The book: Interesting enough, but poorly researched
The author: Would not read again
Review:
Up until page 85, I enjoyed this book. The Pumpkin Muffin Murder was a quick, entertaining read up until I hit a part that made me absolutely cringe. As is the norm for this type of murder mystery, a food cooked by the wanna-be detective was found in the deceased person's mouth. When I read, "As far as she knew, there wasn't even anything that could have caused a dangerous allergic reaction in someone who was hypersensitive to certain foods," I hesitated.
First of all, I am a person who has a large number of food allergies. I have had circumstances where my throat started to close because someone brought into my house a sandwich that had cut onions on it. Onions are not typically a food that causes reactions in most people. I am fully aware that any food, under the right (wrong?) circumstances can cause "a dangerous allergic reaction." However, since the wanna-be detective included the caveat that it was "as far as she knew," I presumed the recipe in question would at least be free of the eight major allergens that I would truly hope most people know can cause severe reactions in allergic individuals. I flipped to the back of the book where the recipes are, only to discover that the author made a huge mistake with that poorly researched sentence.
Included in that recipe were examples of dairy, egg, flour (wheat), and pecans (tree nuts), among other foods. All of these are examples of foods that could easily cause a severe allergic reaction in a person. All four of those are on the list of the eight major allergens. (The remaining four are peanuts, fish, shellfish, and soy, for those who are curious.)
From that point on, all credibility that Livia J. Washburn had established as a thus-far entertaining author got thrown completely out the window. As far as I am concerned, this author did no research whatsoever. I am not interested in reading anything else she might have penned.
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