Bellini

A well-written take on a mystery dinner. Howard and Betsy are such a cute couple, and their interactions with Aaron (hey, look! I'm in the story!) are pure class. 

Wonderful story! 

This is a different take on mystery, one that I've never come across before. The backdrop is a mixture of celebration and grief, the plot is a nicely interwoven puzzling mystery. Well written and intriguing.

An amazing take on a couples 50th wedding anniversary tinged with sorrow and leads you on a delightful quest. A true delight to read!

Bellini? But which Bellini: the composer, the artist . . . the cocktail? Only an expert bartender could unwind such a mystery in the nick of time. Read this wonderful story and find out how.

You will not regret it!

I love Bellini the artist, Bellini the composer of great operas, and Bellini the cocktail.  And now we have another Bellini, a great little story full of delightful descriptions and a wide range of emotions beautifully expressed by the author.

Having read this I’m off to see what else Cole has written.  If it is as good as this readers will be v happy.

thank you and well done!

A very simple object lesson mystery involving an elderly couple and Aaron, a waiter.

If you are looking for an old fashioned mystery story, then give this a try. 

An elderly couple is out to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, and when they sit down at the bar to have a drink, a bartender approaches them and figures out they are celebrating.  During the course of the evening they chat with the friendly bartender and eventually they feel he might be able to help them. 

Their own son, Danny, died a couple of months earlier, and since he'd arranged this special celebration for his parents before he died.  They thought the bartender might be able to help them solve a riddle he'd left behind, seeing they were about the same age, but the clue was a single word.  If they can solve the cryptic riddle, they'll be able to find where he stashed money to raise his special-needs daughter. 

The parents have no idea what the clue is referring to and hope it might be something the bartender might know about that will help them solve the mystery.  You will have to read this compelling short-story to discover if they succeeded or not.  

Hot Damn Mister, you can really write (and this is from one chef to another)!  Your characters spring from the page (this observation is based not only on this story, but several others of yours that I've read).  So how do you do it chef, do you add baking soda, or is it all in the technique?

I'm posting this as a review as many of us here aspire to write, or think of ourselves as writers--poor creatures that we are, and we need to understand that "taking pen in hand" is not the same thing as being a writer, any more than putting some comestibles in a pot along with a few condiments makes anyone a chef. 

I chose this story to review, rather than others of yours, as it's the only one to which I heard an objection somewhere in the back of my mind. I loved the story, and the setup, and the characters. I also loved how you used the bartender as eye-candy, which in fact is often how a restaurant uses its bartenders, and that though the bartender has a very large role, his character recedes, if it surfaces at all, and makes way for the main players.  

The bit that doesn't seem to work is important, the more so, however, as it is tied to the title. After I turned out the lights instead of drifting off to sleep it nagged me that Danny, the son and possibly the most important character in the story, would not have left his daughter's fate to the backside of a photo. (As a dad I am sure of this). In a castle, perhaps, the treasure might have been sewn into the hem of an arras to keep it from the hands of a greedy uncle or a litigious ex, but nowadays there are iron-clad trusts and custodial accounts that will serve far better, though with less dramatic flair (boring!).  

Inasmuch as there are so many of us here who do not know the difference between edible substances tossed into a pot and being a chef, and given my love for the knack of speech and its corollary, the written word, considering the merits of my argument here offers an opportunity to examine what is too oft left in the dark, to wit, the structures that make a story successful.  

So thank you again for the good stories and best of luck on the book (though I may already be published by now). And thank you for putting up with my complaint and for allowing how it may help the rest of us to improve our skills.  

Best and Happy Holidays,

Kiom