Funeral Food

By Kathleen Taylor

The story starts out with the arrival to the small town Delphi, South Dakota of young and handsome Charles, a Mormon missionary. He immediately catches the eye of man-hungry Delphine, main character Tory Bauer's friend and housemate. Del has a very large and very jealous boyfriend, Deputy Big Dick Albrecht. So when Charles the missionary turns up dead in the closet of the Delphi Cafe where Del and Tory both work, Tory naturally supposes that Big Dick let his jealous anger go too far. However, boot prints lead Deputy Albrecht to another suspect, the loser, druggie boyfriend of another of Delphi’s waitresses. Is the druggie the murderer as the evidence seems to suggest or is Big Dick setting the boy up to take the fall?

The plot is a little hard to follow, but I still enjoyed the story very much.  I just like Tory Bauer. She’s smart, chubby, over-forty and a waitress, all good things as far as I am concerned.

The Hotel South Dakota

By Kathleen Taylor

A Tory Bauer mystery, set in the small town of Delphi, South Dakota.
Tory Bauer is an overweight, over-forty waitress. At the time of this story, Tory is involved in helping to organize the high school reunion. Naturally, this brings to mind those long gone days twenty years ago and the death by drowning at a kegger held on the banks of the James River. For twenty years, Butchie’s death had been considered an accidental drowning. But as the townsfolk talk about and rehash old history, Tory begins to think maybe there was more to the incident.

I love the Tory Bauer stories. Yes, there is a lot of talk and not a lot of action, but that is what makes them such a true to life portrait of the goings on in a small town in the upper Midwest. If you like folksy stories, you might like the Tory Bauer mysteries. Besides, how often do you come across stories set in South Dakota? (For those who may not know, a kegger is a party thrown by underage teens to get drunk on beer and act stupid.)

Mourning Shift

By Kathleen Taylor

Tory Bauer is overweight, over-forty and not overly ambitious. She works as a waitress at the Delphi Cafe, run by the enigmatic, chain-smoking Aphrodite.
It's Halloween and all the gals at the Delphi are in costumes featuring characters from "The Wizard of Oz" and Tory is dressed as a munchkin. The day has barely begun when Tory discovers that one of the customers has passed away in the bathroom. And it turns out to be Aphrodite's husband!  No one in Delphi knew that Aphrodite was married. Then before the body is even cold, in marches Aphrodite's stepdaughter and her son. Next thing we know, there's another dead body and Tory takes steps to uncover the killer.

I enjoyed this story and am looking forward to another Tory Bauer mystery.