BOOKMONGER
‘Souper’ new
murder mystery
A gaggle of elderly ladies
and an overworked young doc-
tor-in-training return for “The Fog
Ladies: In the Soup,” the latest
installment of Seattle author Susan
McCormick’s “Fog Ladies” cozy
murder mystery series.
Readers who are familiar with
the previous books in the series
will already be acquainted with
Sarah James, now a second-year
resident at the local hospital, who
is friends with a mix of eccentric
retirees. Most of them live in her
San Francisco apartment building,
and all of them — Harriet Flynn,
Frances Noonan, Alma Gordon,
Olivia Honeycutt, and the irascible
Enid Carmichael — have proven to
be adept at solving local murders.
Or if not adept, at least per-
sistent. They usually chase after
several red herrings before they
get their man.
In this episode, the Fog Ladies
— Sarah calls them that because
they are as reliably present as the
fog that blankets the bay every
morning — are volunteering at a
local soup kitchen.
William, manager of the
kitchen, is compassionate with
the down-and-out clientele that
come through the doors every
day in need of sustenance. Once
a successful restaurateur, he went
through a rough patch of his own
when he lost his job and started
abusing drugs. But now he has
found purpose and is rebuilding
his life.
The Fog Ladies are helping
William and his chief cook, Sadie,
prepare for a state-wide “Big Pot”
soup competition. The five larg-
est pots of soup in the state will be
sampled by a panel of judges, and
the best of that lot will be awarded
a cash prize. William and Sadie
are hoping to win that money
to upgrade the soup kitchen and
serve more people in need.
William has even gone so far
as to reach out to his former part-
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ner in the restaurant business, Cor-
nelius, to ask if he can borrow
his gigantic soup cauldron. They
had had a falling-out years earlier,
which contributed to William’s
downfall, but now that William
has proven that he is successfully
in recovery, Cornelius is happy to
help.
The Fog Ladies are present
when Cornelius and his big pot
arrive, and they quickly see that
William’s former partner is very
pushy. Not only does the man
meddle with William’s plan for
serving the meal, he also insists
that William’s soup recipe is miss-
ing an important ingredient — bay
leaves.
But when the day of the contest
dawns and the Fog Ladies arrive
at the kitchen to assist, they find
another surprise ingredient in the
big, steaming soup pot instead. It
is Cornelius’s corpse.
The police arrest William
almost immediately, relying on the
history of past acrimony between
the two partners.
This week’s book
‘The Fog Ladies: In the Soup’ by Susan McCormick
Wild Rose Press – 328 pp — $17.99
But the Fog Ladies believe Wil-
liam is innocent, and they busy-
body their way through a soup-to-
nuts menu of potential suspects
before zeroing in on the actual
murderer.
This has all the ingredients to
satisfy: humor, a dash of romance,
a colorful cast of characters and a
charming Newfoundland puppy.
“The Fog Ladies: In the Soup” is a
whodunit to savor.
The Bookmonger is Barbara
Lloyd McMichael, who writes this
weekly column focusing on the
books, authors and publishers of
the Pacific Northwest. Contact her
at barbaralmcm@gmail.com