Although two suitors vie for her affections, the only other person in caterer Madeline Bean’s bed these days turns out to a recent employee—and a very, very dead one at that.
Mad Bean Events has been going great guns. On the heels of her gig on TV’s Food Freak (Mumbo Gumbo, 2002) comes the smashingly successful Jazz Ball at the Woodburn School of Music. Of course, not everything goes down as well as the food. The most valuable prize in the fundraiser’s auction, a silver Marl IV Selmer saxophone, turns up missing shortly after fetching a staggering $100,000. Bill Knight, who made the winning bid, is so steamed he drives home like a maniac, frightening poor Maddie—who hitched a ride with Bill and his trophy wife Zenya because she lent her Grand Wagoneer to Sara Jackson, one of her waitresses—into bailing mid-trip. Which turns out to be a good thing, because it gives Zenya the chance to send her handsome brother, Dexter Wyatt, to Maddie’s rescue. The two find a diner, stay out till dawn, and return to discover Sara dead in Maddie’s bed. Worse yet, Maddie’s former flame Chuck Honnett of the LAPD is back, looking to rekindle a relationship Maddie snuffed when she found out the detective was not quite divorced.
Farmer adds spice to the standard ingredients to whip up something a little edgier than the usual fare.
