Death Of A Christmas Caterer: A Hayley Powell Food & Cocktails Mystery by Lee Hollis

Hayley likes writing her food and cocktails column.  She gets to try new things, experiment with food and drink, and gets paid for writing articles about it.  When her boss throws a last minute Christmas party at her, she knows the best caterer in town to do it, no problem.

Kensington Books sent me an ARC of this book for review (thank you).  It's being published this month, so you can grab the next book in this series now.

Hayley is a bit flighty, but she gets the job done.  The only problem is that her boss gives her a budget for food that wouldn't even work if she had the local grocery store cater it.  After some argument with the chef, they agree on a low key minimal food job.  All is good until she drops by to see how it's going and finds that he's dead.  He's inside a locked room.  What happened to him?

This is a cozy mystery (I enjoy them) and it's hard to feel sorry for Garth or his wife.  The cops aren't exactly sure how he died.  Hayley knows that something is off but not what.  And her old boyfriend is back in town and her new one doesn't like it. With Hayley's family, work and romance, her life is full.  Trying to investigate a murder is not the smartest thing to do.  

This is an unusual murder which was a nice touch.  My favorite part is that Hayley has finally made up her mind about which man she wants in her life.  It's about time!  I'm pleased with her choice.  Are you?