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Funeral Food (aka The Missionary Position) (Tory Bauer, Bk 1)
Funeral Food - aka The Missionary Position - Tory Bauer, Bk 1 Author:Kathleen Taylor Later revised and republished as Funeral Food. — They're having a heat wave in Delphi, South Dakota, a small farming community whose citizens find plenty to discuss in Aphrodite Ferguson's Delphi Cafe, even though it's usually just the weather. At least it seemed that way to recently widowed Tory Bauer, who only wanted to get th... more »rough her morning duty waiting tables. Adjusting to a new life with housemate Delphine, her late husband's flamboyant cousin, and Del's twelve-year-old son, Presley (named for The King, who supposedly fathered him) presented challenges enough.
Psychic ex-hippie grocers, a crazy grandmother, an austere mother (who as "Desire McClain" secretly writes soft-core porn), a series of formidable relatives with the same first name, fellow waitresses, and cafe regulars all complicate Tory's life. Add Tory's reluctant attraction to Stuart McKee, the married owner of McKee's Feed Store, and her concern over Delphine's lack of restraint in matters of the heart, and you have the ingredients for a volatile brew.
Delphine's cavalier attitude toward romantic fidelity (a family failing, unfortunately) unwisely leads her to flaunt before her menacingly jealous boyfriend, Deputy Big Dick Albrecht, her interest in young, handsome, sincere Charles Winston, a Mormon Missionary visiting in Delphi.
When Charles is found bludgeoned to death in the cafe, and evidence uncovered by Deputy Albrecht points at waitress Rhonda Saunder's motorcycle riding boyfriend, Tory and psychic Crystal Singman are suspicious. Especially since Crystal spotted the deputy sneaking out of the cafe on the night in question.
Carrying on an amateur investigation secretly in Delphi is about as possible as carrying on an affair with a married Seed and Feed dealer, and Tory reluctantly attempts both, with varying degrees of success.
The discovery of some startling, and seemingly incontrovertible evidence, leads Tory to a horrible conclusion. One she should, perhaps, have realized much earlier.« less