The Diva Runs Out of Thyme (A Domestic Diva Mystery Book 1)

I really like the main character, the detective, her dad and her ex-husband, plus is his family. The issue is that the main character is so used to being talked down to, over-ruled in her own home, and made to feel less of a woman. I really wish she would grow a back bone. She’s in her forties and yet she still lets her mom, her sister and her childhood rival, who is now dating her ex-husband, to run all over her and make her feel less than. It enrages me when I’m really into the story and I’m like girl if I were you… Like why does the author have to make her seem so weak in her personal relationships and yet she’s strong enough to not cower from a murder mystery?? Please, please if there are more books to come start building your main lady up. Also, if she’s so uncomfortable in her stretchy pants and the comments she gets help her out! It’s nice when other women empower one another, make it realistic, but come on! Empower her! She definitely deserves it.

Absolutely loved it! The detailed descriptions of the settings and the food were so enjoyable. Great characters and loved the twisty mystery!!!

I appreciate a chronological list in a series.So, here it is: The Diva Runs Out of Thyme (A Domestic Diva Mystery) . The Diva Takes the Cake (A Domestic Diva Mystery) . The Diva Paints the Town (A Domestic Diva Mystery) . The Diva Cooks a Goose (A Domestic Diva Mystery) . The Diva Haunts the House (A Domestic Diva Mystery) . The setting: Near Washington, DC. Thanksgiving Day week. A cooking contest: THE STUPENDOUS STUFFING SHAKEDOWN. (Silly name). Contestants: Natasha Smith, a tv star who gushes with charm and outlandish entertainment hints, and Sophie Winston a down-to-earth events planner who writes a simple advice column. Natasha and Sophie have been rivals since childhood. In fact, Sophie's ex, Mars, short for Marshall, has become Natasha's love interest.Not to worry, soon Sophie is linked with a detective, Wolf Fleishman. One small problem: Sophie is a murder suspect! In the end, the murder is solved with the help of way too many characters. And one is never given a first name. However, even minor characters are described in detail. For example, here is Bernie Frei, Mars' college chum: "I'd always liked Bernie, but he was a bit of a wild card. Bawdy, likely to blurt the thing everyone was thinking but was too polite to say, and generally unemployed. His sandy hair was always tousled, and he usually looked as though he'd just rolled out of bed or left a pub after a rowdy night of drinking." (Page 97, large print edition). In addition to including a few good recipes, the author provides helpful hints in the form of headnotes. Here is one from Natasha: "Salt isn't one size fits all anymore. Today's home kitchen should contain at least five different kinds of salt. Kosher for brining, coarse grinder salt for the salt mill, fine French sea salt for cooking, marvelous 'fleur de sel' for salt shakers, and 'sel gris' also known as gray salt, my personal favorite." (Page 70). And here is one from Sophie: "If you decide to use (copper pots and pans) make it easy on yourself ny keeping a salt shaker and a vinegar cruet by your sink. Shake on a hefty dose of salt, add a splash of vinegar and the tarnish will clean up as if by magic." (Page 296). One small point: Sophie mentions using Battenburg lace, a Rosenthal coffee pot and a Royal Worcester tea pot. I wish they had been detailed. All good cozies must have cats and dogs, and in this case there is a neighbor who rescues animals, Nina Norwood. Mars and Sophie share custody of their dog, Daisy. Sophie rescues a kitten from a Dumpster. She names him Mochie. Two other dogs are part of the list of characters, MacArthur and Duke. Here is an example of true animal behavior: "The colonel managed to catch the frantic MacArthur, and I (Sophie) hurried over to remove Mochie from the poor dog's back. Mochie jumped off before I got there. He leapt onto an empty chair and groomed his front paws as though they smelled offensively of dog." (Page 158). Why four stars instead of five? I wanted more information about the lace and coffee pot and tea pot, and I wanted fewer characters and a slower pace.I am a fan. And I plan on reading the others in this highly entertaining cozy series.

Sophie Winston, a party planner and now a columnist of household and good life tips, had always been in some sort of competition with Natasha Smith, who was now living with Sophie's ex-husband, Mars. Natasha seemed determined to win the stuffing competition. Earlier, Sophie had discovered a dead man in a dumpster who turned out to be a private investigator. She had adopted the kitten he'd approached her with when she was going into the grocery store. It wasn't too much longer before Sophie stumbled onto another dead body, that of the man who was in charge of the Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown. It wasn't looking good for her because Detective Kenner was ready to pin both murders on her. Detective Fleishman aka Wolf was more sympathetic and not so ready to toss her in jail. Sophie needed to prove her innocence and with the help of her good friend Nina, she set out to do just that.This was a fun beginning to this series. There were a lot of different characters, but it became fairly easy to sort through and figure out which ones were important. I liked that Sophie had a good relationship with her parents as well as her ex-husband, Mars. Bickering is never fun, lol. I got a big kick out of Mars' mom June who was totally crushing on one of Sophie's neighbors, an older man named Colonel Hampstead. There were a lot of people keeping secrets and just as I thought I had it figured out, that person would be cleared. I honestly never saw the killer coming--and this was supposedly the second time I read this! (Maybe I will just use the excuse that going by the date I had down for reading this, I was either pre-op nervous or recovering from surgery when I read the first and that's why I don't remember!)I do want to continue in the series. Natasha cracks me up. She might be a sort of nemesis for Sophie, but she's pretty harmless. I'm anxious to see how things heat up between Sophie and Wolf too!

First book in the Domestic Diva mystery series.Some Dishes Are Best Served Cold...Few can compete with Natasha Smith when it comes to entertaining, but her childhood rival, Sophie Winston, certainly tries. Natasha may have stolen the spotlight, and Sophie's husband, but Sophie is determined to rob her of the prize for the Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown. She just needs the right ingredient.But Sophie's search for the perfect turkey takes a basting when she stumbles across a corpse. And when the police find her name and photo inside the victim's car, Sophie will have to set her trussing aside to solve the murder, or she'll be serving up prison grub.Loved this first book in the series, with hosting tips heading every chapter. With a Great set of recipes that I will trying out in time.NB - I preferred Sophie's tips more than Natasha's, as I'm like Sophie, keeping it plain and simple.With a strong set of characters, well plotted and written.A really enjoyable mystery, and will be reading more of this series.Published by Berkley Prime Crime, this book can be purchased from most book sellers. Also available from Amazon in paperback, kindle and audio CD's. It is also available to download via Audible.com (but not available Internationally).I managed to purchase the MP3 when it came up on offer on Amazon UK.Narrated by Hillary Huber, and I must say that she made listening very enjoyable.

I'm a bit addicted to cosy mysteries at the moment and wanted a new series to get into having recently finished the knitting mysteries. As I'm a bit of a foodie, this one seemed perfect: there's murder... with more recipes! Great context indeed.Sophie Winston is a bit of a domestic goddess, but somehow feels she falls short behind her rival (and childhood friend) Natasha. The Thanksgiving Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown (yes, really) is her chance to shine, she just needs to make sure that she has the right ingredients to make the perfect dish. The only problem arises when she stumbles across a corpse in the supermarket parking lot, and then another one a day later. The police naturally assume Sophie's the culprit, so she needs to do a little sleuthing of her own to clear her name...A really good start to a fun series. Sophie and her assorted friends and family are all wonderfully written (and some a bit more eccentric than others), but my only quibble is that at times it seemed to be a bit confusing as to who was related to who and in what way, which made the plot excessively complicated at times. Hopefully in book two there'll be a few less characters to contend with. There's also a bit of romance however, which is nice and makes the book a bit lighter to read. I also liked the fact that this book kept throwing out red herrings- unlike a lot of other more predictable cosy mysteries, it wasn't clear to me who the murderer was in this one- much to my annoyance!If you're a cosy mystery fan then I'd definitely recommend this. I'm now off to read book two!

This was a fun mystery which I struggled to put down. The cast of characters with the complex relationships of the narrator and her family made for a classic 'country house' scenario - even though the first murder seemed to have nothing to do with Sophie. The ending was rather chaotic, but most of the loose ends were eventually tied up.

Another great read from Krista, would have liked to read this book in one sitting!

Krista Davis has authored two series, The Paws and Claws series, and the one this book is from, The Domestic Diva series. This is definitely a foodie mystery and is a really fun, fast read.The Diva Runs Out of Thyme takes place at American Thanksgiving, and Sophie's parents and sister are visiting for the holidays. She is one of three finalists taking part in the Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown, and one of the invited celebrity contestants is her life-long archrival, Natasha who has her own community TV programme, a related website, and Sophie's ex-husband, Mars. DivaOfThymeHeading out to pick up groceries for the contest and the Thanksgiving feast, Sophie is approached in the parking lot by a man wanting her to take a kitten. At first she resists but as she does her shopping, she doesn't trust the man to wait for a home for it so on leaving the store, she looks for him in the lot. She finds the kitten in it's box on top of a pickup truck, then, as she turns to walk away, sees the trail of blood leading to the dumpster. She dials 911 and when the detectives arrive, she finds that she herself is the prime suspect.Over the next few days, the sponsor of the contest is murdered, and Sophie finds the body, her ex-husband, his mother, and Natasha, Sophie's brother- and sister-in-law end up at her house for Thanksgiving for dinner and her ex is poisoned (but lives), and she becomes a suspect in everything. When a neighbour reports that the Colonel, another guest at Sophie's dinner, was bustled into a hearse the night before, everything starts to come to a head.This was lots of fun. Each chapter begins with a question for either Natasha, or for Sophie in her new-found role as columnist for a local paper. While Natasha's solutions are always full of pretension and glamour, Sophie's are always practical and time-saving. She prepares wonderful meals and treats, stretching what she has as the number of guests keeps increasing. The recipes are included at the back. The characters are just as delicious and down-to-earth. I'm sure I'll be reading more of Ms. Davis' novels in the future.