To Die for: A Mystery

A posh London restaurant serves as the backdrop for Neels disappointing new novel featuring amateur sleuth Francesca Wilson. The investors in Judith Delvess London cafe, including her co-owner, want to sell, but Judith is obstinately against the transaction. Shortly after her friend and partner, Selina, comes around to her way of thinking, Selinas body is found stuffed into an unused freezer. With Selinas shares tied up until probate, Judith thinks the deal is off, but Selinas drunkard husband and Judiths banker fianc both try to find a way to push the sale through. Then an apparently accidental fire guts the cafe, and Judith discovers that her chef, another investor, has been stealing from the business. While the police try to find Selinas killer, the dead womans husband commits suicide, and the case seems to be solved. But is it? Francesca, a police detectives wife, is skeptical. When Judith is attacked, Frans suspicions turn out to be right on the mark. Short on crime solving and long on the ins and outs of the food industry and British legal practice, Neels sixth novel lacks some of the psychological texture of her previous efforts (A Timely Death, etc.), leaving readers to slog through what at times reads like a case study in restaurant management. (May)