Book Club Discussion Questions

By Cook or by Crook: Five Ingredient Mystery #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?
What conflicts arise between Val and her grandfather? Would you find it difficult to live with a grandparent or grandchild?
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?
Does Val have good detective skills? What traits make it hard for her to uncover the truth about other people and the crime she tries to solve in this book?
What do the characters’ food attitudes reveal about them? Do you know people whose cooking and eating habits give you clues to their obsessions, values, or fears?
Do you like or dislike romantic subplots in mysteries? Do you feel Val’s budding love interests enhanced or detracted from the story?
Did you figure out the culprit before the end? Whom did you think did it?
Did you notice any clues to whodunit? Did you notice that the title refers to the suspects, all of them either cooks or crooks or both?
Characters are guilty of “bad” things in this book: adultery, vandalism, arson, and murder. Were the motives for those actions clear?
Which plot twists surprised you and which did you foresee before they occurred?

The title and first chapter make the book’s theme clear: fraud against retirees. Do you know of anyone targeted by scammers?
What sleuthing skills does Granddad have?
Subplots in mysteries can illuminate characters, present red herrings, and provide comic relief. What is the role of the subplots about the café and Gunnar’s former fiancé?
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?
Discuss the relationship between Val and the older women she must deal with: Lillian, Thomasina, and Irene.
What do Val’s relationships with women closer to her age tell you about her: Bethany, Junie May, and Petra (Gunnar's ex)?
Which plot twists surprised you and which did you foresee before they occurred? The second murder? Granddad’s ploy to gather evidence? The foiling of Petra’s scheme?
What information do Val and Granddad get from snooping at senior communities?
Did you figure out the culprit before the end? Whom did you think did it?
Gunnar or Roy for Val?

Bayport is celebrating its past. How does the past impinge on the present for Val, Granddad, and the guests in their house?
Fondue is a throwback to the past. Have you ever eaten fondue, what kind, and do you like it?
Val gains insights into the houseguests by watching them when they arrive and as they eat fondue. What traits do Fawn, Noah, Sarina, and Jennifer display in the first scene?
Romanic love is a theme in the book. The guests who have arrived to plan a wedding display some of the dark sides of love. Discuss.
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?
Discuss the relationship between Val and her mother.
Did you figure out the culprit before the end? Whom did you think did it?
Mystery writers lay false clues (red herrings) and real clues. How many did you catch?
Cozy mysteries combine comedy and menace. How are the celebrity chef, the haunted corn maze, and the Hitchcock allusions both laughable and sinister?

Which work by Poe do you remember best? After reading Tarte, are you likely to read or reread something Poe wrote?
Themes that Poe explored in his writing emerge in Tarte: the double or look-alike character, guilt, and vengeance. How do those themes come out in Tarte?
In what way is the book’s title reflected in the plot?
What are Val’s and Granddad’s motives for becoming involved in the murder investigation?
What key clues do Val and Granddad discover the night they are stranded at Rick Usher’s house?
How does Val’s reading of Poe’s stories influence her thinking about the murder and the suspects?
Poe describes his House of Usher as being alive and Roderick Usher as a man with exceptionally acute senses. In what way is Rick Usher’s house in Tarte alive? Discuss: Each resident of the house has a single acute sense or prominent feature related to one sense—the author, his wife, his publicist, his protégé, and Cicero the dog.
Did you figure out who the culprit was before the scene at Poe’s grave? Which character aroused your greatest suspicions?
Did you find the killer sympathetic or not? Were his motives understandable?
Tarte revolves around the world of publishing and Poe fandom. Did you gain any insights into those worlds?

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