‘Killer Date’ by Hope McIntyre
Published by Piatkus.  January 2009.
ISBN 978-0-7499-3901-4

 Ghost writer Lee Bartholomew finds herself in between jobs and so she takes a break from the city and goes down to Devon to visit her cousin, recuperating from a damaging divorce.  When she gets there, her cousin Gussie, working in the local restaurant, is under suspicion for carelessly causing the death of a customer.  The cause, a fatal peanut allergy, the method - the salad dressing.  Gussie persistently denies that she put peanut oil in the dressing, the problem is that she was the only one to make it.  Sacked from her job, Gussie seems to be sinking deeper into her problems so Lee is keen to help clear her name.

Following up the story, Lee discovers that the woman who died was on a blind date with… “Mr Wright” who she connected with on the local internet site Exmoormates.com.  When another woman is found dead, also a past correspondent of the elusive Mr Wright, he starts to look right for the position of chief suspect.  The only problem is finding out who he is.  Even more worrying, in trying to get over her ex-husband, Gussie is also on the internet dating sight and has been emailing Mr Wright herself.

This is the third book in the Lee Bartholomew series and is written with a light touch.  The characters are funny and likeable and whilst the plot is not heavily demanding it keeps you engaged right up to the end.  The relationships between Lee and her cousin as well as her on/off ex-boyfriend Tommy and the moody Max enhance the story line and round out the main characters to give them more depth.  They also create some of the lighter moments.  An enjoyable read.
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Amanda Brown