What a delightful book! Beside including some hiliarious recipes like "Susan Silverman's Boiled Water" from Robert B. Parker, there are interesting recipes from a number of mystery writers and places associated with mysteries. I plan to try the Tea Scones from Brown's Hotel (Agatha Christie's Bertram's Hotel) first. This is a must for mystery readers.

Mysteries and menus go hand in hand. Just picking up A Taste of Murder and quickly wading through it, I knew it was a recipe book that would never leave my kitchen.

Readers and chefs can expect great recipes, informative thoughts, witty remarks, and bits and pieces from Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl, who created the wonderful book, and the mystery writers themselves. An impressive introduction tells readers about the relationship between mysteries and menus, and each chapter adds a little more a long with the recipes. Under the chapter headings of First Instincts, Choose Your Poison, The Pot Thickens, Dressed to Kill, Kneadless Violence, Quick and Painless, Pasta Mortem, Something's Fishy, Fowl Play, Secret Meat-ings, No Place to Meat, Faithful Sidekicks, Revenge is Sweet, and Just Desserts, you will find some delicious, tempting meals. Expect to find recipes like, Bill Crider's manly recipe of Sausage-Cheese Appetizer, Cathie John's tasty Cincinnati Chili recipe with a dash of chocolate. Peter Robinson's tempting taste of Warm Pear and Stilton Salad, Sara Hoskins Frommer's bread recipe called Fred Lundquist's Sourdough Oatmeal Bread, Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwich recipe, Parnell Hall's Stanley's Head Pesto pasta, Anne Perry's Fish Pie, Leslie Glass's April Woo's Crispy Hacked Duck, Penny Warner's Hangtown Fry, Kate Charles's recipe for Quick Vegetarian Cassoulet, H.R.F. Keating's side dish recipe of Carrot Haliva, L.L. Thrasher's Boiled Cookies, and Jonathan Gash's British cake recipe called Parkin.

If you own one of those rare Bed & Breakfasts that includes live mysteries in the vacation weekend package, or know anyone who does, this is one recipe book that will add to the fun. It's a wonderful grouping of talent and taste. The recipes are worthy on their own, but it's nice to have a little mystery with one's meal - don't you think? Others must agree because it been nominated in the Anthony Mystery Awards for Best Non-Fiction.

You can't go wrong spending the dough on this one.

What great fun it was to participate in this very worthwhile project and to discover that my fellow mystery writers are such fantastic cooks. The recipes are varied, well presented, and easy to follow. But even if you're not interested in stirring up something diabolically delicious, "A Taste of Murder" also serves up entertaining vignettes and bits of insider information with every recipe.

Okay, I admit it, the only reason I bought this book was because I read an online review which mentioned that this book was filled with references to The Who and in fact, every chapter was titled after a Who song! Well, I love to read and I love The Who even more so I decided to buy this book. I stayed up very late for three nights in a row until I finished "One Last Hit", it was hard to put down! I loved the sly references throughout and especially adored all the Who references; the woman drummer with a photo of Keith Moon on her desk, the autographed photo of Pete Townshend from eBay - - and the last bit of the book, where Joe Portugal hears that John Entwistle died, really DID make me cry. Thank you Nathan for writing this book and thank you for dedicating it to John Entwistle - you BOTH rock! I'm waiting for the sequel . . .

What a great book! Especially if you are a baby boomer. Terrific plot and great characters - make sure you have a big enough block of time to get through this - I read it on a cross-country flight and the time just zoomed by.

This was the first time I read Nathan Walpow, but won't be the last.

"One Last Hit" is the third Joe Portugal book and revolves around Joe's exploits as he gets his old band, The Platypuses, back together and his search for their elusive lead guitarist. The problem is that somebody's trying to kill members of the band not long after they reunite.

Joe is a very likable character and the dialogue is fast and funny. Walpow also gets in plenty of musical references through his character, mentioning "unsung" (no pun intended) bands and albums that may just have the unfamiliar looking them up. A nice touch is that chapters are titled with Who/Pete Townshend song names. Fans of a good mystery and '70s rock will enjoy this fun book.

A quick note on the publisher, UglyTown: they are the reason I bought "One Last Hit" in the first place. They publish beautifully designed paperbacks and whether they choose the authors or the authors choose them, it's a good fit. I have everything they've ever put out (including a series for teens) and enjoyed them all.

I loved it - if you live in LA you HAVE to read it!

A DEADLY DOZEN (TALES OF MURDER FROM LOS ANGELES ) is the third anthology following the 1997 DESSERTICIDE (DESSERTS TO DIE FOR ) and 1998 MURDER BY THIRTEEN.

The Los Angles chapter of Sisters in Crime has released a book of twelve short stories, based on murder and mayhem. I usually do not like to read short stories, but these stories were fully contained with well-crafted plots and well defined characters. My favorites were Wifely Duties, because every woman can identify with Lucy and her discontent with her marriage, but I would like to think that we would not go to the lengths that she did, and with such a startling conclusion. Cats and Jammer was another favorite, it's about a teen-age detective that finds a body and the suspects are many.

Stories included are: Sentience Imposed by Kris Neri Wifely Duties by Cory Newman Push Comes To Shove by Nathan Walpow Fatal Tears by Ekaterine Nikas Miss Parker and the Cutter Sanborn Tablets by Gay Tolti Kinman Driven To Kill by Jamie Wallace Touch Of A Vanish'd Hand by Phil Mann Ai Witness by Kate Tornton Over My Shoulder by Lisa Seidman The Cats And Jammer, by Gayle McGary Copy Cat by Joan Myers Midnight by Dorothy Rellas

This book is well worth the read.

A Deadly Dozen is a compilation of short stories, naturally involving murders, written by the Sisters in Crime in Los Angeles, California. Featuring a deadly dozen stories from such authors as: Kris Neri, Cynthia Lawrence, Cory Newman, Lisa Seidman, and others, these stories provide a platform for these writers to dip their pens into stories with a twist. This group, which formed in 1986, led by Sara Paretsky, Sisters in Crime is now a respected national organization. The Los Angeles Chapter was formed by Phyllis Miller in 1989. In recent years, male writers have been welcomed into the organization. A Deadly Dozen is the second anthology published by this group.

The problem...and the thrill...of short stories is that the characters have to introduce themselves to the reader early and completely. The reader has to immediately descend into the world that the author has created, and be ready for a real jolt at the end. Kris Neri's chilling "Sentence Imposed" does just that:

"Call it fate, call it chance--either way, it'll change your life. Sometimes you just find yourself staring into a crowd, your gaze floating aimlessly over a sea of faces you won't remember the instant you look away--until one person's eyes seem to grab hold of yours and you make a connection. You can't explain it, but somehow your life and that stranger's become bound together. When I made that link, it was with a little girl."

Whatever the subject, these writers know how to pull no punches. "Wifely Duties" is a Hitchcockian tale of a wife who plots to kill her husband, and ends up as a victim herself. "Push Comes to Shove" is a wrestler's nightmare. "Fatal Tears" is a classic sibling rivalry piece. A Deadly Dozen exposure is like taking in several episodes of "Night Gallery," with cataloging students catching a murderer in "Miss Parker and the Cutter-Sanborn Tables."

Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

I found this collection of short stories to be amazingly gripping and enjoyable. Each of the stories were well written and kept my attention from start to finish. I've not been a fan of locked room mysteries, however, I must admit that Phil Mann's "Touch Of A Vanish'd Hand" not only kept my attention but spurred me to purchase more books in this specific genre. Joan Myers' "Copycat" was another personal favorite. I tip my hat to each of these authors as well as the three editors. Thank you for such a wonderful piece of modern literature.

I do read the reader reviews on Amazon but never thought I would be writing one of my own. This book was so good I thought it needed some more help reaching book buyers, so here goes:

Joe Portugal is a 40 something actor in commercials in Los Angeles who belongs to a club devoted to cacti and succulents. He has the good fortune to be somewhat successful in his career, live in a paid-for house courtesy of his father, and have a best friend (who happens to be female). He has the bad fortune to be be house, plant and bird sitting for the club president when he discovers her dead in the shower with a broken euphorbia stuffed down her throat. Police detective Casillas seems to think Joe knows a bit too much about the victim and type of murder weapon (the euphorbia sap is quite poisonous) and follows Joe about as more murders are committed. It doesn't help Joe's case that the rest of the euphorbia shows up in his greenhouse while the detective is interviewing him the next day.

What I liked most about the book was that no one was phony- even in Los Angeles, people can be normal. Joe wasn't a caricature, neither was Gina (the female friend), nor the police. They weren't supermen- able to take a pounding and then pop up fresh as a daisy ready to run up Mt Everest. Joe's dad is a retired (due to prison time) enforcer who worries about Joe and asks a friend to "watch over" him as Joe continues to investigate the killings. The interactions between characters was lively, funny and true. The situations that develop aren't forced- the coincidences aren't too far out. Maybe it's because I've been suffering thru some really bad fiction recently, I don't know; but this book is a prime example of really good writing, fascinating real characters you get to care about (oh that phrase!) and a story that plain sucks you in until you *have* to know what happens next and who did it. And, for the record, I didn't guess who did it before it was revealed. My guess died second in the book

You will learn a great deal about cacti, euphorbias and poinsettias while reading the book. A wonderful botanical guide to the plants mentioned is included in the back of the book.

Is this a cozy? hmmm, maybe. No animals die in the book- unless you include some wasps.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone whoever tried to get a cactus to grow and hates wasps; and to anyone looking for a great read period!

Not your garden-variety mystery. A succulent little book, with a down-to-earth detective, a thorny problem, good plot, and very good and believable characters. I've written a longer review for our website and am posting this one as a personal favor to Nathan; however, I am recommending this book, not as a personal favor to him but to mystery lovers everywhere, whether you like plants or not. Don't waste thyme. Buy this book now!

I was a bit hesitant to buy this book, since I'm not really a "plant person". However, I'm certainly not a "horse person", but I always enjoy Dick Francis. Knowledge or enjoyment of succulents is not necessary to enjoy Nathan Walpow's first mystery novel featuring commercial actor Joe Portugal.

The book doesn't really fit into either the hard-boiled or cozy category: Joe Portugal may be an amateur sleuth, but there's lots of action to keep things moving. Wait until you have some spare time, because you won't want to stop reading until you find out whodunit.

I'm not into orchids *or* succulents, but plant-loving sleuth Joe Portugal is a fun guy to spend some time with nevertheless. Joe is an actor who appears in commercials, which gives him plenty of free time to solve crimes. He's really more of a cactus man, but he enters the cutthroat (really!) world of orchids in order to find out who murdered a member of the local orchid society. It's not too difficult to guess whodunit, and the plot could be stronger, but this book is still a light and amusing read. I liked Joe's deadpan observations and wry sense of humor, and enjoyed learning about the differences between cactus and orchid lovers.

DEATH OF AN ORCHID is the second title in Nathan Walpow's Joe Portugal Mystery Series. It's an interesting gardening series that takes place in Culver City, CA.

It seems Joe Portugal and I have some things in common, the love of cactus and succulents and learning to live with the condition of CRS (for the meaning, you will have to read the book).

Competitiveness can be found in just about every avenue in life, and most certainly in gardening, especially when it comes to wanting the best. This is just one of the possibilities Joe Portugal has to consider as he tries to help an old acting friend who has been accused of murdering the host of the Orchid Spring social. While he is sleuthing, Joe takes the time to try out for a commercial and to comfort Gina when life with her lover, Jill, gets shaky. Gina, being a good friend and old sweetheart of Joe's, puts on her sleuthing shoes and joins him on the path of murder and mayhem among some beautiful flora and disconcerting inhabitants.

I think Mr. Walpow's sense of humor, along with his characters stood out the most. The plot, the suspects, and the paths taken were very well set, although I have to admit, I did have it solved about half way through.

I was happy to renew my acquaintance with Joe Portugal, cactus maven and amateur sleuth. This time he gets involved with killings among orchid enthusiasts. It's an off-beat mix of actors, plant smugglers, old loves, and one very nasty murderer. Joe's sense of humor had me chuckling throughout, despite the dangerous situations he keeps landing himself in. The main character comes across as a damaged person trying hard to be a decent human being. Joe just keeps getting more appealing and his lovelife couldn't be more complicated. Even if you're not a plant enthusiast yourself, you'll find it hard not to get interested. (Didja know that the term "orchid" comes from the Greek word for testicle?) Fascinating characters, tight plot, genuine humor--another quick read from Walpow.