Gourmet Detective: Eat, Drink, and Be Buried

In this Gourmet Detective Mystery Dylan Neal is catering a party with an 18th century motif and his new friend Detective Brooke Burns is along as a date. Good thing to when a homicide occurs.

But what a homicide. Back in the times depicted a publishing dynasty started when ownership was decided over a duel. So the duel is re-enacted by stepbrothers. Only one of the guns has a real bullet and one of the duelists dies.

The suspects start with the family patriarch and the three surviving offspring. The father had a son and daughter by his first marriage and on' his second marriage he adopts the second wife's son and daughter from her previous marriage. It really sounds like a recipe for one of those nighttime soap operas from the 80s.

With 3 surviving kids to start and various romantic and business associates you have a healthy mix of suspects.

Bruce Boxleitner makes an appearance as Neal's retired detective father. These two have a strained relationship, but progress is made in repairing it a bit.

Good story and frankly I didn't pick the right perpetrator.

Maggie has to be the most inept cop ever. This is the fourth time she's been disarmed by a suspect. She'd have been dismissed or put on leave a long time ago. Cops are taught to be alert and ready for anything, yet over and over she manages to get herself into situations where a suspect ends up with her gun.

That said, I like the chemistry between Henry and Maggie. I also enjoyed seeing Henry make peace with his dad. I'm hoping to see that relationship bloom more in the next movie in the series.

Henry and Maggie attend the birthday party of a local publisher, where his son and stepson reenact a historical 18th century dual. Someone, however, has loaded the antique pistol with a real musket ball, so when son pulls the trigger, he kills his stepbrother in front of a roomful of witnesses. Henry and Maggie have to figure out who wanted the stepson dead and why.

Another above average Gourmet detective episode with a likeable lead actor and a bossy lead actress, though she comes across here less grating with her sarcasm as shown in other episodes. She can be still harsh in her statements to her boyfriend-consultant. The suspects are top notch, there's enough twists to keep one absorbed.

Well written and well acted. Enjoyable from start to finish. Pop the popcorn, sit back, and enjoy.

Anything with bruce boxlighter in it, well, its like trying to watch a cat eat a porkypine