Diane Mott Davidson - The Main Corpse

Five-Star Praise for THE MAIN CORPSE and the Nationally Bestselling Mysteries of Diane Mott Davidson

ANOTHER THREE-STAR HELPING OF SUSPENSE and another 10 of Goldys appealing recipes.

Charleston Post and Courier

The Main Corpse will make Davidsons fans hungry for even more of her stories. A TASTY TALE.

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

A CROSS BETWEEN MARY HIGGINS CLARK AND BETTY CROCKER.

The Sun, Baltimore

DIANE MOTT DAVIDSONS CULINARY MYSTERIES CAN BE hazardous to your waistline.

People

THE JULIA CHILD OF MYSTERY WRITERS.

Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph

DAVIDSON HAS FOUND THE RECIPE FOR BESTSELLERS.

The Atlanta Constitution

MOUTHWATERING.

The Denver Post

DELICIOUS SURE TO SATISFY!

Sue Grafton

If devouring Diane Mott Davidsons newest whodunit in a single sitting is any reliable indicator, then this was A DELICIOUS HIT

Los Angeles Times

You dont have to be a cook or a mystery fan to love Diane Mott Davidsons books. But if youre eitheror bothher TEMPTING RECIPES AND ELABORATE PLOTS ADD UP TO A LITERARY FEAST!

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Mixes recipes and mayhem to PERFECTION.

The Sunday Denver Post

Davidson is one of the few authors who have been able to seamlessly stir in culinary scenes without losing the focus of the mystery [SHE] HAS MADE THE CULINARY MYSTERY MORE THAN JUST A PASSING PHASE.

Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale

Goldy and her collection of friends and family CONTINUE TO MIX UP DANDY MYSTERIES AND ADD TEMPTING RECIPES to the readers cookbooks at the same time.

The Dallas Morning News

BOOKS BY DIANE MOTT DAVIDSON

Catering to Nobody
Dying for Chocolate
The Cereal Murders
The Last Suppers
Killer Pancake
The Grilling Season
The Main Corpse
Prime Cut
Tough Cookie
Sticks & Scones
Chopping Spree

To our dear children,
Jeffrey, J.Z., and Joe

T he author wishes to acknowledge the help of the following people: Jim, Jeff, J.Z., and Joe Davidson; Kate Miciak, a brilliant editor; Sandra Dijkstra, an extraordinary agent; Lee Karr and the group that assembles at her home; John Schenk and Karen Johnson, J. Williams Catering, Bergen Park, Colorado; Deidre Elliott and Katherine Goodwin Saideman, for their careful reading of the manuscript; Janet Alexander, a friend who gave support as well as the tide; Lucy Mott Faison, Sally Mott Lawrence, and Bill Mott, Jr., for loaning their kitchens for recipe-testing; Mark D. Wittry, M.D., Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, St. Louis University Health Sciences Center; Carmen Laronn, M.D.; Richard L. Staller, D.D.; Emyl Jenkins; Carol Devine Rusley; Joanne P. Smith; Spike Christensen; Sandra Dallas; Mr. and Mrs. James Hartley; Mark A. Bowron, Vice-President and General Manager, Alma American Mining Corporation; Jack Hiatt, Office of the Attorney General, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Robert T. Ammann, C.F.A., Equity Analyst, Founders Asset Management, Inc.; Susan Conant, for dog food research; Bob Springsteel, Theatrics, Inc.; David Harris, Colorado School of Mines; Martha Foley, Carl Mount, and William York-Fiern, Office of Active and Inactive Mines, Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology; David M. Abbott, Jr., Senior Associate, Behre Dolbear and Company, Inc., formerly regional geologist, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; William Butler, Butler Research and Investigations; Paula Millsapps, Bookkeeping Supervisor, FirstBank; and as always, Investigator Richard Millsapps, Jefferson County Sheriffs Department, Golden, Colorado, for patiently providing invaluable assistance and insights.

T he service a man renders his friend is trivial and selfish compared with the service he knows his friend stood in readiness to yield him.

R ALPH W ALDO E MERSON , Gifts

S ometimes youd kill for a booking. I was readyId had a rotten spring. The lack of business meant I spent afternoons frantically scrolling through my client files. Wasnt the Hardcastles daughter supposed to get married? Didnt they want me to do the reception? And what about the Garden Club brunch. Newcomers picnic, and Kiwanians First-of-Summer barbecue? In terms of scheduled events, these last two months were the worst in the five years since Id become a professional caterer. It wasnt just a rotten spring: It was disastrous.

The problem, everyone said, was the weather. From the middle of March until now, the beginning of June, maddening, endless rain and snow had assaulted the Colorado high country. The Audubon Society announced that birds migrating north had overflown the state completely. Drownings were up, landslides were up, catered events were way, way down. The clubs had all canceled their outdoor events, and the Hardcastles daughter was on Prozac.

I set aside the dumpling dough I was kneading and looked out my kitchen window. Morning fog shrouded the mountains of the Aspen Meadow Wildlife Preserve. In a recent empty momentI was having lots of those latelyId read an article in which a psychiatrist claimed people actually eat more during long bouts of depressing weather. But if folks dig into whole grilled swordfish and soup bowls of chocolate mousse during gray-day melancholy, then caterers should hit the jackpot when it pours, right? Reading the article, Id known in my heart the shrinks argument was wrong. Now, I finally had the bank statement to prove it.

I rolled the dough to razor-thinness. It wasnt the lack of income that bothered me so much. After all, Id been married to a man with a regular paycheck for just over a year. But second-time-around connubial bliss was one thing. Financial independence was another. Since Id had five years of being on my own, to have my business fail would be mortifying. I whacked the next batch of dough with my rolling pin. To lose Goldilocks Catering would be unthinkable.

Thank goodness my best friend had come to the rescuebless her large, recovering-from-cardiac-arrest heart. In her midforties and ultrawealthy, Marla Korman was the other ex-wife of my ex-husbandknown to both of us as the Jerk. When my business began to falter, Marla wanted to extend me a business loan. Very firmly, Id said thank you, but no. Next she offered to have a venture capital firmProspect Financial Partners, in which she had more than a passing interestanalyze Goldilocks Catering as an investment prospect. To this Id also given a polite no thanks. If too many cooks spoiled the broth, there was no telling what a venture capital firm could do to a catering business. But then Marla had the devious but brilliant idea of booking me to do a celebratory event for Prospect Financial Partners. How could I say no? So this afternoon, I was catering a heartwarmingly profitable luxury beer-and-hors doeuvre affair for the venture capitalistsat an extremely unusual site.