Book Club Discussion Questions

Five-Ingredient treats at a book club

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Thank you for your effective presentation at our Mystery Book Club meeting...Your Author Talk was a testament to your delivery as well as to the content of your 5-Ingredient Mystery series.

~Martha Washington Library Book Club Organizer

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If your club discusses a Five-Ingredient Mystery, I'll send you bookmarks. I'm also happy to join your discussion by Zoom, Skype, or FaceTime. Fill out the contact form in the page footer to request bookmarks or to set up a visit.

Discussion Questions for All Mysteries

1. The most important characters in a mystery are the sleuth, the victim, and the culprit. What impression did those characters make on you? Did their motivations and actions make sense?
2. The setting or the main character’s job / hobby is often an element in a mystery. How does location or vocation play a role in this mystery?
3. Traditional mysteries include suspects with motives and clues to whodunit. Did you figure out the culprit before the end? What clues did you pick up or miss?
4. Most mysteries contain subplots that illuminate characters, present red herrings, provide comic relief, or parallel the main plot. What subplots appear in this mystery and what is their function?
5. Mysteries have plot twists that force the sleuth to change course mid-stream (second murders, other crimes, new sources or discoveries). What twists led the investigation in a new direction?

By Cook or by Crook: Five Ingredient Mystery #1

1. Bayport and the people Val knew there as a teen have changed. Have you returned to your town or neighborhood and found it changed? 
2. The search for a place to call home and the protection of home and family are recurring themes in the book. Discuss those themes with respect to Val, her grandfather, her cousin, and Luke. 
3. What conflicts arise between Val and her grandfather? Would you find it difficult to live with a grandparent or grandchild?
4. How does Val’s motive for solving the crime change in the course of the book? Can you imagine yourself trying to solve a murder and under what circumstances?
5. Does Val have good detective skills and/or some traits that hamper her search for the truth? 

Scam Chowder: Five Ingredient Mystery #2

1. ​The title and first chapter make the book’s theme clear: fraud against retirees. Do you know of anyone targeted by scammers? Did the book enhance your understanding of scams?  
2. Val is a straight-arrow and Granddad is a rule-breaker, putting them at odds. Do their strengths and weaknesses rub off on each other? How well do they work together? 
3. Val gains insights into characters from what they eat and how they act at the table. Did you notice any food clues pointing to the murderer?
4. Discuss Val’s relationship and reactions to the older women she must deal with (Lillian, Thomasina, Irene) and those closer to her age (Bethany, Junie May, and Petra). What do you know about Val from how she relates to those women? ​
5. Do you feel Val’s budding love interest enhanced or detracted from the story?

Final Fondue: Five-Ingredient Mystery #3

1. Bayport is celebrating its past. How does the past impinge on the present for Val, Granddad, and the guests in their house?
2. Fondue is a throwback to the past. Have you ever eaten cheese or chocolate fondue, and did you like it?
3. Romantic love is a theme in the book. Granddad's houseguests exhibit the dark sides of romance and love. Discuss.
4. What do Val’s reactions to Tony, Gunnar, and Roy tell you about her love life? Is Gunnar the right man for Val or are there warning signs for their future relationship?​
5. Cozy mysteries combine comedy and menace. How are the celebrity chef, the haunted corn maze, and the Hitchcock allusions both laughable and sinister? 

The Tell-Tale Tarte: Five-Ingredient Mystery #4

1. ​The book's title is a pun on Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The Tell-Tale Heart." Themes that Poe explored in his writing emerge in The Tell-Tale Tarte: the double or look-alike character, guilt, and vengeance. How do those themes come out in Tarte?
2. How is the book's title reflected in the plot? Have you ever eaten a tarte Tatin and would you ever make one?
3. Reading Poe’s stories influences Val’s view about the murder and the suspects. Discuss. Which work by Poe do you remember best? After reading Tarte, are you likely to read or reread something Poe wrote?
4. Did you find the killer sympathetic with understandable motives?
5. Tarte focuses on the worlds of publishing and of Poe fandom. What insights into those worlds did the book give you?

S'more Murders: Five-Ingredient Mystery #5

1. An online search of Titanic brings up 28 million hits. The 1997 Titanic movie broke the record for the highest grossing film. What explains this fascination with a disaster? 
2. Given the bad karma about re-creating the last meal on the Titanic, can you understand why Val agrees to cater the dinner and why Granddad goes along? Would you accept an invitation to a Titanic memorial dinner on a boat? Why or why not?
3. "Before seeking revenge, dig two graves—one for yourself." How does that quote apply to S’more Murders?
4. Discuss Val’s relationship with Gunnar. Does she make the right decision about their future?  
5. Gathering the suspects and reconstructing the crime are common devices in classic mysteries, but the detective usually knows who the culprit is by then. This is not the case in S’more Murders. Discuss: The final yacht scene is a group effort at solving the murders. 

Crypt Suzette: Five-Ingredient Mystery #6

1. Val tells her friend, Bethany, “People choose costumes that mirror their personalities.” Do you agree? Or is wearing a costume an excuse to take on a totally different personality? How do you choose your Halloween costume?
2. Understanding the victim is the first step toward solving a crime. Discuss how this applies to finding out the truth about Suzette’s death.
3. How do Granddad’s ghost hunting, Val’s visits to the Harbor Inn, and her foray into a haunted house relate to solving the murder?
4. Several characters in the book are haunted by the past, including the victim and the culprit. Discuss.
5. Both the victim and the culprit go to great lengths for the sake of justice, but justice for one person can mean injustice to another. Discuss. 

 Gingerdead Man: Five-Ingredient Mystery #7

1. Would you enjoy going to a Dickens festival like the one described in Gingerdead Man? Have you gone other kinds of festivals where people dress in costumes?
2. What are Val’s reasons for trying to solve the murders of people she’d just met, one of whom is very unsympathetic?  
3. Discuss how positive and negative aspects of gift-giving are explored in Gingerdead Man.
4. Dickens characters, Alfred Hitchcock’s films, an unnamed book by Agatha Christie, and quotes from Sherlock Holmes stories come up in the book. How familiar are you with these works and did those references enhance the story?
5. Discuss the role of Muffin, Bethany’s dog, in unraveling the mystery and capturing the killer. Do you like reading mysteries in which pets play a role?