Heroine: plump/abundant

       Zaftig and sassy waitress-turned-diner owner Tory Bauer may not look the part of a P.I. extraordinaire.  She's 40-odd, frumpy, and a homebody who just wants to lead a quiet, simple life. But the Grim Reaper keeps dumping murdered bodies on her doorstep, so she has no choice but to find the killers before he comes after her!

What worked for me:

       I really enjoyed Ms. Taylor's writing and found it to be snappy and clever.

      While some readers won't care for the attention paid to minutiae, I thought that these were great characters with interesting lives.  I'll always be happy to eavesdrop on the latest Delphi dirt.

       The enjoyable mysteries with their hint of romance kept me racking my brains, but I found them to be a bit convoluted and had trouble figuring out "whodunit".   I didn't mind it, but some folks might wish the mysteries presented themselves earlier and were brought to a conclusion faster.

         Size-wise Tory was 40 lbs overweight and a bit shy about her body at times.

What didn't work for me:

           Occasionally the writing could have used a bit more polishing and proof-reading.

         I had some trouble suspending disbelief when it came to certain plot elements.

Overall:

If you liked the Tory Bauer mystery series you might also enjoy "Love at Large", the Stephanie Plum mystery series, the Odelia Grey mystery series, the Southern Sisters mystery series, the Josephine Fuller mystery series, "Death by Dessert", "Lady Blue", "Teacher's Pet", or "Love by the Pound".