Diane Mott Davidson has won scores of fans and earned a place on major bestseller lists across the country. Now she dishes up another dangerously tasty treat of murder and mystery.
  
  For Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz, accepting a series of bookings at Hyde Castle is like a dream come true. It's not every day that she gets to cook authentic Elizabethan fare--especially at a real castle that was brought over from England and reassembled stone by stone in Aspen Meadow. Goldy is determined that everything will go right--which is why, she figures later, everything went terribly wrong. It begins when a shotgun blast shatters her window. Then Goldy discovers a body lying in a nearby creek. And when shots ring out for the second time that day, someone Goldy loves is in the line of fire. Suddenly the last thing Goldy wants to think about is Shakespeare's Steak Pie, 911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies, or Damson-in-Distress Plum Tart. Could one of her husband Tom's police investigations have triggered a murder? Or was her violent, recently paroled ex responsible? With death peering around every corner, Goldy needs to cook up some crime-solving solutions--before the only dish that's left on her menu is murder.
  
  I think this is my first Goldy book. Kind of a fun book, and I like Barbara Rosenblat as narrator.
  
• 
  Jessica

  This was my first book of Ms Davidson's books and I really enjoyed it.
  I've read a few mysteries with recipes and they had all fallen short, so this book was a pleasant surprise.
  There was a lot going on in this book, but I believe the author did well with keeping it all straight for the reader without being to obvious. The characters and events were interesting and I hated having to take breaks from reading.
  Goldie is an interesting character, her actions being realistic and not always wise; she is also a very real and relatable one. She not only has to deal with the drama and mystery of murder and mayhem, but she has a temperamental teen and a cop husband to stress about. But she manages all the drama in her life with realistic reactions and passionate zeal.
  The story and the cooking information were nicely intertwined and all the food talk tortured me wonderfully. I especially liked the story setting in transported castle with all its history entwined into the story and the historically based foods the characters request and create.
  
  I highly recommend this books for a good fun read that tantalizes your appetite for cuisine, history, and suspenseful mystery.
  
• 
  Dez Nemec

  This is my 7th foray into the Goldy Bear series (although not in order), and I just can't anymore. Goldy, for all her investigating and putting herself into dangerous situations, is just a weak character. Arch is an obnoxious little twit. I mean, his father is just out of jail for assault, his mother has a TRO against him as he has assaulted her in the past, the window of their home was shot out in the middle of the night, and he's jumping around trying to get Goldy to contact the Jerk for a visit at 6 in the morning. I think she showed great restraint in not backhanding him. Frankly, Tom is the only main character I can stand, but his insistence in calling his wife Ms. G is downright obnoxious.
  
  As for the story, the mystery wasn't bad, which is the only reason I finished it (and didn't give it 1 star). Plus the setting of a castle is a nice bonus.
  
  As for the series, I'm done. I have 4 more on the shelf and they are being put in the trade-in bag. Bleh.
• 
  Debbie

  Book 10 in the Goldy Culinary Mysteries.
  
  Before she can even begin solving the mystery of a restored (and haunted) castle, Goldy has to deal with multiple threats to her own and her family's safety. Right around the time her violent ex-husband gets released from prison, someone shoots out her front window and another incident results in a serious gunshot wound for Tom.
  
  Arch, who used to be a highlight of the series, is so utterly obnoxious that he makes even my brattiest students look like little rays of sweetness and light.
  
  Recipes are included at the end.
• 
  Sheryl

  As always, I enjoyed this book in this series
• 
  Nell

  3.5
• 
  Lisa B.

  This is book #10 of the Goldy Bear Culinary mystery series and the storyline is still going strong. Goldy is like a dog with a bone is her relentless pursuit of the truth. She’s smart, sarcastic and has a good heart. And I still really enjoy all the side characters.
  
  With some series I would be starting to burnout by now. Happily, that is not happening with this one.
• 
  Amy

  The perfect audio book to keep me occupied during the many miles I just had to drive between Charleston and Rabun County Georgia. A light, entertaining mystery, that had me wishing for the recipes in the book!
  
  FROM THE PUBLISHER
  Celebrated for her unique blend of first-class suspense and five-star fare, Diane Mott Davidson has won scores of fans and earned a place on major bestseller lists across the country. Now she dishes up another dangerously tasty treat of murder and mystery.
  
  For Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz, accepting a series of bookings at Hyde Castle is like a dream come true. It’s not every day that she gets to cook authentic Elizabethan fare—especially at a real castle that was brought over from England and reassembled stone by stone in Aspen Meadow. Goldy is determined that everything will go right—which is why, she figures later, everything went terribly wrong. It begins when a shotgun blast shatters her window. Then Goldy discovers a body lying in a nearby creek. And when shots ring out for the second time that day, someone Goldy loves is in the line of fire. Suddenly the last thing Goldy wants to think about is Shakespeare’s Steak Pie, 911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies, or Damson-in-Distress Plum Tart. Could one of her husband Tom’s police investigations have triggered a murder? Or was her violent, recently paroled ex responsible? With death peering around every corner, Goldy needs to cook up some crime-solving solutions—before the only dish that’s left on her menu is murder.
  
  
• 
  Sherrill Watson

  More holes than the proverbial Swiss cheese. I felt like I'd fallen into one of Ms. Mott-Davidson's garderobe's and couldn't get out. Alice Through the Looking Glass. No, that was a different story. But wait! There's more! Doesn't a garderobe go completely down into the moat? And there's no escape at the bottom of it, never mind the grillwork? We're asked to believe that an entire castle is moved from England to America, and it STILL has more rooms than the Winchester house. But alas, no ghosts. But the garderobe wasn't CLEANED first? Then the moat was completely drained . . . The recipes are American, but with English names, never mind Old English suggestions could have been used . . . The last couple of chapters went for an exciting ending, but failed. Pass on this one.
• 
  Cindy

  I chose this book as it fulfilled a category on my Book Challenge, a yellow cover. Though mystery is one of my favorite genres, I had to stop reading about a third of the way through. I found the characters shallow and poorly developed, the plot marred by various unrelated subplots, basically a scattered mess of trite dialogue that often went nowhere. The beginning of the book, where the author spewed a massive list of characters and information about previous books in the series, apparently in a move to bring the reader up to speed about her protagonist, should have been a red flag, but I chose to wade through it in hopes it would get better. It didn't. Lesson learned.
• 
  Nancy Zorn

  This is the 4th Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery I've read, and it started out better than the others. I thought it was headed toward 3-star territory, until I got to the 'who done it' chapter. I didn't find the main character's son, Arch, as annoying as I usually do. The set up was a bit more interesting than her other novels, but it all fell apart for me at the end. The concept of actual recipes peppered throughout the book is novel, but does she ever make anything that doesn't have at least one stick of butter? I'll be glad when I've weeded the last of these books out of my 'to read' pile.
• 
  Cornerofmadness

  It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up a Goldy Schultz mystery and I was partly reminded as to why. Don’t get me wrong. This wasn’t an awful read but it did have some cringe-worthy moments. It’s a good reminder as to why the cozy mystery isn’t my favorite subgenre of mystery.
  Goldy’s husband, Tom, is on the east coast following a lead about a stamp heist, stamps worth in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands a piece. He was lead there by a young man, Andy, who had gotten swept up in this mess trying to pay off a different bad decision that might lead to his father’s death by heart attack.
  
  Goldy is home alone with her son Arch worrying about everything. She has earned that right because part of the worry is her abusive ex (Arch’s dad) might be getting out of prison and her own catering career might be tanking because she reported Charde and Buddy Lauderdale, very wealthy clients, after Buddy shook his infant daughter so hard she blacked out. The Lauderdales, having bought their way free of charges are out to ruin her, and potentially sue for loss of reputation. That’s when someone shoots out her front window.
  
  Goldy and Arch end up at Sukie and Elliot Hyde’s castle. It’s an honest to goodness castle that he’s trying to pass off as a conference center and hotel. She was meant to be doing a series of Elisabethean themed dinners for him. To her horror, soon Andy is dead, Tom’s been shot, someone from his past has resurfaced (and she sees it as a threat to their marriage), the Lauderdales are redecorating for the Hydes and Goldy’s ex shows up with his newest conquest, Viv who seems to have dated half the town.
  
  My problem with this wasn’t so much the mystery as it was all the outside nonsense. It had enough melodrama for two books but not enough potential suspects. I mean most of the suspects are somehow linked to Goldy and each other and all are so obnoxious you just want them all to be guilty. I found the end too over the top Hollywood for belief and Goldy’s insecurity and jealousy made this hard for me to read in places.
  
  I’ve read several in this series. Who knows, I’ll probably read more. At least the recipes were interesting and not all baked goods. (That always makes me sad when the recipes are all cookies and stuff as I’m diabetic).
  
  Now for a minor spoiler. There comes one point when Goldy confronts someone she thinks is selling the stolen stamps and at first passes herself off as a police investigator before backing off that story. All she really does is make him take off in the middle of the night. If this was the real world, she’d probably be arrested for obstruction. At best, she just lost the actual cops a valid lead. And this is what bothers me with cozies. Sometime I wonder why I read so many.
  
• 
  Marsha

  Arch has got a brand-new obsession—fencing! At one time, it was magic, then skiing and now dueling with foils. What’s next? Horse racing? (Oh wait, horsey phases are for girls…)
  
  One thing I’ve noticed with previous mysteries in this series is that Goldy doesn’t seem to solve mysteries, per se. her snooping just brings her a little too close to the truth and then the killer catches her, snarls out a confession and poor Goldy has to run for her life while dodging the murderous fiend.
  
  But this novel redeems that—mostly. She manages to ferret out the miscreant involved, unearths a mystery, figure out the train of clues and where they lead, locate a stash of purloined goods without the confession. Good for her!
  
  However, once again, she deduces the culprit while fleeing for her life. She also suffers a potentially lethal injury. Honest to Pete, this woman gets hurt more often than her cop husband, as he humorously points out to her. All this on top of the damage inflicted by her physically abused ex-husband, who broke one of her thumbs in three places and injured both of her shoulders. It’s a wonder she isn’t in a wheelchair or drooling from her head trauma.
  
  The subtext of this mystery is about keeping secrets, although the author gives that away as she does in other novels. But what Ms. Davidson lacks in subtlety, she more than makes up for in the continuing growth, curiosity, intelligence and skills of Goldy Schulz and her extended family.
  
• 
  Avid Series Reader

  Sticks & Scones by Diane Mott Davidson is the 10th book of the Goldy Bear mystery series set in contemporary Colorado. Goldy, a professional caterer, is excited to be catering Elizabethan fare in a castle. But before she can get started, an unknown adversary shoots out her living room window. She and her son move into the castle for their own safety, as her sheriff husband Tom is out of state on a case. A chapel associated with the castle is the site of one of her catering banquets. She goes to scope it out - and discovers a dead body. It's one of the perpetrators in the robbery Tom is investigating in New Jersey. Tom is on his way home, and Goldy waits for police to arrive.
  
  Tom arrives first at the crime scene, where a hidden sniper shoots him. He's rushed to the hospital, but manages to tell Goldy first, "I didn't love her". So Goldy is frantic for Tom's survival, but also plunged into doubt. She resolves to do some sleuthing herself, since Tom can't. Another concern: ex-husband "The Jerk" is out on parole.
  
  Goldy solves the robbery case, finds hidden loot, meets Tom's long-ago fiancée, and whips up fabulous catered meals along the way. She survives boiling water poured over her as she escapes the castle. Her son survives attack by a fellow fencing student. Plenty of mishaps and side plots in this entertaining story. Plenty of recipes, too: Castle Scones, Figgie Salad, Stained Glass Sweet Bread, 911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies, Queen of Scots Shortbread, Damson in Distress Plum Tarts, Shakespeare's Steak Pie (with Upper Crust Pastry), Huevos Palacios (with Boulder Chili), Shuttlecock Shrimp Curry, Penny-Prick Potato Casserole.
• 
  Jean Carlton

  One + rating....I confess I picked this up at the library sale because of the catchy title (related to a scone issue in a group I'm in - thought it would be a funny gag to bring to our next meeting. )
  Then I read the first few pages and the writing seemed pretty good. So I read it but it was a chore by half-way through. The writing went downhill, I didn't really care about any of the characters, (most annoyed me) the basic plot was convoluted and the 'crime' just didn't matter to me. ( valuable stamps heist)
  I struggled to the end and was not rewarded by a sensible solution. The promise of the unusual combo of murder, recipes, castle and medieval history did not come together. Particularly annoying is the reference to Goldy's ex as The Jerk throughout and her husband who is a cop who plays NO role while his caterer wife turns into super sleuth. Why do I do this once in a while when I have a list a mile long of titles-in-waiting? And what is "Bear' in the title. Is that her last name? Oh well.
• 
  Jennifer

  I really enjoy this series and this book was one of the better ones, even if it was a bit convoluted. There were so many bad guys that it was had to determine who was the most bad. Trying to keep both shootings connected was what kept all of the bad guys in play. Otherwise, Viv was the most obvious choice, purely because of her relationship with Ray. The Eliot-Micheala love child issue I did not see coming. I could not stand Buddy and his wife, and I was disappointed with their son for being manipulated into being overly aggressive with Arch during the demonstration. I was not surprised that John Richard got out of jail early for good behavior; he only beats up women so of course he was a model prisoner. I did like that his association with Viv broke his parole. He needs to learn a real lesson; which he hasn't. Yet. The Sara Beth issue was unnecessary. Goldy has had enough issues with cheating spouses and it was unnecessary to put her through the idea of that again. Still, this was enjoyable and I look forward to more from this series.
• 
  Shelley

  Goldie's dream booking at Hyde Castle goes awry when her home window is shot out, her husband is shot, her abusive ex-husband is out of jail, etc etc etc. I read the first bunch of these back in high school/college, and when I saw a later book set after she married Tom (they were still flirting when I was reading), I went for it. It was about how I remember--fun and creative recipes, though this was a terrible choice of book to catch up on Goldie and Tom, with the gunshot and Sara Beth and all. (Speaking of, I hope SB showed up again, otherwise that was a wasted plot.) The plot was pretty complex and convoluted, with many different crimes just happening to line up perfectly. But it was an excellent way to spend a relaxing afternoon.