first-in-series, senior-sleuths, cozy-mystery, puntastic, verbal-humor, situational-humor, murder, murder-investigation

This is a fun first in series about a group of eclectic seniors who have more wit than hair. The mystery is a good start, but the humor had me rolling in the aisles it is so over the top funny. The publisher's blurb is pretty good, so no need to recap. Enjoy!
Stephanie Brush really gives it the Brooklyn seal of approval while being incredibly versatile in differentiating characters.
I got my copy on sale from Chirp. ( )

A Corpse in the Soup - Reviewed by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

Some one is sabotaging the cooking show of America's favorite Chef. Food testers are coming down with food poisoning, the Baked Alaska is blowing up and the paprika is as hot as Hades. But who would do this and why?

When I was young I enjoyed playing the board game "Clue." What made this game so much fun were the characters. So now I want to introduce you to the characters of A Corpse in the Soup. Let's see if you can determine "who done it" in this story of colorful characters.

Godiva Olivia Duboise - writes a syndicated column titled Ask G.O.D. Resides in L. A. And loves to solve other people's problems. Married, widowed, left very rich.

Goldie Silver - identical twin of Godiva. Owns and operates the Silver Spoon Antiques in Juneau, Alaska. Even though she is identical in looks to Godiva she is actually a "mirror" twin. While Godiva's clothes come straight from the designers, Goldie's come straight from the Salvation Army. Godiva has a fleet of expensive cars in her garage while Goldie drives an old clunker.

Chili Pepper - Daughter of Goldie and Red Pepper (Goldie kept her maiden name for the shop). Sous-Chef on her father's Alaskan cruise ship the Aurora Borealis. Gets a call from Godiva inviting her to attend the taping of "Flirting with Food" where Godiva is chosen to be a food tester and ends up in the hospital with food poisoning.

Flossie Silver - Mother of Godiva and Goldie. Sterling Silver - Uncle of Godiva and Goldie. Both Flossie and Sterling are retired vaudeville magicians. And they, like Godiva love to solve other people's problems.

Chef Caesar Romano - Star of "Flirting with Food." Cooked and served the shrimp that put Godiva in the hospital with food poisoning. Swears someone is sabotaging his food. Ends up becoming Godiva's biggest fan and admirer.

Chef Biff Wellington - star of his own cooking show and known as the "Aerobic Chef". Will be competing against Caesar Romano in the annual competition of "Gourmet Gladiators". Hates his competition and swears that he will be this year's winner.

Candy Vanderloop - ex-assistant to Chef Caesar Romano, now working with Chef Biff Wellington. Has a big crush on Romano. Finds out that Wellington is a real pain to work with and for.

Chris Cross - office assistant to Chef Biff Wellington. Has his own problems working with and for Wellington. Teams up with Candy to create their own show.

Now, with names like these you know this is going to be a very funny, entertaining book. But this is also a murder mystery so one of these characters must die. In fact the victim is murdered and found face down in a bowl of soup.

Goldie sums it up quite well with her words... "All I wanted was a quiet buying trip. Instead, my sister gets poisoned, then dates the guy who poisoned her, who hires my daughter, then he gets arrested for killing his rival, we try to help out and almost get carved up by a wacko writer and our savior is a sweet little girl who turns out to be a kamikaze Black Belt. This could only happen in L.A." ( )

Goldie Silver and Godiva Olivia DuBois may be identical twins with the ability to communicate with one another telepathically, but that’s where their similarity ends. Fashion-conscious Godiva, living in Beverly Hills, writes an advice column called Ask G.O.D. Free spirit Goldie lives in Juneau, Alaska, where she owns an antique store. Godiva takes Goldie’s daughter Chili, a sous chef, to the taping of popular Chef Caesar Romano’s show. Romano asks Godiva to sample the food and she passes out from food poisoning. Goldie flies in to help, and at the hospital, Romano confides that someone is sabotaging his show. Romano offers Chili a job as his assistant, and Goldie and Godiva put their heads together to try to figure out who’s got it in for Romano. When his nemesis Biff Wellington is found with a knife in his back, Romano’s the number one suspect and Godiva, romantically interested in Romano, is out to prove him innocent, along with the help of her sister Goldie and their mother and uncle, two former Vaudeville magicians.

This fun mystery romp will keep the reader guessing while enjoying the antics of Goldie and Godiva, along with their quirky family. The characters are amusing and endearing, and even the dog Waldo has his humorous moments. The plot moves along crisply, offering plenty of red herrings, and is twisty enough to provide a good whodunit. A Corpse in the Soup, first of the Silver Sisters Mystery series written by sisters St. James and Bradner, is a refreshing addition to the mystery world. ( )

Well I have to admit, Morgan St. James and Phyllice Bradner’s A Corpse in the Soup is definitely a different sort of mystery from the ones I’m used to reading! Godiva and Goldie, twins living in LA and Alaska, come from a family of Vaudeville magicians. Godiva lives with their semi-senile mother, Flossie, and uncle Sterling. Trouble begins when Godiva invites Goldie’s sous-chef daughter, Chili, down to LA to attend a taping of a well-loved cooking show headlined by the sexy Caesar Romano. The evening takes a turn for the bizarre, however, when Godiva gets food-poisoning and nearly dies. Goldie comes down to help out, Chili gets a new job as Caesar’s helper when his assistant Candy quits, and Godiva and Caesar seem to have quite a thing for one another.

The Silver Sisters decide to poke their noses into who might be sabotaging Romano’s show, but when one of their chief suspects dies, things take a turn for the dangerous. Now they’re trying to prove Romano’s innocence, help out some new friends, keep up with Godiva’s newspaper advice column, and avoid getting killed or hurt while poking into things!

The breakneck pace of the story struck me as similar to that of watching a cartoon--everything's at full volume, color and velocity, and utterly bizarre things are thrown out at the reader with hardly a jot of explanation, such as the twins' occasional esp-linked thoughts, the apparent talking dog (sort of), and so on. I almost expect to see the pages decorated with black-and-white cartoon-style drawings of the characters and their capers. It's fun, it's funny, it's stylish and entertaining. It's silly and diverting. But it definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea. I think the characters could seem either charming and fun or annoying and silly depending on your take on the style. I more or less started from the latter and drifted toward the former during my read; overall I'd have to say that this isn't my style of mystery, but that it definitely has its charms.

For a longer version of this review, visit ErrantDreams. ( )

As one of the authors, I'm recommending A CORPSE IN THE SOUP. My sister, Phyllice Bradner, and I had a wonderful time creating the characters, reminiscent of our own zany family, and have gotten many five star reviews from reviewers who loved our over-the-top characters. It's a fun chase through Hollywood, Beverly Hills and surrounding areas as identical twins Goldie and Godiva track a killer. You can check out many of the reviews on our website

www.silversistersmysteries.com

Fiftyish silver haired Mae West look-alikes Goldie Silver, an over the hill hippie from Alaska, and her sister Godiva Olivia DuBois, a wealthy Beverly Hills widow who writes the syndicated advice column "Ask G.O.D." (her initials), aided and abetted by their eighty year old mother and uncle, former vaudeville magicians who love to dress up in costume and go undercover to help their girls, find themselves trying to prove that Chef Caesar Romano didn't kill one of the other chefs competing for the coveted Greatest Gourmet Gladiator medal.

If you love fast paced, funny mysteries with lots of twists and turns, I challenge you to figure out who killed the "Corpse in the Soup" before the end of the book. ( )