Kirkus Review
A Florida caterer's plans to build her reputation are complicated by murder.Hayley Snow (Killer Takeout, 2016, etc.) is the food critic for Key Zest, a magazine that covers all things having to do with the exotic islandincluding the Cuban-American conference at the Harry S. Truman Little White House for which her mother has just landed a three-day catering job. The food is Cuban-themed and delicious, but disaster strikes when Gabriel, one of the kitchen helpers, is stabbed to death just after the surprise appearance of Barack Obama and Jimmy Buffett. Gabriel had been suspected of stealing Ernest Hemingway's gold Nobel Prize medal, which has never left Cuba since Papa brought it there. Already Mayor Diaz of Havana and Turner Markham, one of the Key West commissioners, have been at each other's throats over the United States' "wet foot, dry foot" policy concerning Cuban refugees. The loss of the medal throws more fuel on the fire. Hayley's overprotective boyfriend, Key West cop Nathan Bransford, wants her to butt out of the whole mess, but she's already agreed to help Gabriel's sister Maria, who has no confidence that the police will properly investigate the death of a Cuban immigrant. Stretched thin among her own job, hunting for clues in the death and theft, and helping her mother continue catering the conference, Hayley is totally stressed. But she's still determined to find Gabriel's killer.Burdette's loving descriptions of food and the appended recipes are an added fillip for readers who enjoy some history and romance with their mysteries. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Hayley Snow, food critic for Key Zest magazine, agrees to help her mother at her first big catering gig, a multiday conference to be held at Harry Truman's Little White House in Key West and designed to help forge a relationship between Cuba and the Florida city. Unfortunately, the celebrity-packed first evening of the conference ends horribly with the murder of Gabriel, one of the kitchen workers, and the theft of Hemingway's Nobel Prize medal, on loan from the Cuban people. Convinced that the local police won't expend too much energy on finding Cuban American Gabriel's murderer, Gabriel's family asks Hayley to investigate. Meanwhile, Hayley needs to come to terms with her feelings about her boyfriend, police detective Nathan, as well as provide support for her octogenarian roommate, Miss Gloria, who is concerned about their new neighbors on Houseboat Row. Fascinating details about the Truman Little White House, Cuban American history and relations, Cuban food, and Hemingway's years in Key West are woven through this atmospheric cozy.--Sue O'Brien Copyright 2018 Booklist
Library Journal Review
At a splashy three-day international event held at the Harry D. Truman Little White House in Key West, FL, famously fierce food critic Hayley Snow is enjoying work as sous chef for her mother's new catering business. But what's this? Ernest Hemingway's Nobel medal has gone missing, along with family friend and coworker Gabriel? That's bad enough, but the dead body in the storeroom is even worse. Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity finalist Burdette goes hardcover.
