In her twelfth Goldilocks Catering mystery, Double Shot, Diane Mott Davidson presents caterer Goldy Schulz’s most personal case yet. Goldy’s life with her thriving catering business, loving husband and teenage son is going great except for one thing—her ex husband John Richard Korman (referred to as The Jerk by Goldy and her best friend Marla, another ex-wife of Korman). The Jerk has recently been released from prison, where he had been incarcerated for assaulting his current wife. The Jerk, an ex-doctor and psychopath (and Goldy’s son’s father) is making Goldy’s life miserable by demanding to see his son at a whim, yelling at Goldy in public and generally leaving her in a state of fear.
Goldy’s life takes another turn for the worse when her catering business is sabotaged and she is attacked on her way to an event. She immediately suspects The Jerk, but the suspicion becomes moot when she discovers The Jerk dead, shot to death in his own garage. Soon, Goldy becomes the police’s top suspect and she knows she needs to figure out who killed The Jerk before the murder is pinned on her.
Anyone who likes Davidson’s other mysteries in this series will probably not be disappointed with Double Shot (they also won’t be upset that The Jerk finally gets what he deserves). Mott combines a slew of red herrings with clues on nearly every page along with, of course, plenty of cooking. Unfortunately, Goldy’s stick-her-nose-into-everything attitude gets a little old by the middle of the book and the case takes so many twists and turns and throws suspicion on so many different characters that it’s easy to get lost and lose interest. The resolution of the book also falls a little flat, probably because there are far too many suspects for the reader to even make an educated guess at the actual killer.
If you’ve been following Goldy through her other books, you will probably have fun on her ride through this current mess she’s gotten herself into, despite the problems listed above. If you aren’t up on Goldy’s hijinks, start at the beginning of the series to get the full effect of Davidson’s storyline.