This fourth book of, "A Sarah Blair Mystery" series was my first foray into the life of plucky silent partner restaurateur. Her sister is the culinary brains of the operation while Sarah works her day job as an administrative assistant at defense attorney, Harlan Endicott's office. Their sous chef, Grace Winston, has asked Sarah to meet with her after the beginners knife technique class which Grace teaches at the local junior community college. When Sarah accompanies Grace back to her classroom to help clean up, a body is discovered and Grace instantly becomes the chief suspect. Sarah of course wants to help exonerate Grace but everyone advises Sarah to leave the investigation to the professionals. Of course, Sarah just can't help herself and into the investigation she goes. She has quite the knack for this stuff and is as a dog with a bone when the local constabulary considers it a slam dunk.

The writing is good and the pace steady throughout. There are a few red herrings to keep the reader guessing. Politics, kill-free animal shelters, early on-set dementia, cut-throat competition within the culinary education and restaurant worlds and small town coziness are all subjects found within the covers of this book. There are even a few recipes at the conclusion of the book which look fun and manageable, even for the most inept of cook. If a culinary cozy mystery is your jam, then this could well be the perfect book for you.

I am grateful to author Debra H. Goldstein for having provided a complimentary copy of this book. Her generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone. ( )

I really enjoyed this next segment in the Sarah Blair mysteries. Sarah finds herself helping her friend Grace when and instructor she was arguing with was found dead not long after the argument. Along the way they find some connections to the victim that they did not expect and have to decipher just what is relevant and what is not. They also have to wonder what Jane is up to as she is trying to cut into Grace's restaurant business and cut a deal with the city that might not be as it seems. A real page turner and I look forward to more in this series.

I received a book to read, the review is mine. ( )

Four Cuts Too Many is another solid addition to Debra H. Goldstein’s Sarah Blair Mysteries. All of my cast favorites are back including Rah Rah and Fluffy. I really enjoyed the scenes with the senior citizens and I love that Goldstein seems to change up the locations in every book, although they still happen in the same Alabama town. The first part of the book had a lot of interesting scenes and development of new characters, which is always fun.

Towards the later half of the book it slows down with Sarah having a lot of introspective moments and going over the suspects again and again. And this book definitely had a lot of suspects, which is a great way to keep the reader guessing as to whodunnit. Another thing that just kind of stood out to me was how apathetic Grace was when it came to being accused of murder. She just gave up, which is unusual since she seemed to be such a fighter in previous books.

Is it horrible to say that I enjoyed when Sarah finally stood up to Jane… for those of you who have been with the series from the beginning??!!

Looking forward to the next book in the series and to seeing what Sarah decides to do when she goes back to college. ( )

Another fun entry in this series about food, cooking and murder. Sarah Blair doesn’t know how to cook and doesn’t want to learn. But as co-owner of her twin sister's restaurant she always seems to be in the middle of something food-related. And lately, crime-related. This time around it’s proving the innocence of sous chef Grace Winston, whose cooking knife is found in the back of the director of the cooking college. Sarah jumps right in to clear Grace’s name. What follows is a fun – and dangerous – adventure full of interesting characters, secret motives and some unexpected revelations. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance copy of Four Cuts Too Many in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. ( )

Sarah Winston lives in a carriage house with her Siamese cat, RahRah, and her rescue dog Fluffy. She works as a receptionist at a criminal law firm, and in her spare time helps her sister Emily out at their co-owned restaurant and volunteers at the local animal shelter. This day she's wondering why Emily's sous chef Grace Winston asked her to meet at the local college. When Grace finally does arrive late, she tells Sarah that she's just had a heated argument with the head of the department where Grace is teaching knife skills. When they both go back to Grace's classroom to clean up, they find the man dead. Now it's a crime scene, and Grace is suspected of murder.

But Sarah knows Grace isn't guilty, and asks her employer Harlan to represent Grace. While he doesn't want Sarah investigating and putting herself in danger, Sarah isn't going to listen, of course. When Sarah starts digging, she finds plenty of suspects and motives. But now the question is who wanted the man dead and why? Sarah needs to watch herself, or she might be the next one whose life is sliced short...

This is the fourth book in the series, and I enjoyed it as much as the last one. I do like the fact that Sarah has a twin and they are so different, but I would think that at this point Sarah might want to take a cooking class at that college. I delight in cooking. My three sisters, not so much. But at least they can cook well enough to survive (I hope).

The book had a very good plot, with someone killed practically at the beginning and the rest of the book with Sarah trying to find a murderer. Couple that with her nemesis Jane trying constantly to undermine Emily's success with Southwind, Emily's restaurant on a regular basis, and you have a detailed scenario that gives Sarah's the tools needed to unmask a murderer. But the clues are far between, although they are there if you look for them, and we discover the murderer almost at the same time as Sarah, which is the point of a mystery.

In the end, I thought this was an interesting mystery peopled with plenty of characters, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. ( )